Writing week ten

The language of conclusions

Task One - Discussion

How much can you remember from our lesson on Introductions about the kind of information we include in the background, hook, thesis structure?
What kind of information would you expect to see in the conclusion section of an academic paper?

Task Two - Looking for structure

When we studied Introductions, we looked at a paper by Brackenbury (2019) as an example of how they are structured in academic writing. Below is the conclusion of the same paper. Can you notice any equivalent to the background, hook, thesis?

Why listen, when you could listen later?

The relationship between the use of lecture capture and student performance

¹ This study, whilst it does not resolve the controversy surrounding lecture capture usage in the literature, does have several important implications for my teaching practice and for others in the Department of Biology. ² First, the findings suggest that in our cohort of bioscience students, lecture capture has neither a strong positive nor a strong negative effect on academic performance, with the caveat that there may be unidentified small effects within subpopulations of students. ³The overall finding should allay concerns that lecture capture disadvantages student learning among our students. ⁴ Second, the finding that students with a disability perform slightly, but significantly worse than students without a disability, and that non-UK students perform slightly, but significantly worse than UK students, is interesting and warrants further investigation. ⁵ At the very least, this highlights that disabled and non-UK students are intrinsically disadvantaged and, although support is provided, careful consideration of the level of this support would be prudent. ⁶ Finally, this study raises a question over the rationale behind providing lecture capture at higher education institutions given the lack of a positive correlation with academic performance. ⁷ Even though students appreciate the provision (Elliott and Neal, 2016, Toppin, 2011, Settle et al., 2011, O’Callaghan et al., 2015), does lecture capture really represent value for money to institutions and departments paying for the service?

Adapted from: Brackenbury, W. (2019), Relationship between lecture capture usage and examination performance of Biology undergraduates. York Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Journal. 3. [Online]. Available at: https://www.york.ac.uk/media/staffhome/learningandteaching/documents/academicpractice/sotlnetwork/access-controlled/Vol%203%20March%202019.pdf [Accessed 11th July 2019].

Language analysis - effects and implications

The word implication is similar in meaning to the word effect, except that it refers more to potential effects in the future, that may or may not happen. It's also usually used in the plural; we tend to talk about many possible implications rather than one specific implication. Because implications are less certain than effects, we mostly see them being used as the object of verbs in the present tense, to talk about the future. For example, one of the immediate effects of being in a car crash is damaging your car or being injured, which is stressful enough, but you'd also worry about the implications, such as not being able to get to work. Maybe you'll lose your job? Your insurance will probably become more expensive, so you might not be able to afford that new set of encyclopedias you've been wanting to buy. If you were driving dangerously, maybe the police will be involved? Will you have a criminal record?

Task Three

Working in groups, come up with as many possible implications for the following situations:

A lottery win
A research paper which demonstrates that excessive social media use negatively affects social skills
A painful break up with a long-term partner
Climate change
A rise in the number of populist governments in developed countries
The Me Too movement

Most car accidents occur on the way to or from work.

One popular way of dealing with break-ups

Conclusions - an overview

Conclusions are a bit more flexible than introductions in terms of structure, and there is quite a lot of variation, especially between disciplines, in the order in which things appear. It's always a good idea to summarise (but not repeat) the original essay or research question, and what your answer is to that question. But after that, it's a space for the author to express her own views on what's been covered in the paper.

Task Four- identifying sections and language

Re-read the excerpt from the Brackenbury paper, and identify parts of the text which fall into the categories in the diagram.
Now match up the sections to the phrases below:
- It seems that [Z] would be a constructive way forward.
- One potential outcome may be that...
- This paper has discussed [X] and found that [Y].
- While the present research has focused on [A], there is much work to be done in terms of [B].
- Many of these recommendations are likely to be unpopular.
- In future studies, further consideration needs to be given to [C].
- Ultimately, the question of whether [D] has only been partially answered.
- The government clearly needs to dedicate more resources to [E].
Choose three other articles to read from the York SOTL Journal (from which the Brackenbury article is taken). Identify the parts of the conclusions that match the four categories.
- Do any of them include any other information?
- Are in-text citations common in the conclusions sections?

Language analysis - hedging

Writers and speakers often hedge their language when they're less certain, or when they don't want to commit themselves to a particular statement. For example:

Lecture capture is beneficial for students. Unhedged
Lecture capture may be beneficial for students. Modal verb
Lecture capture may possibly be beneficial for students. Modal verb and adverb.

In each of these three statements, adding certain words lowers the level of certainty, which is very useful for when we're talking about possible implications and future events.

There are many other ways of hedging statements aside from modal verbs and adverbs:

Changing the word form

There are some benefits to lecture capture.

Notice that saying something has some benefits is less positive than saying something is beneficial.

Changing the verb

Lecture capture tends to be beneficial for students.

Something that tends to happen is a lot less certain than something that happens.

Adding attitude language

Lecture capture is surely beneficial for students.

Surely is a strange word. It sounds quite strong and certain doesn't it? Actually, it's a discourse marker that signals we're reading the author's considered opinion rather than an established fact. When we see the word in academic writing, and it tells us the author is drawing her own conclusions rather than citing a study. Therefore, it's a useful word for conclusions.

Arguably, lecture capture is beneficial for students.

Notice the grammar here. We use the adverb to start the sentence, and the comma comes immediately after. Adverbs like this change the tone of the text that follows. Here, arguably indicates that the statement is possibly true but has not yet been proven. It indicates that the subject is still under discussion and that other people hold different view.

Task Five - identifying hedging

Identify the hedging language in the following statements:
1. The human brain appears to contain an innate ability for language.
2. People have a tendency to see patterns in events where none exist.
3. There is a certain amount of evidence that human civilization is older than has been traditionally thought.
4. The findings indicate the possibility that the previous study was flawed to some degree.
5. Questions have been raised as to the authenticity of several pieces of art.
6. There is the distinct possibility that video games lead to impaired memory.

Task Six - hedging assertions

Rewrite the following sentences so that they contain hedging to make them less direct:
1. It is undeniable that playing table tennis increases your critical thinking skills.
2. The rain makes people feel sad.
3. As everyone knows, the human brain relies on spatial metaphors to interpret the concept of time.
4. Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd is obviously the best guitar solo of all time.
5. Brexit happened because everyone is racist.
6. Undoubtedly, Chinese is a tonal language.

Summary

Hedging is a useful tool for conclusions because it's the part of the paper which allows us to speculate and offer opinions. Therefore, we want to be cautious with our language as we're never in any position to say for certain what future implications of studies will be.

Task Seven - writing a conclusion

In the reading classes we have been looking at texts which discuss average working hours across countries, the idea of work/life balance and the dangers associated with fatigue from overwork. Drawing on these texts, write a conclusion paragraph in response to the question: would a 48 hour working week be beneficial to society?

Upload your completed paragraph to Google Classroom, and then read one from somebody else. What feedback could you give?

OK, time to get out of here.

Teacher's notes

Independent study

Read and complete Unit 49 of Academic Vocabulary in Use - Summarising and Concluding

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