Читать книгу An EasyGuide to APA Style - Regan A. R. Gurung - Страница 25

Another common error to avoid in your writing is attributing human characteristics to nonhuman entities. This is known as anthropomorphism, sometimes called pathetic fallacy (which seems a bit harsh). The PM states (Section 4.11) that when writing in your scholarly voice, you avoid anthropomorphism by using active verbs with human actors in your sentences. Notice in the example that follows, the experiment (nonhuman) is doing something that only humans can do.

Incorrect: The experiment will demonstrate the early development of children’s vocabulary.

Better: The purpose of the experiment is to demonstrate the early development of children’s vocabulary.

That said, there are exceptions to this anthropomorphism rule, and these exceptions are those instances of common writing style in the psychological literature. For example, phrases such as “the results illustrate” or “these findings suggest” are often used to discuss the meaning of the results of an experiment in a Discussion section of an article or paper. Therefore, these are acceptable forms of anthropomorphism for your paper as well.

This notion of proofreading your work before you turn it in brings up another vital practice you need to use if you want to improve your writing skills: You must learn to write for your audience, and in college, that will typically mean writing for your professors. They may ask for deviations from APA Style and APA format, and that is OK. Remember, they are the folks who are grading your work. If they prefer more passive voice than first person in scientific writing, follow that advice over the course of the class; just know that the PM indicates a preference for the active voice (Section 4.15). In Chapter 20, we provide details on how best to proofread your papers.

As with everything else regarding writing, we get better with practice. So we close this chapter with some sentences you might encounter in scientific writing; your task is to rewrite them in the active voice. Your rewrites do not need to match perfectly, but take note of the different methods you can use to rewrite into the active voice by putting the “do-er” of the action first, followed by the verb, and ending with the object or receiver of the action. Also, take a stab at rewriting the sentences below that include the errors described above. This practice will help you communicate clearly and concisely with your desired audience.

Start with these (you saw some of them on the previous page):

The data were analyzed using SPSS.

This conclusion was reached by the researchers in the study.

Although manic depression was diagnosed in some of the participants, the drug treatment was beneficial for all participants in the study.

The questions were developed by the interviewer.

It was determined by the researcher that the results were inconclusive.

Participants were asked by the experimenter to read the instructions carefully before proceeding.

The proposed methodology will likely be passed by the institutional review board.

As I observed the interaction patterns between participants, I noticed that body language played an important role in communication.

As I was reading this study of mental illness during the 20th century, I noticed that classification of disorders was not very clearly defined.

The speech laboratory wanted to explore the underlying causes of stammering.

The EasyGuide improved the understanding of APA Style.

Remember, as with any other complex skill, practice makes perfect!