Tag Archives: gap-spotting

introductions – establishing significance

Introductions have to do a lot of work in a short space of time. The beginning of the conventional journal article, for instance, has to tell the reader what the paper is about and why it is important. And do … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, introduction, location, significance, Stephen Pinker | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

addressing ‘the gap’ in the field

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 , , , , | 8 Comments

a different approach to research questions: a useful holiday read

We don’t talk enough about research questions. Well, that’s according to the authors of a book I’ve just read. They are Mats Alvesson and Jorgen Sandberg, and the book is Constructing research questions: Doing interesting research (Sage 2013). Alvesson and … Continue reading

Posted in gap-spotting, problematisation, questions, research question | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments