Topic for Writing Sample

[grad29]

These were the instructions given to me for a writing sample:

 

"preferably of a psychological nature such as a summary of literature, research paper, psychological reports, etc. It must be writing using APA format and be your own work. Please include a note describing the sample (PDF)."

 

I'm applying to a Master's Program for School Psychology. 

 

It seems to me as though those instructions leave quite a bit of room on what type of writing to give them. Whether it's a review of an article, an essay, research in the field, etc...it seems like there's a lot of flexibility on my end. Is there some sort of unspoken expectation within those instructions of what they are looking for that I'm not reading into correctly?

 

To give you an overview of the program I'm applying to - this isn't a top 10 program, this is a program that is somewhat "easy" to get into. To give you a better idea the mean GRE scores for this program are a 152V and 149Q and a 3.48 mean GPA. My GRE was 157V/155Q/5AW. My cumulative was a little lower than there mean, around a 3.26 ( (not including first 2 years, when I transferred into a school they didn't carry that cumulative over, altogether it's about a 3.0 - I had switched majors from aviation into psychology after completely losing interest in it, I have kind of a weird transcript, a bunch of D's/C's and then last 4 semesters I pretty much earned straight A's). I graduated about 3 years ago and never planned on going back to school, so I didn't earn as good as grades as I was capable. I plan on taking a psychology GRE subject test that they "highly recommend" for students with GPAs below a 3.25 for the last two years (even though I'm at a 3.26) to show them I have knowledge of the subject. I'm confident I can score in the 80th percentile on that test. So I feel like I'll be above most of the other applicants already. I'm also a veteran and have worked with the trouble youth/special populations for the last 3 years - one place I was a manager in. It's also not the only program I'm applying for, although this may be one of the easier ones, I'm applying for 7 other school psychology programs as well. With all that being said:

 

I'm wondering if the topic of "why students drop out of high school" would be appropriate. I'll phrase it in a way that sounds less "general", but basically that's what I was thinking of writing about. I know it's a broad topic, but the instructions above they gave me didn't state any specific requirements. I know academic literature generally follows certain expected standards - one perhaps being a more specific topic, but if I write a paper using APA format as specified, including various summaries of literature, psychological reports, articles, etc..on the topic as requested, I don't see why it's not meeting the criteria they listed? 

 

It's not like this is a PHD program for clinical psychology, where they might expect a "more condensed" piece of academic writing. A program which may have 250 applicants and only accepted 20 or so. Of course I want to do the best I can, but I already have a solid 6 pages or so on that topic, with a good organization. It'll probably be around 20 pages by the time everything is put together, including reference, cover, abstract pages, etc... Perhaps it'll be closer to an essay than anything, but it'll include a historical overview, a contemporary analysis, and a resolution. The organization will make sense and even though it won't fully cover the topic because it's so broad, it'll definitely give a decent overview of some of the reasons students choose to drop out of high school. 

 

Thoughts? 

Edited August 9, 2015 by westy3789

[rising_star]

I think you're misunderstanding the instructions. They want you to submit either a literature review, a psychological report, or a research paper, not necessarily a paper that does all of those things. Based on what you've said around here thus far, it doesn't seem like your plan is going to be a viable one that works. You need a narrow topic about which you can make a defined argument if you want to have a successful writing sample. 

 

I also think you're not thinking about this the right way. You're looking at this as though the writing sample is merely a formality that you must submit as part of your application. Have you considered that a poor writing sample could keep you out of this program, even though it's not the most competitive program out there? 

[grad29]

I think you're misunderstanding the instructions. They want you to submit either a literature review, a psychological report, or a research paper, not necessarily a paper that does all of those things. Based on what you've said around here thus far, it doesn't seem like your plan is going to be a viable one that works. You need a narrow topic about which you can make a defined argument if you want to have a successful writing sample. 

 

I also think you're not thinking about this the right way. You're looking at this as though the writing sample is merely a formality that you must submit as part of your application. Have you considered that a poor writing sample could keep you out of this program, even though it's not the most competitive program out there? 

 

Why does a research paper need to have a defined argument? Isn't there such a thing as a research paper that presents a general  overview of a topic? ("a synopsis of the high school drop out: a historical overview, a contemporary analysis, and resolution"). It seems like you're saying that because a topic is too broad, it can't be a successful research paper. 

 

Take this article for instance: 

 

http://gradnation.org/sites/default/files/DCTD%20Final%20Full_0.pdf

 

Or this study (psychological report): 

 

http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/4/2158244013503834

 

They are researching the same broad question. Would you say this isn't successful research because the topic it covers is too broad? 

