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Turning Your Review of the Literature Into a Draft Answer (PSY)

The following continues our discussion of how to create high-quality discussion posts and responses to colleagues. This section will cover the following steps in creating your discussion responses, steps you will follow in order:

• Identifying existing Research and Theory.
• Deciding on the central thesis or idea for your answer.
• Creating an outline of your answer.
• Starting to write.
• Crafting paragraphs using the MEAL Plan.
• Citing the literature.
• Reviewing and revising.
• Writing Feedback Tool.

Identify Existing Research and Theory

Once you have identified the content issues and the levels of critical analysis in the discussion question, your first task is to identify existing research and theory in the literature that addresses the content issues.

• In most instances, there will be a central topic that embraces all the content issues in the question, and the key words in that topic.
• The key words in the various content issues should form the basis for your search of the library databases.
• Utilize the key words in the content issues to develop a focus to build an answer.
• Find articles that directly address the content issues (main points) of the discussion question.
• Avoid tangentially related articles.

Deciding on the Central Thesis or Idea for Your Answer

When you have found articles of research or theory that directly relate to your question, decide how you want to frame your answer to the question using the information that you identified.

• What's going to be your central thesis or the central idea in your answer?
• Remember: Your answer should contribute something of value to the knowledge base. In this instance, you are providing a new way of thinking about the question. Merely summarizing the text is insufficient because you add nothing of value.

Creating an Outline of Your Answer

After you have completed your study of the literature directly related to the discussion question topic (content issues) and have decided on your central thesis, you are prepared to begin to write your answer. The first thing you should do is to create an outline. Outlining is a very important skill to develop. The form your outline takes can be very simple or very elaborate. The key is to find a form that helps you organize your thoughts.
Why would you take this step? You will be evaluated on the strength of your argument. Did you marshal your evidence to support your main points in a way that makes a persuasive argument?

• A persuasive argument is an arrangement of ideas that draws the reader into an agreement with your thesis or central idea.
• The Reverse Outline method, to be used after the answer is drafted, allows you to evaluate the organization of your paragraphs so that the ideas flow logically and make your case cogently.

The simplest outline form also expresses the basic elements of all writing: An introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Simple, isn't it? We'll delve into more details in the future, but for now just be aware that all forms of scholarly writing (a paragraph, a discussion question, a final project, the comprehensive examinations, or the dissertation — and you can think of oral presentations the same way) contain these three basic elements:

• Introduction (For more information about the introduction, see the Writing Feedback Tool, criterion 3.)
• Body (For more information about the introduction, see the Writing Feedback Tool, criterion 4,5, and 6.)
• Conclusion (For more information about the introduction, see the Writing Feedback Tool, criterion 7.)

Elements of Writing by Scale of Assignment

	Paragraph	Discussion Response	Literature Review/Final Project	Comps Question	Dissertation
Introduction	One sentence	One paragraph	1–2 paragraphs	1–2 paragraphs	Chapter 1
Body	Two sentences	Two paragraphs	8–10 pages	12–16 pages	Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4
Conclusion	One sentence	One paragraph	1–2 paragraphs	1–2 paragraphs	Chapter 5

New Activity

Use the discussion question below from PSY7110 to create an outline indicating how you will organize and use the literature to respond to the discussion question. When you write your answer, you may:

• Write a new answer (if you have not yet taken PSY7110 or took an earlier version of the course).
• Use your actual answer to this question from PSY7110 (if you have taken the new PSY7110 after October, 2010). If you choose this option, you will work with the "Reverse Outline."

If you prefer to use the Reverse Outline, you can go on to "Starting to Write" below and write your answer to the question first, then do the Reverse Outline. Here is the discussion question from PSY7110.

"Humanistic Psychology is also called Third-Force Psychology. Discuss the change that Humanistic Psychology brought, and how this affected psychologists' ways of understanding human behavior. Also, address the ways in which Humanistic Psychology asked questions and conducted research and analyze how they differed from Behaviorism. Provide at least two peer-reviewed articles to support your ideas."

Starting to Write

Once you have created your outline for your discussion answer, you are ready to start to write. If you use the Reverse Outline, start writing first (or your actual message written for PSY7110), then use the reverse outline and critique your work with it. Look at the third column of the table: "Discussion response." As you can see, the structure of a good discussion response should contain a minimum of four paragraphs:

1. In the introduction (minimum one paragraph): Restate the question being asked. Briefly set up your response by naming the main points you intend to make.
2. In the body (minimum 2 to 5 paragraphs): Discuss your response in detail, allotting one paragraph to each of your main points. Develop your paragraphs using the MEAL Plan (see below for details).
3. In the conclusion, provide a summary (1 paragraph): Summarize your answer. Make recommendations for your own further study.

As you think about this introduction — main body — conclusion outline, you may remember the adage, "Tell them what you'll tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them." This sums up good scholarly writing and speaking.

