Academic Discourse Practices With Abstracts

ACADEMIC DISCOURSE PRACTICES

(HOW TO WRITE A BA PROJECT)

COURSE OUTLINE

TO THE STUDENT

This course is intended for undergraduates who are about to undertake the hard task of writing their BA Project. This is your first major project and the problems facing you are quite numerous. You will need to identify a topic (and contact a supervisor), do a lot of bibliographical research and reading, plan and organise your project and of

course, write it in time to meet deadlines.

This is exactly the main aim of the course: to help you plan, organise and write your

BA Project. However, mention need be made that the target is the format not the content of your project.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Course attendance: at least 10 of the 12 (or 6 of the 7) sessions

2. Willingness to do homework (which, by the way, will hopefully help you with thinking about and writing your project)

3. Course assignment: a PORTFOLIO which will include:

1. the provisional ABSTRACT of your BA project and your provisional TITLE

2. your provisional RESEARCH QUESTIONS2. the provisional CONTENTS page(s) of your BA project

3. a fragment (ONE page) of any provisional CHAPTER of your BA project. Make sure that whichever of the three you choose to submit contains proof of your way of using other peoples ideas (do not forget references in your text!) and your own voice.

5. the provisional REFERENCES of your BA project

NB: When you put together this portfolio, make sure you abide by the requirements presented in the STYLESHEET (see SESSION TWO).

CONTENTS:

1. SESSION ONE: Course outline; Topic of the BA project; work done so far; supervision and supervisors; problems/questions

2. SESSION TWO: Technicalities of writing a BA project - Style sheet; Planning the project

3. SESSION THREE: Reading the literature - keeping records and making notes

4. SESSION FOUR: The relationship between reading and writing

5. SESSION FIVE: The literature review

6. SESSION SIX: Writing the literature review; video session

7. SESSION SEVEN: Writer identity: the self as author; Writing the abstract, introduction and conclusion

HOMEWORK FOR SESSION ONE:

1. Prepare (you can even make some notes) to speak about the topic you have chosen for your BA project.

2. Write down any problems you have had so far with your project and any questions you think can be answered by any of the participants in this course.

REFERENCES

Most of the materials in this course are based on information taken from:

Bell, J. (1996). Doing your Research Project. A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science. Buckingham. Open University PressClark, R. and R. Ivanic. (1997) The Politics of Writing. London: Routledge

Hart, C. (2000). Doing a Literature Review. Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination. London. Sage PublicationsPhillips, E. M. and D. S. Pugh (1996). How to get a PhD. A handbook for students

and their supervisors. Buckingham. Open University Press

Nunan, D. (1992). Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge. CUP



SESSION ONE

COURSE OUTLINE; TOPIC OF THE BA PROJECT; WORK DONE SO FAR; SUPERVISION AND SUPERVISORS; PROBLEMS/QUESTIONS

1. Topic of the BA Project and work done so far

If you have done your homework, get in your group of four and, together, find answers to the following questions. Appoint a speaker to report on the work of your group:

a. What is the topic of your project? How did you choose it? Have you made any changes?

b. What/how much have you done so far?

To help you think and discuss you might want to look at what Bell (1996: 15-16) says about selecting a topic:

1.The topic may be given to you. Did this happen in your case? By whom? What was your reaction?

2. You may have an idea or a particular area of interest that you would like to explore.

3. You may have several ideas, all equally interesting. If so, write them down and try to decide which one is the most feasible (remember there are time and space constraints for a BA project!). To explore feasibility:

a) consult the library catalogue to see how much has been written;

b) talk to fellow students, teachers, possible supervisor. Their views may differ from or even conflict with your own and may suggest alternative ways of inquiry.

2. Supervision and supervisors

Use the space below to make notes about such issues as how you got your supervisor, how you communicate with him/her, how he/she helped at the initial stage of your project, things that go/went well, things that do not/did not work in your common endeavour.

Then discuss your notes with the other members of your group and see what you have in common and what is different in this matter. Next appoint a speaker to report on your discussion.

To help you here is an adapted version of what Phillips and Pugh (1996: 82-99) have to say in the matter of what supervisors expect of their supervisees:

a) Supervisors expect their supervisees to be independent. This is not as straightforward as it may first appear. Despite the emphasis put on independence throughout the whole period of your undergraduate studies and that of working on your BA project, there are still very important aspects of the process that demand conformity: conformity to accepted methodologies, to departmental and university policies, to style of presentation, and to those things which your supervisor considers to be important. Your supervisor is in a powerful position with regard to your work and your progress through the system. For these matters it is no simple matter to balance the required degree of conformity with the need to be independent.

b) Supervisors expect their supervisees to produce legible written work. There is nothing more irritating to a busy academic than to be expected to read through pages and pages of illegible handwritten script. Not only does it slow down the task intolerably but it detracts from concentrating on the line of the argument being developed, as the concentration is needed to decipher words and phrases. Sometimes illegible parts are skipped, so the supervisor can miss completely a major point that the student is attempting to justify. To add insult to injury from the supervisors point of view the student will probably complain subsequently that the supervisor merely made a cursory and superficial reading of the document. To prevent all these problems, any written work submitted to the supervisor needs to be legible. It can be either handwritten (legibly!) with wide margins and space between paragraphs to allow space for comments, or word processed with the same spaces.

c) Supervisors expect to have regular meetings with their supervisees. The more frequent the meetings, the more casual they are likely to be , helping to create a climate for discussion.

d) Supervisors expect their supervisees to follow the advice that they give, when it was given at the request of the student. This really seems to be a most reasonable expectation, yet it is surprising how often it is contravened.

And finally, some tips for those of you who find it hard to manage their supervisors (again adapted from Phillips and Pugh (1996)):

Discuss your expectations and hopes for the working relationship between the two of you.

Deadlines are very important: agree with your supervisor on the dates of your meetings and the amount of work you are supposed to do before each meeting. Get your supervisor to mark the dates in his/her diary and sometimes remind them (politely) that you have given them things to read.

On the occasion of your meetings ask for clarification on your supervisors comments on your work if you think they are not clear enough. Do not go away with things that you cannot understand and cannot therefore improve.

3.Problems? Questions/

Is there any thing you would like to clarify/ask?

HOMEWORK FOR SESSION TWO:

In your groups examine the BA projects you have been given and prepare to speak about: their font and font size, justification, bold and italic, margins, spacing, page numbers, notes, appendices, and referencing.



SESSION TWO

TECHNICALITIES OF WRITING A BA PROJECT

STYLESHEET; PLANNING THE PROJECT

The main points of this session are:

1. Stylesheet

2. Starting out: list of first thoughts/research questions

3. Contents [page(s)]

4. Title/Working title of the project

1. Stylesheet

In writing a BA project the main aims are that you get some practice in and demonstrate knowledge of writing scholarly/academic pieces of non-fiction, from a stylistic, content and technical point of view.

The emphasis in this session is on the technical aspects of the project and on your looking at existing BA projects for purposes of comparison. Mention need to be made that the stylesheet you will be introduced to in this session, and therefore advised to use in your project, has been agreed upon by members of the department staff (your supervisors being among them). There are at least two reasons for which the department has made such a decision: first, there seems to be a need for standardisation of all BA projects and second, (but not less important, for that matter), reader friendliness should be the concept which underlies all your efforts to produce a good project.

All the information about the technical aspects of writing your BA project starts from the assumption that you are able to use a computer or that you can instruct the person who will do the word processing for you, which is going to make your task somewhat harder.

1.1 Font and font size.

You are advised to use Times New Roman in your choice of font and 12 for font size. For reasons of comparison you may want to look at the materials in this course which are written with Times New Roman 12 points.

1.2 Justification

Full justification, blocked paragraphs (not indented) and a blank line between paragraphs are recommended. Again, if you want an example, these materials abide by these instructions.

