APA writing Tips

1. Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average person, you are just not cut out for positions at the top. Founder, JC Penney

2. APA writing Tips • Economy of expression: state your idea or intent with as few words as possible • Construct short, concise sentences • Don’t begin sentences with a gerund [increases risk of passive voice and lack of clarity] • “Align your paper” • Memorize the citation rules • Memorize the use of numbers rules

3. Passive Voice • Active voice: subject clearly performs the action: “The boy must have eaten the hamburgers” thus the boy [subject] is doing the eating [verb] of the hamburger [DO] • Passive voice: the subject-verb relationship changes, often putting the subject into the position of the DO and creates awkward sentences: “The hamburgers must have been eaten by the boy” thus hamburgers cannot sustain the action of eating, since only the boy can eat the hamburgers • PV: Eating hamburgers is a poor health choice. AV: A poor health choice is to eat hamburgers.

4. Important Regions of the Brain Region of cognition Responds to motivation demands Ventral striatum; rich in dopamine receptors Facilitates memory & recall

5. Building cognition; ONE FOLDER AT A TIME [2-8 YEARS] event 1 event 2 event 3 Adult / teacher guidance moves children from event to event, otherwise fairly random movement occurs between events

6. Building cognition; MULTIPLE FOLDERS AT A TIME (CONCRETE) [8-12 YEARS, PERHAPS OLDER DEPENDING ON THE TASK] event 1 event 1 event 1 event 3 event 2 event 1 event 2 event 2 Adult / teacher guidance moves children from event to event, otherwise fairly random movement occurs between events

7. As cognition develops, mature, older children and adults can move across this time line in continuous fashion, without prompting or directions from others. Future Events [consequences] Past events Events Advanced cognitive maturity allows the individual to connect experiences, learning, and other interactions from the past, present, and future.

8. Parental & environmental influencesAchievement = interest + motivation + persistence + ability Developmental and psychological variables Innate compliance factors during childhood

9. Why do we go to school and learn stuff? How much content do you really remember, or is early schooling learning about something else? Young Brain and folders

10. This is why… Academic content is the vehicle for developing cognitive folders in the brain – “mental pushups” These folders equip the child for lifelong functioning and learning

11. Insight and cognition– ‘brother and sister’ “Insight or cognitive awareness is the ability to reflect on events past, present, and future; to hold those events in one’s mind long enough to make meaningful evaluations; and to be able to guide oneself into a new set of thoughts and behaviors based on those evaluations.” Insight and cognition

12. Pruning replaces gray matter with white matter for more efficient brain functioning Back Notes: Blue = less gray matter

15. Adult Brain vs. Child/Adolescent Brain: When making cognitive decisions an older child & adolescent use the . . . • Amygdala [ventral striatum organelle] • Reactive • Gut responses • Egocentric • Why adolescent still cognitively immature and emotional

16. The “mature” adult uses the: • Frontal Cortex • “Executive” of the brain • Controls impulses • Involved in organizing, planning, and reflection • Mediates attention • Working memory housed here • Called “the area of insight and cognition”