Postgraduate study

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Postgraduate study
Keele UniversityPostgraduate Students Induction

• Dr Stephen Bostock FSEDAAdvisor for Technology
  and Learning

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Summary

• The nature of academic and postgraduate work
• The writing process
• The nature of academic writing at postgraduate
  level

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Have you ever studied at postgraduate-level
before?

• No
• Yes

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Is your course

• IT and Finance
• Human Resource Management
• IT
• MBA
• Other

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Education and Higher Education1

• At school
• We learn knowledge and skills, but typically
• Student work is not scholarly, it is not a
  personal synthesis of views, it does not
  acknowledge sources.
• At university
• Simple bookwork is not enough
• Scholarly work is expected, not just more, or
  more complex, knowledge and skills.

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Student views of learning 3

• A quantitative increase in knowledge
• Memorization, learning to remember
• The gathering of facts and methods for later use
• An interpretative process for understanding
  reality analysing our experiences to better
  understand the world
• Personal development

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Approaches to studying 4
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Two ways to study at university4
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Are these examples of academic knowledge?

• Knowing the times of the buses to Stoke
• A review of the principles and practice of
  scheduling in transportation
• Being able to recite The Merchant of Venice
  (William Shakespeare) from memory
• A critical review of the literary style of
  Shakespeares tragedies
• An abstraction and synthesis of material from a
  range of paper and electronic sources to give a
  coherent view of a subject, with acknowledgements
  to the sources

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Developing reflective judgement 5

• Pre-reflective stages 1,2,3knowledge is
  absolute and from authorities, certain unless
  temporarily unknown or uncertain. Beliefs are
  true from authority or wholly personal/arbitrary
  if not.
• Quasi-reflective 4,5 Knowledge is uncertain and
  individual interpretations. Beliefs are
  context-specific.
• Reflective thinking 6,7Knowledge is individual
  interpretation based on evaluations of evidence
  and of the opinions of others. What is most
  reasonable or probable on current evidence.
  Conclusions are the most complete, plausible or
  compelling understanding on available evidence.

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Academics (and postgraduate students)

• Are well informed, knowledgeable, expert
• Are aware of others views of their subject and
  how they are distinct from their own view
• Acknowledge the ideas and work of others
• Search for the truth regardless of authority
• Understand the limits and partial nature of
  knowledge in their domain the more you know,
  the more you realize we dont know
• Can make critical, reflective judgements in
  uncertain, complex circumstances they solve
  ill-formed problems in a subject domain

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Ask yourself

• Am I using a deep or a surface approach to study
  in this session?
• Now write a few lines, in your own first
  language, to explain the difference between your
  own deep and surface approaches to study.

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Undergraduate and postgraduatewhats the
difference?

• Quality Assurance Agency, November 2000 The
  framework for higher education qualifications in
  England, Wales and Northern Ireland (my
  parentheses and emphasis)
• Vote soon
• 1. Undergraduate Honours level
• 2. Postgraduate level

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Is it 1. UG (Honours degree) or 2. PG
(Masters degree)?

• a systematic understanding of key aspects of
  their field of study, including acquisition of
  (gaining a) coherent (integrated) and detailed
  knowledge, at least some of which is at, or
  informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of
  a discipline

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• a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a
  critical awareness of current problems and/or new
  insights, much of which is at, or informed by,
  the forefront of their academic discipline, field
  of study, or area of professional practice

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Is it 1. UG (Honours degree) or 2. PG
(Masters degree)?

• Be able to critically evaluate arguments,
  assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may
  be incomplete)

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• Be able to deal with complex issues both
  systematically and creatively, make informed
  judgements in the absence of complete data
• Be able to demonstrate self direction and
  originality in tackling and solving problems, and
  act autonomously (independently) in planning and
  implementing tasks at a professional or
  equivalent level

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In sum postgraduate work

• Undergraduate
• Systematic
• Coherent
• Sustain arguments
• Solve problems
• Describe and comment
• Critically evaluate

• Postgraduate
• Critical awareness
• Forefront of discipline
• Critically evaluate research
• Create hypotheses
• Creative, original
• Self directed, independent

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Your own writing process3

• There is no blueprint that works for everyone,
  every time.
• The diver writer
• The patchwork writer
• The grand plan writer
• The architect writer (Creme Lea, p.78)

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The writing process a modelbased on Coffin,
chapter 2b
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1. Prewritinga

• To find something to write about
• Understand, generate ideas
• Research, read, discuss
• Methods
• Brainstorming
• Freewriting
• Personal journal writing

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2. Planning methods

• To clarify, focus, organize
• Methods include
• Lists
• Graphic organizers mind map, clustering
• Outline views (essay plan).

