scholarly journals Writing Like a (Psychological) Scientist: A Student Guide to Scientific Writing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Scientific Writing ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Writing Students ◽  
Attention To Detail

This tutorial paper reviews the scientific writing style used in psychology, with a focus on undergraduate students taking a Research Methods course. I outline for broad principles of scientific writing: (1) clarity, (2) conciseness, (3) literally true, and (4) a focus on scientific evidence. Each principle is analyzed into several components, where writing norms in psychology are also emphasized. I also outline three broad skills needed to achieve this style: (1) revision, (2) attention to detail, (3) and teamwork. Revision is emphasized most heavily—students are encouraged to write naturally and edit with a focus on these principles. In addition to learning about scientific writing, students will learn about the nature of science and scientific thinking as well as learn to be clearer, more effective communicators and to develop habits that will help them both in their writing and more broadly in their professional development. Preprint date: 12/24/2020. This document is a work in progress and may not reflect the final draft. Feel free to link to this document for use in teaching (with attribution); please do not modify this document without permission. Please check back periodically for updates. The most up-to-date edition can be found at https://psyarxiv.com/r4sfz/

scholarly journals Changes in Nature of Science Understandings of Preservice Chemistry Teachers in an Explicit, Reflective, and Contextual Nature of Science Teaching

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
Suat Celik
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Science Teaching ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Chemistry Teachers ◽  
Poor Understanding ◽  
Before And After

This study aimed to investigate changes in the understandings of the Nature of Science (NOS) of preservice chemistry teachers after participating in the explicit, reflective, and contextual NOS teaching. The sample of the study consisted of nine preservice chemistry teachers who attended scientific research methods course at the undergraduate level. The study was designed and conducted according to the qualitative research method. Preservice chemistry teachers' understandings of the NOS was collected through the "Views on the Nature of Science-C" (VNOS-C) questionnaire, which consists of 10 open-ended items. The questionnaire was translated and applied before and after an explicit, reflective, and contextual NOS teaching. The data were analyzed descriptively through the use of a rubric. To ensure the reliability of the collected data, interviews were also conducted with participants to clarify their answers to the questions. According to the results, it was determined that the majority of the participants had a very poor understanding of NOS before teaching. It was determined that changes in the understandings did not occur at the desired level for all NOS aspects despite some positive changes after the teaching.

scholarly journals Teaching undergraduate students to read empirical articles: An evaluation and revision of the QALMRI method

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholaus Brosowsky ◽  
Olga Parshina ◽  
Anthony Locicero ◽  
Matthew John Charles Crump
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
First Year ◽  
Instructional Tool ◽  
Conceptual Information ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Introductory Course

Reading and comprehending empirical articles are important skills for students to develop, yet many students struggle to identify and connect the essential information from empirical articles. Here we describe and evaluate a scaffolded approach for teaching undergraduate students to read empirical articles called the QALMRI method. The QALMRI is a generalizable instructional tool for teaching students to identify the key conceptual information necessary for the comprehension and critical evaluation of empirical articles. We had students in a first-year introductory course and students ina third-year research methods course read empirical articles and complete QALMRI outlines throughout the semester. We found that students very quickly learned to use the QALMRI outline in both upper and lower course levels, with performance corresponding to traditional written summaries.However, we also found that students consistently performed poorly on some items, prompting an update and revision to the QALMRI method to address these limitations.

scholarly journals Making Research Methods Approachable and Relevant for Undergraduates

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrie Paeglow ◽  
Ali Weinstein
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Course Development ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Statistical Knowledge ◽  
Research Article ◽  
New Research ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

Research methods often seem both daunting and unimportant to undergraduate students. Through our experience in designing and teaching a new research methods course, we have developed strategies that help students read, evaluate, and synthesize the literature while also understanding how it connects to the "real world." We undertook this course development to create this research methods course as our department's Scholarly Inquiry-level course. We wanted to ensure that when the students successfully completed the course, they had the skills to make them capable of evaluating scholarly work and conducting their own scholarly work. The session will cover how to guide students through dissecting a research article, including reviewing the statistical section (even if their statistical knowledge is limited), evaluating popular press reports about research using their new knowledge of research methods, and creating an activity-based classroom environment utilizing application of skills. In our design of this new course, we wanted to maintain a 50% lecture-style to 50% activity-based learning to try to ensure that the students would be actively engaged with the material presented.

scholarly journals Adding an Integrated Library Component to an Undergraduate Research Methods Course

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (01) ◽  
pp. 112-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie K. Gilbert ◽  
Katherine Knutson ◽  
Christopher P. Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Information Literacy Skills ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Student Information ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAs undergraduate students increasingly rely on the Internet as their primary method for gathering sources, they often overlook the rich and varied resources available to them in library collections. Furthermore, students often lack the sophistication to effectively seek out and use information, an ability generally referred to as information literacy. Political scientists and librarians at one institution sought to address the gap in student information literacy skills by creating and implementing a semester-long library lab component integrated into the required research methods course within the political science department. This article presents the steps taken to implement the lab component, including the student learning outcomes we sought to address. We also focus on the measures we used to assess the impact of the lab component. Students who participated in the lab component demonstrate markedly improved information literacy skills compared to those who did not.

For the Undergraduate Research Methods Course

1987 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-170
Author(s):  
William J. Froming
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Methods Course
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document