unitary ability
Essay Topic
Is intelligence a unitary ability, or are there multiple intelligences?
Answer: Multiple intelligences (must choose ONLY ONE theory and support it so I choose Gardner’s theory)- because the essay has to be based on the essay plan
Also, must give counter argument for those who criticize Gardner’s theory because he is not a science guy and Gardner keeps changing his idea of how many multiple intelligences exist.
References: 15 to 20 references
Need to put running head and page number
Essay (1500 words) 30%
(Word count excludes title page, title and reference list)
It is expected that you will use the feedback received for your essay plan in developing your full essay
To be submitted via the Assignment Dropbox on LMS. Hard copy assignments are not accepted.
The main outcomes of the PSY141 Essay are for students to:
· Develop an understanding of the main perspectives, methodologies, and topic areas within the discipline of Psychology
· Be able to use the Murdoch Library Catalogue, Findit and PsycINFO database proficiently to ensure quality research during your psychology studies
· Be able to use correct APA style referencing
· Be able to write an APA style psychological essay
The main aim of this assignment is for you to present a well thought out and structured argumentative essay in response to one of the essay questions.
Your essay should:
· Present an argument in response to one essay question
· Show evidence of critical thought.
· Be well-supported by scholarly psychological publications.
· Be carefully checked for errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation.
· Be formatted to APA style. Your essay should contain:
· A title page
· An essay
· An introduction
· A body
· A conclusion
· A reference list
Title Page
The title page should contain the following information:
The unit name and code
Your name and student number
The name of your tutor as well as your tutorial day and time
The essay question you are answering
The title of your essay
The word count for your assignment (excluding title page, title and references)
Title
The title should be relevant, clear and simple. A title should capture the main idea that you will explore in your essay. In other words, the title should be a succinct description of the main argument put forward in your essay (i.e., your position on the topic) and should not normally be longer than 20 words.
The title should appear on your title page as well as on the top of the first page above your introduction. Format the title in 12 point Times New Roman Font. The title should be in bold and centred.
For the essay, you should also include a running head (a shorter version of your original title).
A running head is located in the top left hand margin of each page of your assignment.
The Essay
The essay includes three sections:
An introduction
A body
A conclusion
A good essay is a kind of narrative story you want to tell to your reader and the main focus of this narrative is your thesis. Or, to put it more formally, a good essay consists of reasons you present to support your thesis statement (one sentence that encompasses your argument). It is important to think about this process and how you might go about it. Firstly, think about each paragraph as one of the reasons you give to your reader for believing in your story/argument. Secondly, each paragraph is a step towards your conclusion and those steps need to be linked together, so that you do not lose your reader while she falls between cracks of your argument. Lastly, you need to understand the perspective or standpoint from which you are arguing, because there are a number of ways to present any story/argument. In order to present yours consistently, you need to construct a good argumentative essay, so that you convince your reader that your case is sound and that she should believe it.
A good essay is a logical argument that supports the statement you are proposing to be true, or the answer you give to a question. To write a good argumentative essay you must attend to the structure of the essay. As you work through the essay you will develop a number of specific simple arguments (presented in each paragraph), which as a result feed into a more general argument, which in turn forms your reasoned response to the essay question. In this way each slot in the argumentative pattern will be filled by one or more paragraphs, giving your work ‘clarity’ and ‘structure’. One important task, therefore, is to ensure that these particular arguments are themselves linked and brought together to form a consistent case for the view that you are supporting or opposing.
Lack of clarity can sometimes be caused by the repetition of claims, or not developing them, or jumping from one claim to another. Rigorous organisation of the essay helps you to focus more clearly on the argument you are advancing. Good outlines prevent you from repeating yourself.
You need to pay attention to your overall argument: link your claims together. You need to show how those claims follow one after the other and how they fit into your whole argument. You need ‘sign posts’ to anchor your claims within your overall argument. Terms like: as I outlined above…by contrast… similarly…as mentioned previously…to repeat…to come back to…etc. will help you to link your claims while keeping your overall argument coherent.
