BA in Human Resource Management: Writing an FYP

1. BA in Human Resource Management: Writing an FYP Lawrence Cleary, Patricia Herron, Dr. Íde O’Sullivan, Research Officers for the Regional Writing Center, UL Regional Writing Centre

2. Consilium • Writing • Writing and Research in an Academic Context • Organizational Principles • Rhetorical Principles Regional Writing Centre

3. Writing 3 Regional Writing Centre What is writing? Define ‘writing’. What are its components? What forms can writing take? What are its stages of development?

4. Ways of Ordering 4 Regional Writing Centre Writing Process—Planning, Drafting, (Discussing / Consulting), Revising, Editing and Proofreading. Rhetorical Situation—Occasion for writing, writer, topic, audience and purpose. Writing Strategies—cognitive, metacognitive, affective and social.

5. The Rhetorical Situation 5 Regional Writing Centre Occasion Writer Topic Audience Purpose

6. Free-writing Exercise • Writing Prompt: • What is your FYP about, • how will it be organized, • how far along are you and • what strategies will you employ in order to complete the task by the due date and in order to score well on the assessment? Regional Writing Centre

7. Writing and Research in an Academic Context • Academic Integrity • Ethical Management of Information • Disciplinary Ethos: The Credibility of the Evidence • Crediting Sources • Disciplinary Ethos: Your Credibility as an Author, a Researcher, a Scholar Regional Writing Centre

8. When do I cite my source? • Agreeing with the material that someone else wrote does not make it your own. • Rearranging words from someone else's prose does not change the fact that it is not your own work. • Writing a paper that consists of numerous quotations strung together does not qualify as one's own work. • The fact that there are quotation marks and citations is not a substitute for the requirement that a piece of work is to be a product of the writer's own mind. Regional Writing Centre

9. Organizational Principles • That Thing that Motivates the Paper, Gives it Unity and, Ultimately, Coherence. • The Form • The Delimitation of the Research and the Qualification of the Findings Regional Writing Centre

10. Points of Order 10 Regional Writing Centre Research papers are organized around the problem, not the topic per se. The problem, in a sense, is the topic. Problems, however, exist in contexts, as do solutions.

11. Pints of Porter 11 Regional Writing Centre The literature that you read informs both the immediate context of the problem and the larger context of which it is a part. The methodology you choose determines the data you get, as does your analytical methodology determine what you get from that data.

12. Writing Prompt 12 Regional Writing Centre What question am I trying to answer / problem am I trying to solve / hypothesis am I trying to affirm / claim am I trying to defend? What do I need to know in order to answer that question? What other questions do I need to answer?

13. Writing the Literature Review 13 Regional Writing Centre • What is it? • What is its purpose? • To guide and inform your process • To inform your audience about the credibility and value of your conclusions

14. Issues of Credibility 14 Regional Writing Centre Definition from Merriam-Webster: “an interpretation and synthesis of published research” (Merriam qtd in Murray 2006: 108). Choices speak to your understanding of the puddle.

15. Writing Prompt 15 Regional Writing Centre What do I know about my research topic? What I am looking for in the literature is... What are the schools of thought in the literature? The ‘great debates’ in my area are...

16. Organization 16 Regional Writing Centre How will I organize my literature review? Can I classify or categorize the stuff I’ve read so far? Can I say how each piece of literature has helped to inform my over-riding questions and/or sub-questions?

17. Questions Your Lit Review Should Answer (Murray 2006: 115) 17 Regional Writing Centre Why is this subject important? Who else thinks it’s important? Who has worked on this subject before? Who has done something similar to what I am doing? What can be adapted to my own study?

18. Questions Your Lit Review Should Answer (Murray 2006: 115) (Con’t) 18 Regional Writing Centre What are the gaps in the research? Who is going to use my material? What use will my project be? What will my contribution be? What specific question will I answer? [What specific questions will my research not be able to address?]

19. Writing Prompt 19 Regional Writing Centre If we can frame the main question in a hierarchy, below which are framed the sub-questions, and we can put these frames in a larger frame called the Literature Review, what frames are you ready to fill in? If you do not organize your literature around your question and sub-questions, how else will you categorize the literature in order to organize your discussion?

20. Dissertation Structure Some things typically assessed: process, presentation, methodology, content, development of argument, depth of analysis. Regional Writing Centre

21. Dissertation Structure The structure of any dissertation is largely determined by the nature of its inquiry and by the methods employed to satisfy that query. A dissertation like an essay is motivated by a thesis that needs defending, a question that needs answering, or a hypothesis that needs testing. Regional Writing Centre

22. Dissertation Structure (Quantitative)(Leedy and Ormrod 2001, p. 126) The problem and its setting The review of the related literature The data and the treatment of the data The qualifications of the researcher and any assistants An outline of the proposed study (steps taken, timeline, etc.) References Appendices Regional Writing Centre

23. Dissertation Structure (Qualitative)(Leedy and Ormrod 2001, p. 126-27) Introduction Methodology Findings Management plan, timeline, feasibility References Appendices Regional Writing Centre

24. Logical Organization Introduction General background for the study The statement of the problem and the sub-problems The hypothesis (a prediction of the results based on evidence in the literature) The delimitations and limitations The definition of terms The assumptions The importance of the study Regional Writing Centre

25. Logical Organization The Methodology The review of the related literature The literature related to the general discourse The literature related to the problem The literature related to the methodological investigation and analyses Regional Writing Centre

26. Logical Organization Presentation of the data (summarization of findings) Discussion of the data (detailed) Relationship to findings in the literature Relationship to predictions based on theory Relationship to literary / cultural context Regional Writing Centre

27. Logical Organization Conclusion Implications for current knowledge in the field Theoretical implications Implications for our understanding of the literary / cultural context Implications for future research References and Bibliography Appendices Regional Writing Centre

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29. Rhetorical Principles • Inventio, Dispositio, Elocutio, Memoria, Actio • Logos, Ethos, Pathos, Bathos, etc. • Triangulations for best effect! Regional Writing Centre

30. Me, an Academic Writer? 30 Regional Writing Centre When given an ‘academic’ writing assignment, or any kind of writing assignment, what are your immediate feelings and thoughts?

31. Satisfying Academic Audiences: Issues of Style 31 Regional Writing Centre When someone says academic writing, what features characterize that kind of writing for you?

32. Academic Writing 32 Regional Writing Centre Complexity Formality Objectivity Explicitness Hedging Responsibility

33. Sources • Critical Thinking—Demo, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of South Florida (2005) “Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid” [online], available: http://www.cte.usf.edu/materials/institute/ct/index.html [accessed: 15 Aug. 2008]. • Ebest, S.B., Alred, G.J, Brusaw, C.T. and Oliu, W.E. (2005) Writing from A to Z: The Easy-to-use Reference Handbook, 5th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill. • K U Writing Center (2009) Academic Integrity, University of Kansas Writing Centre [online], available at: http://www.writing.ku.edu/students/guides/integrity.shtml [accessed July 12, 2009]. • Leedy, P. and Ormrod, E. (2005) Practical research: Planning and Design (8th edition). New Jersey: Pearson Education International. • Murray, R. (2006) How to Write a Thesis, 2nd ed. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. • UEfAP.com 2008 Writing: Rhetorical Functions, Comparing and Contrasting Exercise 2 [online], available: http://www.uefap.com/writing/exercise/function/compcon2.htm [accessed Aug 16 2008]. Regional Writing Centre