Tag Archives: warrant

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

the problem with gap talk

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 , , , , , , | 6 Comments

patter is eight and celebrating with writing skeletons

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 , , , | 11 Comments

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

introducing a literatures paper

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

Posted in academic writing, introduction, literature review, literature themes, literatures paper, warrant | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

the thesis introduction

The old adage “first impressions count” really holds true when it comes to thesis introductions. After the title and the abstract, the introduction is the first thing the examiner sees. They/we do form an opinion – sometimes quite a strong … Continue reading

Posted in introduction, outline, thesis, thesis statement, thesis warrant | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments