Great Beginnings and Endings in Academic Writing

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Great Beginnings and Endings in Academic Writing

• Graduate Centre of Business, Lecture Series in
  Research Methodology - Spring 2010

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• Lawrence Cleary and Dr. íde OSullivan
• Research Officers,
• Regional Writing Centre, UL, C1065/66, Main
  Building
• www.ul.ie/rwc

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Telos

• Teleology is at the heart of Aristotle's his
  theory of causes.
• Material cause
• Formal cause
• Efficient or moving cause
• Final cause
• It is the study of purposiveness, or the study of
  objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or
  intentions
• What motivates our dissertation? What determines
  its form? What motivates it? What purpose is
  revealed from its realisation?

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Dancing the Dance

• Put on your red shoes and dance the blues
• Dance to the song theyre playin on the radio
• Sway through the crowd to an empty space
• Let's dance for fear your grace should fallfor
  fear tonight is all
• Because my love for you would break my heart in
  two if you should fallinto my armsand tremble
  like a flower
• Sway under the moonlight, the serious moonlight

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Research/Writing Process

• Prewriting
• Drafting
• Revising
• Editing and Proofreading

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The Rhetorical Situation

• The context into which you write
• Occasion
• Topic
• Audience
• Purpose
• Writer

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Strategy Development

• Cognitive
• Metacognitive
• Affective
• Social

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Where are you in the terms of the dance?

• Prewriting?
• Drafting?
• Revising?
• Editing and Proofreading?

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Where are you?

• How much of your thesis is already written, and
  how much writing would you like to do in the
  long, medium and short term?
• 5 minutes writing
• Write complete sentences
• Dont edit
• Private writing
• Discussion in pairs/groups to follow

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Put on your red shoes

• There are all kinds of things that you have to do
  before you start writing.
• The most difficult part is getting started.
• The most important thing is to start dancing now.

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Prewriting

• Planning
• Evaluating the rhetorical situation, or context,
  into which you write
• Choosing and focusing your topic
• Establishing an organizing principle
• Gathering information
• Entering the Discourse on your Topic
• Taking notes as a Strategy to Avoid Charges of
  Plagiarism
• Evaluating sources

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Assessing your writing situation

• Your writing process
• The rhetorical situation or context
• Your own writing strategies

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The music theyre playing on the radio

• Entering the discourse communities
• Reporting on what they are saying, on where they
  agree and where they disagree, and on how this
  pertains to you and your topic.

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Lets Dance

• What do you already know about your topic and the
  specific aspect of the topic are you going to
  discuss? What do you still need to pt A topic in
  business that I would like to research is
• Keep writing non-stop for 5 minutes.
• Write in sentences.
• Do not edit or censor your writing.
• Discuss what you have written in pairs.

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Drafting

• Writer-based Writing (Writing to gather your
  thoughts and to explain it all to yourself so
  that you can, later, explain it to everyone
  else.)
• Dont worry about order or grammar
• At some point, stop to assess what was written
• Look for patterns or indications of direction, a
  path into a discourse
• Get your thoughts down on paper

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Sway through the crowd to an empty space

• In the literature, identify
• Poorly supported conclusions
• Contested stances
• Gaps in the research

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Points of Order

• Research papers are organized around the problem,
  not the topic per se.
• The problem, in a sense, is the topic.
• Problems, however, exist in contexts, as do
  solutions.

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Whats your problem?

• Logical denoument
• Question ? Answer
• Problem ? Solution
• Hypothesis ? Test (affirmation/negation)
• Claim ? Defence
• When we talk about Aristotles formal cause
• Not all questions are answered in the same way
• How will your questions be answered?
• Your problems solved/hypotheses tested?
• Your claims defended?

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Rowena Murrays page-98 paper

• My research question is (50 words)
• Researchers who have looked at this subject are
  (50 words)
• They argue that (25 words)
• Debate centres on the issue of (25 words)
• There is work to be done on (25 words)
• My research is closest to that of X in that (50
  words)
• My contribution will be (50 words)
• Murray, R. (2006) How to Write a Thesis, 2nd ed.
  Maidenhead, England Open University Press.

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Dissertation Structure

• Preliminaries
• Main Body
• Introduction, Lit. Review, Methodology,
  Presentation of Data, Analysis of Data,
  Conclusions and Recommendations
• End Matter

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Drafting your Dissertation or Thesis

• Try to visualize your dissertation or thesis.
  Work toward that vision.
• Begin to structure itestablish your section
  headings give them titles. These do not have to
  be permanent.
• Examine the logical order of ideas reflected in
  those titles.
• Do not get hung up on details elements of the
  draft are subject to change in the revision
  stage.
• Start to write the sections that you are ready to
  write. Dont try to write the Introduction merely
  because it comes first.

