Getting Started with Academic Writing

1. Getting Started with Academic Writing Writing Critically With Confidence

2. Getting Critical • Get familiar with your area • READ • Get general overview first • Make notes • Identify key concepts, Understand approaches, Summarise understanding • Process • Reflect on what you have read • Identify ideas, agreements, contradictions, gaps

3. Getting Critical • Formulate your opinions and questions • Do you agree or disagree? • Are you aligning with one grouping or another in the research area? • What are the most common research approaches? • Do you think there are other ways tackling things? • Why? (to all the above) • Talk to peers and lecturers • Find your questions • Write • Cohesive, coherent narrative – talking to the reader • Write with flow – can your reader follow your thinking from start to finish and see where your ideas are coming from ?

4. Critical Thinking Use critical thinking to develop arguments, draw conclusions, make inferences and identify implications for your research question and ideas Justify Support your approach and conclusions Transfer the understanding you have gained from your critical evaluation and use in response to your research question and ideas Apply Build into your approach Assess the worth of an idea in terms of its relevance to your needs, the evidence on which it is based and how it relates to other pertinent ideas Evaluate Comment critically on evidence to support your question or ideas Bring together different sources of information to serve an argument or idea you are constructing. Make logical connections between the different sources that help you shape and support your ideas. Synthesise Bring together all previous steps into coherent, cohesive picture of your context Starting here to create your questions and evidence Compare Explore the similarities and differences between the ideas you are reading Identifying agreements, contradictions and gaps Analyse Examine how these key components fit together and relate to each other Describing - Terms, definitions, etc Understand Comprehend the key points, assumptions, arguments and evidence presented Process Take in the information Source Open University (2008), Critical Thinking, http://www.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy/criticalthinking.php, [Date Accessed: 21st October 2011]

5. Writing Describing Analysing • First step – you always have to do this • Expected to move quickly beyond this • Describe with perspective • Move quickly to analysis • Crucial to all postgraduate work • Pick out key themes, ideas, points • Show relationships Comparing (and contrasting) • Need to do both • Similarities and differences

6. Writing Synthesising Evaluating • Bringing it together • Cohesion and Coherence • Linking description, analysis, comparison etc • Drafting and editing • Considering merits of analysis, comparison, synthesise • Value of evidence Justify • Develop ideas • Comment • Defend • Show evidence

7. Being Critical in Writing • Selecting sources is a demonstration of critical thinking • Making connections between sources is a demonstration of critical analysis • Formulating an opinion or idea from sources is a demonstration of critical analysis • Constructing and presenting a comment on sources is a demonstration of critical writing Source Ridley (2008), The Literature Review: A Step by Step Guide, Chapter 8, Sage Publications Ltd.

8. Being Critical in Writing – Things you can do • Compare and contrast theories, concepts, terms from literature and include a statement on the position most valid for your work • Selecting references to support your arguments • Bringing together ideas/arguments from more than one source to create a new perspective or extend an existing view • Agree with, confirm or defend a view through analysis of its strengths and weaknesses • Conceding a view has strengths but with qualification • Rejecting a view giving reasons for the rejection Source Ridley (2008), The Literature Review: A Step by Step Guide, Chapter 8, Sage Publications Ltd.

9. Being Critical in Writing • When you reference a source • You need to include an adequate summary or paraphrase • It should be clear why this source is included • Key researcher, well cited etc (no need to state this) • To be critical you do not need to completely dismiss the ideas/opinions in a source • When you need to show a gap or disagreement between sources you will need to include negative criticism • E.g. • Highlighting work not done • Identifying flaws/weaknesses • Showing alternate approaches • Applying approach in different context • Be respectful, know you may also be challenged • Choose your language carefully Source Ridley (2008), The Literature Review: A Step by Step Guide, Chapter 8, Sage Publications Ltd.

10. Writers Voice • Leading reader through the content • Cohesion, coherence • Writing with flow • Make your own position clear • Be explicit about how you use aspects of work in the source in your own work • Evaluation, Justification Source Ridley (2008), The Literature Review: A Step by Step Guide, Chapter 8, Sage Publications Ltd.

11. How to do it • Connect to the citation • To other work • Or your own • However, Similarly …. • Summarise and evaluate source • Present an overall conclusion at the end of a section • Verbs used Source Ridley (2008), The Literature Review: A Step by Step Guide, Chapter 8, Sage Publications Ltd.

12. Constructing Arguments – Starting Point • An argument is a particular stand on an issue or question. • Usually a paper has one main idea – called ‘claim’ or ‘thesis statement’ • Astatement of position or opinion about a certain subject usually an answer to a direct research question • What you are setting out to discuss or establish • Made up of a series of other claims or ‘premises’ • Other claims that lead to or contribute to the thesis statement. • Part of the discussion prior to the establishing the conclusion claim.

13. Claims • Should not be • Stated as a question • A list • Vague, aggressively argumentative or confrontational • Should be • Definitive and arguable • As clear and specific as possible

14. Constructing an argument – Need to demonstrate • Understanding of related material • Discussion of related material • Application of understanding to form own opinions

15. Constructing an Argument – Support Required • Research Approach • Theories • Methodologies • Results • Relationship between above • Counterarguments • Have you thought about your argument? • Can you refute counterarguments? • Discussion • Have you discussed all the above?

