Professor Mark Duggan on Writing in BEPP
About the Professor
Professor Duggan's research focuses primarily on the effect of government expenditure programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on the behavior of individuals and firms. Some of his more recent research is exploring the contribution of market structure to the rise in health insurance premiums and the effect of physician financial incentives on the cost and quality of health care (from http://bpub.wharton.upenn.edu/people/faculty.cfm?id=1670).Imporant Criteria for Student Writing
Professor Duggan advises students to be thorough when writing BEPP papers and avoid the trap of just scratching the surface of a particular topic. If the paper intends to advocate for something, Professor Duggan stresses that students need to consider both sides of the argument. As Professor Duggan explained, "One common mistake students made on an assignment I gave was that students would answer why the state should challenge reform, but they wouldn’t make the counterargument. Assignments should be balanced, not one sided."
Rankings
The following lists the substantive elements every student should account for when writing a BEPP paper, with 1 being the most important and 5 being the least important:
1. following the assignment instructions
2. style
3. grammar and mechanics
4. following the discipline's citation practices
5. proper formatting
The following lists the evaluative elements every student should account for when writing a BEPP paper, with 1 being the most important and 4 being the least important.
1. having original ideas
2. reasoning and evidence
3. organization
4. demonstrating mastery of other's ideas
*According to Professor Duggan, his top three criteria (in order of importance) are having original ideas, reasoning and evidence, and organization.
Personal Writing Process
Professor Duggan will usually prepare all the results of his analysis first before beginning any actual writing. The results typically include sets of excel files and multiple tables. According to Professor Duggan, throughout the research process he would have crafted an outline (i.e. six to seven sections) of the paper, including a section with background information and an introduction. The standard paper is 35 pages long with 15 pages of tables and figures.
Favorite Author(s)
John Gruber - "He can distill complex concepts into ideas that are easy to understand. He was one of the advisors to the President on healthcare. He even wrote a children’s book on healthcare…he’s versatile," says Professor Duggan.
Genres of Writing
As a BEPP professor, Professor Duggan primarily writes pieces for academic journals and occasionally policy papers.
Examples of Professional Writing
http://bpub.wharton.upenn.edu/documents/research/Duggan%20-%20gunshows-aug3.pdfhttp://bpub.wharton.upenn.edu/documents/research/Duggan%20-%20gunshows-aug3.pdf
http://bpub.wharton.upenn.edu/documents/research/Duggan%20-%20paying_a_premium_ae.pdf
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