Justification for: Chapter titles = centred

e.g.:

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

1.7 Conclusion

Section/subsection titles = left1.3 Bold and Italic

a) Bold

Use it for: - the front page of your project

the contents page of your project

chapter, section and subsection titles

names of authors in the reference list

bold italic may be used in the text for special emphasis

b) Italic Use it for:- unassimilated borrowings, and for Latin, French, German formulae (e.g. status quo, ad hoc, comme il faut, Zeitgeist)

isolated Romanian words in otherwise English sentences

for emphasis, i.e. when you are especially attracting your readers attention to one or several words. If these words belong to a quotation and they are not in italics in the original text, do not forget to put: (my emphasis/emphasis added/emphasis in the original)

e.g.: The pronunciation may also be heard, [], from natives of Southern England []. (Jones, 1974: xvii) (my emphasis)

- titles of books in the reference list

2 Margins

Leave a wider left margin because your project needs to be bound. Wider means 3 centimetres or 3.5 if your computer says otherwise.

1.4 Line spacing

Use 1,5 line spacing. Reader friendliness is what makes this spacing important; less than 1,5 spacing makes your text uncomfortable to read and more than that makes the reader suspicious that you are just trying to fill the required number of pages.

1.5 Page numbers

Number each page of your project. The position of the page numbers must be at the bottom of the page and their alignment at the centre of the page. It is however, advisable to keep your document without page numbers while you are working on it and give it page numbers when you think (and your supervisor agrees!) it is ready for submission.

1.6 Notes

Use end of chapter notes or footnotes with numbers in the text and a numbered list at the end of each chapter or at the bottom of the page. Do not forget to check the existence of the numbers in the text, they tend to disappear in the process of writing and give the reader a hard time making sense of your work.

1.7 Other bits and pieces

a). Headed sections must be numbered, thus 4. 3. Analysis. One, two, three or four decimal numbers for sub-section numbers may be used if desired (e.g. 4.1./4.1.2/4.1.2.1.). but not more.

b). For short items listed after bullets or numbers use the bullets/numbers icon and no punctuation at line ends. Use either capitals or low case after bullets.

c). Appendices (if any) must be placed at the end of the project, after the list of references (see below), with Appendix One and (after a blank line) the appendix heading, if applicable.

d) Chapter numbers must be written as letters, e.g. Chapter One; section numbers must be figures, e.g. 1.1.e) Use full-stops after: etc. and e.g. i.e. (do not use suspension points = three dots)

f) Use single spaces between sentences, i.e. do not double space after a full-stop, question mark, etc.

ACTIVITY:

Look at the BA project you have been given and in groups of three or four, discuss whether it meets the aforementioned requirements. Assign a speaker for the group to report to the class.

1.8 Referencing

One of the things you have to do in academic writing is to show how your ideas relate to the ideas of other writers whose work you have read. Exactly which other writers to refer to and how to do it is the most difficult part of this kind of writing. In this last section of session two we will just deal with the practicalities: how to physically present the evidence of your reading in your writing. Once you know what you are expected to put in your project and in the reference list at the end of it, you will be able to see what sorts of things you need to keep a record of as you read.

We will here look at two aspects of referencing:

a) References in the text

There are several ways an authority can be cited in a paper. Most people use the following system:

direct quotation: e.g. Valdman (1973: 15) suggests that () perfectly controlled research that answers significant and relevant questions in second-language learning is an illusion.

paraphrase of the authors words: e.g.: Valdman claims that it is highly difficult to do research that answers relevant questions in the area of second-language learning for reasons which (etc.) (1973: 15)

in both cases it is useful to give the year of publication and the page number of the book/journal you got your information from. It is in the reference list that the reader can trace the title and all the other details.

references in the body of your text should be ordered either alphabetically or chronologically, e.g.:

Faerch and Kasper (1981), Godfrey (1980), Schachter (1974) and Schachter and Celce-Murcia (1977) have all pointed to avoidance strategies as another form of covert grammatical error.

Schachter (1974), Schachter and Celce-Murcia (1977), Godfrey (1980) and Faerch and Kasper (1981) have all pointed to avoidance strategies as anther form of covert grammatical error.

if you take a quotation from a source other than the original, (secondary quotation) show where you got it from, e.g.

According to Skehan (1978) (quoted/cited in Ellis, 1994) ..

It is however somewhat dangerous to quote something that is already quoted where you quote it from and, in such cases, it is advisable to go after the original source. The practice is yet, not unknown. Do not use it excessively and always indicate the fact that you are not quoting the original. Views vary whether in this case Skehan (1978) (in the example above) has to go in the reference list. To make sure you do not get criticised for that, you should put such secondary references in the list at the end of your project.

b) Reference list

A BA project ends with a reference list, not a bibliography. When doing library research, it is useful to make notes about the content of the work you read but it is highly important for you not to forget to write down the bibliographical details of the works which will have to go in your reference list. This will save you the time and effort of chasing after your sources again at the end of your work on your project and will spare you the readers doubt about whether you have actually read and used the books and papers you refer to.

In the reference list therefore, you have to give the following information about:

- a book: (one author)- authors family name (in bold)

authors first name (initials) (in bold)

the year of publication (in brackets)

the title of the book, the edition you have used (if it is not the first/only edition) (in italic)

the city of publication and the publisher. [Many publishers have offices in more than one city (like London and New York: Longman) In your reference list give only the first. (In the case of smaller US cities, the state is also given.)]Here is an example:

Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP.

- a book: (two authors)- authors family name (bold) first authors first name (initials); when you write the second author start with the initial


the title of the book, the edition you have used (if it is not the first/only edition) (in italics)

the city of publication and the publisher.

Here is an example:

Schumann, J., and N. Stenson. (eds.) (1974). New Frontiers in Second Language Learning. Rowley Mass: Newbury House.NB: 1. If the author(s) of the book is/are the editor(s), write (ed(s.)) after the names.

2. If an item in the reference list takes up more than one line, indent the second line (one tab)

- an article in a journal: - authors family name (in bold)



the title of the article, NOT in italics

name and volume number of journal (in italics)

page references

Here is an example:

Schumann, J. (1993). Some problems with falsification: anillustration from SLA research. Applied Linguistics 14: 295-306. - an article in an edited book: - authors family name (in bold)



the title of the article, NOT in italics

name(s) of editor(s)of the book in which it appears (NOT in bold)

year of publication

title of the book (in italics)

page references

place of publication

name of publisher

Here is an example:

Lightbown, P. (1983). Exploring relationships between developmental and instructional sequences in L2 acquisition. In Seliger, H. and M. Long. (eds.) Classroom-oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley Mass: Newbury House.

ACTIVITY:

Look at the BA project you have been given and in groups of three or four, discuss whether it meets the requirements about referencing. Assign a speaker for the group to report to the class.

1.9 FRONT PAGE

Your project will have to have a cover (information written in ROMANIAN) and a front/first page (information written in English). The next two pages are examples of what your cover and first page should look like.

UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA DIN BRAOV

FACULTATEA DE LITEREDEPARTAMENTUL DE LINGVISTIC TEORETIC I APLICAT

(size: 18 points)

LUCRARE DE DIPLOM(size: 20 points)

Absolvent

Ioana Ionescu

(size: 18 points)

Coordonator

Lector universitar dr. Paula Popescu

(size: 18 points)

Braov

2015 (size: 18 points)

TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF BRAOV

FACULTY OF LETTERSDEPARTMENT OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS

(size: 18 points)

BA PROJECT(size: 24 points)

THE SYMBOL OF THE SEA IN

E. M. HEMINGWAYS NOVEL

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

(size: 18 points)

Candidate

Ioana Ionescu

(size: 18 points)

Supervisor

Senior lecturer Paula Popescu (Ph.D)(size:18 points)

Braov

2015 (size: 18 points)

HOMEWORK FOR SESSION THREE

1. Think and make notes about the way you have planned your project. Did you need any help? Did you get it?

2. Come to class with a copy of your contents page at this stage of your writing. If you do not have one, write one before the session.

2. Starting out: list of first thoughts/research questions

In a short project, the size of a BA project, it is not possible to do everything, so what you have to do is consider your priorities. Planning the project is one of these priorities. In the process of planning your project you need to start from choosing a topic (see Session ONE) and draw up a first thoughts list of questions (Bell, 1996:17) or a list of research questions. The idea of research and research questions may be a little overwhelming for you as undergraduates writing a BA project. Even if such a project is meant to show your ability to mainly do bibliographical research and prove understanding of the literature (here read non-fiction) when you write, it is highly unlikely that anyone would write about any topic without asking themselves all sorts of why, what, how etc. questions before and while writing.

