how to write brilliant psychology essays

How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays

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Ace your Assignment provide practical tips to help succeed

Exercises help try the theory out in practice

Take away points highlight the key learnings from each chapter

Online resources provide even more help and guidance.

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How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays Paperback – 19 Oct. 2020

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"This book is one I wish I had bought at the start of my Psychology degree."  – Five-star review Essay writing is a key part of the Psychology degree and knowing how to write effective and compelling academic essays is key to success.  Whether it′s understanding how to implement feedback you receive on essays, how to stop procrastinating or what makes an effective introduction, this book covers it all. Drawing on insights derived from teaching thousands of students over a 25-year period  How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays  provides the keys that will unlock your writing potential.

Ace your Assignment  provide practical tips to help succeed

Exercises  help try the theory out in practice

Take away  points highlight the key learnings from each chapter

Online resources  provide even more help and guidance.

• ISBN-10 1526497301
• ISBN-13 978-1526497307
• Edition 1st
• Publisher SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date 19 Oct. 2020
• Language English
• Dimensions 18.6 x 1.88 x 23.2 cm
• Print length 328 pages
• See all details

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Save money on these three indispensable books by buying them together!

• The Psychology Student’s Guide to Study and Employability by Graham Davey
• How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays by Paul Dickerson
• From Surviving to Thriving by Christian van Nieuwerburgh & Paige Williams

The Psychology Student’s Skills Bundle offers all the support you need to succeed in your Psychology studies and career.

Product description, from the back cover, about the author.

Paul Dickerson is Associate Professor 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 and interaction. He has previously written How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays  also published by Sage. Paul has written this book to enable you to immerse yourself in the exciting world of social psychology, to see its relevance in everyday life - as well as to support you in questioning its findings.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ SAGE Publications Ltd; 1st edition (19 Oct. 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1526497301
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1526497307
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18.6 x 1.88 x 23.2 cm
• 3,664 in Psychology & Psychiatry
• 15,542 in Society, Politics & Philosophy

About the author

Paul dickerson.

Thanks for taking a moment to read this.

The 'Brilliant Essays' book was written with a simple aim - to help you to write better essays, get better grades and enjoy the process.

Three quick points about this book:

1. We all know that our essays need to be 'critically evaluative', 'smoothly interconnected' and have a 'strong conclusion' - but I wanted to really show you in as much detail as possible how to achieve that.

2. My approach - based on marking thousands of undergraduate essays - is to detail exactly the steps needed to transform weaker essays into much stronger ones.

3. I use lots of examples of stronger and weaker essay writing throughout the book so you can see precisely how your essays can be improved and what that process of change looks like.

You can come to enjoy and succeed in your essay writing - I hope that this book will really help you to reach your full potential.

Every good wish to each one of you

PS The book covers exams as well - but it was hard to fit that into the title.

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How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays

• Paul Dickerson - University of Roehampton, UK
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“This book is one I wish I had bought at the start of my Psychology degree.” – Five-star review Essay writing is a key part of the Psychology degree and knowing how to write effective and compelling academic essays is key to success.  Whether it's understanding how to implement feedback you receive on essays, how to stop procrastinating or what makes an effective introduction, this book covers it all. Drawing on insights derived from teaching thousands of students over a 25-year period How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays provides the keys that will unlock your writing potential.

Ace your Assignment  provide practical tips to help succeed

Exercises  help try the theory out in practice

Take away  points highlight the key learnings from each chapter

Online resources  provide even more help and guidance.

Supplements

Paul Dickerson, Emma McDonald and Christian van Nieuwerburgh discuss  study skills, wellbeing and employability  and explore   how university lecturers and student welfare teams can better  support Psychology students  through their university journey.

Students enjoyed this text - they found it easy to read and the author's dry sense of humour appealed to many. Not just for psychologists!

A really useful guide for students, breaking down the components of what constitutes a good essay and written from a subject-specific view - highly recommend

I have recommended this to my first year tutorial groups as it provides them with everything they need to know about producing an excellent psychology essay.

Preview this book

Paul dickerson.

