Wisdom vs Brilliance

Morale and Morality vs Incentives

In this video Barry Schwatz argrues that incentives are a poor way to create better workers not only when better is defined by morality or ethics, but also when it is defined by efficiency. The talk focuses on the importance of moral character and addresses the fear that we may be losing it in the modern corporate environment.

Paraphrasing in 3 easy tricks - A how to guide

Paraphrasing is about putting something in your own words. Rewording involves taking someone else's words, making minor adjustments (such as changing a word here and there or re-ordering the sentences) and presenting this bizarre creation as your own.

With proper referencing paraphrasing lets you avoid plagiarism and helps create flow in your essay.
With proper referencing rewording is plagiarism and will probably destroy or prevent the creation of flow in your essay.

In order to avoid rewording by paraphrasing successfully you should follow these 3 simple tips:
1) Take notes in bullet point form
The great thing about bullet points is they are an effective way to pull out what you think the important ideas are. After all when it comes time to write your essay the important things to present are the ideas. Additionally If you take notes in bullet point form rather than by copying out entire sections you will not have the original content when you come to write your essay. This is actually beneficial as successful paraphrasing is about presenting ideas in your own words. If you deprive yourself of the original material you will be required to use your own words as you will have nothing else to fall back on.

2) Write your paragraph without looking at the original content
Even if you don't take notes in bullet point form you should never write your essay while looking at the original content. If you have the original content on hand you will find it difficult to break away from the structure of their sentences. Remove the temptation to cheat by rewording or reorganising their work by removing it from your environment. If you find this scary remember that the structure of their sentences is not what's important, the ideas that they present are what is important. If you are having trouble separating structure from ideas go back to the original content and take notes in bullet point form.

3) If you get stuck, try to explain what you have read to a friend or family member in 1-2 sentences
Often people freak out about their ability to paraphrase. They feel that the existence of a technical term means that paraphrasing is a technical skill that can only be completed by people with that skill. That is nonsense. Paraphrasing is simply putting an idea in your own words. You do this naturally all the time when you summarise what happened in a movie, tv show, or lecture when talking with friends. If you get stuck think of what you have read as something that you might want or need to explain to a friend. Figure out what you would say then use that explanation as your paraphrase.

5 Ways to Improve Flow in Essays

A good essay flows. It does not stop and start. It does not jerk the reader around. It sets the reader on a clear and easy path towards the conclusion guiding them through the arguments that are required to reach it.

Flow may feel like an undefined concept; a source of sense that has not been pinned down. This feeling of loftiness does not stem from flow itself but the tendency of tutors and teachers to gloss over it as if it is more myth than fact. In fact there are 5 simple steps you can take to improve the flow of your essays.

1) Understand the role of your introduction and use it appropriately
Readers expect your introduction to act as a roadmap. Readers expect that whatever you mention first in the introduction will also be covered first in the body of the essay. This presents an excellent and easy opportunity to create flow in your essay. Simply present each idea in your introduction in the same same order as in your body paragraphs. Writing the introduction last can help with this.

2) Structure your argument around a logical flow of ideas
Flow is all about the logical flow of ideas one into another. there are 3 key ways to create this flow
- Cover Broad content before specific content
This point is common to every essay you will ever write. If you cover the broad topics first your readers will understand what you're talking about when you reach the specific points later on.

- Use your essay Question
Here's where the structure becomes essay specific. At least 90% of the time the essay question (in combination with the idea of covering broad topics first) will provide the structural skeleton on which your essay can be built. Consider the question below:

Compare and Contrast the Personality Theories of Freud and Rogers

If we order that in terms of broad to specific we get the following:

Personality Theories

Freud and Rogers

Compare and Contrast

That is the order in which the topics should be covered.

- Use your Introduction (see point 1)

An introduction (and by extension the structure of an entire essay addressing this question) might go something like this:
While there are many personality theories available to the modern researcher two earlier and influential theories were those of Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers. While there were some common points at an ideological level, including a belief in the importance of clinical applications and the idea of the danger of internal conflict, the theories are more marked by their differences. In particular their belief about the core motivations of individuals, sources of conflict, and the means of conflict resolution will be examined.


3) Use paragraphs appropriately
Every time you want to present a new idea it should be presented in a new paragraph. Similarly everytime you start a new paragraph you should be starting a new idea. This may mean that some of your paragraphs end up being very short while others end up being very long. This is fine. It is the presence of a new idea that indicated the need for a new paragraph NOT the length of the current paragraph.

Here is the introduction from before with new ideas indicated by changes in colour. Every colour change from purple to blue and vice verca indicates where we would expect a new paragraph to begin in the body of the essay. This is not to say that these are the only times that a new paragraph would be appropriate. You can think of this as a minimum number.

While there are many personality theories available to the modern researcher two earlier and influential theories were those of Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers. While there were some common points at an ideological level, including a belief in the importance of clinical applications and the idea of the danger of internal conflict, the theories are more marked by their differences. In particular their belief about the core motivations of individuals, sources of conflict, and the means of conflict resolution will be examined.

Within each paragraph you should follow the SEE format:
Statement
Example
Explanation

4) Paraphrase, don't quote
This suggestion may seem surprising at first. Surely quoting is better than paraphrasing as the person you're quoting from is more respected as a writer than you are right?

Wrong. 

The words the original author or speaker used were designed for use in the original material. They were selected because they were compatible with that flow of ideas. This means that the word choice may not be compatible with your flow of ideas. In fact it may be downright disruptive. If you use your own words you can keep your essay on track. If you use someone else's your risk taking a detour.

5) Practice, practice, practice
Flow is a characteristic of good writing. While the above tips are useful in helping create flow the best way to improve your writing is through practice.

Finding your Pepsis - A case of Factor Analysis in a real world application?

In the video above there will be a phrase that will catch your attention:
Find the Pepsis

At first this is unlikely to make sense, afterall surely there is only one Pepsi, right? Wrong is actually the correct answer.

Instead of looking for the single best combination of ingredients to satisfy everyone you should look for the combination of ingredients that satisfies each group.

With the right data this could be achieved through Factor Analysis.