Skriva och referera - BADA

Svensk titel: Skriva och referera: en studie av designingenjörsstudenters och
sjuksköterskestudenters informationsanvändning i samband med
uppsatsskrivande.
English titel: Write and cite: a study of product design engineering students’ and
nursing students’ information use in connection to thesis writing.
Författare: Ola Pilerot
Kollegium: Kollegium 3
Färdigställt: 2007
Handledare: Olof Sundin
Abstract
The object under investigation in this Master’s thesis is students’ information use in
connection to Bachelor thesis writing. The purpose of the study is to increase understanding
of why nursing students and product engineering design students are using information in
such different ways despite their comparable starting point. The empirical material consists of
18 student theses and a document comprising directives for thesis writing that are analysed
from three different theoretical perspectives. A citation analysis of all 18 theses is carried out.
A textual analysis inspired by Norman Faircloughs’ critical discourse analysis is performed
on one thesis from each domain together with the directives. The theses are also analysed
from a sociocultural perspective, with the theory of community of practice and the concept of
cognitive authority as complementary tools. Using Faircloughs’ notion of order of discourse
it appears that three competing discourses coexist. The academic discourse dominates the
order of discourse and is the most prevalent in the nursing student thesis whereas the most
prevalent discourse in the corresponding group is a market and a technical discourse thus
revealing a discursive conflict. The design engineering students write in another discourse
than the expected academic discourse which poses problems for them. The analysis based
upon a sociocultural perspective indicates that information use and thesis writing are used as
mediating tools as students strive to form an identity fitting for the community of practice
they gradually become members of. The tools are also used to prove that they master the
appropriate discourse.
Nyckelord: Informationsanvändning, högskolestudenter,
informationskompetens
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