Describe the criteria for an autism diagnosis according to the DSM, and provide evidence that autism is clinically heterogeneous

Yes, you need a good introduction, with essay aims and giving your reader a quick introduction to the topic, but keep it brief. Do not spend two additional paragraphs reviewing the broader topic that the question sits in, if this is not required. Focus on the question and ensure that you are responding to it. For example, an excellent essay on ADHD and anxiety will not do well if the question is about the relationship between ADHD and Conduct Disorder. Nor will one that is predominantly about ADHD and broader psychopathology and only has one paragraph on the specific relationship with Conduct Disorder. So, make sure you are answering the question. This means being disciplined. There will be research that you find really interesting that is relevant to the topic but that doesn’t really help you answer the question. Don’t include it. When looking over your work in advance, ask yourself whether all of it helps answer the question. If not, cut it. Writing a clear essay plan before you start writing your answers will help you stay focused. An excellent, long, and well-argued answer doesn’t make up for a second answer that’s only a couple of paragraphs long. Also, try to leave five minutes to check each answer after you’ve finished it. There will be errors, so give yourself a bit of time to correct them. Child and adolescent development and developmental psychopathology is extremely complex, with a wide range of different and interacting influences. Any particular disorder or mental health problem will have a very large research literature, and nobody is seriously expecting you to cover all of it in an hour. Therefore, you have some scope to focus on some aspects of the research that are relevant to the question without necessarily having to cover everything in depth. At the same time, you should be careful not to completely skip over research that is obviously important to answering your question. For example, when there are two clearly competing explanations for the development of a disorder and you spend two sentences on one and the rest of your answer on the other, you are unlikely to have properly answered the question. Reading There are no two ways about it: students who read more, do better. There are no shortcuts, no getting around this fact. The better researched your answer is, the better you will do. Furthermore, it is important to be up to date. So, your answer should review recent research (as well as key earlier studies). We are mainly looking for recent peer-reviewed journal articles. Answers that rely instead on textbooks and websites will not do well (again, there are a few exceptions, e.g., NICE guidance documents, classic studies). How many of these references should there be? This is a common question and the answer I always give will not please you: exactly as many as you need, no more, no less. Remember what those citations are there for. They are there to provide evidence for the arguments you make. So, use the ones that you need. Don’t put loads in your answer in an attempt to impress. Remember, the people who are marking your answers are expert researchers in the topic area. They will know most of the relevant research and will know when a citation doesn’t actually support the point you are making or when you are throwing extra citations in to pad out your answer. So, to reiterate, there really is no substitute for reading extensively in preparation for answering your question. This results in more convincing arguments because you are able to provide relevant evidence and because, in the course of reading those articles, you will have thought critically about what you have read. This then tends to be evident in your answer.- Lack of critical evaluation • Avoid simply describing what you’ve learned from the literature. • Need to evaluate what you’ve read: • Research methodology: strengths/limitations of the sample size, sampling method, analytical approach, interpretation of findings. • Inconsistent findings / failure to replicate across different studies. • Does the research give us enough information to inform practice/policy? • Is the research published in reputable, peer-reviewed sources?• What will markers be looking for? • Depth and breadth of understanding reading – show you have spent time reading around the topic. • In-text citations are essential. • Demonstrate that that you know the key theories associated with the topic, as well as the most recent research in that area. • Critical evaluation of the work you’ve read – e.g. identifying gaps/limitations in the literature, recommending potential avenues for future research.• Strategies for getting a good grade: • Read widely, and take note of recent research (last 5-10 years). • Use the recommended readings from each week as a starting point. • Google Scholar: look up a highly-cited article, and then use the “cited by” feature to find relevant and recent papers on the same topic. • This helps you to narrow down your search (as opposed to searching for key words, which will bring up lots of irrelevant hits) • You shouldn’t be citing textbooks or websites at this level – focus on peer- reviewed journal articles.