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Cluster diagram4
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A draft with gaps
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Outline
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Mind map
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3. and 4. Drafting and revision

• Whatever your process, good writing takes
• Time
• Work
• Revisions.
• Revisions can be made on the word processor
  screen or on paper.
• Leave time for revisions.

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5. Peer review

• Peer review is an essential part of professional
  academic life.
• Anonymous peer reviews are necessary for journal
  publication and some books.
• Review by critical friends is common.

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6. Editing

• Editing, proofreading polishing are to correct
  the surface features of the text.
• Appearance
• Formatting, fonts, footnotes, footers
• Linguistic accuracy
• Spelling, punctuation
• Sources, references, acknowledgements
• Citations correct, references complete

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Appearance

• You may be given format guidelines.
• If not, ask a tutor for advice. E.g. what
  spacing? What margins?
• Title page student number, title, date, module,
  course possibly word length.
• Font use Arial 11 point, unless specified
  otherwise headings sub-headings are a little
  larger bold or italic use sparingly.
• Footer page numbers, other information?

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Linguistic accuracy

• Spelling use a dictionary and a spell-checker.
• Grammar use a guide and a grammar-checker.
• Choose the right word use a thesaurus.

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Characteristics of academic writing

• Pieces of academic writing often
• Use source materials (text books, articles )
• Compare and contrast often relating
  similarities and differences between competing
  ideas
• Use criteria to evaluate evidence
• Create an argument, thesis or story
• Make a decision as to the best option(s)
• Follow a convention or structure
• Are emotionally neutral, dispassionate.

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The academic essaythe analytical/interpretive
essay a

• Roughly, this involves
• Define the distinguishing features what are we
  discussing?
• Analysis - pulling a subject or idea apart into
  its components or parts
• Analyse those parts
• Explain how they fit together, to make the whole,
  assess or evaluate or judge the whole thing in
  terms of its components and their relationships.

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A good essay (HRM advice4)

• has a logical structure
• is analytical rather than descriptive
• develops an argument based on the literature
• deals with different interpretations found in the
  literature

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Register or style

• Formality-informality varies from legal through
  academic to personal writing.
• Formal writing has
• Many long words
• Many nouns rather than verbs
• Impersonal construction, passive voiceno
  personal pronouns I, we, my, you
• Hedging and emphasizing, greys not black and
  white.

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What is the difference in register or style?
(from source b) How is it achieved? highlight
important indicators/words A. Looking ahead and
planning your schedule So, you have a manuscript
in your life? As demanding as a jealous lover and
as burdensome as unpaid debts, the weight of this
new presence can be difficult to cope with when
you may already be juggling a family, a job,
friends, and perhaps a hobby or exercise
programme. A little planning can make the load
easier to bear B. Time management and
manuscript production The production of a
manuscript necessarily involves issues of time
management. A significant commitment of time must
be made in the production of a lengthy work.
Therefore, several factors should be considered
from the onset. It is often difficult to
incorporate an additional workload into an
already heavy agenda, and so, time management
planning is essential to successful completion of
the project
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Paragraphs in an essay

• A clear opening or introductory paragraph stating
  the thesis or aim or purpose or intention
• A series of paragraphs, each with one idea, tied
  to other paragraphs by the essay structure
• Each paragraph has a key sentence, often the
  first or second sentence
• First sentence can be the link to the last
• An explicit conclusion to close, wrap up
• In summary what the essay has said, or
• Return to the thesis, reaffirm or qualify it
• End with a related question or area of further
  work
• References (or footnotes)
• list of the works you have mentioned

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Sentences

• Dont let them wander about collecting ideas as
  they go. Long sentences are difficult to read,
  and to punctuate correctly.
• Break them into clauses with commas, to indicate
  the structure and avoid ambiguity.
• Have some variety of short and long sentences.
• Make occasional (correct) use of other
  punctuation marks ! ? ()
• Be very clear when you are quoting literally by
  quotation marks and citing the source. Indent
  longer quotations. However, not too many!