What this course is trying to demonstrate is that it necessary for you to be able to formulate such questions and, more importantly, it is necessary to tell the reader of your project about them and spell them out properly.

At the beginning stage of planning your project the order and wording of your questions are not important. Your aim is to write down all possible questions, no matter how vague. You will refine and order them later on.

In research however, in order to obtain reasonable answers, scholars need to ask the right sort of questions. Nunan (1992: 213) discusses the issue of research questions and gives highly illuminating examples. He maintains that:

The [research] questions need to be:

1. worth asking in the first place

2. capable of being answered.

There are many questions or issues which are eminently capable of being researched, but which may not be worth asking. For example, it would be technically feasible to determine the number of Spanish interpreters who wear designer jeans, or the relationship between the wearing of rubber thongs (AmE = a type of shoes that you hold on with your toes; BrE = flipflops) and academic achievement. However, it is highly dubious whether these questions are worth asking. Unfortunately, often the questions which are the easiest to answer are not worth asking.

For the purposes of this session, in order to give you examples of possible research questions, two of your project topics have been chosen (the choice may not have been a happy one and the course tutor does not claim any authority in any of the two domains). Of these two topics, the former is Relationships in D. H. Lawrences novels: Sons and Lovers and The Rainbow and the latter, New methods of teaching a foreign language. Your list of first thoughts or research questions might be on the following lines:

a) 1. What is meant by relationship in this investigation?

3. Is there a relationship between the two novels?

4. What barriers to relationships are there in the two novels?

5. etc.

b) 1. What is meant by new methods in language teaching?

2.What is the difference between older and new language teaching methods?

3. What is the role of the teacher in implementing the new language teaching methods?

4.etc.

ACTIVITY:

Now that you have some idea about what questions you could try to answer in your project, take some time and think about it. Then write at least three questions that you might want to answer in your project, (your questions must be either wh- or yes/no questions) discuss them in your groups, see if your partners can give you any feed-back and finally appoint a speaker to summarise the activity to the class.

2.1 First thoughts/research questions where in the project? (if at all !)

ACTIVITY:

This is an activity where you are required to discuss about and decide, as a group, if the questions we have been talking about are worth asking, if they are worth being mentioned in your project and where. Again, a speaker for the group will have to report to the class.

The important thing is to discuss the issue of these questions with your supervisor and abide by her/his advice.

3. Contents [page(s)]

The Contents Page is an important element of your BA project. It therefore needs a lot of thinking and the stage at which you are planning your project is the time when you have to think about and write down a first version of the contents page of your project.

ACTIVITY:

If you havent thought about the contents page of your project so far, its high time you did! If you have already got one, (good for you!) a discussion about it will certainly help. But, at this moment of the session, take some time to think of the chapters, subchapters/sections, subsections, appendices, tables, and reference list you have planned, write down a version of the contents page and then discuss it in your group. In your discussion of your own contents page, give arguments for your decisions. Of course, one of you needs to report to the class at the end of your discussions.

4. Title/Working title of the project

The title of your project is of course very much related to the topic you have all looked at in Session One. You will have certainly understood that that is only a working title which usually changes several times before you can finally print it on the front page of your project.

The final version of the title should tell the reader what your project is about so you will only be ready to devise a final title when you are clear about the focus of your study. Relationships in D. H. Lawrences novels etc., for example, will serve for the time being but, later on, a refined version or even a subtitle will no doubt clarify the nature of the topic and give the reader a clue about what she/he will look at.

QUESTION:

Has anyone gone through several versions of their title? If so, can they share their experience with everyone else?

HOMEWORK FOR SESSION FOUR:

Bring with you a (ONE) book that you have read (or are currently reading for your project) and any piece of paper on which you have made notes while reading and which you have used or intend to use in writing your paper.



SESSION THREE

READING THE LITERATURE KEEPING RECORDS AND MAKING NOTES


1. Reading the literature for your BA project.

2. Keeping records and making notes

1. Reading the literature

Once you have established the topic of your BA project, planned it and did all this with some books or journal articles in front of you or at least in your mind you are ready to start reading.

Reading is, of course, a very complex process, but it is not the main focus of this course. What we are interested in here is how we read what we read and how we make notes of what we find relevant in our reading. The way these notes are used in the actual writing of the project is the focus of a future session.

ACTIVITY:

In your groups tell one another about the way you have read the sources of your project.

You may want these guidelines in your discussion:

what do you do first when you have a new (?) and highly relevant book in front of you?

how do you know the books/articles you have gathered in view of reading and using them for your project are relevant for your topic?

demonstrate the relevance of the book you have brought to your group mates

Do not forget: one of you has to report to the class about your activity.

COMMENTS:

Use this space to note any interesting things coming out of the discussion:

ACTIVITY:

In your groups again look at the pieces of paper with your reading notes and discuss about the way you make notes when you read. Appoint a speaker to report to the class.

2. Keeping records and making notes

a) Keeping records by using index cards

The virtues of index cards (which you can buy at any stationary or you can make yourselves) have often been pointed out:

they are neat, easy to handle and give you a nice physical feeling of something achieved

they are useful as a record of everything youve read because they will contain: bibliographical details (name of author, date, title of article or book, place of publication, publisher, page numbers if it is an article)

on the same card you can put: page references to the original and/or to your own paper and some key words some people like to keep their favourite quotations in a separate index card system

some people keep a card index system for issues, e.g. feminine characters in 19th century novel then notes on what they have found out about that in various places

Here are some examples of how to record bibliographic information:

a) Source card for a book:

Subject (optional):

SLA

Author: R. Ellis

Year of publication: 1994

Title: The Study of Second Language Acquisition

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Place of publication: Oxford

b) source card for a journal article:

Subject (optional)

Language Testing

Author: Patricia A. Denham

Title: Tests of aural/oral control of language

Journal: Papua New Guinea Journal of Education

Volume No; Issue No.: Vol. 16, No. 3

Date of volume/issue: 1969

Page reference: pp. 1-16

c) source card for an article or chapter in a book:

Subject (optional)

African History

Author: D.H. Jones

Year of publication: 1961

Title of article/chapter: Peoples and kingdoms of the Central Sudan

Editor: in Roland Oliver (ed.)

Title of book: The Dawn of African History

Place of publication: London

Publisher: Oxford University Press

b) Making notes

ACTIVITY:

1. Read this quotation from Bell (1996: 29) which includes valuable advice about the way you should make notes when reading:

[] devise a system of note-taking which records the actual evidence obtained from your sources. Some researchers prefer notebooks, some prefer loose sheets of paper and others prefer note cards. If you use a notebook, information will be recorded as it is obtained. Leave a wide margin. At a later stage you may wish to cut up the notebook, preferably into pieces of uniform size, to enable you to sort material into sections ready for planning the format of your report.

Whether you use notebooks, loose sheets or note cards will depend on your preference, but the type of information you record and the method of recording will be the same. There is some merit in selecting cards. [] Experience has shown that it is best to make only one point on each card and to use only one side of the paper or card. You will then have maximum flexibility in sorting out the cards at the writing stage.

2. In the space below make notes about the relevance of this quotation for your own note-taking style.

3. What is the content of the notes you make when you read? Prepare to tell this to the class.

Examples of using cards for note taking:

a) quotation

Heading

(optional)

LANGUAGE: CORRECT USAGE

(use quotation marks to indicate direct quotation)

(use dots in square brackets to indicate something omitted)

Even though the language changes century by century [] we ought to be able to see it is still an important question for every generation whether it should say this or that, whether this or that form is correct, and so on, it would be regrettable if those who were most competent to decide such questions were to leave the decision to the less competent.

Author/date of publication/page reference:

Jesperson, 1946, pp. 98-99

b) summary

Heading

(optional)

LANGUAGE: CORRECT USAGE

(abbreviation for authors name) J. admits that nothing can stop language from changing, but insists that linguistic historians (direct quotation) still have a duty to guide the less well-informed on what is acceptable or not acceptable at a particular time.

