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The essays in Third year have two important purposes. First, to give you experience
of presenting and critically evaluating psychological material. Second, to stimulate
you to supplement material from the lectures with further material from your own
reading.
Below are some general guidelines on how to write an essay in Third year. Your tutor
may have additional specific guidelines for your essay. Always make sure that you are
clear as to what your tutor wants to see in the essay or does not want to see in the
essay.
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connect one research paper with the next or no attempt to link empirical evidence to
the essay question.
A good essay attempts to critically discuss the empirical evidence in favour or against
the essay question and to describe clearly how evidence presented in a research paper
is related to the essay question or to a specific aspect of the essay question.
Concluding your essay. Conclude your essay by summarising the main points that
you have presented earlier on in your essay. Try to evaluate the evidence (e.g. was the
information in support of the essay question strong or weak) and try to justify your
evaluation. Important at this point is to relate the information that you have
summarised back to the essay question. Try to come to some sort of conclusion, even
if with the current state of evidence the question can not be definitely answered. You
should also briefly remind your reader of the content of the essay and how it led you
to that conclusion.
Referencing
In the text it is critical that you paraphrase the work of others correctly. Always make
clear whether an idea is your own or whether you are paraphrasing someone else’s
idea. In the latter case, mention the source.
Correct referencing of the research papers or other sources that you present in your
essay is important. You are expected to follow the American Psychological
Association (APA) reference format. For explanation and examples of the APA
format see the Level 3 Handbook, the examples provided for your practical report
writing by Dr DeBruine or visit http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html.
All the papers, books or websites that you have cited in your essay should be listed in
the reference list at the end of your essay, ordered alphabetically on the surname of
the first author. Papers or books that you have read as preparation for the essay, but
that you did not mention in the essay, should not appear in the reference list.
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citations, unless in exceptional circumstances. For example, when a paper is written in
a language that you cannot read. Check with your tutor whether they accept secondary
citations.
9. PROOFREAD. After you finish writing your essay, put it away for a day or a few
hours and then read the whole thing to find careless mistakes.