Academic writing workshop
Online: 26 April - 1 May
Free registration for CPUT Staff and Students
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Make the most of your new year's resolutions!
Is there a piece of writing you need to finish?
Is there a piece of writing that you are struggling to start?
Join Prof. Johannes Cronje, Dr Franci Cronje, and a few other academics like yourself for a long weekend of undisturbed, guided writing.
Join us for a few days of writing with Prof Johannes Cronje and Dr Franci Cronje
How it works:
You decide what you would like to achieve, and collect the relevant material.
On Friday 26 April, we will meet at 16:00 for introductions. Then we meet online every morning at 09:00 to brief you on the work for the day, and de-brief you on the homework from the previous day. Then we will write till 15:00, when you will work in pairs as critical readers of each other's work. at 16:00 there will be a reflection on the day's progress. Ongoing support will be available from Johannes and Franci throughout the day.
More information: Cronjej@cput.ac.za Tel +27825585311
Preparation: Here is something for you to watch before the workshop.
Here are some workshop notes
If you are writing an article for publication, you want to avoid what Tanya Maria Golash-Boza's Get a life, PhD blog calls "Rookie mistakes".
Here is a "Guide to writing your research paper" by Ashley Leeds of Rice University.
Programme
Recordings:
Friday 26, 16:00 https://zoom.us/rec/share/MjG4KKpvS9kSb6S_j1O4Qyr_8T9CWd6ona2jdy7XHTBHQfgkDjOq1swlsM2SMHcH.ZJGtylO48wJxfXCb
Saturday 27 09:00
Saturday 27 16:00
Sunday 28, 09:00
Sunday 28, 16:00
Monday 29, 09:00
Monday 29, 16:00
Tuesday 30 April, 09:00
Tuesday 30 April, 16:00
Resources
Here is my INSTANT PROPOSAL GENERATOR
Homework for Monday 29 April 16:00
Watch these videos Data Collection
Homework for SUNDAY 28 April 16:00
Watch these four videos and decide which is the most appropriate philosophy for you
HOMEWORK FOR SATURDAY 27 April
Watch these four videos
What is a literature survey, and why do we do it? Here is a talk by Dr Candace Hastings of Texas A&M University on writing a literature survey.
Here are Dr Randy Stapleton's 3 Unbelievable AI Technologies to Automate Your Literature Review.
Read this paper: PRISMA STATEMENT of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Homework for Sat 27 @ 15:00
Watch the four videos at the bottom of this page
Network diagram of your field
Literature table
Branching tree diagram
Start writing the literature survey according to the branching tree. If you already have one, ensure it is organised according to the branching tree.
Homework for Sun 28 @ 09:00
Cronje, J. C. (2020). Designing Questions for Research Design and Design Research in e- Learning. Electronic Journal of E-Learning, 18(1), 13–24. http://doi.org/10.34190/EJEL.20.18.1.002
Finding your purpose
Literature review
The purpose of the literature survey is not to impress us with how much you have read. Its purpose is to show why your research was unique and necessary. A good literature survey would describe the current state of the field, identify gaps or errors, add new perspectives and present the basis of your argument.
There are two main "metaphors" that you could use for your literature survey, the debate and the foil.
You could present the reader with one point of view, and contrast that with another point of view, and then point out that your research will either side with one of them, or produce a third position, which could be a synthesis of theirs, or could be an entirely new position all together.
Alternatively you could use the literature as a foil, or a sword to "cut down" all the current positions already taken. You would present an argument by a certain author, and then show why it is not the ultimate solution. Maybe the sample size is too small. Perhaps it is a quantitative study whereas you need the depth of a qualitative study or vice versa. Maybe it was done too long ago, or, maybe it was so good that it needs to be replicated.
Here is a Checklist for evaluating introductions and literature reviews from Indiana University.
And HERE is the definitive PRISMA STATEMENT of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Research methods
The purpose of the research methods section is to establish the credibility of your results and to enable replication.
The pattern is: I did this, because I wanted to achieve the following, as is suggested by this author.
Grammar and style
Most of your article will be in the past tense. The literature survey is in the present tense, but Don't be tense about tense.
Delete all your commas. Then go back and put them only where they belong.
Take a break and watch some comics for grammar nerds.
Here is a nice free online writing course.
Revision and Review
Advice from Tanya Maria Golash-Boza's Get a life, PhD blog on How to Respond to a “Revise and Resubmit” from an Academic Journal: Ten Steps to a Successful Revision http://getalifephd.blogspot.co.za/2011/03/how-to-respond-to-revise-and-resubmit.html?m=1
Publication
How to find a journal in which to publish:
https://journalfinder.elsevier.com/
Here is the answer to the question about submitting to more than one conference. http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51/submitting-the-same-research-to-multiple-conferences
How to structure a paragraph using a topic sentence and an organizing principle
How to make a précis to reduce a paragraph by a third
How to organize your writing using a branching tree diagram
How to write a literature review using ATLASti