Author/date of publication/page reference: Jesperson, 1946, pp. 98-99

A final word about keeping records and making notes in the computer

If you prefer to keep records and make notes directly in the computer, and are obviously able to use one with this aim, by all means do so. And, if you have experience in doing this in the computer, can you give everybody some tips?

HOMEWORK FOR SESSION FIVE

In your groups (if possible), inspect (again) the BA projects you have been given. This time look at how the authors use other peoples ideas in their own writing and prepare to use your findings in the class discussions.



SESSION FOUR

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING AND WRITING


1. Quotations and quoting (tying loose ends from session two)

2. Introducing/reporting and commenting on other peoples ideas in your writing

3. Plagiarism

4. Introducing/reporting and commenting on other peoples ideas in your writing (follow up)

5. Identifying the main points of the source materials for your BA projects: claim(s), argumentation, evidence, conclusion(s)

1. Quotations and quoting (tying loose ends from session one)

This section will, hopefully, bring more information about the use of quotations in your own writing.

Two things need be mentioned here: (a) from the point of view of form, in your own text there has to be a distinction between short quotations (one or two lines) and long quotations (more than two lines), and (b) any quotation has to be introduced and possibly followed by your own words of appreciation, agreement, disagreement, etc. In other (rather joking) words: do not quote and run!

To go back to short quotations here is an example from Ellis (1994:565). It will show you how this author uses another persons words and how he introduces the quotation and follows it up:

A second perspective involves going inside the black box of the classroom itself. It views the classroom as a place where interactions of various kinds take place, affording learners opportunities to acquire the L2. Allwright (1984:156) sees interaction as the fundamental fact of classroom pedagogy because everything that happens in the classroom happens through a process of live person-to-person interaction. This perspective has drawn heavily on the research and theories dealing with the relationship between input/interaction and L2 learning.NB: 1. For the purposes of this session, Elliss words have been put in italics to demonstrate how he makes the connection between his own line of thought and the quotation.

2. The name of the quoted author, the year and the page are in bold italics to show you that you have to put such reference in your text, but not in bold italics.In order to demonstrate how a long quotation should appear in your text, here is another passage from Ellis (1994:575):

The Communicative Orientation in Language Teaching (COLT) (Allen, Frolich and Spada, 1984) differs from the systems that preceded it in that it was not only informed by current theories of communicative competence and communicative language teaching but also by research into L1 and L2 acquisition. The authors comment:The observational categories are designed (a) to capture significant features of verbal interaction in L2 classrooms and (b) to provide a means of comparing some aspects of classroom discourse with natural language as it is used outside the classroom (1984:232)

The system is in two parts. The first part, A description of classroom activities, is designed for use in real time coding.NB: 1. Again, the words in italics are Elliss with bold italic for the words that he actually uses to introduce the quotation after having commented on the idea(s) that it includes.

2. As you can see, a long quotation must be indented (two tabs) and in smaller font size (10 points if the main text is written in 12 points).

Another issue worth looking at when we have quotations in mind is that of secondary quotations. You are referred to SESSION TWO for information on how to use (in your text) quotations already quoted. However you must remember that such quotations must be used sparingly otherwise you may be accused of not making enough effort to trace the original sources.

ACTIVITY:

With what you have read so far about the use of quotations at the back of your mind, look at the papers you wrote for the CLL course, find any quotations or paraphrases you may have used, point them out to your group mates. Prepare to report to the class. Then do the same thing with the BA projects you have been given.

Use this space to make notes:

2. Introducing/reporting and commenting on other peoples ideas in your writing

Here are some useful expressions for introducing/reporting and commenting on other peoples arguments and ideas in your writing.

NB: This list is not exhaustive, however, you may find it useful:

a) when selecting the reporting verb appropriate to your own stand

b) for reasons of elegant variation

[The author]:

says/argues/explains/states/notes (that)

holds the view/puts forward the view/maintains/expresses the view (that)

puts (something) across (very) convincingly/unconvincingly

acknowledges/recognises/admits/(dis)agrees (that)

alleges/claims/suggests/implies/refers to/points out/indicates/shows (that)

highlights/underlines/emphasises/brings out/points to

wonders (if/why)/asks him/herself (why)/questions (whether)/addresses the issue/question/problem of

concludes (that/by)/sums up (by)/reaches the conclusion (that)

Comment on other peoples ideas:

e.g.: - As X argues, . (indicates you agree)

X argues, wrongly in my view, that .. (indicates disagreement)

Acknowledge your role in interpreting an author:

e.g.:In my understanding, X means that .

As I understand Xs point, .

My understanding of Xs view is that

Xs view would suggest, in my opinion, that ..

ACTIVITY:

Imagine that you are writing an assignment for this course, and that you have read among other things, an article by Bartholomae 1985 (see end of session for complete reference). Read these three extracts from this article:

The student has to appropriate (or to be appropriated by) a specialised

discourse, and he [Bartholomaes generic pronoun] and he has to do this as though he were easily and comfortably at one with his audience, as though he were a member of the academy or an historian or an anthropologist or an economist; he has to invent the university by mimicking its language while finding some compromise between idiosyncrasy, a personal history, on the other hand, and the requirements of convention, the history of a discipline, on the other. He must speak our language. Or he must dare to speak it to carry off the bluff, since speaking and writing will most certainly be required long before the skill is learned . (page 134)

To speak with authority [student writers] have to speak not only in anothers voice but through anothers code; and they not only have to do this, they have to speak in the voice and through the codes of those of us with power and wisdom; and they not only have to do this, they have to do it before they know what they are doing. (page 156)

Their initial progress will be marked by their abilities to take on the role of privilege, by their abilities to establish authority. (page 162)

Referring to these three extracts, quote or paraphrase them and write:

1. One or two sentences in which you appeal to Bartholomae as authority for a point in your own argument.

2. One or two sentences in which you explain what you understand by one of Bartholomaes points, and how it is relevant to your argument.

3. One or two sentences in which you present Bartholomaes contribution to thinking about academic writing.

4. One or two sentences in which you show how you disagree with something Bartholomae says.Work in groups. Use the list of useful expressions in writing your sentences. Report to the class. There will be a follow up of this activity in SESSION SIX. You are therefore required to bring to class your answers to questions 1-4.

3. Plagiarism

To sum up, you need to understand that it is practically unavoidable and, in fact, very welcome to discuss what other people have to say about the topic you have chosen for your BA project. The most faithful way of presenting the views of an author is by quoting his words verbatim. This, however, must be indicated, actually if you put something in quotation marks, this acts as a disclaimer stating that you do not necessarily agree with the view put forward. Between the quotation marks you have to cite your source as faithfully as possible. If you want to add something put it in square brackets (see extracts from Bartholomae, 1985), if you delete something replace it by dots (). Even italicisation for emphasis must be noted if not present in the original, therefore you must write italics mine/my emphasis after the reference data.

Any other practice in the use of other peoples words and ideas in ones own writing, i.e. failure to observe the above-mentioned rules constitutes plagiarism.

To end this session, here is what Joan Leib writes about the issue of plagiarism:

Plagiarism is the theft and presentation of anothers words or ideas as ones

own, the unacknowledged use of material from another source. Of course facts and ideas which are common knowledge are not the property of any writer, even though he or she has written about them, and thus you may present material that is common knowledge (e.g. that the French revolution began in 1789) without worrying about documentation. But you must give credit (through formal or informal documentation) for any idea not considered common knowledge which you take from a source even though you have developed the idea on your own such that it is no longer recognisable as the idea of another. Also, you must acknowledge you indebtedness to an author if have borrowed any wording or phraseology, regardless of the idea being treated (e.g. you would need a footnote if you used all or part of an authors sentence such as the following: The summer of 1789 precipitated that frightening and cacophonous tumult called the French Revolution.).

Blatant plagiarism is viewed as a serious breach of academic ethics, on a par with cheating on examinations. Sometimes students get into trouble by using ideas from a book or article to bolster their own discussion because they dont have to do a good job by themselves or because they feel insecure about their ideas. And it is easy to brush aside the seriousness of the infraction because many people do not equate copying some words from a book with stealing. But even a limited, casual borrowing constitutes plagiarism and is likely to raise doubts in the experienced readers mind as to the students ability and integrity. More extensive plagiarism could result in a loss of credit for the paper or even the entire course.