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[rising_star]

To answer your first question, all papers should have a defined argument, including a specific and strong thesis statement. Purdue's OWL has a great resource on writing a good thesis statement. 

 

A good literature review uses the literature to make some sort of argument about what is and is not known about the topic. This includes making some sort of argument about what the literature says (or, in other words, having a thesis statement). See this handout on how to write a literature review from UNC's writing center and this guide from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Here's a PDF on the difference between an academic research paper and a literature review.

 

What you linked to is a report, not an academic research paper or a literature review. I would say it's not "a successful article" because it is not an article! 

[grad29]

To answer your first question, all papers should have a defined argument, including a specific and strong thesis statement. Purdue's OWL has a great resource on writing a good thesis statement. 

 

A good literature review uses the literature to make some sort of argument about what is and is not known about the topic. This includes making some sort of argument about what the literature says (or, in other words, having a thesis statement). See this handout on how to write a literature review from UNC's writing center and this guide from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Here's a PDF on the difference between an academic research paper and a literature review.

 

What you linked to is a report, not an academic research paper or a literature review. I would say it's not "a successful article" because it is not an article! 

 

So you have reports (which are not academic research papers or literature reviews), then there are research papers and literature reviews (both of which require arguments according to you to be successful), & articles. 

 

"preferably of a psychological nature such as a summary of literature, research paper, psychological reports, etc. It must be writing using APA format and be your own work. Please include a note describing the sample (PDF)" I'll be daring and assume that the "summary of literature" is the same thing as a "literature review". 

 

Topic: A Synopsis of the High School Drop Out: a Historical Overview, a Contemporary Analysis, and Resolution. Would you consider that topic to be a "report"? Even if it is, it seems to be meeting their criteria. 

 

"preferably of a psychological nature" - is it possible to write a report that is psychological in nature? Of course. They didn't say "write either a literature review, research paper, or psychological report" they used those as examples of writings you could do that would be acceptable including "etc...". Why can't the "etc..." include a report? 

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[rising_star]

Topic: A Synopsis of the High School Drop Out: a Historical Overview, a Contemporary Analysis, and Resolution. Would you consider that topic to be a "report"? Even if it is, it seems to be meeting their criteria. 

 

"preferably of a psychological nature" - is it possible to write a report that is psychological in nature? of course. They didn't "write either a literature review, research paper, or psychological report" they used those as examples of writings you could do that would be acceptable. 

 

A summary of the literature would the same as a literature review, yes. Part of a literature review is summarizing the literature on a particular topic. 

 

Yes, it's possible to write a report that's psychological in nature. But, you're still not actually understanding what they want. A psychological report (in the sense of what they're asking for) would be a report you have written based on a psychological assessment that you have conducted. The topic you have proposed would work for a report but not for a psychological report. If you're confused about what a psychological report is, hit up the Google search engine. (And also, for reference, I just asked someone that has done graduate work in psychology and they confirmed that you are misunderstanding what they mean by "psychological report".) The National Association for School Psychologists actually has a PDF guide online which explains what's in a psychological report. While it's written for parents and teachers, the content of what would actually be in a psychological report wouldn't change. If you look at the description NASP provides, you'd see that topic you have chosen would not be appropriate for a psychological report unless you're basing it on assessments and/or behavioral observations, which it doesn't sound like you intend to do.

 

You really should talk to some graduate students or faculty that you have worked with in the past to get some insight into your writing sample. You keep coming here for help and people are answering questions that you could answer yourself through a basic Google search. I really am trying to be helpful but I'm starting to think that you don't actually read the resources that you're being provided or look into these things on your own.

[grad29]

That PDF you provided, which I doubt you actually read, was a guide for parents and teachers on what a "psychological evaluation report" includes. That is much different than the "psychological report" they are asking for. After seeing the "reasons for referral" in bold letters all over, it was pretty clear.

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[grad29]

Okay, so they are actually referring to a psychological evaluation report when they say "psychological report", got it. I was thinking that meant something else. So my topic obviously isn't the type of psychological report they are looking for.

 

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I think of it now is:

 

(1) Research Paper: Looks to add something new within the field. It builds upon the knowledge of others. It does this by first presenting the information others have gathered up to that point and then adding to it.

 

(2) Literature Review: Looks to present an argument of what is already known (and also what isn't) about a certain topic

 

(3) Psychological Report: An assessment/evaluation and referral of a person's mental health

 

(4) Etc...

 

It seems like #1 wouldn't work very well for me since I only have so much knowledge of the field (like you said in my other thread, sometimes it can work against a person to attempt doing a research paper without enough knowledge)

 

#3 could possibly work. I could use a psychological evaluation report in one of my group homes as a sample and create an imaginary psychological report. However that might end up only being 2-3 pages or something and I feel like I should give them something which also shows my writing "ability" - or at least something I've spend a little more effort doing.

