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Tips for writing an evidence-based essay
Management, People and Organisations (MGMT1003)
Australian National University
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Tips for Writing an Evidence-Based Essay
1 Getting started
Start by answering the question for yourself:
[Insert question here....e.:
In your opinion, and based on the best-available evidence, can mindfulness enhance the practice of evidence-based management? ]
Before reading anything or doing any research, what is your answer to this question? Start with a simple yes or no and then start to ask yourself why you think this? What do you already know, based on past learning or experience, that has led you to giving this answer?
Start with just thinking about it and, when you are ready, write yourself a few notes in response to these prompts:
- I think mindfulness is...
- The practice of evidence-based management is....
- Managers might use mindfulness to...
Give yourself 3 minutes per prompt and just write. Don't worry too much about whether it is 'true' or based on anything other than your own thoughts and opinions, just write.
This exercise will help you to answer the "do you believe..." aspect of the essay question.
To get a great mark on the essay it is ESSENTIAL that you ANSWER THE QUESTION!
2 Break it down
Now that you have a few ideas about your own opinion (see tip #1), it's time to start thinking about the essay question.
In your opinion, and based on the best-available evidence, can mindfulness enhance the practice of evidence-based management?
First, break it down, this question has several elements:
[In your opinion] - if you followed the suggestions in tip #1 you've already done this part
[Based on the best available evidence] - remember to consider both big 'E' evidence (empirical research) and little 'e' evidence (industry experience, practitioner experts etc.). Do some research using the ANU Library Supersearch function and see what you can find. Do not rely on internet searches alone, you need good quality journal articles about proper scientific research as well as professional and expert opinion pieces.
[can mindfulness enhance]- first think about what is meant by the word 'enhance', based on your research do you think there is any connection between mindfulness and what managers need to do?
[the practice of evidence-based management] - what do you believe to be the most important aspects of an evidence-based approach to management? how might mindfulness contribute to or enhance these specific management process? what research or evidence is there to support your opinion?
[Why?] - answer the question based on your belief after having done some reading and research. Depending on what you found you will have one of two statements to begin your essay. Either:
a) In my opinion mindfulness can enhance the practice of evidence-based management by.... OR
b) In my opinion mindfulness is not able to enhance the practice of evidence-based management because...;
Write some notes about each of the elements, perhaps skim read a few articles you find on the library database or read through the abstracts and write a few sentences or 4-5 dot points with regard to each of the elements of the question. If you don't have enough information, read some more or do further research just to get a feel for what you need to include in your essay to ensure you have fully answered the question (did I mention that it is essential that your essay answers the question?).
3 Taking an evidence-based approach
When you write an evidence based essay, the main purpose is to take a position on a topic (i state your opinion or belief) and persuade your readers to accept your claim (anyone remember writing persuasive texts in school?).
You use evidence (big 'E' research evidence and little 'e' industry-based evidence/anecdotal evidence based on experience/practice) to support your position and convince readers of your argument’s validity (i. the extent to which your opinion and argument is well founded). However, in order for your essay to be a success you must choose your evidence wisely. It is important to use the right kind of evidence, have a satisfactory amount and use your chosen evidence effectively. In this case, you need to decide on what constitutes the 'best-available' evidence to support your claim, the most valid, reliable or credible information you can find (do not assume it is in the prescribed articles).
Your answer to this question should include your answers to the following three sub- questions:
“What do I think?” (The claim) “Why do I think this?” (The reasons) “How do I know this is the case?” (The evidence)
You might also consider:
“Is the evidence presented relevant to the claim at hand?”- excellent essays stay on topic at all times (i they are focused on answering the question and do not introduce argument or evidence that is not directly linked to answering the question.
“What do I want you (the reader) to think?” - an evidence-based essay is a form of persuasive text, as such you need to structure your essay and write in a way that is trying to make a convincing argument for your opinion.
“What reasons and arguments can I share to sway your opinion?” - these reasons and arguments need to be based on the evidence (Big E & Little e evidence - research findings and professional expertise).
EXAMPLE (fictional):
The question (example only) -
In your opinion, and based on the best-available evidence, is mindfulness essential to management education?
The claim -
Mindfulness is not crucial to management education.
The reasons -
i) mindfulness takes too long to learn and students don't have time for that sort of thing and
ii) students don't remember anything they learn at uni anyway so it wont be of any use to them later.
The evidence (fictional)-
i) In their study of 10 CEOs, Rush & Doitnow (2016) found that top-level managers rarely stop for lunch and have an average 5 minutes of 'downtime' during the working day, therefore they have no time for mindfulness even if they wanted to do it so there is no point in learning it as part of your management education as you wont get to use it in the workplace.
ii) Procrastinate & Absentee (2016) surveyed 250 students in their second year of university and found that more than 75% of those surveyed did not prepare for classes during their first year of studies. In response to a question about effort and knowledge retention around 68% agreed that they would most likely have recalled more of their learning from university if they had done the reading prior to classes. Further, in a longitudinal study by Didno & Prep (2016) it was found that preparation for classes, including reading and completing exercises, was a significant predictor of knowledge retention 3 years later. Therefore, despite a small number of students putting in the effort required for long-term knowledge retention, the vast number of students do not put in enough effort to make it worth teaching mindfulness to all management students, because as the research findings suggest, the majority will not remember having learned it anyway.