D. Joan Leib, [email protected]

http://www.oberlin.edu/-english/writing/html4. Introducing/reporting and commenting on other peoples ideas in your writing (follow up)

ACTIVITY 1:

At the beginning of this SESSION you worked on three extracts from Bartholomae (1985) and used them to practice introducing/reporting and commenting on other peoples ideas in your writing. Now you have a chance to compare your writing with that of Ivanic (1998) (see complete reference at the end of this session). The two extracts below demonstrate how Ivanic incorporates Bartholomaes ideas in her writing and the way she incorporates quotations in her text.

Read the two extracts and compare them with your writing. Prepare to report to the class.

Extract 1

Bartholomae, while not using the term intertextuality, nor referring to Bakhtin, is referring to the same phenomenon when writing about the way in which student writers have to invent the university:

The student has to appropriate (or to be appropriated by) a specialised

discourse, and he [Bartholomaes generic pronoun] and he has to do this as though he were easily and comfortably at one with his audience, as though he were a member of the academy or an historian or an anthropologist or an economist; he has to invent the university by mimicking its language while finding some compromise between idiosyncrasy, a personal history, on the other hand, and the requirements of convention, the history of a discipline, on the other. He must speak our language. Or he must dare to speak it to carry off the bluff, since speaking and writing will most certainly be required long before the skill is learned . (Bartholomae 1985:134)

This is an intuitively appealing explanation for why students write as they do, pointing out that students have to adopt a voice which they do not yet own. However, Bartholomae treats the requirements of convention as if they were incontestable, and does not explore the possibility of students bringing alternative discourses to the academy which might eventually have an effect on its conventions. In the rest of this book I explore what this compromise between idiosyncrasy, a personal history, on the one hand, and the requirements of convention, the history of a discipline, on the other means not only for my co-researchers, but also for the institution of higher education.

Through studies such as these it is becoming increasingly recognised that learner writers (like all writers) are not so much learning to be creative as learning to use discourses which already exist creatively. Intertextuality contributes to a theory of writer identity in two ways. A writers identity is not individual and new, but constituted by the discourses s/he adopts. On the other hand, a writers identity is determined not completely by other discourses, but rather by the unique way in which she draws on and combines them.

Extract 2

Bartholomae presents intertextuality not only in terms of taking on the words of others, but also taking on the roles of others. He writes:

To speak with authority [student writers] have to speak not only in anothers voice and through anothers code; and they not only have to do this, they have to speak in the voice and through the codes of those of us with power and wisdom; and they not only have to do this, they have to do it before they know what they are doing. (156)

and

Their initial progress will be marked by their abilities to take on the role of privilege, by their abilities to establish authority. (162)

He is making the point that a writer, when writing with the discourses of the community, takes on the identity of a member of that community. In the case of writing within the university, that is the identity of a person with authority. This is a crucial insight, because the one thing that characterises most of the writers I worked with was a sense of inferiority, a lack of confidence in themselves, a sense of powerlessness, a view of themselves as people without knowledge, and hence without authority. For some, this was the legacy of a working-class background. For others, it was associated with age or gender; for all, it was associated with previous failure in the education system and an uncertainty as to whether they had the right to be members of the academic community at all. On the other hand, there are some who bring authority of different types into the academic institution from different domains, such as business, local politics or parenthood: authority which often goes unrecognised by the academic community. I take these issues up with examples in Chapter 10.

ACTIVITY 2:

Look at the two extracts again and answer the following questions:

1. How does Ivanic (an academic writer) present/refer to the work of others (in this case Bartholomae)?

2. How does she do it?

quotation/paraphrase/summary?

details about wording, layout, etc.

(You cant always tell exactly what she has done, as you dont have the whole book to refer to)

3. Any observations about WHAT is referred to WHERE in the extracts?

4. Any observations about HOW LONG the quotations/paraphrases are?

5. What language does she use to refer to the work of others?

5. Critical reading - identifying the main points of the source materials for your BA projects: claim(s), argumentation, evidence, conclusion(s)

This section of SESSION FOUR looks at reading as a purposeful activity (i.e. reading with a critical eye) especially when it is meant to be the support for the writing of your BA project. The critical reading of source materials will be of help when you use the ideas of other writers on your topic and in so doing you should look for the following in your readings:

a) The major claim(s) made in the book/chapter/article, if any.

What you should be interested in here is what the author wants you, as reader, to believe about the questions addressed, the issues raised as a result of your reading his work. You may expect to find this in the introduction or conclusion of a book/chapter or in the abstract of an article or in an opening paragraph. But you need to remember that the author may make claims at the beginning of his work and then modify them through the argument so that the conclusions are somewhat (even very) different. Note also that a sloppy author may make claims that get forgotten thereafter.

b) The nature and quality of any argumentation used to substantiate any claim(s) made.

Here you should look at what the author does, in his/her writing, to try to persuade you to believe in the justice and wisdom of his or her claims. You may already agree with the author, anyway, of course, but this is not the point here at all. The point is to analyse the structure (including the logic and evidence) of the authors argument and then decide whether the author gives you sufficient reason to believe him or her, whatever you may already think on the issue in question. Note that sloppy authors (i.e. almost all of us, including ourselves) are likely to fail to take properly into account (and properly dispose of) possible counter-arguments to their chosen position.

c) The nature and quality of evidence used as part of any argument to substantiate any claim(s) made.

Part of the structure of an argument is likely to be evidence brought forward in support of the authors claim(s). Evidence could take a variety of forms, from experimental findings to the wisdom of the ages (e.g. quotations from ancient philosophers). What you, as readers, should look for is whether the author uses evidence in support of any claim and whether this evidence is convincing. Note also that evidence may well be entirely consistent with a claim, but not actually any proof of its validity, because it may also be consistent with quite different claims. It is also quite common for authors to fail to seriously consider the available counter-evidence.

d) The validity of the conclusions drawn;

i) internal: in relationship to the argumentation provided by the book/chapter/article,

ii) external: in relationship to anything else you may already know about the topic.

Note, as above, that it is in the conclusion to the book/chapter/article that you should have been able to find the definitive statement of the authors major claims in the first place, but he/she may have stated some claims at the beginning and then modified them in the argument offered throughout the work and thus offer conclusions that do not match the original claims made

Note that in response to ii) you will not be expected to know everything there is to know, but there may be things you do already know (without having to do a lot of extra reading) that you can bring in at this stage.

HOMEWORK:Go back to one of the materials you have read for your BA project and analyse it in terms of point 2 in this Session. Prepare to speak about it in SESSION FIVE.

REFERENCES:

Bartholomae, D. (1985). Inventing the University. In M. Rose (ed.), When a Writer

Cant Write. New York. Guilford

Ivanic, R. (1997). Writing and Identity: The Discoursal Construction of Identity in

Academic Writing. Amsterdam. Benjamins

Leib, J. [email protected]

http://www.oberlin.edu/-english/writing/htmlACADEMIC DISCOURSE PRACTICES


SESSION FIVE

THE LITERATURE REVIEW


1. What is a literature review?

2. A critical review characteristics

3. Making your voice heard

4. Some academic discourse conventions

1. What is a literature review?

In SESSION FOUR you focused on the critical reading of the source materials for your BA project. This activity materialised in reading notes, of course, is the fist stage in the production of the literature review in your project.

