In your opinion, what age category students should to learn writing articles and why? it is important question for development of papers in future.
Dear Vahid.
You ask the following: At what age category students should learn writing articles and why?
Let me start by saying that age is an indicator, not a criterion of development. As Michael says,students should learn to write from the beginning of their language learning, However, to write and to write an article are different things.
As a developmental psychologist, I think that to write an article to be submiited for publication in an appropiate journal requires formal thought and abstract reasoning in Piagetian terms. It is rare to find formal thought before the age of 15/16.There are, however, adolescents and even adults who never acquire formal thought.
To write an article, a student has, in general, to be able to review the relevant literature, to advance some hypotheses or raise "an irritating" question, that this, a question whose answer leads us to a better knowledge of the unknown, and design an experimental situation to test his/her hypothesis or hypotheses. I cannot see a child who is capable of mastering all these steps. It is often the case that the first research carried out by a sudent occurs when s/he is Master student and that non-supervised research occurs only after a Ph D degree. You refer to an article. As I see it, an article is a scientifc paper that can be submitted for publication to an appropiate journal. As in your topics you refer to journalism, you should be thinkig about a journalist article, not to a scientific paper. This caveat notwithstanding, I think that to write, say, a decent article on any topic requires formal thought and abstract reasoning. There is amassing evidence that shows that to run a scientific experiment requires formal thinking.
I hope I has got your question and that this helps.
Best regards,
Orlando
Students should learn to write from the beginning of their language learning. As they grow, they should learn the different styles of writing.
Tjhe topics you have selected for this question make several references to journalistic writing. This style of writing requires critical thinking, but I think that at least by high school, if not younger, students should be able to learn the structures and standards for journalistic wrirting -- things like what makes up a good lead, interviewing at least two sources, proper use of quotes and transitions, etc.
Hi Dear Michael
Thanks for comprehensive information and can you introduce a reference for this issue?
Not the age but experience makes one mature, sooner better than later.
Since dessertations are required from undergraduate level, a student should learn from this stage onwards. However, to write a great article in a top journal, it requires years of ruminating literatures on a particular field, mastering the field and skill of interpretation. Technical writing is an art. Some are good at doing research and carry out abundant experiments. Unfortunately, that researcher may not be successful to convert his work into a presentable article in a good journal.
I agree that age is not the constraint. Even in business consulting, some form of research is required and some people may be good at only data collection. The stage of data analysis and research report calls for experience.
This might sound extreme, but my granddaughter in Grade 1 (private school) was required to mention her source used for her "speech". Then I thought, Why not? After all, in her case it's just 2 words: Reference: Wikipedia. What does that cost? She is now set up to be a non-plagiarist for the rest of her life.
Dear Vahid.
You ask the following: At what age category students should learn writing articles and why?
Let me start by saying that age is an indicator, not a criterion of development. As Michael says,students should learn to write from the beginning of their language learning, However, to write and to write an article are different things.
As a developmental psychologist, I think that to write an article to be submiited for publication in an appropiate journal requires formal thought and abstract reasoning in Piagetian terms. It is rare to find formal thought before the age of 15/16.There are, however, adolescents and even adults who never acquire formal thought.
To write an article, a student has, in general, to be able to review the relevant literature, to advance some hypotheses or raise "an irritating" question, that this, a question whose answer leads us to a better knowledge of the unknown, and design an experimental situation to test his/her hypothesis or hypotheses. I cannot see a child who is capable of mastering all these steps. It is often the case that the first research carried out by a sudent occurs when s/he is Master student and that non-supervised research occurs only after a Ph D degree. You refer to an article. As I see it, an article is a scientifc paper that can be submitted for publication to an appropiate journal. As in your topics you refer to journalism, you should be thinkig about a journalist article, not to a scientific paper. This caveat notwithstanding, I think that to write, say, a decent article on any topic requires formal thought and abstract reasoning. There is amassing evidence that shows that to run a scientific experiment requires formal thinking.
I hope I has got your question and that this helps.
Best regards,
Orlando
Vahid..... interesting question.... & will give you a personal response.... Both of my children wrote a Book... yes, Book in First Grade here in the US.... not published.... but had cover etc.... I still have each of these first books...... My daughter went on to actually author a book with her Dad & won the Benjamin Franklin Award..... so I agree with earlier answer.... as soon as children can write at any level.... then the building blocks begin & some of us go on to write articles, dissertations, legislation etc... but I was told early in life... a few folks are gifted from birth in terms of writing... the rest of us need to practice, practice & practice some more ( I am still practicing....)
Hi dear Patricia
Thanks for fantastic information offer to me and in my opinion, this subject showing that you are very kindly mother. All mother are gold person in the world.
