Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates - Doctorado en ...

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making a critical choice As with theoretical literature, data-driven research may augment a general understanding about how phenomena operate. It can also be used to help explain where things are going wrong, to demonstrate a method that seems to work well (or better than some other method), to try and convince trainers or policy-makers to effect changes in present methods, or to enable individual readers to gain fresh insights into their own behaviour or practice. Practice literature comprises accounts of how things are done, and will often be written by experienced practitioners who feel that others might benefit from an understanding of how they operate. This type of literature features most strongly in applied fields of enquiry focusing on a domain of practical activity in the social world, such as nursing. An account might, for instance, offer a personal illustration of how a nurse working for a relief agency has learned to cope with the extreme demands of over-crowded refugee camps. But the account might also be used for identifying shortcomings in existing systems, recommending practices that have been found to be effective, training others who will soon encounter similar situations or, at the personal level, influencing readers to reflect on similarities between their own situation and the one reported. Policy literature (also featuring most strongly in applied fields) emphasizes change to improve practice, according to particular values. This type of literature is mostly produced by policy-makers, those working for them or others whose primary agenda is to influence policy-makers. For example, government ministers might publish a report drawing attention to shortcomings in present practice, proposing an alternative policy that will lead to more desirable outcomes, and outlining how it is to be implemented. A pressure group whose members do not share ministers’ values might publish their own report, criticizing the government proposals and setting out their preferred alternative. Being discerning about front-line literature To a novice researcher, all published front-line research may look impressive. In due course, with your critical reading skills developed, you will be well-equipped to evaluate the claims made. But in the short term, it is worth having a sense of some general patterns that can affect the quality of the front-line texts you consider reading. The single most important thing to remember is that learning to do good research does not end with the completion of a dissertation. There are many more skills to acquire, ideas to understand and assumptions to challenge. The best researchers will tell you that the learning never really stops. This means that research done at any stage of a career may be pushing at the boundaries of the researcher’s knowledge or abilities, and could display weaknesses as a result. 21
critical reading and writing for postgraduates A second thing to keep in mind is that research writing goes through varying amounts of revision before it is published. Papers in the top international refereed journals should be fairly reliable in terms of what they claim, because getting them published is so difficult. Papers from these journals are sent for review and will typically be accepted for publication only after substantial revisions. Therefore, it is helpful to note where a paper has been published. A paper in a less prestigious journal will not necessarily be less good, but it may not have been through such a stringent quality check. Authors apply their own quality checks too, and a good sign can be when there are acknowledgements in the paper to the helpful comments of colleagues. This usually means the author sent the draft paper to others who have helped improve it. Similarly, multiple authorship usually means that the co-authors have all contributed to maximizing the quality of the paper. Co-authors also discuss the basic ideas and findings of their research, so that the claims made may reflect the combined knowledge of several people. The quality of books also varies. Some edited collections are the result of selection – as when a few papers from a conference are published. Others may be the outcome of the editor’s invitations to particular authors, with minimal quality checks of their texts. The quality of research monographs (books written by a single author or team, without authors’ names on the individual chapters) rests largely on the expertise of the author. Most publishers send out monograph proposals for academic review, but not all have the final manuscript reviewed. Those that do may require responses to the reviewers’ comments before they will accept the manuscript. Books that have undergone this process are likely to be more reliable for the reader. You are likely to be drawn to the work of ‘big names’. But when a famous researcher is just one of several co-authors, how much of the book or article is actually theirs? The order of co-authors’ names is a rough guide to the relative contribution of each, though contributions can be of different types and hard to quantify in the social sciences. You can generally assume that the first named author has contributed data or key ideas. If two co-authors have truly contributed equally, albeit in different ways, their next publication will probably swap the order of names round. With books, the first named co-author probably conceptualized the monograph and did most of the writing. Using the Internet Opportunities and dangers Much support and front-line literature is available in both electronic format and hard copy. If you have Internet access, you will also be able to use powerful 22
Page 1 and 2: Second Edition Second Edition Secon
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12 Focusing and Building up your Cr
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13 Integrating Critical Literature
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integrating critical literature rev
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15 Using the Literature in Research
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using the literature in research pa
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Appendix 1 ‘One word or two? Psyc
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appendix 1 Certificates were issued
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appendix 1 why a speaker/writer cho
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appendix 1 do so, they would be Afr
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appendix 1 account for why the expe
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appendix 1 but it could still be ar
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appendix 2 may inhere in their ende
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appendix 2 and organized to meet it
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appendix 2 ways that generate poor
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appendix 2 control. Changing belief
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appendix 2 sharing to consulting te
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appendix 2 Other SMT members Norms
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appendix 2 3 Other teachers have th
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Appendix 3 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF A T
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appendix 3 (d) How does the sort of
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appendix 3 (d) With what degree of
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appendix 3 (d) Are sources of backi
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appendix 3 8 To what extent are cla
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Appendix 4 Logic checksheet: Develo
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appendix 4 Focusing the presentatio
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Index abstraction level of 84, 86 a
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