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Signposting b

• Too many unlinked facts, I cant see the
  argument
• These linking words and phrases between sentences
  and paragraphs are needed to make the argument or
  structure of the paragraph or essay clearer.
• They make it much better to read.
• For example
• When, after, before, then, next, first, second,
  last
• Because, if, although, therefore
• However, nevertheless, although, while, in
  contrast
• And, or, similarly, incidentally, furthermore, in
  addition, for example

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Evidence

• Your writing has to be your own words and ideas
  but you must show you understand how they relate
  to the ideas of others, and where they come from
• To demonstrate a knowledge of the topic
• To discuss others ideas explicitly
• To acknowledge your debt avoid plagiarism.
• There must be grounds for the claims and
  statements you make, from
• Published work
• Your own data
• Conclusions that you draw from those.

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Good writing style

• Use the right word use a dictionary and a
  thesaurus.
• Use short sentences, and also long sentences when
  necessary.
• Make clear the logic or structure.
• Each sentence relates to the one before and after
  it.
• Each paragraph relates to the one before and
  after it.

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Common grammatical errors a,b

• Prepositions are confused on, at, of, in.
• Word order is wrong.
• Articles are confused the, an, a.
• Commas are omitted or in the wrong place.
• Wrongly placed apostrophes (s,s,s) its and
  its
• e.g. i.e. etc. (just avoid them).
• Unclear pronoun references e.g. Julie wanted to
  catch the train but she was late.
• Verb tenses need care.
• Capital letters are for names.

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Anything wrong? a

• Some people think that being tired is just part
  of todays hectic lifestyle. But being tired even
  after a good nights sleep or feeling that you
  just want to nod-off when you are travelling to
  and from work can be signs of daily fatigue.

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Anything wrong? Corrected

• Some people think that being tired is just part
  of todays hectic lifestyle. However, being
  tired, even after a good nights sleep, or
  feeling that you just want to nod off when you
  are travelling to and from work, can be a sign of
  daily fatigue.

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Eats, shoots and leavesc

• A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich,
  eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in
  the air.
• Why? asks the confused waiter, as the panda
  makes towards the exit. The panda produces a
  badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it
  over his shoulder.Im a panda, he says, at the
  door. Look it up.
• The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure
  enough, finds an explanation.
• Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal,
  native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.

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References

• Some of the ideas on scholarship are based on a
  presentation by Mike Brough, Keele, to the MSc in
  IT.
• Boyer, E.L. 1992 Scholarship Reconsidered
  priorities of the professoriate Princetown
  Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
  Teaching
• Prossser M. and Trigwell K., Understanding
  Learning and Teaching, 1999, London SRHE, p.38
• A good source on deep and surface approaches is
  Ramsden P. Learning to teach in higher education
  1992, London Routledge
• King P.M. Kitchener K.S. 1994 Developing
  reflective judgement, San Francisco Jossey-Bass

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References

• Derek Soles, 2003, Writing an academic essay,
  Studymates
• Coffin, C. 2003 Teaching Academic Writing London
  Routledge
• Truss, L. 2003 Eats, shoots and leaves London
  Profile Books
• What is an essay? Advice to MA in HRM in a
  presentation by Colin Whitston
• Humphrys, J. 2004 Lost for Words, London Hodder

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Reading about writing

• Derek Soles, 2003, Writing an academic essay,
  Studymates Coffin, C. et al. Teaching Academic
  Writing 2003 London Routledge
• Stella Cottrell, 2003, The study skills handbook,
  second edition, Palgrave
• Creme, P. and Lea, R.L. 2003 Writing at
  university, a guide for students Second edition,
  Maidenhead Open University Press

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One should not aim at being possible to
understand but at being impossible to
misunderstand. Marcus Fabius Quintillian, ca. 0
AD p. 334 in John Humphrys Lost for Words2004,
London Hodder