It is important to distinguish learning to write and learning to write articles. Obviously, learning to write articles relies on learning to write and on acquired writing skills, but in addition to formal reasoning, language development, etc. as Orlando indicated, students need to acquire the rules of the genre, and there are several textual genres which vary with disciplines. For instance, writing an article for psychology is different than writing an article for History. Learning to write articles, above general writing skills, requires skils that can ony be learned when practicing the discipline. In particular when reading articles written my others. These skills are particularly related to knowledge of the concepts, history of the fields, of the theories and their strictures etc.
Of course, it is possible to introduce some important skills before entering into scholarship, so my answer would be that learning to write articles should begin when the student is beginning practicing this field.
regards
Hope my answer will help
Thierry
Dear Mr. Vahid,
Your Question is an interesting one! In my opinion, students should learn to write articles as soon as possible. For example, they can be taught how to write articles at the age of 10. As long as they can speak and know how to write, then definitely they can come up with some short pieces of writing. They simply can begin by writing about age related topics. Of course, such articles can only be written so that students can notice what writing is about and what some of the techniques are that they need. The teacher should also guide the students and give them the information about article writing that is suitable for their age. This way, students can avoid writing apprehension which many people face even after graduating university. Thus, the sooner the better.
Kindest Regards,
Basan
Hi dear Basan
thanks for completely information and do you have any experience in this field?
Dear Vihad,
Congratulations for your great question. I believe in EARLY training for everything including the teaching of students how to learn to write articles. How early, is dependent on many factors, some of which have been detailed in the opinions of Orlando, Basar, and Olive.
I am of the view that the learning of language and the genres of learning can be coupled with the writing of articles. Inculcating the rudiments in article writing at the tender ages required for primary education would ingrain the virtues of good writing as Prof. Ian Kennedy and Prof. Patricia realized of the grand daughter and daughter respectfully.
The best option is to always look at the level of difficulty, learning and grasping abilities and always assigned age-specific and/or appropriate subjects (themes) for the article writing. Personally, I felt in love with article writing when I was aged 8 in Primary level four. It was because of the great enthusiasm my teacher, Madam Jane, expressed towards it. No wonder I earned many national and international awards even while I was still a teenager.
The generation today (Children) are previewed to many opportunities that can facilitate learning better than we had. Therefore, it would be appropriate to work at the development of article writing gradually till they fully mature in writing very robust and comprehensive articles. Probably, giving varied themes for students to write on at the formative stages would help as interests of learners at this stage largely influence their learning.
Thank you
Dickson Adom
My opinion is that age is a secondary factor. The man either can write or can not. Those who can write with time accumulate experience and their articles become better. And those people who can not write articles - do unsuccessful attempts until they give up. And if they are more stubborn - until they retire.
I'd like to present full agreement with the detailed answer of our colleague Dr.Orlando M Lourenço.
Regards, Emad
Dar Vahid,
Orlando writes a very detailed description of when formal writing re; critical think ocurrs in most adolescents 15 - 16.... I would emphasize MOST adolescents... I have one who arrived there much earlier ....and a second who at age 35 who has not quite reached that stage.... But the other issue in teaching students of any age about writing an article or a journal is the sad reality that they can write an incredible & appropriate piece and still be turned down... Many of us have seen this.... politics are unfortunately alive & well in the publication field... My husband tonite was on an NSF Review board that turned down the application & yet it was funded.... so in addition to teaching the skills of writing please help students understand the vagaries of publication - not always a fair & clean process...
Yes, writing is an art. Not everybody get. But had you been trained in such a way then obviously you better write while answering questions since your school days onward. When come to scientific dissertations and articles you need a bit guidance. I too say age is not either a barrier or limitation. All RG friends gave nice suggestions.
I agree with Jetty Ramadevi , that "age is not either a barrier or limitation".
Writing is a skill that should be taught from very early on, I think, because practice makes perfect. Collecting ones thoughts, then presenting them logically, and articulating them clearly, is a skill like any other. And teachers can guide students, by reviewing what they write, and then explaining how organization matters. Perhaps restructuring how the paper was written, to create a more logical flow for the reader.
Articles are just one form of written material. Students earn how to write essays, book reports, lab reports, short stories, reports on famous historical figures, classroom presentations, any number of different material. Articles should be no different. It's just a form of writing that requires research ahead of time, but then again, so do lab reports, so do classroom presentations, so do many forms of writing.
Writing is an art but the students should be trained in the early age of their career
Hi dear Dibakar
I agree with you and this issue is very important.
Dear all.
In a more or less explicit manner all previous answers make a reference to age and generally distinguish between writing and writing a scientific, namely experimental, paper to be published in a peer-review Journal. As I see it, if an article is not subject to a peer-review system it is hardly a scientific paper.
