Posted: January 30th, 2023

Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example

The article I read this week, “Early childhood-focused training in school psychology” by Stein and Albritton (2020), examines the preparation of graduate school psychology program for working in early childhood settings. The study examines the roles of school psychologists, the proportion of their work involving preschool children, and the content and volume of graduate school psychology programs related to early childhood. Subsequently, the authors conclude that the coverage of early childhood topics was highly variable from program to program, and most of the programs include limited information about early childhood. Finally, given the extent of work school psychologist engage in early childhood services, the author advocate for more in-depth graduate training on early childhood in school psychology graduate programs Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example.

The purpose of this article was to present facts (including the proportion of early childhood – related work school psychologists engage in, and the course content of school psychology graduate programs) and to advocate for adding more early childhood specific courses and training in school psychology graduate program. The intended audience included program chairs, directors, and committee members of graduate programs in school psychology across the United States. In terms of bias, it can be speculated that since the authors themselves are teaching faculty of school psychology programs at two separate universities, they may experience first-hand the deficit in the current courses related to early childhood training. As a result, the authors may feel more strongly on the topic discussed in this study. The quality of evidence is generally solid, in that the authors cited various studies regarding the proportion of school psychologists’ work involving early childhood, (Walcott, Charvat, McNamara, & Hyson, 2016), the various social, emotional, behavioral, and academic challenges facing preschoolers (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n. d.), and how school psychologists obtained training in early childhood services (i.e., through on-the-job training) (Albritten et a., 2018). Even though the authors cite two studies they previous participated in, they also include a variety of other resources on the same topic and are able to present strong evidence for their arguments Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example.

When reading a research article, it is important to discern its purpose and intended audience, and determine if the evidences are presented without bias. This can be determined by variety of sources in citations, approaching the topic from different angles, and collection and analysis of representative data. The quality of evidence in generally sound. Except for the two studies the authors cite from their own previous research, many studies of other researchers on the same topic were also included and cited.

References

Walcott, C. M., Charvat, J. McNamara, K. M., & Hyson, D. M. (2016, February). School psychology at a glance: 2015 Member Survey results. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA.

Albritten, K., Matthews, R. E., & Boyle, S. G. (2018). Is the role of the school psychologist in early childhood truly expanding? A national survey examining school psychologists’ practices and training experiences. Journal of Applied school psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15377903.2018.1462280

et a., 2018) Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example.

Stein, R., & Albritton, K. (2020, September 3). Early Childhood-Focused Training in School

Psychology. Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Advance online publication.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tep0000350

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.) Early childhood education development. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/developmental-and-behavioral-screening

Discussion: Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing

Scholarly or academic writing is comprised of a number of key ideas, including purpose, audience, presence of bias, and quality of evidence. It is important to understand these terms in order to incorporate them in your writing.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review the “Example Articles” found in the Learning Resources and select one of the articles for this Discussion. consider how the four concepts (purpose, audience, presence of bias, and quality of evidence) relate to the article you chose.
Review the Study Notes: Introduction to Scholarly Writing: Purpose, Audience, and Evidence and the media presentation Introduction to Scholarly Writing: Purpose, Audience, and Evidence.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 4

Post a description of the four key concepts (purpose, audience, presence of bias, and quality of evidence) of scholarly writing as they relate to the article you chose. Further explain why you believe these concepts are important to writing and communication in the field of psychology. Include at least one example to illustrate one of the concepts Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example.

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Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

The purpose of the article is important because while some are written to inform the readers, others may have a goal in mind. If an article is to inform the reader about the subject that’s being written about, the article will explain the subject as clearly and as thoroughly as the research can. When an article’s main purpose is to sway the support of its readers, then the article is more likely to highlight information that supports its agenda while omitting information that isn’t in the article’s favour. At the end of the first paragraph under the header School Psychologists Addressing the Needs of Young Children, the article clearly states its purpose: “The present article explores potential training gaps related to preparedness for working with young children to better leverage school psychologists’ ability to support young children’s academic, behavioral, and social– emotional needs.” (Stein & Albritton, 2020).
The audience is also an important factor to consider as an article’s tone may change as its audience changes. If an article is directed towards the general public, then it will be written for ease of reading, to keep the reader’s attention, and it will define the jargon used. However, if an article is written for a scholarly audience, it will have references and statistics from other trustworthy sources to support its evidence in addition to operationally defined variables and terms. Since Stein and Albritton (2020) wrote for a scholarly audience, they used additional research as support throughout their article Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example.
When reading an article it’s vital to know the presence of bias, especially if the article’s purpose is to persuade or support something. The presence of bias will show the limitations of the research discussed. For example, if a company wishes to have a study done to support their product then the study may be biased towards supporting said product. Furthermore, they can write the article so that it highlights how wonderful their product seems and either completely omit or gloss over its negative aspects. These biases would be important to address when debating the usefulness of the product. One of the areas Rachael Stein focuses her research is in teaching and learning (West Virginia University, n.d.), while Kizzy Albritton’s research is specific to early childhood school psychologists (The University of Texas at Austin, n.d.). Together, they have a great deal of experience in the field and are focusing their research towards improving a lack of resources that they’ve observed. Because of their investment in the field of psychology, their biases will most likely lean towards the support of psychology and the positives of having a school psychologist in early childhood settings.
The quality of evidence can make or break an argument. If the authors are using poor evidence to attempt to support their argument, then it may lead to it being dismissed entirely. The use of other related peer reviewed research to back up their claims can strengthen their argument beyond what their evidence can do alone. The more research that’s able to back up the evidence in the article, the less likely it’s going to be refutable. While I didn’t look through each one of the thirty-some references Stein and Albritton used throughout their article, most appear to be coming from journals or other trustworthy sources. This would help their argument by showing it’s not only their research suggesting the improvement with school psychologists in early childhood settings, but that there are many other studies done on related topics that can support it Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example.

Stein, R., & Albritton, K. (2020). Early Childhood-Focused Training in School Psychology. Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tep0000350.

The University of Texas at Austin (n.d.). Kizzy Albritton. College of Education. Retrieved from https://education.utexas.edu/faculty/kizzy_albritton.

West Virginia University (n.d.). Rachel Stein, ph.D. Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Retrieved from https://soca.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty-directory/rachel-stein.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues’ posts and continue the Discussion through Day 7 by providing an example or personal experience that illustrates one of the points made by your colleague. Refer back to the “Purpose, Audience, and Evidence” media program to review the personal experience illustration to guide you. Further explain to your colleague this example from a personal experience perspective Discovering Key Concepts in Scholarly Writing Essay Example.

You make a good point about biases. I hadn’t thought that while evidence-based research supports their idea, it could be biased since it is a topic they are passionate about. Stein (2020) did use a lot of scholarly verbiages that the general public may not understand. They directed it towards administrators and collaborators of graduate programs. The purpose of an article or journal is to appeal to your audience to be swayed to your side of an argument. It is also good to know who you want to reach and what you want them to know or understand about the topic you are presenting. Thank you for sharing. Your post had me rethinking the article by Stein and my views on what I considered their audience, biases and quality of evidence.