Week 3: Writing w/ integrity

Question 1

How do you write with the reader in mind?

Answer 1

Use plain language - accessible to reader
Writing is thinking and communicating your thoughts
How will the reader use your information? Know your readers needs and adapt you
writing to fit them.
Are they reading for entertainment, to solve practical problems, or to understand
something better.
Well-educated or poorly educated?
Topic-specific knowledge or is the topic new to them?
Is formal or informal style expected?
What evidence is expected and is it provided?
Curse of knowledge - “A difficulty imagining what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know.” (Pinker, 2014, emphasis added)
Your reader will suffer if you assume more knowledge than they have
Don’t assume the reader shares your interest. Why are they reading?
Writing w/ integrity means writing to help the reader see why the topic is worth their
time and effort. Make it as easy as you can.
Write for clarity. Write to uncover a topic rather than attempting to cover a topic
Use metaphors to help understanding
Define terms when first used

Question 2

How do you write with responsibility?

Answer 2

Bias-free language
Write inclusively in terms of age, disability, gender, race, etc.
Inclusive writing demands plain language
Approx. 95% of journals are written in English, meanwhile, 50% or more readers
are not native English writers or speakers
Describe at an appropriate level of specificity
Focus on relevant characteristics
Acknowledge relevant differences that do exist
Be sensitive to labels
Acknowledge peoples humanity
Avoid adjectives or nouns, labels.
Avoid false hierarchy (“normal”)

Question 3

What is gender?

Answer 3

Attitudes, feelings and behaviours that a given culture associates with a persons
biological sex
Gender is a social construct and a social identity

Question 4

How do you write about gender?

Answer 4

Use gender when referring to social groups
Use sex when referring to the biological sex assignment at birth
Gender identity is an individual’s psychological sense of their gender which may not correspond w/ sex assigned at birth.
When relevant, explicitly designate information about gender identities of
participants. eg. non-binary, transgender, cisgender
Do not assume all people are cisgender
Use specific nouns to identify groups of people
Refer to all humans as individuals, people or peoples
Don’t use ‘preferred pronouns’, instead use ‘identified pronouns’, ‘self-identified
pronouns’ or ‘pronouns’
If pronouns are unknown, use they/them
Avoid terms that imply binaries. eg. opposite sex

Question 5

What is race and ethnic identity?

Answer 5

Race refers to physical differences that groups/cultures consider socially significant
Ethnicity refers to shared cultural characteristics such as language, ancestry,
practices and beliefs
Race is a social construct and not universal
Wherever possible, use the racial and/or ethnic terms that your participants
themselves use.
Racial and ethnic groups should be capitalised as they’re proper nouns

Question 6

How do you use sources effectively and fairly?

Answer 6

Give yourself time. Research is slow and not linear. It has misteps and false start. It is hard and time consuming, it always takes longer than you expect, so plan carefully
and give yourself lots of time.
Read actively.
Read each source multiple times.
Skim to check relevance then read in its entirety.
Re-read critically
Summarise passages to check understanding
Make accurate notes
Don’t accept or reject based solely on the authority of source.
Examine figures and tables carefully - do the claims match the results?
Research your research
Read with purpose
Take good notes
Record your response to the source
Record the context, not just the words