Assessing College Writing: Do Students Connect with the Text?

Reading-response research has shown that students respond to a text by engaging various cognitive and emotional processes. The aim of the current study was to examine students’ written reactions to an assigned reading as a way to determine (1) whether students connect with the reading and (2) the differing cognitive styles they may utilize in their reactions. The methods applied two text-analytic procedures to 238 student reactions to an ethics case study. The procedures were language style matching, which is a metric of engagement, and the categorical-dynamic index, which is a metric of analytic and experiential processing. We predicted that students who more strongly connected—or engaged—with the text would also demonstrate greater analytic thinking in their written response and, conversely, those who weakly connected with the text would express a more informal response based on experience. The data were analyzed using correlation statistics. The results showed that students whose writing more closely matched with the linguistic style of the case study were more likely to use an analytical style of writing, and students whose writing weakly matched the linguistic style of the case study were more likely to use an informal narrative style of writing. Future research should examine the extent to which language style matching and an associated analytic cognitive style are emergent skills that develop over the course of a college experience. References Baddeley, J.L. (2012). E-mail communications among people with and without major depressive disorder (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Blackburn, K.G. (2015). The narrative arc: Exploring the linguistic structure of the narrative (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. Chung, C., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2007). The psychological functions of function words. Social Communication, 1, 343-359. Ireland, M. E., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2010). Language style matching in writing: Synchrony in essays, correspondence, and poetry. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(3), 549. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020386 Ireland, M.E., Slatcher, R.B., Eastwick, P.W., Scissors, L.E., Finkel, E.J., & Pennebaker, J.W. (2011). Language style matching predicts relationship initiation and stability. Psychological Science, 22(1), 39-44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610392928 Inbar, Y., Cone, J., & Gilovich, T. (2010). People’s intuitions about intuitive insight and intuitive choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 232–247. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020215 Jordan, K. N., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2017). The exception or the rule: Using words to assess analytic thinking, Donald Trump, and the American presidency. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 3(3), 312-316. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000125 Jordan, K. N., Sterling, J., Pennebaker, J. W., & Boyd, R. L. (2019). Examining long-term trends in politics and culture through language of political leaders and cultural institutions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(9), 3476-3481. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811987116 Kacewicz, E., Pennebaker, J. W., Davis, M., Jeon, M., & Graesser, A. C. (2014). Pronoun use reflects standings in social hierarchies. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 33(2), 125-143. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X13502654 Lance G.N., Williams W.T. (1967): Mixed-data classificatory programs, I.) Agglomerative systems. Australian Computer Journal, 1, 15-20. Leaper, C. (2014). Gender similarities and differences in language. In T. M. Holtgraves (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of language and social psychology. (pp. 62-81). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199838639.013.002 Ludwig, S., de Ruyter, K., Mahr, D., Wetzels, M., Brüggen, E. and De Ruyck, T. (2014). Take their word for it: The symbolic role of linguistic style matches in user communities. MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems, 38(4), 1201-1217. Mart, C. T. (2019). Reader-response theory and literature discussions: A Springboard for exploring literary texts. The New Educational Review, 56, 78-87. https://doi.org/10.15804/tner.2019.56.2.06 Niederhoffer, K. G., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2002). Linguistic style matching in social interaction. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 21, 337-360. https://doi.org/10.1177/026192702237953 Pennebaker, J. W. (2011). The secret life of pronouns: How our words reflect who we are. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. Pennebaker, J.W., Booth, R.J., Boyd, R.L., & Francis, M.E. (2015). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count: LIWC2015. Austin, TX: Pennebaker Conglomerates. Pennebaker, J.W., Chung, C.K., Frazee, J., Lavergne, G.M., & Beaver, D.I. (2014). When small words foretell academic success: The case of college admissions essays. PLoS ONE, 9. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115844 Pulvermüller, F., Shtyrov, Y., Hasting, A. S., & Carlyon, R. P. (2008). Syntax as a reflex: Neurophysiological evidence for early automaticity of grammatical processing. Brain and Language, 104, 244-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2007.05.002 Richardson, B. H., Taylor, P. J., Snook, B., Conchie, S. M., & Bennell, C. (2014). Language style matching and police interrogation outcomes. Law and Human Behavior, 38(4), 357-366. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000077 Rosenblatt, L. M. (2016). Literature as exploration. Modern Language Association. Segalowitz, S. J., & Lane, K. C. (2000). Lexical access of function versus content words. Brain and Language, 75, 376-389. https://doi.org/10.1006/brln.2000.2361 Segrin, C. (2000). Social skills deficits associated with depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 20, 379- 403. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(98)00104-4 Segrin, C. & Abramson, L. Y. (1994). Negative reactions to depressive behaviors: A communication theories analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 655-668. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.103.4.655 Shaw, H., Taylor, P., Conchie, S., & Ellis, D. A. (2019, March 6). Language Style Matching : A Comprehensive List of Articles and Tools. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/yz4br Wyatt, D., Pressley, M., El-Dinary, P. B., Stein, S., Evans, P., & Brown, R. (1993). Comprehension strategies, worth and credibility monitoring, and evaluations: Cold and hot cognition when experts read professional articles that are important to them. Learning and Individual Differences, 5(1), 49-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/1041-6080(93)90026-O

Three new Macropsini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) leafhopper species from Australia