Crafting Your Answer Using the MEAL Plan

Remember that paragraphs in the answer should contain, at a minimum, the M, E, and A of the MEAL Plan handout, although often the introduction and conclusion paragraphs don't contain the evidence or analysis elements. MEAL stands for the elements of a good paragraph:

• Main idea: One of the sentences (usually the first) should state the main idea for the paragraph. This will be one of the main points you have derived from your literature review.
• Evidence: The other sentences should support the main idea by adding details, sub-points, or evidence. The evidence, of course, is all the ideas you have borrowed from the existing literature you reviewed and are reporting, so these sentences will have a citation.
• Analysis: These sentences develop your position on each main point within the paragraph. Your analysis will be your evaluation of how the evidence supports your main point — or challenges it, as may be. These sentences, being your own work, won't need citations.
• Link: This sentence completes your thought process and flows into the next paragraph. (Note: The link element helps provide logic and organization to the body, but the link is not always a necessary paragraph element.)

You may have noticed that the MEAL plan also has an introduction — body — conclusion structure:

• The Main Idea serves as an introduction.
• The Evidence and Analysis sections serve as the body.
• The Link concludes the paragraph.

Every paragraph in the body of your answer develops and elaborates the full answer stated succinctly in the introduction.

• If you list the main ideas of the paragraphs, the list should provide a logically flowing outline of a complete answer to the question, the basic idea of the Reverse Outline.
• Each of the supporting paragraphs in the body should flow in a logical fashion from the introduction of your position to a discussion of your position to a logical conclusion.

Follow your outline or use the Reverse Outline and your discussion answers will demonstrate high-quality writing skills and will also demonstrate high quality critical thinking skills.

Citing the Literature

Your analysis sentences are your own work, but what are you analyzing (or evaluating, or synthesizing, etc.)? You're analyzing the work of others: previous research and theory that supports your main points. Each of these sentences requires a citation and a full reference in the reference list. Remember:

• Support all positions with citations to the literature.
• Use additional sources beyond course texts and required articles.
• Cite at least one reference per paragraph. (If you cite one reference in a paragraph, you are reporting that only that one reference helps you make your main point of the paragraph.) If you have other sources that bear on your main point, use them too and cite them as well.
• List the full references below your response.
• Use correct APA sixth edition formatting and style for the citations and references.
• Use correct APA sixth edition formatting throughout the paper, including a title page

For more information, see the Writing Feedback Tool, criteria 8 and 9.

Reviewing and Revising

Before you post your discussion answer, review it carefully for:

• Logic and form.
• Editorial and mechanical errors such as misspellings, and typographical errors.
• Grammatical or punctuation errors and APA format errors.

Here are a couple of tips about the review process:

• Read your work carefully to make sure that your presentation of information is reader-friendly and clearly expresses your response. Reading your answer aloud is highly recommended because the ear often catches logic errors and errors of grammar or usage that the eye misses.
• Use spell-check and edit your answer for typographical, spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, and other writing and mechanical errors. This tedious work should come after your content is settled and well-written. Although a tedious task, learn the small details of APA scientific writing. Sloppiness in writing is a giveaway to sloppiness in thinking, and the academic community always knows this.
• In your discussion posts, write in the third person unless your instructor prefers first person. Check with your course instructor to be sure you understand his or her preferences. You will always be required to write in the third person for (a) final and formal course papers, (b) comprehensive examinations, and (c) dissertations.

For more information, see the Writing Feedback Tool, criteria 10 and 11.

Writing Effective Responses to Colleagues in the Courseroom Discussions

Everything we've just reviewed about writing your own response to a discussion question applies to your response to your colleagues. Often, the discussion question provides directions about how to focus your response to a colleague.

Look for both the: Content issues and level of critical analysis required.

Be especially cognizant of the standards of scholarly etiquette and interaction we discussed earlier. Part of the process of becoming a scholar-practitioner is to become comfortable with feedback. Focus your critical analysis on your peer's ideas. Never belittle or condescend, even if your feedback makes plain that you know more than your peer does about the subject.

Remember the motto, noblesse oblige, or "nobility obliges." It means that the more one knows, the more respectful one should be toward those who are just learning.

Structure your response to a peer just as you would your own answer:

• Introduction (1 paragraph).
• Body (2-5 paragraphs, following the MEAL plan).
• Conclusion.

In this case, the "evidence" supporting your main ideas about your colleague's post will be taken from your peer's post, so quote or paraphrase carefully and mention the source. Learner posts are not published documents of course, so your "citation" need not follow APA format, which applies for the most part to published or available scholarly materials. For instance, "As you said in your second paragraph, …"

Finally, revise, edit, and proofread your response to your colleagues. They are scholars too, and presenting finished products is part of scholarly etiquette.

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