MASARYK UNIVERSITY Dept. of Foreign Languages POSTRGRADUATE ACADEMIC WRITING COURSE SESSION 3 a. SESSION 3 PLAN b. SESSION 1 & 2 SUMMARY (Adapted from Alison Brown, 2007) c. Concentrate on the specific topic you write about. Prepare a 1 minute introduction of your topic to be presented to a layman. You must not use any specialized vocabulary but generally common words only. 1.EVIDENCE & REFERENCE 1.1. Evidence is the support for your statements and opinions from other sources. The quality of your evidence is in fact more important than your opinions. Without evidence your work does not belong in an academic environment. If you are doing primary research you use your own data as the most important evidence. However in most academic papers this is usually done by placing your own work in the context of other academic work. At the end of longer papers you will use references and perhaps appendices to support your paper. (Adapted from: http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/AcademicWriter/Paragraphs/paragraph.htm) Which are the most common ways of referencing? 1.2. Which statements should be referenced when used or referred to in a piece of academic writing? Do the quiz! (Adapted from: http://www.greenwich.ac.uk/~bj61/talessi/tlr5.html, http://www.amypadgett.com/2007/05/to-every-action-there-is-equal-and.html; http://rense.com/general59/weu.htm, http://www.whale.to/m/quotes26.html; Czechóova, K.2005, p.6) 1.3. In text referencing (using sources) It is important to support the points you make with evidence and examples from other research thoughtfully and carefully so you do not plagiarise. Look at the student paraphrased versions of Harden’s idea and comment on the quality of their referencing. Original material: ‘…nurses can be viewed as an oppressed group, a view supported by the fact that nurses lack autonomy, accountability and control over their own profession. Yet nursing is by far the largest occupational group within the sphere of healthcare, so why is it so powerless? For me the history of the domination of nursing is inextricably linked to that of the domination and oppression of women.’ Source: Harden, J 1996, Enlightenment, empowerment and emancipation: the case for critical pedagogy in nurse education Student version 1: Although nurses form the largest occupational group in the healthcare profession, they can be seen as an oppressed group. Harden (1996) states that the domination of nurses is inextricably linked to the historical oppression and domination of women in society. For nurses, she claims this oppression is illustrated by the extremely limited professional independence they have as seen by their lack of accountability and control over their profession. Student version 2: Despite nurses forming the largest group in the healthcare professions, Harden (1996) claims they can be categorised ‘as an oppressed group’ (p.33). She explains the domination of nurses as a reflection of the historical oppression and domination of women in society. For Harden (1996), this subservient role of nurses is illustrated by their ‘lack of autonomy, accountability and control over their own profession’ (p.33). Student version 3: Nursing is by far the largest occupation group in healthcare. Yet, nurses can be seen as an oppressed group. This view is supported by the fact that nurses lack control over their own profession. They do not have autonomy or accountability. The history of the domination and oppression of women is the link to explaining the domination of nursing. (Adapted from Alison Brown, 2007) Reference styles: APA: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ MLA: http://www.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/mla.html 2. TEXT TYPES 2.1. Match the following sentences with adequate text types. TEXTBOOK JOURNAL ARTICLE MAGAZINE ARTICLE DOCTORAL THESIS a) The text is probably a quality piece of work and can be of great interest to the academic community, however, it is usually not very easy to make it publishable. b) The authors of the text are paid by the publishing company to write about what somebody else is doing in a style suitable for general but targeted audience. c) Its purpose is to distribute highly specific knowledge to experts and students. d) It is a publication produced according to the demand of educational institutions. e) Its purpose is to make money by supplying a platform to advertisers who want to reach a particular audience. f) The text is reviewed before published by a peer review board or a panel of experts that decides which submissions can be identified as trustworthy sources and are acceptable for publication. g) This is a long text where the author provides detailed evidence and justification regarding what was or was not done, or considered, in a research project in order to back up the ultimate conclusions that are offered. h) It is a publication used for the formal study of any branch of study. (Adapted from: http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic/sources/journals/index.html; Robert Q. Pollard Jr. 2005; http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic/sources/journals/vs_magazines.htm; http://gradpsych.apags.org/mar06/dissertation.html) 3. TEXT STRUCTURE 3.1. WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF AN ACADEMIC TEXT? 1. What are the basic/ “compulsory” parts of every academic text? 2. What parts do academic texts usually consist of? 3. What parts can academic texts consist of? 4. Why do we include these parts? 