Using reading in your writing
- 1. Using Reading In Your Writing
- 2. You will be able to Describe when and how to use reading in your writing Demonstrate your comparison and synthesis of reading Support an argument with reading
- 3. Spotting reading ◦ Look at the two extracts taken from a student essays. ◦ Work together to identify where they have used reading in their writing. ◦ How have they used the reading? ◦ Which student has done this most effectively? Why? How?
- 4. ◦ There are views about how to write a good essay. Hennessy (1968) believes that all first year university essays should only be written from lecture notes as student know so little of their subject. According to Murdoch (2015) academic essays should be well researched. This research should be done from books listed in the module handbook and using the resources in the library. According to Gornall(2013) assignments are written using information collected from the library and online sources. Cottrell (2012) argues that students should use library resources and some academic websites. There are views about everything. How many are they the same or different? Very old source. Could have been presented to show how views have changed overtime. What does this mean – no further analysis or supporting examples. Superficial text analysis. Same point could have been synthesised.
- 5. Not enough analysis. This is written as a collection of short summaries and does not show enough understanding of the research material. Overall a very descriptive piece, too little time had been spent thinking about the information in order to present it with evidence of real thinking on the topic. Relevant research Writing Process
- 6. PROCESS
- 7. Bill's Assignment ◦ Similarities ◦ Books in library –Gornall/Murdoch ◦ Websites –careful Gornall/Murdoch ◦ Gornall/Murdoch/Cottrell –Written in the last ten years –indicate contemporary thought. ◦ Cottrell -Books and some websites. ◦ Differences ◦ Books in MIP –Murdoch ◦ Hennessy –Only use lecture notes in first year. Written in 60’s –outdated
- 8. Process ◦ The issue of how students should approach research for assignments has attracted a great deal of debate. Many researchers have offered opinions on this issue. According to Murdoch (2015) and Gornall(2013) students should research for assignments using resources in the library and from online sources. Though both stress that website based research should be done carefully. This is further supported in the work of Cottrell (2012). Murdoch(2015) also adds that book lists in Module Handbooks should also be used. These contemporary opinions are in contrast to Hennessy writing in 1968 who argued at least in first year students should only refer to lecture notes for research.
- 9. Why is this important? Your tutors want to see that you have been able to see the differences between texts, and you have been able to select the most appropriate ones. They also want to see that you have been able to use these sources accurately in your writing, and show the connections between them.
- 10. Deciding what to read ◦ Five step plan ◦ 1. Evaluate the question – try writing the question in your own words. ◦ 2. What do you already know- lectures, previous knowledge and reading. ◦ 3. What type of sources will you need – build a research plan. ◦ 4. Collect your sources – use Discover etc. ◦ 5. Read actively – annotate, make notes use reading grids. Look at the resources on Canvas to help you review these stages. You need to make sure that you have selected appropriate academic sources to be able to use them accurately.
- 11. ◦ Look at the example notes on your handout. ◦ Which do you think will be most useful for an assignment? ◦ Why? ◦ What should the student do next? Note making Making notes can make you feel very productive. However, sometimes students find they waste time copying out information which they never use again. As a rule of thumb, when writing an essay you should use around 85% of your notes.
- 12. NOTES TO PLANS
- 13. Relationships between texts ◦ Use your notes to build a picture of the relationship between the evidence. A reading grid will help you do this. ◦ Compare and contrast ◦ Similarities and differences ◦ Different types of analysis ◦ Think of your texts as having a discussion between themselves. No actually some of the points are still valid, look at my concluding section. The conclusions in this study are outdated. I agree with you Yes the research in my first chapter supports this. Ok so I am going to compare these viewpoints in my second paragraph.