Starting from the assumption that there in no one good way in which a review of literature should be done we could however attempt to define the concept and look at how Hart (1998) (see end of session for full reference) views this piece of writing:

Initially we can say that a review of the literature is important because without it you will not acquire an understanding of your topic, of what has already been done on it, how it has been researched, and what the key issues are. In your written project you will be expected to show that you understand previous research on your topic. This amounts to showing that you have understood the main theories in the subject area and how they have been applied and developed, as well as the main criticisms that have been made of work on the topic. The review is therefore part of your academic development of becoming an expert in the field. (page 1)

The following quotation, also from Hart (1998), looks at the good and bad points in a literature review:

Undertaking a review of a body of literature is often seen as something obvious and as a task easily done. In practice, although () students do produce reviews of the literature, the quality of these varies considerably. Many reviews, in fact, are only disguised annotated bibliographies [i.e. poor copy and paste jobs]. Quality means appropriate breadth and depth, rigour and consistency, clarity and brevity, and effective analysis and synthesis; in other words, the use of the ideas in the literature to justify the particular approach to the topic, the selection of methods, and demonstration that this research [i.e. your work] contributes something new. Poor reviews of a topic literature cannot always be blamed on the student (). It is not necessarily their fault or a failing in their ability: poor literature reviews can often be the fault of those who provide the education and training in research. (pages 1-2)

ACTIVITY:Read the two extracts from Hart again and, in groups, discuss and then make notes under the following headings:

a) definition of a literature review

b) dos and donts in a literature review

2. A critical review characteristics

It is clear that a lot of time and thought need be given to the literature review, in terms of both content and the demands of academic writing.

Below are some suggestions as to how your reviews could be developed. Obviously, not all these will apply to everyone, but they are things that might be helpful to several people, at least:

a) describe the book/chapter/article you are reviewing, in terms of concepts or theory, research questions, approach, methodology, analysis, findings and interpretation o findings. There is no escaping this need to be reader-friendly the impact of any judgements you make will be lost if it is unclear what they refer to.

b) give credit where credit is due: you may not like the book/chapter/article you are reviewing, but presumable someone in the field thought there was worthwhile about it. Any criticisms you have are likely to more validity if you are seen to be able to recognise positive points too. Even if you have many reservations about what you are reviewing, you may still agree with the writer, for example that the topic is important: perhaps because it partly fills a gap in the literature, or that the study is important since it is trying to replicate another in a different context, to see if the findings are comparable.

c) be constructively critical: even if you are unfamiliar with the research area and the methodology, you are still in a position to evaluate (i) the major claims in the book/chapter/article, if any, (ii) the nature and quality of the argumentation, (iii) the nature and quality of the evidence and (iv) the conclusion (s) the author draws.

If what you read at first seems altogether unobjectionable, consider not just what you think is important but also what has not been said, and also emphasis: has something been included but its importance exaggerated, or underplayed, for example?

The main crafting skill in writing a critical review is to integrate these three. In order to do b) and c) successfully, you need to engage in the academic discourse practice of making your voice heard.3. Making your voice heard

Clearly, giving credit where credit is due and constructively criticising, mean putting yourself into the text. This discourse practice is likely to be something done more in some contexts than others; it is also something individuals within the same context will vary in as regards the extent they feel comfortable with it and we shall be discussing this soon. If you accept that your voice is a legitimately academic one and, to my mind, as experienced university undergraduates, with a wealth of reading and writing experience to draw on, you have every right to do this then the use of I is correspondingly not only appropriate, but important. I would suggest that a reader is likely to want to know not only where you stand, but also to see you take responsibility for your stance.

4. Some academic discourse conventions, or Tips for academic writers

(a) In your literature review, make clear where all the ideas and claims came from:

e.g. Hutchinson and Torres (1975) claim that .

As Ellis (1994) says in

In my own experience as a

Do not leave the reader feeling that an idea has simply fallen from the sky.

(b) Make sure that it is clear how each paragraph relates to the whole of a section, how each section relates to the whole of a chapter and how the chapters relate to the topic of your BA project. And again, make sure that all the components of the project has a role to play in the ensemble. Always ask yourselves: How is this sentence/paragraph/section/chapter relevant? And, be prepared to use the Delete key

(c) If you can, do not simply introduce a quotation, (most of you do very well), but comment on it too.

(d) When you are evaluating negatively something the writer has said, quote the writers actual words otherwise you run the risk of the reader thinking you might be exaggerating, or being selective, or simply have misinterpreted the writer. This will lend your criticism mo0re conviction and interest. It will also allow the reader to evaluate your evaluation. And, perhaps most importantly, it will make you think particularly carefully about the validity of your criticism.

(e) In relation to the above, the more specific examples and specific quotations you can give, the better (within limits, of course); these make your writing vivid and interesting.

ACTIVITY:With sections 3 and 4 in mind, work in groups and tell your partners which of the above you have done/are currently doing. Prepare to report to the class.

REFERENCE:

Hart, C. (1998). Doing a Literature Review. London: Sage Publications



SESSION SIX

WRITING THE LITERATURE REVIEW

After having looked at general points about the literature review, this session introduces you to its actual writing.

The main points of this session are;

1. Organising and expressing ideas

2. Writing the review

3. Video session

1. Organising and expressing ideas

Once you have identified, read and made notes from the most relevant items of literature for your own topic you are in a position to write your literature review. Such tools as analysis, synthesis and comparison might be the ones you need in order to write a successful literature review.

(a) Analysis and synthesis

ACTIVITY:

The following extracts from Hart (1998) define, in general terms, what he understands by analysis and synthesis as basic procedures for the writing of a review of literature as part of a project similar to the one you are supposed to write. Read them carefully and then think of your own work in terms of his ideas. Make notes about how you have used/are using these two tools in your writing and prepare to report to the class.

Extract 1

Analysis is the job of systematically breaking down something into its constituent parts and describing how they relate to each other it is not a random dissection but a methodological examination. There is a degree of exploration in analysis. You can play around with the parts, rearranging them in various configurations to explore possible leads. You should not be afraid to try things out purely to see how they fit together. Nevertheless, when it comes to analysing several items, such as a batch of articles, you should attempt to be systematic, rigorous and consistent. If a range of arguments is being analysed, you will need to explicate the claim, data and warrant for each argument. In this way, the identification of the individual and similar elements in a range of items can be compared and contrasted.(page 110)

Extract 2

Synthesis, (), is the act of making connections between the parts identified in the analysis. It is not simply a matter of reassembling the parts back into the original order, but looking for a new order. It is about recasting the information into a new or different arrangement. That arrangement should show connections and patterns that have not been produced previously. (ibid.)

(b) Comparison

ACTIVITY:

In these two extracts from Hart (1998) you will find his view on the use of comparison in the review of literature. Read it carefully and prepare to speak about if and how you have used comparison in your writing, if at all.

Extract 1A common practice in the social sciences is to make comparisons between the works and ideas of different authors. This usually involves finding common points of interest between, say, definitions of main concepts, kinds of data collected and the interpretation of findings. The practice can be useful in identifying common areas of interest and differing positions on similar topic areas. () The point to note, however, is that comparing theorists has inherent difficulties, mainly to do with the selection of criteria or points of reference that are valid and comparable. (page 131)

Extract 2Not all things can be compared with other things. Any number of phenomena belonging to the same family of things () can usually be analysed in comparative framework, but rarely can all the elements in one phenomenon be compared to those of another with equivalent degrees of similarity and difference. There will be certain elements in one phenomenon not present in others and vice versa. Selectivity, therefore, is essential to any successful comparative analysis.

One of the requirements of selection is that choices made need to be clear, explicit and justified, because the choice of which elements to compare might affect the degree to which the reader agrees with the analysis. The detail required for a justification (i.e. argument) depends on the audience and the degree of novelty of the comparison. Taking account of, and writing for, a particular hypothetical readership is important. When setting out on the analysis you need to have in mind just what type of person will read the research report. Try to think about the level of knowledge you can reasonably expect from your potential readers. Similarly, the more novel or radical the comparison, the greater the need for detailed explication. Conversely, the more familiar the comparison, the less will be the need for explication. (page 132)

2. Writing the review

(a) Making a plan

We talked about planning in SESSION ONE, in this session we look at such issues as (i) defining your purpose and (ii) choosing an appropriate structure for your argument.

(i) Defining your purpose

This is when you clarify your purpose in terms of what you are aiming to achieve. This needs to be a clear statement that is expressed in no more than a few short sentences. It can help if you write down the aims of the review and include them in the introduction to the review chapter. The aims are therefore the main reference point for the review. The content of the review should realise those aims in a way that is clear, systematic and direct. To do this you need to think about the arrangement of the chapter, and in a moment we look at three possible arrangements. At this stage, however, remember that your notes need to be organised in a way that addresses your aims. Try to arrange your materials into three basic blocks (each with as many subsections as you feel are necessary):

Summary of existing work on the topic. This includes the different ways in which the topic has been studied and the issues different authors have highlighted as a result of their work. Identify the different ways key terms and concepts have been defined or used.