3.2. Look at the jumbled contents of a thesis below. What should the correct order of the individual parts of a thesis be? Introduction Abstract Abbreviations and Some IDUs’ Argots Used in the Analysis Discussion Methodology Table of Contents Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Acknowledgments Conclusion References Appendices 3.3. Work in pairs. Look at the steps which frequently appear in research article or thesis introductions. Which of them are common in your field? Can you use some of them in your introduction? Announcing present research Announcing principal findings Claiming centrality Continuing a tradition Counterclaiming Indicating a gap Indicating RA structure Making topic generalization Outlining purposes Question-raising Reviewing items of previous research 3.4. Work through the following points to outline a working description of the structure of your thesis. The Story of a Thesis: The situation my research field is the following: ________________________________ , therefore I study_________________________________(background information: Chapter 1 – introduction) This is important because ________________________________ (main issue: Chapter 1 – introduction) So I intend to ________________________________ (aims: Chapter 1 – Introduction) Researchers believe/used to believe that this issue ________________________________ (Chapter 2 – literature review, or first part of subsequent parallel chapters) But I think that ________________________________ (review of aims: Chapter 3 – methodology, or second part of subsequent parallel chapters: argumentative evidence may be integrated to some extent within the literature review) So I use this method/theory to do some research ________________________________ (Chapter 3 – methodology, continuing second part of parallel chapters) And I have found that (my) argument suggests that ________________________________ (Chapter 4 – results, or 3^rd part of parallel chapters) This means that ________________________________ (Chapter 5 – discussion, or 4^th part of parallel chapters) At this stage, depending on how many chapters you plan to write, it may be useful to include an overall discussion/analysis chapter to tie together previous parallel chapters. Overall, this is important because ________________________________ (Chapter 6 – conclusion, or whatever your final chapter number is) But I would still recommend that ________________________________ (Chapter 6 – conclusion, or final chapter) (Source: Adapted from http://www2.ems.uq.edu.au/phdweb/phfaq02.html in Morgan, J., 2007) 3.5. Fill the gaps in the table below with the missing comments: Features across the IMRD section high (5x) inside out low (4x) outside-in Feature I M R D Movement of information (Hill et al.) ….. narrow narrow ….. Present tense (Hesolt) ….. low ….. high Past tense (Hesolt) fairly low very ….. very high fairly low Passive voice (Hesolt) ….. ….. variable variable Authorial comments (Adam Smith) ….. very ….. very ….. ….. (Adapted from: Swales, J.M. 1990. Genre Analysis. CUP.) 3.6. Planning diagram (Adapted from: Brooks and Grundy, 1990:92 in Morgan, J., 2007) 3.7. Thesis planner (See: IS ppt materials) 3.8. Think of the differences between PhD thesis writing and journal article writing. Look at the contents of the following academic texts and identify which are structures of theses and which of articles. 1. Visual-motor performance and its association with minor neurological dysfunction in children born preterm Abstract Introduction Overview 1. What is prematurity 1.1. Long-term sequelae of preterm birth 1.1.1. Motor development and its association with cognitive abilities Visual development Behavioural development 2. Minor Neurological Dysfunction 3. Bases of observed dysfunctions 3.1. Impact of early injury/exposure on later development 4. Theories of different visual subsystems 4.1. Underleider and Mishkin’s distinction (‘what’ and ‘where’) 4.2. Goodale and Milner’s theory (‘where’ vs. ‘how’) 4.3. Semantic vs. pragmatic 4.4. Different susceptibility of the two streams …? 5. Object-oriented movements - grasping Empirical part 6. Goals of the study 7. Method 7.1. Participants 7.2. Procedure 8. Results 8.1. Quantitative measures 8.2. Qualitative measures 8.2.1. Guidance of movement 8.2.2. Type of grip 8.2.3. Finger configurations 8.2.4. Quality of the lift and block movement 8.2.5. Analysis with respect to the presence/absence of MND 9. Interpretation of the findings 10. Discussion Conclusion Appendix References 2. The Czechoslovak Policy led by Edvard Beneš and the first Restoration Attempt of Charles Habsburg in Hungary in the Spring 1921 1.Abstract 2.The Royal Question as a Reactionary Factor of the Interior- and Foreign Political Consolidation of Hungary and its Position in Czechoslovak-Hungarian Relations (A Brief Introduction to the Problem) 3. The Course of the First Restoration Attempt of Charles Habsburg and Czechoslovak Anti-Habsburg Diplomatic Offensive 4. Notes 3. Lessons from the Sam Hinga Norman Decision of the Special Court for Sierra Leone: How Trials and Truth Commissions can Co-exist A. Introduction B. Purposes of Trials and TRCs: A theoretical perspective I. The TRC Process II. The Trial Process III. Synergies between the Trial and TRC Processes: Their overlapping objectives C. Case Study: Sierra Leone and the Hinga Norman Decision I. The Country Context II. The Truth Commission III. The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) IV. The Relationship between the SCSL and the TRC: Pre-planning and coordination V. The Relationship between the SCSL and the TRC: the Sam Hinga Norman Decision 1. How the conflict arose between the SCSL and TRC 2. The Trial Chamber decision 3. The Appeals Chamber decision (Adapted from: Czéekoóvá, K.(2005), unpublished dissertation; Tóth, A. (2007), unpublished article; http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2004/issue4/marson4.html;)