You need to advance your argument slowly: flesh out the claims you have introduced; and be careful that you neither repeat nor contradict claims you have already made. (If you do not intend or have no space to develop a claim – delete it! Your essay is a piece of academic writing; not a contribution to a discussion club. You must always support and substantiate your assertions. Your listeners and readers need reasons for believing that what you say is true. The conclusion should reiterate your whole argument. An essay consists of an introduction, the main body of the essay and a conclusion. The introduction is at least one paragraph, the body of your essay will be several paragraphs, and the conclusion will be one paragraph. Each paragraph should deal with a single topic and no more.
The Introduction
It is expected that you will make improvements upon your introductory paragraph based upon feedback received from your tutor. (My tutor asked me to be more specific and give related ideas.)
So, I support Gardner’s theory so I must be able to give counter arguments to those who don’t agree with Gardner because he keeps changing his idea and also because he is not a science guy.
Introductory Paragraph
This should be written in the style of an introduction to a complete essay. Write a paragraph which summarises the overall argument you intend to make in your essay. This paragraph should be no longer than 250 words. PSY141 Introduction to Psychological Science 9 | P a g e The introduction should lead the reader into the debate to come, and the thesis should be set forth at the end of this introduction. The function of the thesis in an essay is to provide a reader with a reference point. In your thesis, you state the main claim of your essay in a succinct form, usually a sentence, which you will expand in the main body of your essay.
An introduction should include:
A context statement/s: A brief introduction to the topic you will be addressing in the essay, why the essay topic is important and what your argument will contribute to our understanding of this topic. The context statement should usually be two to three sentences long.
A thesis statement: A succinct statement answer to the essay question that you will spend the rest of the essay supporting. The thesis statement (or conclusion to your argument) is the lynch pin of your argumentative essay. All the claims you make throughout your essay should be linked back to this statement.
Reasons for believing your thesis statement: Your introduction introduces your reader to what you will say in your essay and your key arguments to support your thesis statement. Your essay is an argument for your thesis statement and, as such, your introduction should introduce the evidence/reasons/supporting claims you will use to justify your thesis statement in your essay.
In short, your introduction should be a clear and succinct outline (or roadmap) to your essay. By the end of your introduction, your reader should be clear about what you will argue for in your essay and why.
The Body
The body of an essay is where you flesh out, explain and support the claims you have made in your introduction. The body of your essay should follow the structure of your introduction.
Each reason for believing your thesis statement you present in your introduction should be unpacked explained and supported in one paragraph in the body of your essay. Each paragraph is the building block of your essay and, as such, each paragraph should be clearly linked to the next paragraph. In addition, each paragraph should be clearly linked to your thesis statement and should show how your reason supports your thesis statement. The structure of a paragraph is as follows:
An introductory sentence: a sentence that introduces the reader to the one idea/reason you will discuss in the paragraph.
The body of the paragraph: unpacks, explains and provides support for the reason you are presenting for your thesis statement. In each paragraph you should draw upon scholarly literature and demonstrate how the literature you are discussing supports the claim you are making.
Concluding sentence: (also referred to as the ‘linking sentence’) a sentence that summarises the idea/reason presented in the paragraph. In addition, the concluding sentence of a paragraph should link the reason presented in this paragraph to the reason you will present in the next paragraph as well as to the thesis statement.
Format the paragraphs in 12 point Times New Roman Font and indent each new paragraph by 1.27cm. Double space all your assignments.