Critical evaluation of previous work. Assess the methodologies and methods that have been employed previously to study the topic and evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of the literature. The key thing in this block is to make visible the map of methodological assumptions in the literature.

Some general and specific conclusions about work done to date on the topic. General conclusions can be about the overall direction of work on the topic in relation to earlier more foundational work. Specific conclusions are about identifying gaps, fallacies (weakness in someones arguments or ideas) and failures in previous work in order to show the legitimacy of your own work.

(ii) Choosing an appropriate structure for your argument

If you have a structure that you can work with, then you have a starting point to begin writing. There are a number of possible structures that you can use. The table below shows three of them. Elements can be taken from each of these structures. However, if, for instance, you are making recommendations then in all cases you need to explain the benefits of those recommendations. This is the most popular arrangement for writing a recommendation:

describe what is wrong; what the problem is;

make a proposal to solve the problem;

examine the benefits that would result if the proposal were adopted;

acknowledge and refute (prove that a statement or idea is not correct) any possible objection to the proposal.

Possible structures for your argument

Problem-awareness pattern (summative evaluation)Cause and effect pattern (analytical evaluation)Possible solution pattern (formative evaluation)

Describe the nature of the problem; give examples of the problem showing its extent; offer evidence that the problem exists; develop a definition of the problem.

Show the relevance of the problem to the reader: provide specific evidence /argument of negative effects.

Explain the consequences if nothing is done or if current state continues: provide evidence of effects/current practice; summarise the problem situation.

Outline the parameters of the problem (definitional argument)

Outline an approach (recommendations) for tackling the problem situation. Establish the existence of the problem (problem awareness): propose possible causes of the problem; show the main factors underpinning the proposed causes.

Clarify any confusing areas: eliminate any improbable, irrelevant causes/definitions; provide evidence for causes/definitions eliminated.

Focus attention on proposed cause/definition: provide evidence for proposed cause/definition; summarise the argument.

Suggest course (recommendations) of action to deal with the problem. Consider definitions and solutions already tried: give relevant examples of solutions tried; show why they failed or were inadequate; show factors causing failure; provide evidence of factors.

Consider possible alternatives: distinguish between alternatives; provide summary of possible effects of alternatives; make a choice from alternatives by elimination; provide evidence for elimination and choice.

Summarise the problem, solutions tried and why they failed and give recommendations for alternative approaches.

(b) Thinking about the needs of the reader

A useful technique here is to ask yourselves a number of questions, called the writers questions. The idea is that if you are aware of who will read your work and what they will need to know then you can work towards producing work that is suited to your reader. The kinds of questions to think about are:

How much knowledge can we assume the reader will have?

What will the reader want to know?

How will they read my project:

What kinds of answers to possible questions will I need to provide?

(c) Editing your draft

The list below will help you to do some editing a necessary task that will improve what you have written, helping to make it clear, simple and consistent.

1. Identify unclear or excessively long sentences and rewrite into shorter ones.

2. Examine each paragraph to ensure it covers only one topic.

3. See if any paragraphs can be rewritten to be more effective

4. List the topics for each paragraph to ensure that you have links between them that are sequential.

5. Replace jargon with either an everyday word or explain the meaning of the jargon.

6. Look for unnecessary adjectives and delete vague qualifications such as very.

7. Look at the analogies and metaphors you have used and check that they are appropriate

8. Look for pompous and unnecessarily long words and replace them with simpler , more sensible words.

There are a number of presentational devices that may help and some which you should avoid, in order to give more coherence to your work; examples are shown in the list below:

Sentences

Express one idea in a sentence. Ensure that all your sentences have a subject, verb and object.

ParagraphsGroup sentences that express and develop one aspect of your topic. When another aspect of the topic or another topic is introduced use a new paragraph.

Consistent grammarUse sentences and paragraphs with appropriate use of commas, colons and semi-colons. This is something difficult to achieve, but look out for incorrect uses of punctuation that affect the meaning.

Transition words Use words that link paragraphs and which show contrast and development in your argument, such as, hence, therefore, as a result, but, thus, etc.

3. VIDEO SESSION

This part of SESSION SIX focuses on a discussion of several aspects of the writing of the literature review in a PhD dissertation/thesis. This may be a little too much for you as undergraduates writing a BA project. However, the problems approached by the speakers seem to quite similar to the ones you are/may be facing.

The people who take part in this discussion are:

Jay Banerjee the moderator of the discussion, a research student at the time the video was made.

Inez a research student.

Karen a research student.

Dr. Caroline Clapham - Lancaster University, Department of Linguistics and modern English Language field of research: testing

Dr Roz Ivanic - Lancaster University, Department of Linguistics and modern English Language field of research: literacy, writing, academic writing

Dr Gerg Meyers - Lancaster University, Department of Linguistics and modern English Language field of research: discourse analysis, pragmatics

At the beginning of the discussion Jay announces the two perspectives from which the literature review is to be looked at:

1. doing it i.e., the perspective of the writer

2. receiving it i.e., the perspective of the supervisor/examiner/reader of a PhD thesis

The other framework of the discussion is that of the following four areas:

1. the writer reader relationship

2. the issue of how to survey the field/topic one is interested in

3. organising and presenting the literature review

4. the affective dimension: what goes on when you are in the process of actually doing it?

ACTIVITY:

In order for you to be active listeners, you have to solve a task while watching the video and take part in the discussion towards the end of the session. The main areas of the discussion (in the video) and most of the questions asked by the moderator have been listed in the next part of this handout. This is what your activity will be (a) while watching the video and (b) after having watched it:

(a) use the space provided after each question, under the name of each speaker

to make notes about what these people say

(b) prepare to speak about what you have seen

Area 1: writer reader relationship

Karen:

Greg:

Inez:

Roz:

Caroline:

Karen:

Jay: Question 1: To what extent should you come through as vulnerable in your

literature review?

Roz:

Inez:

Jay: Question 2: How explicit about your social and background should you be in the literature review or anywhere else in your writing?

Inez:

Roz:

Jay: Question 3: Do you have to make decisions about the extent to which you comment on other peoples writing in the literature review?

Caroline:

Greg:

Karen:

Area 2: the issue of how to survey the field

Jay: Question 4: How do you make decisions about what you survey?

Greg:

Area 3: organising and presenting the literature review

Jay: Question 5: How do you organise the literature review:

Ines:

Caroline:

Karen:

Jay: Question 6: How do you decide what needs to be in and what needs to be let out

of the literature review?

Roz:

Greg:

Caroline:

Inez:

Roz:

Jay: Question 7: The literature review where?

in a single chapter?

in different chapters?

Roz:

Karen:

Inez:

Caroline: Question 8: can you mention something new (new reading!) towards the

end of the thesis, e.g., in the conclusion?

Roz:

Greg:

Jay: Question 9: can/should new information/new reading be woven back in the

thesis?

Roz:

Greg:

Jay: Question 10: what if new reading takes your thinking in a rather different

direction? How do you go on from here?

Greg:

Roz:

Area 4: the affective dimension

Jay: Question 11: how do you deal with the ups and downs in your writing of the

literature review?

Caroline:

Roz:

Karen:

Inez:

Caroline:

Jay: Question 12: How does a learning diary fit in with the writing of the literature

review?

Inez:

Roz:

Jay:

Inez:

Karen:

Here is one last question for you:

Roz says she once asked some people a question about writing. What was her question and what did those people answer?

REFERENCE:

Hart, C. (1998). Doing a Literature Review. London: Sage Publications



SESSION SEVEN

WRITER IDENTITY: THE SELF AS AUTHOR; WRITING THE ABSTRACT THE INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION

This session is based mainly on Clark and Ivanic (1997) and Ivanic (1997) (see end of session for references) and aims at helping you focus on the issue of your identity as writers and the way in which you should make it evident in your writing. The final sections of this last session of the course will hopefully help you to clarify problems related to the writing of the Abstract, the Introduction and the Conclusion of your BA project.


