Notes on the Bem article on writing ----------------------------------- =================================== Steve April Planning it Which Article Should You Write? Analyzing Data Reporting the Findings How Should You Write? For Whom Should You Write? Writing It The Shape of An Article Style: - look at articles in the journal where you will publish; every so often journals will also publish extended author instructions - the APA manual of style is great for many empirical articles - strunk and white is fun, informative and cheap (free on the www!) Which article: - the article you plannd at the beginning - the article that makes the most sense tnow that you've seen the results (this will matter in 2nd half as you revise your papers) Analyze the data & what do you think of this advice?? Reporting the results - do test the hypotheses you designed - do not worry about shaping results of "I wonder if" studies - do explore the data fully to inform future study design and hypothesis formation - err on the side of discovery How should you write - accuracy & clarity - a short story For whom should you write - Good writing is good teaching - invisibility "subliminal pedagogy" - write for your grandma, and aim the technical part at a reader one level less specialized than your audience Writing it The shape of an article: hourglass =================================== Elise Yi The Introduction The Opening Statements Examples of Examples The Literature Review Citations Criticizing Previous Work Ending the Introduction The Method Section Intro/opening: 1. write in english not jargon 2. take time & space necessary to lead reader up to formal material; don't plunge them in in the middle 3. use examples to illustrate theoretical, abstract or unfamiliar material 4. open with a stmt about concrete and palpable things, not researchers or their research Examples use them not as a crutch but as a way of teaching the reader about your material - recurring examples - examples designed to highlight certain distinctions or qualities lit review and citations - situate the work in the context of existing literature - give the reader some suggestions about where else to lok (what is the example in "Citations" an example of that we have sen beofre?) criticising prev work (or suggested approaches!): make it intellectual and understandable, not ad-hominem or obsdcure! last para of intro: outline the article! The methods section. - interesting organizational tricks. what are they? - interesting that ethics comes in again =================================== Joey Zhanwu The Results Section Setting the Stage Presenting the Findings Figures and Tables On Statistics The Discussion Section The results section - there must be an english narrative! - all of this is relevant for empirical papers, but especially the stuff on statistical analysis steems like good advice Setting the stage - what to put first (again, getting the reader ready, as with the introdiction!) Presenting the findings - give the forest then the trees! look carefully at the 7 step procedure. what is he trying to accomplish with this? Figs and Tables - the reader should be able to get the main points of article either of two ways: * ignore the figs/tabs/captions and read the text * ignore the text and look at figs/tabs/captions - you MUST refer to each fig and table in the text On Statistics - Give readers' intuition the first priority. - say nothing technical without also the "real" English interpretation - give the reader a feel for the underlying process that you are analyzing Discussion Seciton - the whole discussion is an hourglass-shaped mini-paper with a beginning, middle and end (indeed every major section of the paper is a mini-paper!). - begin by stating conclusions on the main elements of the story, in terms of testable hypotheses stated in the intro, if appropriate! - the elements of the main story appear in intro, help to organize the middle of the paper, and reappear in the discussion - other more peripheral elements may only appear in the discussion - discuss issues which might qualify your results but do not dwell on the negative - if the discussion section is very long, it probably means you need to reorganize the whole paper so that the points you want to make in the discussion are already built up as main parts of the story - "more research is (not!) needed" -- dull. better to state a take-home message for the reader =================================== Nathaniel Gary The Title and Abstract Rewriting It Some Matters of Style Omit Needless Words Avoid Metacomments on the Writing Title and abstract: - compact but not incomprehensible! - borrow and compress statements from the article - emphasize the take away message for the reader Rewriting - hard to look at your own work - hard to read with fresh eyes - practice being grandma and/or a bloody-minded reader (like constructing an epsilon-delta proof) - set it aside - have someone else read and comment on it. they are never wrong: if they don't get it, the writing is by definition unclear [don't correct your colleagues, correct your writing] - rewriting usually means restructuring and throwing away sentences and paragraphs that you really like! - print out and mark up hardcopy at least occasionally! Style: omit needless words but don't omit ideas! [how did you like the example, boiled down to Strunk and White?] Style: avoid metacomments on the writing (put the topic forward, not the writer or the writing!) =================================== Abby SHuhei Use Repetition and Parallel Construction Jargon Voice and Self-Reference Tense Avoid Language Bias Research Participants Sex and Gender Repetition and parallel construction: good wriring is good teaching Jargon - best defined implicitly or in passing in the text. If absolutely necessary, include a glossary perhaps in the intro Voice and self-reference - "the author" & "the investigator" - metacommentary - "the experimenter" can be ok if you are describing a procedure - "we" vs "I" is a matter of taste, but be unambiguous in referent Tense - most of the paper is present tense; parts of discussion describing the paper can be past tense. Future tense is possible but unusual Language bias - research participants: use as specific a term as possible ("subjects" is easy but not very specific!) - sex and gender: accuracy then style; present style is gender-neutral =================================== Gaia Drew Racial and Ethnic Identity Sexual Orientation Disabilities Common Errors of Grammar and Usage Compared with versus Compared to Data Different from versus Different than None. No One Since versus Because That versus Which While versus Although, But, Whereas Publishing It Race/ethnicity/sexual orientation/disabilities: pay attention to the sensitivities of the day; don't go overboard (be invisible!!!) Some (more) grammar errors Compared with versus Compared to Data Different from versus Different than None. No One Since versus Because That versus Which While versus Although, But, Whereas (again these are matters of accuracy and precision. less careful word choice might be understood but it *will* be distracting) publishing - what an editors DL means - how to respond to referees (or teachers...) ===================================