As a developmental psychologist, I stick to those who say that biological age is neither a criterion nor an indicator of intellectual capacity or cognitive development, just to cite one example. However, say, in normal circumstances, biological age means more experience, learning, psychological development, and neural growth. It is this experience, learning, development and growth that occurs with increasing age, not age per se, that matters. So, when we say that it would be a waste of time to try to teach the proportionality concept, for exemple, to a 4-year-old child, it should be stressed that this is not possible because a 4-year-old child had not yet time enough, for instance, to develop in cognitive terms and grow in biological/neural terms. In a nutshell, although age per se does not matter, it matters in that only with increasing age can an individual have certain experiences and learnings, grow in biological/neural terms, and develop in cognitive terms. In this sense, we should be careful when we say that biological age does not matter as far as writing and writing scientflcally are concerned. As such, to think of a baby or even a child capable of scientific writing would defy our imagination. It was not a mere coincidence that Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development (sensorimotor, 0-2/3 years; preoperational, 2/3 years to 6/7 years; concrete operational, 6-7 to 10-11 years; and formal operational; 12 years- onwards) are associated with, but not necessarily linked to, age. For exemple, there is accumulated evidence that shows that many adolescents and adults are not, say, elaborated formal thinkers. The Piagetian distinction between non-elaborated and elaborated formal thinkers is beyond the scope of this answer.
To write implies to use words that are a symbol of something, which Piaget called symbolic function.This capacity rarely occurs before the age of 4-5 years. Of course, this depends on the type of language, and children may be trained to write, say, a meaningful sentence at an earlier age. I wonder to what extent such a training is benefical to the child at hand or, say, to the market, be it free or not free.
As for writing a paper to be subject to a peer review system, I keep thinking that this is only at the reach of formal thinkers. As we know, to design an experimental plan, to put forth a new hypothesis, to imagine relations between variables, to dissociate variables, to make conjectures and test them, and the like implies to go beyond the current and concrete state of affairs. With the exception of geniuses, rarely, if ever, those capacities emerge, at their best, before 15/16 years. Needless to say, these capacities may be fostered or hindered by the physical and social milieu. When this is the case, one may wonder, however, to what extent they can be transered to non-trained domains, and how long they endure. Again I wonder to what extent such a training is benefical tothe subject at hand or, say, to the market.
I would be happy if this answer could clarify the issue at hand.
Best regards.
Orlando
A literature/rhythms' admire never declares it in a solemn and emphatic manner with the same inspiration and passion as a real author. The most difficult things in writing an article is reaching a state of a complete self-assurance, that the scope of obtained information is a correct, tested, and important step forward in a particular science/technology, and the author(s) is ready to take a public responsibility for presenting and defending it.
Having such a self-assurance, the author(s) is highly motivated to get done the manuscript as a whole and in its every particular part in the best possible way, without cutting corners and swallowing important pieces of information.
Of course, it requires a certain experience, training, and habits that can be separated into specific training parts like, for instance (in arbitrary priorities):
- how to choose and develop the most eloquent figures (in the essence and the tools)
- what is the reasonable minimal but necessary use of mathematics in an article
- how to sample, mine, format and present the data
- how to present the problem going to be solved in the article in the most professional way
- how to write an abstract
- how to handle references and citations
- what is a prudent but consistent way to present written conclusions
- how to describe materials, technologies, methodologies, and tools being used in a short, accurate, and generally accepted manner
- how to present the logic and arguments of the author(s) toward the final conclusions
Frankly, I am very much in favor of students taking part in research as early as possible (or the opportunity comes up). That would give them the inspiration and passion necessary.
I think we should implement this during a very young age of min 3 years. This can help kids learn words faster, read more and improve their language skills. This will help improve their grammar and develop their imagination. Kid should learn write books and invent little stories!
I think every parents should encourage their kids to write them stories both by writing and drawing characters.
In turn this will help them improve their learning skills! :)
Typically, a student should start learning "how to write an article" from their school days. If you mean technical articles, then from their high school at least.
As soon as possible, but according to the calendar of acquiring specific skills and gaining knowledge. In addition, it is important to specify the distribution of texts, articles written by students, because the given deal will be adequate for a certain age of students. Before students write their scholarly articles during their studies, it is important that earlier, during the earlier stages of the education process, students learn how to correctly edit, write various types of texts correctly including the correctness of formulating sentences, writing characteristics, distinguishing the written language from colloquial, avoiding style errors, spelling, syntax, etc.
Then, before learning to write scientific articles, students should learn about research methods, their application, methods of elaboration of research results, description of research and their results in articles, including correct citation of sources, analysis of source literature , correct formulation of research theses, planning of scientific research, etc. Many of these research issues are taught and used when writing theses during studies.
It depends on their ability to understand a topic properly and to write properly for other's understanding.
Secondary school would be a good point to start from! As students start to identify their interest and scientific stream and build on required skills.
I think final year undergraduates and beginning postgraduate students should be made to actively involved in one or more forms of academic writing.
Interesting topic and nice replies.
I think in most countries it starts during primary school. It might depend on the context though (country, language, culture).
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