For this module, you will be finding an example of a research report and an example of a critical essay. These two styles of academic writing are contrasted at the 27:47 point in the video this week.
Finding these two kinds of academic writing is easier than you think. A typical research report just explains a project someone did. It will have a (relatively) short literature review, an in-depth methods section, a discussion section interpreting the results, and likely offer directions for future research.
A critical essay does not feature a description of an original research project. Rather, it is a thought piece. Here is how I found one to read:
Using an academic search engine, I searched for “theory of environmental ethics.” The first result was a book, the second was from a scholarly journal. The article was titled “Non-anthropocentric value theory and environmental ethics.” On the first page, the author describes the work as “a synoptic and critical review.” That unnecessarily heavy word “synoptic” is a good sign you have stumbled upon a critical essay. Research projects tend to be simpler, both in scope and vocabulary.
To find a research report, I tried searching for “pro environmental behavior.” Again I found many critical essays, but I scrolled till I found “Self-interest and pro-environmental behaviour.” The juxtaposition of two key variables made me think this is a research project. A quick scan of the abstract makes clear this is a research project. They all justify themselves the same way — contrasting existing knowledge with existing questions or shortcomings of established (or “extant”) research. In other words, “a gap in the research.” Here is an abbreviated excerpt: “campaigns to promote pro-environmental behaviour have increasingly emphasized…Yet, psychological evidence about values and behaviour suggests that giving… Here we show that recycling rates are dependent on the information participants receive…” Do you see the pattern? Most research articles are written like this.
For the writing part of the paper, you will be required to analyze the information given in the research report and compare it to the information given in the critical essay.
Make sure that you determine the following three main factors for each piece of writing:
1. How do each piece of writing determine the information provided to the audience?
2. Which piece of writing provided a more in-depth analysis of the information it was looking at?
3. What are the benefits of each style of writing? Make sure the paper is full APA with a cover page and references.