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Writing Prompt

• What question will I try to answer / problem will
  I try to solve / hypothesis will I try to affirm
  / claim will I try to defend?
• What do I need to know in order to answer that
  question? Defend the claim? Test the hypothesis?
• Layers What other questions do I need to answer?
  Claims to defend? Hunches to test?

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Arguments Logic

• A good argument will have, at the very least
• a thesis that declares the writer's position on
  the problem at hand
• an acknowledgment of the opposition that nods to,
  or quibbles with other points of view
• a set of clearly defined premises that illustrate
  the argument's line of reasoning
• evidence that validates the argument's premises
• a conclusion that convinces the reader that the
  argument has been soundly and persuasively made.
• (Dartmouth Writing Program 2005)

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Literature Review Logic

• The Lit. Review that you wrote for your proposal
  will not necessarily be the same review that you
  submit as part of your dissertation.
• Think in terms of your argument and the support
  that you provided for claims
• Include a review of all the literature that you
  read to learn about your topic and the
  particular aspect of your topic that you focus
  on.
• Include a review of the literature on the
  methodologies that you used.

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Pints of Porter

• The literature that you read informs both the
  immediate context of the problem and the larger
  context of which it is a part.
• The methodology you choose determines the data
  you get, as does your analytical methodology
  determine what you get from that data.

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Writing the Literature Review

• What is it?
• What is its purpose?
• To guide and inform your process
• To identify the discourse(s) into which you write
• To locate your position within the
  discourse/knowledge field
• To inform your audience about the credibility and
  value of your conclusions

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Issues of Credibility

• Definition from Merriam-Webster an
  interpretation and synthesis of published
  research (Merriam qtd in Murray 2006 108).
• Choices speak to your understanding of the puddle.

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Organization

• How will I organize my literature review?
• Can I classify or categorize the stuff Ive read
  so far?
• Can I say how each piece of literature has helped
  to inform my over-riding questions and/or
  sub-questions?

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Writing Prompt

• What do I know about my research topic?
• What I am looking for in the literature is...
• What are the schools of thought in the
  literature?
• The great debates in my area are...

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Questions Your Lit Review Should Answer (Murray
2006 115)

• Why is this subject important?
• Who else thinks its important?
• Who has worked on this subject before?
• Who has done something similar to what I am
  doing?
• What can be adapted to my own study?

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Questions Your Lit Review Should Answer (Murray
2006 115) (Cont)

• What are the gaps in the research?
• Who is going to use my material?
• What use will my project be?
• What will my contribution be?
• What specific question will I answer?
• What specific questions will my research not be
  able to address?

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Writing Prompt

• If we can frame the main question in a hierarchy,
  below which are framed the sub-questions, and we
  can put these frames in a larger frame called the
  Literature Review, what frames are you ready to
  fill in?
• If you do not organize your literature around
  your question and sub-questions, how else will
  you categorize the literature in order to
  organize your discussion?

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Organizing the Methodology Section(s)

• How will you organize your text in each section?
• How would you logically organize the information
  in this section?
• Will you organize the methods around the
  questions? Or around the methodological type?

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Writing Prompt

• If you were to think about your main question and
  your sub-questions, what methods will you employ
  to answer each question?
• If you havent figured out what questions you are
  asking, do some backward engineering.

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The Methodology Section

• A thesis focuses on a central question and is
  unified by that focus (Murray 2006 123).
• In the methodology section, we have two kinds of
  data
• The methods used to gather data
• The methods used to analyze the data

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The Methodology Section

• Ultimately, your methodology section(s) will
• Define and explain your method, your theoretical
  approach, naming your instrument (e.g. Case
  study, interview, etc.)
• Show links between your method and the methods
  used by others

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The Methodology Section

• Ultimately, your methodology section(s) should
• Justify your choice of methods
• Report what you plan to do
• Show how you will select and analyse the data and
  how you will document it
• Say what you expect to find

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Some Questions Your Methodolgy Section Should
Answer

• Why will the data be admissible?
• Why is your choice of measuring instrument
  appropriate to your context / to the data you are
  aiming to retrieve?
• By what criteria will you measure the validity of
  your measuring instruments?
• How do we know that your method will yield
  reliable data?

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Valid, reliable information

• Sometimes there is universal agreement that a
  particular instrument provides a valid instrument
  for measuring a particular characteristic. We
  could all agree that a ruler measures length, a
  thermometer measures temperature, and a barometer
  measures air pressure. But whenever we do not
  have such universal agreement, we must provide
  evidence that an instrument we are using has
  validity for our purpose (Leedy and Ormrod,
  2005 92).

