How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays. Paul Dickerson
How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays
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© Paul Dickerson 2021
First published 2021
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020934665
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-5264-9731-4
ISBN 978-1-5264-9730-7 (pbk)
Editor: Donna Goddard
Editorial assistant: Marc Barnard
Production editor: Imogen Roome
Copyeditor: Sarah Bury
Proofreader: Brian McDowell
Indexer: Adam Pozner
Marketing manager: Camille Richmond
Cover design: Wendy Scott
Typeset by: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India
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About the Author
Paul Dickerson is Principal Teaching Fellow at the University of Roehampton where he has taught for more than 25 years. His research has predominantly adopted a qualitative approach and has largely focused on issues of talk, interaction and autism. He has written a social psychology textbook which sought to empower students to engage critically with the material presented (the second edition is currently in preparation with Sage). Paul has written this book so that you can feel empowered to express your thoughts and ideas in writing, achieve your full potential and rediscover the joy of learning.
Acknowledgements
Even when there is just a single author indicated on a book’s cover, there are many people involved in making it a reality. My conversations with students, across nearly three decades of teaching, have made me keen to unlock the potential that they – and other students – have, so that they can each write in a way that really shows their mind at work. I am grateful to all of my friends and colleagues at Roehampton, including Jen Mayer, Jean O’Callaghan, John Rae, Gina Pauli and Marta Jackowska, who have been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement regarding writing this text and I am truly grateful to each of them.
I have been really fortunate to have had the benefit of working with a very talented team at Sage. I would like to thank three commissioning editors: Becky Taylor, who got the (metaphorical) ball rolling, then Rob Patterson, who kept the ball rolling, and finally Donna Goddard, whose wise oversight across so much of the project helped (to stay with the metaphor) see the ball safely into the hole/back of the net/ball sanctuary. I have also benefited enormously from the regular contact, encouragement and advice from editorial assistants Katie Rabot and, subsequently, Marc Barnard. I am very grateful to all of the production team at Sage, in particular production editor Imogen Roome and copyeditor Sarah Bury – they have had an incredibly positive influence on the book’s development and completion. I am indebted to Wendy Scott for the funky cover design and Camille Richmond and her team for their positive and proactive approach to raising awareness of the book.
Last, but never least, my children, Joshua and Miriam, and my wife, Suba, have been so positive and patient, particularly as writing this text strayed into most weekends over the last year. Without them this book would have been just an unrealised good intention – I can’t thank them enough.
Discover your Textbook’s Online Resources!
The following online resources in support of How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays can be found at https://study.sagepub.com/psychologybrilliantessays
Student resources
Videos to talk you through key points from the book and enhance your understanding.
Appendix with supplementary material for further insight into key concepts.
Lecturer resources
PowerPoint Slides which can be adapted and edited to suit your own teaching needs.
Chapter 1 Catch the wave – how to seize the moment, overcome procrastination and write now
Before we start – in order to start – here’s a question: Why not start your essay? It’s all very well feeling panicked and telling yourself, ‘Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you’, but sometimes the essay remains stubbornly unwritten. Before reaching for our list of 115 motivational statements, just take a moment – you have a potential advantage over all the students of other disciplines: you are a psychologist! This chapter will support you in using some psychological insights on yourself to help you have a different perspective on your procrastination, to understand why you do it and to find ways that you can charm yourself into your work whatever your reasons for procrastinating.
In this chapter you will learn…
How you can adopt a different and more empowering perspective on procrastination
What your reasons for procrastinating may be and how each of them can be addressed