16. Constructing an Argument – Support Required • Evidence • Facts • Agreed upon, accepted, cannot be disputed • Statistics • Comparison of amounts or numbers in context, from a reliable source and are an accurate representation of reality • Expert Authority • Support from known ‘experts’ in your area • Personal Experience • Must be relevant, must be credible, be related to the claim • Research Approach • Discussion

17. Strong Argument • Convinces the reader that the conclusion is correct. • gaps or bad connections in premises, undermine the linked conclusion • Evidence is convincing and objective, and it supports the claims • Argument considers all the different perspectives, and comes to a reasonable conclusion based on those perspectives • Argument is clearly and consistently reasoned.

18. Constructing an argument • Consider your audience • Consider the review process • Consider the area • How do these influence ?

19. Testing your argument • Read your work critically • Use the techniques covered in critical reading • How well does your work stack up?

20. Arguing and discussing • You need to identify • your claim - your point of view, what you believe; • your reason(s) - why you believe what you do; • your evidence - the facts, data and examples that support your point of view; and • your argument - how the evidence you have provided leads to the claim your are making. • Example • claim – causes of failure in software development projects is largely due to communication • reasons – identify the main causes showing communication as one of them and show its influence on others • evidence – show number of examples that support the view – agile in particular • argument – draw conclusion from discussion numerous causes but show that communication is central

21. Arguing and discussing • The balanced view • Present both sides of an argument then conclude • The persuasive view • Start by presenting your view and construct argument to convince

22. Evaluating other points of view • Present the viewpoint • Paraphrase, summarise • Comment negatively or positively • E.g. • Agile methodologies are widely criticised as being chaotic in nature, focusing all control in the hands of software developers (….) . • This stems largely from the fact that agile methodologies advocate reducing bureaucratic elements which do not contribute directly to the creation of software (…) • However, the majority of agile methodologies have a disciplined approach at their core. • For example, XP…, SCRUM…. (detail of discipline) • Therefore it is evident that rather than chaos, agile methodologies advocate discipline where needed and lightweight where not.

23. Critical Analysis Frameworks SWOT PEST(LE) • Strengths • Weaknesses • Opportunities • Threats • Political • Economic • Social • Technical • Legal • Environmental • See also SLEPT

24. Critical Analysis Frameworks 6 Thinking Hats COR T techniques • Information: (White) • Emotions (Red) • Bad points judgment (Black) • Good points judgment (Yellow) • Creativity (Green) • Thinking (Blue) • Plus Minus Interesting • Consider All Factors • First Important Principles • Alternate, Possibilities, & Choices • Consequences & Sequels • Aims, Goals, Objectives

25. Getting StartedAims, Goals & Objectives AGO • To introduce and emphasise the idea of purpose • Focus directly and deliberately on the intention behind actions. • Aim is the general direction • Goal is an ultimate destination • Objective is a recognisable point of achievement along the way

26. Blue • White • Yellow • Black • Green • Red • Blue Applying Six-Hats Technique PMI

27. Expressing your argument - Structure • Introduction • Introduce reader to the issue • Outline the background • Outline motivation for argument • Map out how you will address the argument in particular structure of the rest of the paper • Main Body • Each section deals with establishing a premise • Each section will have an introduction and conclusion • Include evidence • Include discussion and analysis • Deal with alternatives • Sequence is significant

28. Expressing your argument - Structure • Conclusion • Restate the points made • Restate your claim • Restate how you have achieved your claim • Link to evidence

29. Paragraph • A collection of related sentences dealing with a single topic. • Use to decompose your narrative • Break it into chunks • Present ideas coherently • Each paragraph • Should have a clear central point • Focus on one topic • Contain only relevant information • If you feel your paragraph addresses more than one topic • Introduce another paragraph

30. Paragraph • Opening Sentence – Topic Sentence • Short, to the point • Introduce the main point • Body • Explanation and clarification • Discussion of the main point • Evidence • Provide supporting evidence for your main point and discussion • Concluding Sentence • Comment on evidence, draw conclusions from discussion, signpost to next paragraph

31. Paragraph • Unity • Focus on one idea • Try not to wander off onto others • Coherence • Paragraph should make sense • Sentences should flow • A Topic Sentence • Indicates generally what the paragraph will be about • Adequate Development • Discuss your topic adequately • Use examples, cite, compare and contrast, analyse, describe etc

32. Writing with flow • Write Coherent Paragraphs • You have to connect your sentences in a paragraph • Provide Flow • Sentence Connectors • used to link ideas from one sentence to the next and to give paragraphs coherence. • placed at the beginning of a sentence. • used to introduce, order, contrast, sequence ideas, theory, data etc.

33. Sentence Connectors

34. Links between paragraphs • Pick up key points and words from previous paragraphs • Use linking words (see sentence connectors) as transition • http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/574/1/

35. Topic Sentence • The topic • The main point about the topic • <topic><main point> • The waterfall model of software development is a useful tool in introducing the phases of software development to novice developers. • <main point><topic> • A useful tool in introducing the phases of software development is the waterfall model of software development. • Signals the content of the paragraph.

36. Concluding sentences • Put key points at the end of sentences • Put key findings at the end of paragraphs

37. Writing Paragraphs • Create a topic sentence • Introduce the main idea • Explain or define any terms needed to clarify the topic sentence • Show evidence to support the main idea/argument • Comment on the evidence and mention other evidence • Conclude

38. WEED for paragraph construction • What • Is it clear what point I am making • Evidence • Have I provided evidence for what I am saying • Example • Do I need to give an example to illustrate what I am saying • Do • So what? What do I do with what I have presented?

39. Using the Diamond Paper is a diamond Each section is a diamond Each paragraph is a diamond Start Middle End

40. Using the Diamond Main body is a series of diamonds linked Each section is a series of diamonds linked Section with one or more paragraphs Links to the next section etc