EASY WRITER THIRD EDITION MANUAL

I did not make the exercises assignments, but instead explained why I thought it would be useful for students to do them as they read journal articles throughout the semester.Īt the conclusion of the semester, I asked students to evaluate the Szuchman text. Chapters were assigned at relevant points during the progression of the first lab report.

The students were all juniors and seniors, some of whom were in their first research methods course, others of whom were in their second or third one. I assigned Writing with Style as a recommended (rather than a required) book for my 300-level research methods course last fall. In addition, Szuchman explains what happens in a poster session, with practical suggestions such as wearing comfortable shoes during a poster presentation and not taking it personally if someone glances at the poster before walking away. She offers concrete suggestions for each section of a poster ( e.g., ways to reduce a paper’s introduction to a poster-size section, a list of key points to include in the method section).

Finally, Szuchman encourages students to use a spell-checker and to read the paper aloud to find small errors.Īs a bonus in this discussion of APA style manuscripts, Szuchman addresses posters in chapter 11. She suggests that the first rewrite should focus on content, the second should focus on style, and the third should focus on proofreading for common mistakes like writing their instead of there. While professors often encourage students to start writing early to leave enough time to set a paper aside and then revise it before turning it in, Szuchman makes concrete suggestions for common errors to look for in each rewrite. One of the most valuable chapters is the Appendix, which includes sections on the First Rewrite, Second Rewrite, Third Inspection-Not a Rewrite, and Final Touches. In chapter 10, Grooming Tips for Psychology Papers, Szuchman covers basic grammatical rules ( e.g., assuring agreement between subjects and verbs, avoiding half-empty comparisons and run-on sentences) and includes numerous exercises to help students learn those rules. She explains what each section should contain and includes more workbook exercises. In chapters 3–9 Szuchman takes each part of a manuscript in turn (literature review, methods, results, discussion, abstract, references, title page and other formatting). The final section of this chapter includes examples that should not be used in scientific writing ( e.g., one-sentence paragraphs, addressing the reader as you). Szuchman listed have shown, found, replicated, and reported as starters and included blanks for additional examples (p. In Exercise 4 students record verbs that work with researchers. Szuchman started the list with examples such as demonstrates and provides evidence and included blanks for students to record additional examples.

For example, in Exercise 1 students record verbs that work with “someone’s study, work, experiment, research” (p.15). As Szuchman explains that researchers rather than studies are the ones who do things, she encourages students to collect useful phrases from articles they have been assigned to read or from InfoTrac (access to which is included with the book). In the second chapter, Some Generalizations About How Psychologists Write, Szuchman introduces workbook exercises.

Instead, first read through the whole section you wish to paraphrase, then write your paraphrase, but without looking at the original” (p. The strength of the opening chapter, however, resides in the cogent and concise discussion of plagiarism, including practical suggestions such as “Never try to paraphrase one sentence at a time.

EASY WRITER THIRD EDITION MANUAL

Szuchman emphasizes the importance of looking details of APA style up in the Publication of Manual of the American Psychological Association, thus removing the idea that her book is meant to replace the APA manual. She briefly addresses why not all professionals can use the Modern Language Association (MLA) or Chicago Manual of Style rules. Szuchman’s book begins with a chapter that encourages students to see themselves as psychologists-in-training rather than lay people who find psychology interesting. Fortunately for students and teachers alike, Lenore Szuchman has written a text that has the potential to ease the process. I am not sure whether learning or teaching scientific writing in general, and APA style in particular, is more difficult.

Easy writer third edition