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Sometimes the Tail Wags the Dog

• Research methods affect
• data the researcher records about the phenomenon
• the sorts of phenomena that can be studied
• the sorts of understanding of the phenomenon that
  the researcher is likely to arrive at
• the sorts of knowledge claims they will be able
  to sustain
• (Guba Lincoln 1994 in Nandhakumar 2003)
• Sometimes form follows content Sway to the
  moonlight

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Content and Form

• Understanding organisational behaviour has never
  been more important for managers (Robbins,
  200314).
• Explain why this is the case, outlining in your
  answer the challenges and opportunities faced by
  managers, and the value of understanding
  organisational behaviour to a practicing manager.

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Writing in Layers (Murray 2006 125-27)

• Outline the structure write your chapter or
  section headings.
• Write a sentence or two on the contents of each
  chapter/section.
• List out sub-headings for each section.
• Write an introductory paragraph for each section.
• At the top of each section, write the word count
  requirement, draft number and date.

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Conclusion

• As you write, your organization may change.
• Many things determine order
• Arguments have a logical order, as do
  comparisons, cause/effect relationships, temporal
  or spatial descriptions, etc.
• However, dissertations are thesis driven. Your
  question, and what you need to know, strongly
  influences the organization of your final product.

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Dont Forget

• Logical Choices and Unity of Purpose
• Methodologies Logic
• Methodologies Credibility
• Unity and Coherence
• Writing Strategies

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Logical Choices and Unity of Purpose

• Every choice serves to defend a claim, answer a
  question, or confirm a hypothesis
• Word, phrase, sentence-structure
• Does the choice satisfy audience expectations?
• Does it speak to your authorial credibility?
• Does it further your argument, analysis?

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Methodologies Logic

• When you know what you need to know in order to
  answer a question, then it is logical to choose
  methods of inquiry that will supply the reliable
  verifiable data that you need in order to answer
  the question.
• Dont forget to qualify your datawhat does it
  tell you and what is it unable to tell you?

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Methodologies Credibility

• All data has to be analyzed. You need a
  methodology for analyses as well.
• Quantitative data can it be generalized?
• Qualitative data what criteria will be used to
  establish its value?
• Do not overstate your results. An honest, quality
  analysis will speak volumes about your
  credibility, regardless of the quality of the
  data.

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Unity and Coherence

• If information included in your dissertation does
  not contribute to an understanding of the value
  of your conclusions and recommendations, then it
  only serves to befuddle the logic of your piece.
• A unified text is a more coherent text.

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Writing Strategies

• Map your paper
• What sections or subsections are completed
  (keeping in mind you still have to revise),
• Pick one or two of the holes in your paper that
  you would feel comfortable filling,
• Assess the reasons for any anxiety you have over
  the unfinished parts that cause you anxiety
• Do you need to read more?
• Do you need to rethink your paper?

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Writing Strategies

• Outline your paper
• Devise headings and subheadings for uncompleted
  sections
• This helps you see the logical progression (or
  lack of it) of your ideas
• It identifies the main ideas
• It helps detect omissions

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Writing Strategies

• Write about why you are having difficulty making
  advances in your paper
• It gets the fingers tapping and the cerebral
  juices flowing
• An awareness of fears and anxieties helps you to
  develop strategies to overcome those emotional
  roadblocks
• You may discover that the reason that you are
  having difficulty is that there is some chink in
  the logic of your argument that you must either
  fill or that requires a major rethinking of the
  line of reasoning.

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Writing Strategies

• Dont allow yourself to freeze up. When you are
  feeling overwhelmed
• Satisfy yourself with small advances until you
  feel more confident and unstuck
• Free-write or write to prompts.
• Seek help. Talk to friends. Talk about how you
  feel, but talk about your ideas as well.
• Eat lots of ice cream and candy.

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Sources

• Bowie, D. 1983 Lets Dance online, available
  at http//www.elyrics.net/read/d/david-bowie-lyri
  cs/let_s-dance-lyrics.html accessed 08 Feb.
  2009.
• Leedy, P.D. and Ormrod, J.E. 2005 Practical
  Research Planning and Design, 8th ed. Upper
  Saddle River, N.J. Pearson
• Murray, R. 2006 How to Write a Thesis, 2nd ed.
  Maidenhead, England Open University Press.
• Nandhakumar, J. 2003 Interpreting Information
  Systems A reflexive account of grounded theory
  analysis ppt. online, available
  http//project.hkkk.fi/gebsi/files/nav_activities/
  material/Nandhakumar_slides.pdf accessed 15 Aug
  2008.
• UEfAP.com 2008 Writing Rhetorical Functions,
  Comparing and Contrasting Exercise 2 online,
  available http//www.uefap.com/writing/exercise/f
  unction/compcon2.htm accessed Aug 16 2008.