Paul Dickerson is Associate Professor 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 and interaction. He has previously written How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays also published by Sage. Paul has written this book to enable you to immerse yourself in the exciting world of social psychology, to see its relevance in everyday life - as well as to support you in questioning its findings. More About Author

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• Publisher SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date 2021
• ISBN 10  1526497301
• ISBN 13  9781526497307
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• Number of pages 328

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Essay writing is a key part of the psychology degree and understanding how to write effective and compelling academic essays will be absolutely key to success. Whether it's understanding how to implement feedback students receive on essays, how to stop procrastinating or what makes an effective introduction, this book covers it all

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After being insulted, writing down your feelings on paper then getting rid of it reduces anger

A research group in Japan has discovered that writing down one's reaction to a negative incident on a piece of paper and then shredding it or throwing it away reduces feelings of anger.

"We expected that our method would suppress anger to some extent," lead researcher Nobuyuki Kawai said. "However, we were amazed that anger was eliminated almost entirely."

This research is important because controlling anger at home and in the workplace can reduce negative consequences in our jobs and personal lives. Unfortunately, many anger management techniques proposed by specialists lack empirical research support. They can also be difficult to recall when angry.

The results of this study, published in Scientific Reports , are the culmination of years of previous research on the association between the written word and anger reduction. It builds on work showing how interactions with physical objects can control a person's mood.

For their project, Kawai and his graduate student Yuta Kanaya, both at the Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, asked participants to write brief opinions about important social problems, such as whether smoking in public should be outlawed. They then told them that a doctoral student at Nagoya University would evaluate their writing.

However, the doctoral students doing the evaluation were plants. Regardless of what the participants wrote, the evaluators scored them low on intelligence, interest, friendliness, logic, and rationality. To really drive home the point, the doctoral students also wrote the same insulting comment: "I cannot believe an educated person would think like this. I hope this person learns something while at the university."

After handing out these negative comments, the researchers asked the participants to write their thoughts on the feedback, focusing on what triggered their emotions. Finally, one group of participants was told to either dispose of the paper they wrote in a trash can or keep it in a file on their desk. A second group was told to destroy the document in a shredder or put it in a plastic box.

The students were then asked to rate their anger after the insult and after either disposing of or keeping the paper. As expected, all participants reported a higher level of anger after receiving insulting comments. However, the anger levels of the individuals who discarded their paper in the trash can or shredded it returned to their initial state after disposing of the paper. Meanwhile, the participants who held on to a hard copy of the insult experienced only a small decrease in their overall anger.

Kawai imagines using his research to help businesspeople who find themselves in stressful situations. "This technique could be applied in the moment by writing down the source of anger as if taking a memo and then throwing it away when one feels angry in a business situation," he explained.

Along with its practical benefits, this discovery may shed light on the origins of the Japanese cultural tradition known as hakidashisara ( hakidashi refers to the purging or spitting out of something, and sara refers to a dish or plate) at the Hiyoshi shrine in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, just outside of Nagoya. Hakidashisara is an annual festival where people smash small discs representing things that make them angry. Their findings may explain the feeling of relief that participants report after leaving the festival.

• Anger Management
• Social Psychology
• Disorders and Syndromes
• Educational Psychology
• Consumer Behavior
• Anger management
• Social psychology
• Cognitive dissonance
• Self-awareness
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Collaboration

Story Source:

Materials provided by Nagoya University . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Yuta Kanaya, Nobuyuki Kawai. Anger is eliminated with the disposal of a paper written because of provocation . Scientific Reports , 2024; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57916-z

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Strange & offbeat.

Psychology Student Sierra Miller '27 Publishes Children's Book

• Richard Gross
• 10 April 2024

Author Richard Gross '24 is a Media & Communications major and works as a student assistant at JWU, contributing to JWU News.

Johnson & Wales student Sierra Miller ’27 has a story to tell. In fact, she may even have a few up her sleeve. As a first-year psychology major, Sierra has already written, illustrated and published her own children’s book titled, Rascal the Raccoon’s NF Adventures . The book follows a raccoon named Rascal through his daily life with neurofibromatosis (NF1), a genetic condition that causes tumors to grow along nerves.

