Category Archives: warrant

the problem with gap talk

Posted on July 5, 2021 by pat thomson

Gap talk. You know, the “this research fills a gap in the literature” line. Most of us have made this statement at some point in our academic life. It’s the most common starter for journal papers, proposals and theses, according … Continue reading →

Posted in gap-spotting, research warrant, thesis warrant, warrant | Tagged academic writing, CARS, gap, gap talk, Pat Thomson, research warrant, warrant | 6 Comments

patter is eight and celebrating with writing skeletons

Posted on July 8, 2019 by pat thomson

Happy birthday to me July is patter’s eight birthday and this is my 784thpost. That’s a lot of words. At about a thousand per post, well, there’s about ten books worth buried in this blog. I’ve had a bit of … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, sentence skeleton, Tiny Text, warrant | Tagged sentence skeleton, Tiny Text, warrant, writing skeleton | 11 Comments

addressing ‘the gap’ in the field

Posted on March 11, 2019 by pat thomson

One of the conventions of academic life is the work of justification. To justify. To say why we are going to do what we are going to do. We regularly have to justify why we want to research something and … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, deficit positioning, gap-spotting, next step, research warrant, stance, thesis warrant, warrant, what if | Tagged gap-spotting, next step, Pat Thomson, warrant, what if | 8 Comments

introducing a literatures paper

Posted on March 28, 2016 by pat thomson

The Introduction to a literatures paper has a specific job to do – the reader needs to be convinced that the review is needed, that is, the paper has a purpose and it is important for them to read it. The reader also … Continue reading →