Three new species, Macropsella recta, Toropsis minuspina and Varicopsella apecurvata spp. nov. are described and illustrated from Australia. Leafhoppers of the subfamily Macropsinae are found abundantly in the Holarctic, Oriental and Australian regions (Linnavuori, 1978) and have been collected from around the world, except for Antarctica, Oceania and South America (Hamilton, 1980). Both Hamilton (1980) and Evans (1966) suggested that there were likely a myriad of uncollected and undescribed species in Australia alone and Evans (1971) commented that the Macropsinae are possibly more abundant in Australia than anywhere else in the world. Day and Fletcher (1994) listed 45 macropsine species in eight genera and mentioned that the Australian fauna needs “a thorough examination to establish the generic affinities of the species…”. In her unpublished doctoral dissertation, Semeraro (2014) recently completed a revision and phylogeny of the Australian fauna, documenting an additional 50 undescribed species and proposing changes to the generic classification, but this work has not yet been published. The new Australian species described herein, representing three genera, one not previously recorded in Australia, were not included in Semeraro’s (2014) dissertation.Study of samples recently collected from Australia revealed the presence of 3 new species, representing the genera Macropsella Hamilton, Toropsis Hamilton and Varicopsella Hamilton.Macropsella was established by Hamilton (1980) with Macropsis saidora Evans, 1971 as the type species. Five Macropsis species describeded by Evans (1971), one Macropsis species described by Kirkaldy (1907) and new species Macropsella complicata Hamilton (1980) were previously included in this genus. The seven species of this genus are known only from New Guinea and Northern Australia. Members of this genus can be distinguished by their usually white spotted tegminal veins, tapered male pygofer and laterally directed short ventral pygofer spines.Toropsis was established by Hamilton (1980) with Oncopsis balli Kirkaldy, 1907 as the type species. Six Oncopsis species (Evans, 1935, 1941) and three Macropsis species (Evans, 1971; Metcalf, 1966) were transferred to this genus by Hamilton (1980). So far, ten species recorded in this genus, and all of these species are recorded only from Australia. Toropsis can be distinguished by the wide face, small and flat front, inflated pronotum, unarmed male pygofer and relatively small dorsal connectives.Varicopsella was established by Hamilton (1980) for seven species from the Oriental region, with Macropsis breakeyi Merino, 1936 as its type species. More recently, Li et al. (2014) added a new species and subgenus Varicopsella (Multispinulosa) hamiltoni from China, but this species appears to be incorrectly placed in Varicopsella. Yang et al. (2016) added V. odontoida from Thailand. This genus can be distinguished by the depressed head, fused lora and frontoclypeus, and the two-jointed dorsal connective of the male.

Reconceptualization of the Concept of Quality in Education: An Exploratory Study

The definition of quality is vague, let alone the educational quality. There are so many different perceptions around that we find it quite difficult to produce a single definition of quality. This study attempts to analyze the quality definitions offered by the quality experts of the last century, as well as modern researchers coming from different scientific areas, and find out a way to summarize the definitions. The study also includes the issue of educational quality (with specific reference to Georgian higher education setting) and tries to find a definition of quality in higher education through the stakeholders’ eyes. Having examined various views on the definition of quality put forward by researchers, the study identifies 9 properties of quality under the headings of: Method, Attribute, Scope, Process, Party, Aspect, Perception, Concept, and Influence. A Wordle diagram provides a visual idea about the main terms used to define quality in literature, and a table in the appendix sums up the definitions under 9 property headings together in more detail. This study is part of the author’s unpublished doctoral dissertation about total quality management principles in higher education.

Adam Smith, not J M Keynes or Frank Knight, was the First Scholar to make the Uncertainty –Risk Distinction Explicitly and Apply it Rigorously

<p>Adam Smith was the first academic in history to make an explicit, detailed Uncertainty –Risk distinction and apply it clearly in a number of worked out examples and applications consistently in his analysis of decision making in the Wealth of Nations on occupational choice, businesses such as mining and fishing ,taxation, and foreign trade.<br />Other possible claimants will be covered briefly. Only an author’s published works will be considered in making an evaluation.<br />G. Boole, with his indeterminate (uncertainty) –determinate (risk-calculatable probabilities) approach of his 1854 The Laws of Thought, will be ranked second. Joseph Schumpeter, with his 1911 Theory of Economic Development contribution, is ranked third, while Keynes with his 1921 A Treatise on Probability, will be ranked fourth on tie breaks over Knight, with his 1921 Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit ,given that Keynes’s unpublished Fellowship dissertations of 1907 and 1908 are substantially earlier than Knight’s unpublished doctoral dissertation of 1916.G L S Shackle ‘s approach is a non probabilistic approach which ignored the much earlier work of Smith, Boole,and Keynes.</p>

Conducting Nonsexist Research, Prevention, and Treatment with Fathers and Mothers

In published research and in unpublished doctoral dissertation research, fathers are underrepresented in the investigation of child and family functioning. A number of possible explanations for this underrepresentation are discussed, including researchers' use of sexist theories that either directly or indirectly result in mother blaming, family demographics that suggest fathers are less present in the lives of their children when compared with mothers, and researchers' perceptions of fathers' unwillingness to participate in research. In order to encourage nonsexist family research that includes both mothers and fathers, recommendations are provided to increase the inclusion of fathers in child and family research. Specifically, researchers are encouraged to always provide parallel investigations of paternal factors when maternal factors are investigated. Researchers are also encouraged to investigate similarities as well as differences between mothers and fathers in relation to their children's functioning. Implications for the involvement of fathers in prevention and clinical interventions are discussed. In order to move beyond nonsexist research, feminist research issues are also raised.

Early Medical Dissertation Research on Tennessee Geology

Unpublished doctoral dissertation that predate American Ph.D. programs are an underutilized source of information on the geology of Tennessee, and on other geological topics. The nature of early doctoral research is briefly described and four pioneer dissertations, submitted in M.D. programs, are reviewed. The first dates from 1822 and the last from 1840. Each has continuing academic value, but must be viewed within the context of nineteenth century culture.