 

#4 I could do it on something other than what they mentioned, but the risk in doing that is giving them something they aren't really looking for. However at the same time by attempting to do one of the others and failing, may work against me.

 

#2 seems like my best bet because of the limitations of the other three options

 

 

I've decided to make my topic a little more specific, if not because they require it, but because it'll make writing the paper easier and be in line with what a typical academic paper may look like. 

 

I decided to take a look at the role a student's intelligence has on their chances of graduating high school. I've written this introduction.

 

A study by the U.S. Department of Education found that 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate on time and 1.2 million high school students drop out of school every year. Not graduating high school prevents better job opportunities, higher wages, college admission, and confidence. Several things are thought to explain the reasons why high school students fail to graduate. Some factors involved include the cultural frameworks the students are a part of, pregnancy, the health of family members, and financial difficulties at home (Eckland, 1972; Griffin & Alexander, 1978). In this paper, the role a student’s intelligence has on the chances of graduating high school are investigated. It’s hypothesized that the level of intelligence has very little effect on a student’s likelihood of graduating high school. Three studies will be analyzed that demonstrate and support this hypothesis and further research will be suggested in order to more thoroughly address this relationship. 

 

What do you think about that?

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[ExponentialDecay]

A literature review doesn't have a hypothesis. A literature review is a summary of the significant research about a topic.

[grad29]

A literature review doesn't have a hypothesis. A literature review is a summary of the significant research about a topic.

 

Right. That makes sense. That would be closer to a research paper than a literature review, which is what I don't want to do. How about rephrasing it to:

 

A study by the U.S. Department of Education found that 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate on time and 1.2 million high school students drop out of school every year [shows a problem exists]. Not graduating high school inhibits many things, such as future job opportunities, higher wages, college admission, and confidence [shows the consequences of the problem]. Several factors are thought to explain the reasons why high school students fail to graduate. Some factors involved include the cultural frameworks the students are a part of, pregnancy, the health of family members, and financial difficulties at home (Eckland, 1972; Griffin & Alexander, 1978) [shows causes of the problem].  It's been demonstrated that a student's intelligence has a very weak relationship with the likelihood of high school graduation [summarizes significant research (literature review) and introduces the topic of the paper]. In this paper, three studies will be presented that have investigated this relationship [provides an overview of what to expect in the paper]. 

 

I do have three studies that show this. 

 

Do you think I should add one more sentence? Something like:

 

(1) Lastly, implications of this research will be suggested that may help school districts more effectively address high school dropout rates [explains the possible significance of the summarized knowledge]. Or is that not something that a literature review normally would have in it...

 

Once I form this introduction it'll be much easier to construct my paper, having a clear topic, knowing what to write about, etc...

 

So this:

 

A study by the U.S. Department of Education found that 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate on time and 1.2 million high school students drop out of school every year. Not graduating high school inhibits many things, such as future job opportunities, higher wages, college admission, and confidence. Several factors are thought to explain the reasons why high school students fail to graduate. Some factors involved include the cultural frameworks the students are a part of, pregnancy, the health of family members, and financial difficulties at home (Eckland, 1972; Griffin & Alexander, 1978).  It's been demonstrated that a student's intelligence has a very weak relationship with the likelihood of high school graduation. In this paper, three studies will be presented that have investigated this relationship. Lastly, implications of this research will be suggested that may help school districts more effectively address high school dropout rates. 

 

Anything you think would be better left out or added? Would this be an appropriate literature review topic? 

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[rising_star]

Two things:

1) I provided you with several links on what a literature review is and how to write one. If you reviewed them, you would have a much better sense of what to do in a literature review.

2) Generally speaking, reviewing three studies is insufficient for a literature review.

[grad29]

I've read the links that explain more thoroughly what a literature review is. The one from the University of North Carolina (http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/) was especially helpful. 

 

Although the more I'm researching my topic, the more I'm realizing how little there is to review on it. Like you said, 3 studies generally isn't enough for a literature review. Additionally, after looking at the 3 studies more in depth I'm noticing they aren't even really studying the relationship directly, so maybe I can turn this into a research paper after all instead of a literature review. I could create an interpretation of the results in a way which shows a possible non-relationship between intelligence and graduation (which I think I can do by building the studies upon one another) and then explain why the research is significant. The thing I dislike when trying to do a research paper is giving this naive impression that I'm trying to contribute to a field I'm not even a part of - which looks silly (?). A literature review is a way of saying "hey I'm new here so I'm gonna do me some readin' up on a topic" but whatever...