This condition is one that Sierra is very familiar with — she was diagnosed with NF1 when she was just three and a half years old. After enduring numerous hospital stays throughout her childhood, Sierra was inspired to create something that would help children get through similar experiences.

“I really needed a character like a Rascal when I was younger,” she shared. “I didn’t know what was happening to me. I want kids to know it’s not their fault and there is a support system who will get them through things — it’s important to know that you're not alone.”

Bringing her book to life

The idea to write a book came from one of the children Sierra used to babysit. Sierra had written them a short story about camping safety that they adored, so they pushed her to keep writing. “I was like, sure, why not?” said Sierra. “I really enjoy working with kids and hopefully when I’m working in the future as a therapist, it’s with troubled youth or kids who suffer from chronic conditions.”

Part of, if not all of Sierra’s mission with her writing is to advocate for and educate children who may be battling a chronic condition. Hospitals can be extremely intimidating, and at times they can be scary places — especially for a young child. Through her first-hand experience and knack for storytelling, Sierra aims to help younger individuals achieve a sense of comfort and security in medical environments, all while amplifying their voices and creating stories that make medical terminology and experiences easier to understand.

Through her journey with NF1, Sierra has received a variety of treatments, including chemotherapy. During her sophomore year of high school, Sierra underwent treatment to remove the remainder of a plexiform tumor. Though she experienced a tremendous loss of energy, she found that baking offered her some relief, and it ended up playing a vital role in her recovery. It was then she discovered that her passion for baking went hand in hand with her aspirations of being a beacon of hope for young kids dealing with chronic illness.

Finding Johnson & Wales

When a counselor at her Colorado high school suggested Johnson & Wales for college, Sierra knew she was headed in the right direction. JWU offered the opportunity to explore both Psychology and baking, unlike other schools. She came for a tour of the university, loved what she saw and submitted her application. Even though she was advised that it would be difficult to have both an academic and culinary major, Sierra channeled some determination and enrolled anyway. She now majors in psychology and plans to take intro-level baking classes as electives in the future.

In her short time at JWU, Sierra has already found an ever-flowing channel of creativity that she is able to touch upon both in and out of the classroom. “I love being creative, but I also think there’s times where it needs to be within the box,” she said. “Especially with psychology, it’s important that you follow the rules and are taking care of your clients. Johnson & Wales has really provided a lot of space for different creativity, especially my professors. I’ve been able to share rough drafts of my book to get feedback and hear what they're thinking of it, which is really useful because that helps the creative process.”

She has found that the JWU community always strives to celebrate and uplift student work, whether you’re perfecting your craft in the classroom or pursuing a passion project. “My professor connected me with the JWU media team, who put out pictures of my book and everything,” Sierra said. “That’s been really amazing.”

Looking ahead

As of now, Sierra’s published work is rooted in her own experience and journey with NF1, but in the future, she hopes her books can be used as a platform to explore other conditions. As far as illustration and art style, Sierra says she’d be open to working with other artists and writers who suffer from chronic conditions.

Unfortunately, Sierra was also recently diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition that causes the heart rate to increase very quickly after getting up from a sitting or lying position. She was inspired to write another book focusing on that condition. She hopes to work alongside someone else who deals with POTS in order to accurately portray the experience, as well as give them an opportunity to share their story and have their voice heard.

After graduation, Sierra shared that she hopes to become a counseling therapist — with a twist. She hopes to combine therapy with her passion for baking to open a shop where she can teach children dealing with chronic illness how to channel their energy into baking.

“I want to teach kids how to bake so they can have it as a life skill, but also as a healthy coping mechanism,” she explained. “The proceeds of this baking therapy could be donated to charity, future college funds or medical expenses.”

Sierra Miller is a remarkable example of a student who not only thrives academically and creatively but is a figure of inspiration for the entire JWU community. Her advocacy for those with chronic conditions comes from a truly selfless mindset and approach to life, and her journey serves as a testament to the exciting opportunities that await prospective students at Johnson & Wales.

If you would like to learn more or support the cause in any way, check out the Children’s Tumor Foundation .

Don’t forget to check out “Rascal the Racoon’s NF Adventures” and keep an eye out for upcoming works!   Purchase Sierra's book

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