1. Writer identity

2. Academic writing characteristics

3. Abstract: main points and length

4. Introduction and Conclusion: the process and the product

5. What examiners expect to read in Introductions and Conclusion

1. Writer identity

ACTIVITY:

In this first activity you should first read the extract from the aforementioned writers book individually and then, in groups, discuss and make notes on the main points in the extract and the way in which these ideas can be traced in your writing, if at all. In your discussion you may want to follow these points:

1. Voice of the writer. Do you think your voice can be seen in your writing? What makes it evident?

2. Viewing yourselves as authors. Do/did/have/ you feel/felt the need to exert a presence in your text? How do you usually go about it?

3. To what extent and where in your text do you use the first person: I, me, my?

Extract

This aspect of writer identity [the self as author] is more to do with writers having their own voice in the sense of its content than its form. The writers voice in this sense means expressing their own ideas and beliefs. This is what people usually first think of as writer identity: whether the writer is present in the writing with a strong authorial voice or not: whether s/he is saying something.

One component of the self as author is the issue of how authoritative writers feel as they write. Many writers approach writing, particularly academic writing, without a sense that the have anything worth saying. They do not see it as their place to have a position to argue or an experience or idea worth communicating to others. Viewing oneself as an author- feeling authoritative, and feeling the right to exert a presence in the text, is often related to the sense of power and status writers bring with them from their life-history ().

The other component of the self as author is how, and how far, writers appear authoritative by establishing an authorial presence in their texts. () Some writers, in some types of writing, make their voice in this sense heard more than others. Writers may put themselves at the centre of the writing, exerting control over it and establishing a presence within it. At the other extreme writers may relinquish control of the situation to other, named authorities, or to some abstract, impersonal source, or perhaps to the reader. Authoritativeness is sometimes condoned [accept and forgive behaviour that most people think is morally wrong] by the currently dominant discourse conventions, and sometimes not. Writers can accommodate to or resist the degree of authoritativeness that is sanctioned by the conventions for a particular type of writing.

The most obvious type of authorial presence, especially in academic writing, is the use of the first person: I, me, my. But it has other manifestations too (). The overarching idea is that writers differ in how much they feel, and appear to be in control of the act of writing: how much they feel themselves to be not just writers but also authors with the authority to say something. (pages 152-153)

2. Academic writing characteristics

This section is based on a piece of research and examples from Ivanic (1997) (see end of session for complete reference). It is meant to show you some of the features of academic writing in order for you to be able to take them into account in your own writing.

a) Lexical density

Lexical density is introduced by Ivanic (1997) in terms of Hallidays (1989) definition. It is the

average number of lexical words [meaning-carrying words such as verbs and nouns] per clause. This involves counting (a) the number of lexical words in an extract, and (b) the number of clauses in it, then dividing (a) by (b). An average of 5 or above counts as high lexical density, as one might expect in many academic and bureaucratic texts. (page 260)

The example below, again form Ivanic (1997:257), is an extract from a paper written by John, a student of Medical Ethics and in it she has found 36 lexical items in 3 clauses with a lexical density of 12. (the extract is in italics as in the original)

The argument that this would be encouraging people to take drugs is strongly outweighed by the fact that if we dont give people the chance to come into the health service without chastising them in some way Aids will just carry on to spread. If health carers actually had to think about funding for supplying users with drugs as well as needles they might actually start to make some progress in the fight against Aids in the drug user community.

b) Verbs (process types)

The verbs generally used by academic writers are, in Ivanics opinion (1997:264), of two types: (a) verbs which express states of affairs [relational processes- in Hallidays terms] and (b) verbs which suggest action (what Halliday calls material processes).

In the extract from Johns writing, Ivanic identifies the following verbs suggesting action: is outweighed, might start to make. The construction had to think (in the same extract) is thought to represent a mental process.

To end this subsection, it is important to mention that Ivanic considers that academic writers define themselves as members of the academic discourse community by

their choice of verbs [which] is identifying them with the academic

communitys interest in the relationships among entities and ideas, and

in intellectual activity. Although these interests may be based in the

lived reality of peoples day-to-day lives and actions, they are

abstracted from them, and expressed in terms of states of affairs and

universal truths. (1997:265)

c) Nouns, nominalization and nominal groups

Academic writing is characterised by the preponderent use of abstract and inanimate nouns which, Ivanic (1997: 266) posits, gives writing () its character of being about abstract, generalised content, one or more steps removed from actual events in peoples lives.

Here are the examples from Johns writing: argument, fact, health carers, funding, they (= health carers), progress

Nominalisations are nouny ways of expressing an idea where a verby way would be possible (ibid.). They allow the writer to cram ideas together, to pack them into each other (page 267). And here are the examples from Johns paper: argument, chastising, funding, supplying, progress, fight, user.

As for the nominal groups, here is what Ivanic (1997: 267) states:

Another discourse characteristic which is associated with knowledge-

compacting is long nominal groups. Nominal groups are groups of

words which function as subject or object, consisting of a head noun () and all its associated words: the adjectives, prepositional phrases and, in some cases, embedded clauses which modify it.

Here a long nominal group from Johns text (Ivanic counted 29 words in it, of which 41% are lexical words): the fact that if we dont give people the chance to come into the health service without chastising them in some way Aids will just carry on to spread.d) Tense, mood and modality

When it comes to the verb tense most academic texts are written in present tenses which, in Ivanics words function to express timeless truths, and position their writers as interested in such truths. (page 269)

The mood that characterises academic writing is the declarative mood. Academic texts contain few interrogatives and negatives.

The term modality has to do with the use modal verbs and modal equivalents in order to refrain from expressing complete certainty in academic texts. This has to do with both the modesty that urges the academic writer to doubt that s/he is totally right about whatever issue s/he discusses and with the possibility of ones arguments being challenged by other champions of universal truth.

To exemplify, Ivanic presents Johns would be encouraging () [as] not his own voice, but that of the unnamed person or people who put forward this argument. (ibid) And on page 270 she treats Johns might () [as] () [a] modal representing the writers own tentativeness, suggesting uncertainty rather than being in control of facts and truths.

The way Ivanic concludes the section on modality is highly relevant for the meaning of this term:

the patterns of modality are positioning the writers as relatively

certain and knowledgeable. I suggest that this is a fairly pervasive characteristic of members of the academic community, or at any rate a characteristic which new members of the community think they should be displaying. This is often, however, a site of misunderstanding between students and tutors, sine tutors often expect more provisionality in student writing, but do not make this requirement explicit. (page 270)

e) Lexis

In the matter of the use of words in academic texts one of the observations that Ivanic (1997:270-271) makes is that the language of the academic community includes, among others, Graeco-Latin words, technical words in the sense that they belong to particular disciplines, words associated with argumentation, defining, evaluating, and/or classifying and that such words convey an impression that [writers] know what they mean , and that they belong to the community of those who use them comfortably.

Here are some words of Graeco-Latin origin in Johns text: argument, fact, chastising, progress.3. Abstract: main points and length

ACTIVITY:

This section of Session Seven involves your examining of some abstracts (see appendix) and then the presentation of your findings along these lines:

(a) Identify the main points in the 6 abstracts in the appendix. How many are they (on an average basis) and what exactly are they?

(b) Similarities and differences between the 6 abstracts

(c) Think of the abstract you will write for your BA project, what do you consider it should include. Do not forget to take into account the READER of your abstract.

Make notes here:

YOUR ABSTRACT SHOULD BE BETWEEN 200 AND 250 WORDS IN LENGTH

4. Introduction and Conclusion: the process and the product

a) the process

Tips: - have a draft Introduction and add to it as write your project;

write the Introduction proper at the end;

make sure your project delivers what your Introduction promises;

compare your Introduction and your Conclusion. Do they tie up? It would make sense if there was some sort of symmetry between your Introduction and your Conclusion

compare the Introduction and the Conclusion with the rest of the project. Have you done everythi

Documents

Academic Discourse Practices With Abstracts