 

"A study by the U.S. Department of Education found that 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate on time and 1.2 million high school students drop out of school every year (2008). Not graduating high school inhibits many things, such as future job opportunities, higher wages, college admission, and confidence. Numerous research has been conducted on the various causes of high school drop outs. Some factors involved include the cultural frameworks the students are a part of, pregnancy, the health of family members, and financial difficulties at home (Eckland, 1972; Griffin & Alexander, 1978). However little research has shown whether a possible relationship exists between a student's level of intelligence and the likelihood of graduation. Three studies will be presented that suggest a student's level of intelligence has a very weak relationship with graduating high school. In knowing such a weak relationship exists, schools districts will be able to more effectively address the high school dropout rate. Lastly, studies which can further explore this relationship will be proposed."

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[ExponentialDecay]

 I could create an interpretation of the results in a way which shows a possible non-relationship between intelligence and graduation (which I think I can do by building the studies upon one another) and then explain why the research is significant.

 

By building the studies upon one another, you mean combining datasets, right? Because just talking about how three studies kind of support the theory that intelligence has no relationship to high school achievement isn't really research (I hope), and is kind of what you would do as part of a literature review.

 

Here's what I think you should do. I think you should take your broad topic, "why students drop out of high school", log onto EBSCO (or the equivalent psychology database) and read everything you can find on the subject. Once you've got a base of 20-30 articles (some of which should be literature reviews, some of which should be influential "theory" papers), you will have enough knowledge of the topic that you can make executive decisions such as question x being too broad a question, or question y not having enough research done on it. 

Edited August 10, 2015 by ExponentialDecay

[grad29]

By building the studies upon one another, you mean combining datasets, right? Because just talking about how three studies kind of support the theory that intelligence has no relationship to high school achievement isn't really research (I hope), and is kind of what you would do as part of a literature review.

 

Here's what I think you should do. I think you should take your broad topic, "why students drop out of high school", log onto EBSCO (or the equivalent psychology database) and read everything you can find on the subject. Once you've got a base of 20-30 articles (some of which should be literature reviews, some of which should be influential "theory" papers), you will have enough knowledge of the topic that you can make executive decisions such as question x being too broad a question, or question y not having enough research done on it. 

 

 

I know that's what one's supposed to do, but reading 20-30 articles is a lot of work. I mean how much time do they expect us to put into a literature review? I really doubt they are expecting us to qualify ourselves fully on the knowledge available before we begin writing. In other words, I don't think the argument necessarily needs to be completely sound. I think a program with the admission requirements they have is looking more for organization, writing ability, potential to conduct research, etc... than they are looking for applicants with publishable writing samples. This isn't Harvard. 

 

Plus, I don't even have access to EBSCO. I graduated college in 2012. LOL. I'm going to whip out a 10-15 page research paper with good organization, writing style, near perfect APA format, etc....with the few studies I'm able to find through Google on the above topic and call it good. 

 

I appreciate everyone's input. I did learn a lot about academic writing, but I can't spend months on this paper. I have a psychology GRE test to study for and 10 applications to complete - while working 60 hours/week. I'm going back to get the masters/certification required simply in order to be a school psychologist. I get research is a part of that, but I'm not going for a PHD....

 

so i'm going to get started. 

Edited August 10, 2015 by westy3789

[rising_star]

I appreciate everyone's input. I did learn a lot about academic writing, but I can't spend months on this paper. I have a psychology GRE test to study for and 10 applications to complete - while working 60 hours/week, so I'm going to get started. 

 

1) This is the exact point I made on one of your earlier threads where I suggested that you just revise a paper you submitted in college, rather than writing an entirely new writing sample. I asked if you had enough time to write a paper from scratch and you said that you had plenty of time. Now you're saying you don't have enough time to "spend months on this paper", though a few days ago you said that you did. (Here's what you said: "The deadline isn't until January 15th, so I have 'plenty' of time to write a new paper.") Since that has now changed, I'll return you to my previous suggestion, which was that you not write an entirely new paper.

 

2) If you know what you're supposed to do for a literature review, why are you intentionally and deliberately not doing it? Your failure to meet the expectations for a literature review will reflect poorly on you as an applicant.

 

3) Your previous assertion that you don't need any academic databases to write a writing sample for a graduate program is just flat wrong. If you don't have access to EBSCO, you should figure out a way to get access to some academic databases or at least articles to cite in whatever kind of writing sample it is you plan to submit. Again, your unwillingness to follow academic conventions could very well be your undoing here. I don't know how else to explain it at this point, especially since it's quite obvious that you don't get how to write an academic paper or do research. You can write a paper that uses the proper APA format without writing a paper that is actually good. You do realize that, right?