- 14. CRITICALLY RECORDING READING Author, title, type of source Topic Main Point – Argument Key ideas/themes Strengths/ Weaknesses Limitations How to use Significance Your thoughts about what is said Useful for your referencing. Also highlights any possible bias from the type of source. Is this very close to your research topic? Is this an article on a different topic that you are going to apply to your question? What is the author trying to tell you? Look at the abstract, introduction and conclusion - to help you determine the main argument. Evidence? Date? Sample size? Source outside your field- can you apply the ideas? Where are you going to use this information in your writing? How are you going to use it? This is where you begin to plan your writing. Are you going to combine this source with another to make a point stronger with a synthesised reference? Are you going to compare this source with another to contrast arguments? Is this big picture information you may use in your introduction? Is this sources cited frequently in further studies? Is this source underpinning your line of argument? Is this source providing key research? What do you think? What questions has this source raised for you? Has this led you to think about further reading you need to do?
- 15. USE THE GRID PROVIDED TO ANALYSE THE READINGS. What are the different points of view being put forward?
- 16. Language ◦ Similarly, Nicoladis (2006) found that X … In the same vein, Smith (1994) in his book XYZ notes … This view is supported by Jones (2000) who writes that … Smith argues that her data support O’Brien’s (1988) view that … Al-Masry’s (1986) work on X is complemented by Smith’s (2009) study of … Almost every paper that has been written on X includes a section relating to … ◦ Unlike Smith, Jones (2013) argues that … In contrast to Smith, Jones (2013) argues that … A broader perspective has been adopted by Smith (2013) who argues that … Conversely, Wang (2010) reported no significant difference in mortality between X and Y.
- 17. Over the past two decades, the issue of the ethical stance of businesses appears to have become more explicitly an area of public debate and consumer awareness. Two illustrations of this are the number of publications that give consumers information about the most ethical companies (for example the Ethispere and Good Shopping Guide sites), and the fact that many large organisations now have an ‘our ethics’ tab somewhere on their website. The UK ethical sales market is currently valued at over £38 billion, and has been expanding year on year over the past decade, with current growth at about 8.5% (Ethical Consumer Research Association and Triodos Bank 2017). This essay will briefly define business ethics and then consider whether it does and should have value as an aspect of both business activity and business theory and training. Defining what constitutes a business is contentious in itself, but for the purposes of this short essay it will be defined as any profit-making enterprise, including charities ,who make profits to invest back into the enterprise (Smith and Jones, 2014; Rogers, 2013 ; Appleton, 2011). Similarly, there are numerous, overlapping definitions of business ethics. Shaw and Barry define it as ‘what constitutes right and wrong (or good and bad) human conduct in a business context’ (p. 25). This is a broad definition that needs some refining in two areas. One distinction to make is that ethics is not the same thing as general morality. Crane and Matten (2016) explain that although morals are a basic premise of ethics, ethics and ethical theory go a step further because they focus on how morals can be applied to produce explicit standards and rules for particular contexts, of which business is one. Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell’s definition of business ethics as the ‘principles and standards that guide behaviour in the world of business’ (Ferrell et al. 2002, p.6) is pertinent here, as it emphasises the application of morals to produce codes and guidelines. Codified ethical behaviour usually falls under what is called ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR), which in turn is usually seen as part of corporate governance, although there is overlap between the two areas of activity. The second aspect of defining business ethics which needs unpacking is that, as Crane and Matten point out, ethics is not synonymous with legality. They state that there is some overlap between law and ethics, but that legislation usually only regulates the lowest level of acceptable behaviour. In addition, as Trevino and Nelson (2010) state, the law is limited in what it can do to prevent unacceptable actions, because legislation follows rather than precedes trends in behaviour. Business ethics, then, according to Crane and Matten, is mainly concerned with areas of conduct that are not specifically covered by law, and that are therefore open to different interpretations, a fact that means a particular behaviour may be legal albeit viewed by many as unethical. General opening statement – based on extensive background reading. Specific examples to support general statement. Statistical evidence to demonstrate why this issue is worth researching and analysing. Thesis statement – what the essay will discuss. Line of argument. Synthesised reference demonstrating the research this definition is based on. Analysis of the research. Specific selected research to support and extend the research. Demonstrating synthesis and depth of understanding. Concluding based on the research.
- 18. Reflect ◦ What are you going to do to develop the use of reading in your academic writing? ◦ Develop your note making? ◦ Spend time thinking about the relationships between texts? ◦ Start using a reading gird? ◦ Plan ur writing? ◦ Review language to make you analysis clearer?