Category Archives: literature review

making the case for your research

Explain why your research is worth doing … it might be obvious to you but it’s not necessarily clear to others. But it’s not just you who has to explain. All scholars have to justify why their research topic is … Continue reading

Posted in gap-spotting, literature review, research warrant, warrant | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

cutting and pasting early text into the thesis – part 2.

So you are writing your thesis about the research that you have done. And what you write now is is likely to be a little different from the expanded proposal you wrote to confirm your candidature. And a little different … Continue reading

Posted in literature review, revision, thesis, thesis revision | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

small scholarly worlds

Despite our globally connected digital world, we still primarily live in “small worlds”. Well, that’s according to George Siemens (2004). Small worlds are generally populated by people who have similar interests and knowledges, Siemens says. However, each small world can … Continue reading

Posted in connectivism, george Siemens, literature mapping, literature review, literature reviews, networks | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

finding debates and discussions in the literature

Working with literatures? One of the things you’re advised to do by people like me is to identify debates and discussions. That’s because you are very likely to want to contribute to a discussion. And to do this you will … Continue reading

Posted in citations, debates in the field, literature mapping, literature review, literature reviews, literature themes | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

the disappearing writer – a redrafting strategy

Academic writers often lose themselves when writing about literatures. It is easier to be textually confident when writing about what you did yourself than to summarise, synthesise and assess other people’s texts. Particularly if those texts are produced by more … Continue reading

Posted in drafting, laundry list, literature review, literature reviews, revision, revision strategy, the disappearing writer | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

what’s all this reading about then – starting the PhD

When you begin the PhD you will be told to read, and read a lot. But you’ll find not any old approach to reading will do. It’s a particular kind of reading that’s expected. So it’s important to get a … Continue reading

Posted in literature mapping, literature review, PhD, reading, Reading, starting the PhD | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

making your writing authoritative – a citation revision strategy

Readers expect academic writers to know what they are talking about. We meet that expectation by grounding our writing in good scholarship – and making it sound authoritative. Authoritative. You can see the words author and authority contained within authoritative … Continue reading

Posted in authority in writing, citation, citations, laundry list, revision, revision strategy | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

writing for publication – finding an angle and an argument

This is a story, a my story, which leads to eight pointers about writing for publication.  I’m currently writing a paper. Well, yes, always writing something. But right now it’s a paper. A paper designed to do some thinking work … Continue reading

Posted in argument, choosing the right journal, contribution, journal article, journal publication, literature a resource, the angle | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

seven prompts for writing with literatures – #startingthePhD

if you have just started your doctorate, then your supervisor has no doubt asked you to read, and read a lot. By now, you probably have quite a few texts entered in your bibliographic software. You can start to write … Continue reading

Posted in acwrimo, grey literatures, literature a resource, literature review, starting the PhD, writing prompts | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

#litreview. Defining – It’s your ‘take’

Most of us work in occupied research territories. Other researchers have been around at least some of the things that we are concerned with. Their work offers particular interpretations and perhaps ‘evidence’ that may – or may not – be … Continue reading

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