The Conclusion
The conclusion should succinctly summarise the argument you have presented in your essay. Hence, in your conclusion you should restate your thesis statement and summarise the reasons you have presented to support your thesis statement. The conclusion should clarify to your reader how you have supported your thesis statement. In other words, it should be exceedingly clear in the conclusion why the reader should believe your thesis statement. Your conclusion should not introduce any new ideas, instead your conclusion should summarise the argument presented in your essay. Finally, your conclusion should also draw out why your argument is important, i.e. what your argument contributes to the topic/question your essay has discussed. The structure of your conclusion should be as follows:
A summary of the reasons you have presented for your thesis statement
A restatement of your thesis statement
A statement on the implications/importance of the argument you have presented
On a final note, some students complain that the structure of an argumentative essay is repetitive. However, I do not agree. You should not repeat identical claims; instead you should continually signpost for the reader where you have been and where you are going. While the argument may be clear in your own head, I only have access to the argument as it is written. Hence, it is very important to signpost and clearly show how each claim you make in your argumentative essay links together and to the overall argument you are making.
Reference List
The reference list should contain a list of scholarly references that you have read, understood and used to support the argument you present in your assignment. All publications mentioned in your assignment should be included in this list. Do not mention texts that are not cited in your assignment.
The reference list for this assignment should be presented in APA format [use your Burton writing guide for guidance].
The reference list always starts on a new page with a heading that says: ‘References’. Format references in 12 point Times New Roman Font and use a hanging indent of 1.27cm for each reference. Double space your references.
Do not use newspaper articles, internet websites (e.g., wikipedia), or the like as a reference for your own work. Internet websites are not scholarly resources.
Do not use generic dictionaries. If you want to define a psychological term, you should use a psychological dictionary.
Use primary resources wherever possible. You may use specialised dictionaries, encyclopaedias and textbooks for background information. However, when you come to write your argument you should be summarising the original research rather than another person’s summary of the original research.
You will be marked on the quality of the sources you provide in both your essay plan and your full essay.
Notes on How to Plan your Essay
Select one of the above essay questions. I suggest that you select the topic which interests you the most. A topic that interests you is always the easiest topic because you are motivated to read and learn more about the topic. I would strongly encourage you to stick to the same essay topic throughout the semester for both the essay introduction and the full essay.
Search for appropriate scholarly resources. a. Use these resources (books and journal articles) as the basis of the argument you will present in your essay introduction and, later, your essay. b. It is important that you have read and understand the references so that you can use another author’s argument to support your own argument. Critical engagement with the literature means that you understand another person’s argument so well that you can see the limits of their argument.
Now, decide upon the argument you will make in your essay. Set forth your thesis and the reasons you will use to support your thesis.
Write a suitable title for your essay
Marking Guide for Essay
Student Name and Student Number:
Criteria
/Out of
Mark
Title Page
Comments
1
Complete Title Page
Title
Comments
4
Presented above the introductory paragraph on the first page of the essay
Running header included
No more than 15 words
Succinct description of argument (no marks given for repeating the essay question)
Introduction
Comments
10
Good context statement
Clear and succinct thesis statement
Outlined key reasons for believing the thesis statement
Introduction clearly outlines the argument presented in the body of the essay
Body
Comments
50
The body of the essay clearly follows the outline of the argument presented in the introduction
Each paragraph unpacks and explains one reason presented for the thesis statement, rather than saying the same thing in different ways
Each paragraph is clearly linked to the next paragraph and to the thesis statement
Each paragraph presents only one idea/reason
Effectively utilises scholarly literature to support her/his own argument
Demonstrates critical engagement with the literature presented
Conclusion
Comments
15
Clearly and succinctly summarises the reasons presented for the thesis statement in the essay
Restates the thesis statement and demonstrates how the thesis has been supported by the argument presented in the essay
Concludes the essay by stating why the argument presented and the topic/question discussed is important
The conclusion clearly summarises the argument presented in the essay
Writing Style and Structure
Comments
10
The essay is well structured
Uses a scholarly writing style
Spelling and grammar are of a high standard
The essay is formatted according to APA style
References
Comments
10
Each reason presented in the essay is referenced to an appropriate scholarly resource
In-text references are in APA style