NB. THE ABOVE 'EVIDENCE' AND FINDINGS ARE FICTIONAL! (i. NOT real)
4 More on taking an evidence-based approach...
4 Types of evidence
Just to clarify:
Little ‘e’ evidence is industry experience; it’s anecdotal evidence offered by experts and people with enough experience and knowledge to be able to discern valid and reliable information from pure opinion. Industry publications such as Harvard Business review and Forbes often publish articles highlighting little ‘e’ evidence (the facts are based on what happens in practice rather than the findings from empirical research).
Big 'E' evidence is what we learn from research; the findings from empirical studies carried out under the rigor of the scientific method. For a reminder of what constitutes 'good' big 'E' evidence please refer to the Barends et al (2014) article which is available on Wattle.
When taking an evidence-based approach to management we need to look at both big "E" and little 'e' evidence (after all we wouldn't have any management theory if we didn't have people practicing management to study - theory is derived from practice, and then, once we've done good research to understand the practices that are MOST likely to lead to the outcomes we are hoping for, then we can put the theory back into practice in an attempt to achieve these outcomes more efficiently and effectively in other contexts).
5 Structuring an evidence-based essay
Structuring an Evidence-Based essay
Introduce Evidence: Introduce your evidence either in a few words (“As stated by Brown et al (2012) ...”) or in a full sentence (“Mindfulness was first applied to the practice of management by .....” ).
State Evidence: What supporting evidence (reasons, examples, facts, statistics, and/ or quotations) can you include to prove/support/explain your topic sentence? Explain Evidence: How should we read or interpret the evidence you are providing us? How does this evidence prove the point you are trying to make in this paragraph? Can be opinion based and is often at least 1-3 sentences. Concluding Sentence: End your paragraph with a concluding sentence that reasserts how the topic sentence of this paragraph helps up better understand and/or prove your paper’s overall claim.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE PARAGRAPH #2, 3, 4 etc.
Repeat above
COUNTERARGUMENT PARAGRAPH (optional - students with more sophisticated thinking attempt this)
PURPOSE: To anticipate your reader’s objections; make yourself sound more objective and reasonable.
Optional; usually 1-2 paragraphs tops What possible argument might your reader pose against your argument and/or some aspect of your reasoning? Insert one or more of those arguments here and refute them. End paragraph with a concluding sentence that reasserts your paper’s claim as a whole.
CONCLUSION PART 1: SUM UP PARAGRAPH
PURPOSE: Remind readers of your argument and supporting evidence
Conclusion you were most likely taught to write in High School (it is more than a sentence or two, it is a summary/recap of your complete argument and the primary evidence you have drawn from) The conclusion restates your paper’s overall claim and supporting evidence
CONCLUSION PART 2: YOUR “SO WHAT” PARAGRAPH
PURPOSE: To illustrate to your reader that you have thought critically and analytically about this issue.
Your conclusion should not simply restate your intro paragraph. If your conclusion says almost the exact same thing as your introduction, it may indicate that you have not done enough critical thinking during the course of your essay (since you ended up right where you started).
Your conclusion should tell us why we should care about your paper. What is the significance of your claim? Why is it important to you as the writer or to me as the reader? What information should you or I take away from this?
Your conclusion should create a sense of movement to a more complex understanding of the subject of your paper. By the end of your essay, you should have worked through your ideas enough so that your reader understands what you have argued and is ready to hear the larger point (i. the "so what") you want to make about your topic. Take the reader on a journey with you as you learn and discover the evidence and your argument grows stronger.
Your conclusion should serve as the climax of your paper. So, save your strongest analytical points for the end of your essay, and use them to drive your conclusion
Vivid, concrete language is as important in a conclusion as it is elsewhere--perhaps more essential, since the conclusion determines the reader's final impression of your essay. Do not leave them with the impression that your argument was vague or unsure.
WARNING: It's fine to introduce new information or quotations in your conclusions, as long as the new points grow and flow LOGICALLY from your argument. New points might be more general, answering the "so what" question; they might be quite specific. Just avoid making new claims that need lots of additional support.
6 Drafts, editing and revising
Once you have drafted your essay, if possible, print it out and read it on paper and make notes and scribbles on it as you review and edit. You might even try reading it out loud to yourself, this way you are also 'hearing' it and will pick up on awkward sentence structure and grammatical mistakes much more easily than reading on paper.
Other suggestions to help increase the quality of your submission:
Use spellcheck.
APA referencing guide (Monash Uni ) : guides.lib.monash/citing- referencing/apa Harvard referencing guide (Monash Uni) : guides.lib.monash/citing- referencing/harvard Harvard referencing guide (USQ) : usq.edu/library/referencing/harvard-agps-referencing-guide
When you cite an article that is referenced by the article you are actually reading it is called secondary referencing. So if you were using a direct quote from Good et. al., (2016) you would write...
"Mindfulness is the receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experience” (Brown et. al., 2007; Quaglia, Brown, et. al., 2015 cited in Good et. al, 2016, p. 117).
Please note: the first time you cite a reference in text you should write out the full list of authors' surnames, only use et. al. in text only AFTER you have already cited all authors in the first use of the reference, after that just write the first author's surname and add et. al. to show that there are others. The exception to this is when there are 6 authors or more, then you can use et. for the first citation but still write the full list of authors in the end of text list regardless of how many there are.
If you use a direct quote (which you should do only sparingly), you need to also reference the page number the quote was cited from (do not need to cite page number if you are paraphrasing or simply referring to something said in the article).
Tips for writing an evidence-based essay
Course: Management, People and Organisations (MGMT1003)
University: Australian National University
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