A politics lecturer is using the Coleen Rooney-Rebekah Vardy feud to show students how to write their dissertation.
Richard Johnson, from the University of Strathclyde, showed his postgrad students how each part of Coleen's viral revelation was the perfect template for an abstract.
Coleen Rooney sparked a feud after she posted on her Twitter account alleging that fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy was selling stories about her to The Sun newspaper.
READ MORE: Coleen Rooney accuses Rebekah Vardy of leaking stories about her private life
Coleen blocked everyone except Rebekah and fed her fake stories over five months, before finally exposing her with the iconic post, which received more than 300,000 likes and 56,000 retweets.
Student Harry Caine, who was in the lecture when Mr Johnson presented the humorous analogy, told student newspaper The Tab: "The reaction from the class was delayed due to how dry his delivery was.
“Once people got it they were laughing.
"I was in hysterics and thought 'Well, what would Coleen say?'"
And now, students on the Principles of Research Design module can turn the iconic post into a first-rate research proposal.
The abstract structure in reference to Coleen’s post is as follows:
Concise problem statement: “For a few years now someone who I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been consistently informing The Sun newspaper of my private posts and stories."
Why it matters: “There has been so much information given to them about me, my friends and my family – all without my permission or knowledge.
Preliminary observations: “After a long time of trying to figure out who it could be, for various reasons, I had a suspicion.
A testable hypothesis which sets out one independent variable only: “To try and prove this, I came up with an idea, I blocked everyone from viewing Instagram except ONE account.
(Those on my private account must have been wondering why I haven’t had stories on there for a while).
Experimental Replication: “Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into the Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did! The story about gender selection in Mexico, the story about returning to TV and then the latest story about the basement flood in my new house.
Summarises findings constrained by uncertainties/caveats: “It’s been tough keeping it to myself and not making any comment at all, especially when the stories have been leaked, however I had to. Now I know for certain which account/individual it’s come from.
READ MORE: Who is Rebekah Vardy and why is #Wagatha Christie trending?
Data management like a champ (BONUS: Orthogonal support): "I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them."
Ends with most concise and clear conclusion possible on the basis of available data: “It’s……… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Harry added: "I have to say this made me laugh a lot.”
This has been a burden in my life for a few years now and finally I have got to the bottom of it...... pic.twitter.com/0YqJAoXuK1
— Coleen Rooney (@ColeenRoo) October 9, 2019
Mr Johnson, originally from California, admitted he’s not the original author of the slides and instead found it on Twitter before sharing with his students.
He said: "I think the advice by the creator is well-thought out and solid.
"There’s also a lesson in here about remembering to cite your sources, even from Twitter."
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