1. Communicating about
Psychology: expressing
your ideas
• Recognise the features of an academic
argument
• Implement techniques to present an
argument
• Evaluate effectiveness of techniques
• Reflect on the whole process
2. Critical analysis recap:
• For each of the following
statements, decide whether
they would show critical
analysis in your writing.
• If you think it would show
critical analysis, hold up your
green card.
• If you think it wouldn’t, and it
would be descriptive, hold up
your red card.
3. Critical analysis or description?
• structures information in order
of importance
• states what happened
• says how to do something
• weighs up one piece of
information against another
• structures information in order
of importance
• states what happened
• says how to do something
• weighs up one piece of
information against another
4. Critical analysis or description?
• explains how something works
• identifies the significance
• draws conclusions
• says when something occurred
• explains how something works
• identifies the significance
• draws conclusions
• says when something occurred
5. So, why is critical analysis
important in your academic
work?
• Demonstrates your understanding
of a topic
• Helps you to explain why you are
saying or writing something
• Shows that you can make
decisions about your subject:
what do you think and why?
This means that you are often asked
to develop your own argument and
not just identify and evaluate the
arguments of other people.
6. • In pairs, read the
paragraph on your
handout and highlight
how the writer is
developing their
argument. What can
you learn about using
structure, language or
evidence to write your
own?
7. In business, there has a broad agreement on environmental initiatives: while
they are good for the Earth and better for consumers, they can hurt businesses
by involving higher costs, resulting in reduced profit (Ali, 2008; Rogers, 2009;
Jackson, 2012). However, a growing body of evidence from companies around
the world suggests that the relationship between ecology and economy is not as
competitive as has been assumed (Beko, 2016; Macintosh, 2017; Singh, 2019).
Indeed, this research indicates that it is possible to advance both pursuits
simultaneously. Currently, companies that focus on eco-innovation are growing
at an annual rate of 15% at a time when many competitors remain flat. Many of
these companies are the small and medium-sized enterprises that make up 99%
of Europe’s businesses (Jones, 2019), which demonstrates the breadth of
positive impact environmental initiatives could have on the European economy.
Firstly, sustainable companies are able to engage the emerging green market
and therefore create opportunities for ambitious enterprises (Jones, 2019).
Secondly, public and private investors are increasingly seeing the value in
supporting business with sustainable credentials (Smith, 2018; Hammerstein,
2019). Furthermore, a green approach can reduce costs by adopting practices
that minimise waste (Adebego, 2019), which lends evidence to support the
argument that environmentally responsible and aware business actually see
their profits grow. When the benefits of eco-innovation from a business
perspective are considered, the argument that adopting a responsible approach
to the environment is not as persuasive as it may once have been. Instead, this
outdated perspective is being challenged by convincing current industry
research that when businesses review and adapt their current practices towards
a more eco-innovative strategy, they can reap financial as well as ethical
benefits.
Counter-argument –
establishing debate
Evidence
Claim – based on
evidence
Evidence
Warrant (explaining how
the evidence supports
the claim)
Evidence
Warrant
Evaluation of counter-
claim to emphasise its
weakness
Re-statement of claim
8. A bit more on language….
To comment on how you are using evidence:
Those who disagree may claim that…but…
This survey is wide-ranging enough to offer substantial
evidence to support…
Their argument is not supported by up to date research…
Adding more to a point to strengthen your
claim:
Moreover; furthermore; in addition;
similarly; not only…but also…; indeed
Using lists to build up your
evidence effectively:
Firstly/secondly/thirdly; finally; to
conclude; to sum up
Putting the same idea in a different way
to emphasise:
In other words; to look at this in another
way
Introducing examples:
For instance; as follows; mainly; in
particular
Introducing an alternative
viewpoint:
In contrast; alternatively; another
possibility may be; in comparison;
however
Returning to
emphasise your
argument:
Despite x; in spite of x;
although x may have a
reasonable point, …
9. Expressing
your own
argument
In your groups, you are going to present an
argument on the question:
What is unconscious bias? Is it always harmful?
You will need to agree a position and then find
evidence to support it. Each group will then
present their argument to the class. Even though
you will be speaking and not writing, still think
about structure and language.
10. Online learning and
homework
Online
1. Complete effective group work activity
on Canvas from Skills For Study.
2. Blog work
Homework
Using your self-assessment of current
skills or by identifying a skill you have not
yet considered, choose at least one other
tutorial from Skills For Study and work
through it. Write about it in your blog.
Editor's Notes
This is to help link the work from last week on critical analysis to the work they have coming up preparing for presentation/debates, and for them to see the links between them, as well as building on the identification of an argument, the comparison of two arguments, then the evaluation of arguments, to now thinking about their own academic argument writing. From here to the end the activity on slide 5, aim for about 10 minutes but there will be time to extend this if need be.
You will have the cards – they hold them up (the answers are revealed one by one when you click in slide show). After each, ask why it is descriptive/critical – you could nominate individuals to answer that if they got the answer right – keep it all pretty quick fire as a starter to warm them up but also to check whether they may need a bit more input throughout the rest of the class.
At the end, quick whole group Q and A on why critical analysis is important in their academic work.
This is (again) to reinforce, extend or validate their answers. From the start of the activity here, give 10 – 15 minutes for them to work through it, offer their feedback and then show the next slide to develop their responses.
This is (again) to reinforce, extend or validate their answers. From the start of the activity here, give 10 – 15 minutes for them to work through it, offer their feedback and then show the next slide to develop their responses.
Remind them of the week when they watched the building an argument video - talk though the language elements and ask them to explain how this and the structure itself is aiding the development of the argument. E.g. how it is building up, the use of clear language to show the value/lack of research, language to show contrast and emphasis, always explaining the relevance but keeping focus on the relevance to the argument and not to the topic in general.
5 minutes or so going through some of these examples of language they can use to develop and support an argument.
Give 45 minutes for all of this (I may give them a five minute break in the middle as this is quite concentrated work). Highlight this is building on the presentations they gave a few weeks ago – then they summarised and compared, now they are offering a supported position. This is a process that they can replicate in their writing! NB – not all members of a group have to speak to allow some of those with anxiety etc to avoid it, as long as you observe all are participating fully in the preparation. They can go on the computers, phones etc for the research. After their presentations, start to ask a few evaluative questions, e.g. which were the most persuasive and why? What did they make of the process of choosing a position/are they unfamiliar with that? Did they feel unconfident etc? Why? (so many feel they don’t have a right to a position!)
