Skills for Social Science

Running head: SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE
Skills for Social Science
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE
Part One
Key Academic Writing Styles and their Importance
In this section I will reflect on key academic writing styles and their importance by using
the framework of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle.
According to Graham Gibbs, reflection on learning experiences takes place through five
important stages. The first is the description of what was learnt, second is feelings on what was
learnt, third is evaluation of what was learnt, fourth is conclusion on what was learnt and finally
the fifth stage is the action to be taken based upon what was learnt. (Gibbs 1988).
Description
Academic writing is the type of writing that is engaged in for the fulfillment of either a
college degree or a university degree. What I have learnt is that it requires using a formal tone
of expression and often entails the use of jargon and scientific terms in order to validate or
legitimize the content of such writing (Birkenstein and Graff 2018). When it comes to
understanding important academic writing styles, the four categories that come to the mind are
the persuasive style of academic writing, the analytical style of academic writing, critical
academic writing and descriptive academic writing.
2. Feelings
I believe that if a broader definition of what is academic writing is to be considered, then
academic writing may be understood to be the type of writing that is carried out in any and every
type of academic setting. In my view, some of the documents where one can come across
different forms of academic writing include books, peer reviewed journal articles, peer reviewed

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SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE
book volumes and reports that are published by scientific organizations and think thanks for
public circulation and debate (Belcher 2019).
3. Evaluation
I have come to understand that descriptive academic writing takes place when the aim of
the piece that is being written is to simply provide readers with core information or facts and data
about the topic that is being written on (Goodall 2018). I have learnt that analytical writing
occurs when in addition to the provision of facts and figures the piece of writing also enters into
an analysis of this information, pointing out the way that this information can be read and
utilized from a number of different perspectives or view. Further, I have learnt that Persuasive
writing is the type of writing where the opinion or the views of the writer are imposed upon the
readers. The writing does not engage in any debate or analysis and simply presents the vital facts
and figures and other data pertaining to the topic for the reader to behold (Goodall 2018).
4. Conclusion
I conclude from my understanding of academic writing that the aim of an academic
written piece is to get the readers to think along the lines of the writer’s views on the subject that
is being written on, at times persuading them to hold the same opinion as that of the writer on a
specific subject matter while at other times encouraging them to think of things from a critical
perspective. I conclude also from my learning that critical writing entails writing from both
positive and negative perspectives, pointing out the pros and cons associated with the subject
matter of the writing (Kiriakos and Tienari 2018).
5. Action

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SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE
The different academic styles that I have learnt about are those that I am going to put to
use in my class assignments, and also when I write for journals and magazines in school and
outside of school.
Is Self-Control a Value Capacity?
Self-control is something that can definitely be considered a value capacity as it refers to
the ability that a person has of controlling her or his own emotions, as well as desires and
behavior with the purpose of obtaining some reward or achievement at a later date. The act of
self-control requires the flow of sufficient amounts of glucose to the human brain. When self-
control is exercised, this depletes the glucose (Greenberg et al. 2018). What the research that I
am about to undertake is going to investigate, is understanding how self-control works in
adults who are on a weight loss diet and who need to refrain from eating certain kinds of
food in order to avoid putting on fat. The research will then point out the ways by which
the act of self-control adds value to the life of the person who is on a diet to lose weight.
Research Questions
RQ 1 - How does self-control work in adults who are on a weight loss diet?
RQ 2 - What are the ways by which self-control adds value to the life of people who are on
a weight loss diet?
Part 2 – Review of Articles
Positivist Articles