Academic writing essentials: A guide for postgraduate students

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azlina Murad Sani
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Review Paper ◽  
First Language ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Postgraduate Level ◽  
Organizational Features

Academic Writing Essentials is a writing reference for masters and doctoral students whose first language is not English.This book will assist you in adjusting to the expectations of writing in English for a higher degree.It offers guidance on strategies and conventions that apply in most forms of postgraduate-level writing. Features: Planning writing, Developing ideas, Integrating sources,Documenting sources, Synthesizing literature, Writing analytically Highlights: Research proposal, Article review, Case analysis report, Literature review paper. Academic Writing Essentials is designed to facilitate self-study.Annotated examples from journal articles, writing frames and simple explanations help you to understand language, style and organizational features, and to apply the knowledge directly in your own writing.

scholarly journals Basic and Advanced Skills They Don’t Have: The Case of Postgraduate and Literature Review Writing

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuang Ching Hei ◽  
Maya Khemlani David
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Public University ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Student Selection ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Klang Valley ◽  
Advanced Skills

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the difficulties postgraduate students face in writing the literature review for their thesis and dissertation.   Methodology – Seventy postgraduate students from 9 faculties in one public university in the Klang Valley consented to participating in this study. They were 49 Masters candidates and 21 doctoral (PhD) candidates attending a workshop on academic writing. Among them, 31 were Malaysians and 39 were foreigners with majority being Arabs and Africans. After an icebreaking session, participants were asked what their writing diffi culties are when doing their literature review. They were told to write their responses in English in a paper. A linguistic analysis was then applied to the written phrases and expressions which denote their diffi culties. These were then categorised under common themes and manually counted in terms of the frequency.   Findings – A total of 37 categories of diffi culties were detected. They encompassed basic and advanced skills in reading and writing including ‘not knowing what to read’, ‘how to read’, ‘how to start writing’, ‘organising’, ‘doing a critical analysis’, ‘summarising’ and ‘synthesising’.   Significance – The fi ndings imply that most of the participants do not possess the necessary skills of reading and writing which are required in most postgraduate programmes. Thus, it is imperative that institutions of higher learning develop stricter criteria for student selection. Alternatively, a programme providing support in reading and writing may enable these postgraduate students to raise their level before being admitted. This kind of support can help to mitigate the burden imposed on supervisors as well as develop better quality postgraduate students.  

scholarly journals Writing the Literature Review: Graduate Student Experiences

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Walter ◽  
Jordan Stouck
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Research University ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
Graduate Degrees

Difficulties with academic writing tasks, such as the literature review, impact students’ timely completion of graduate degrees. A better understanding of graduate students’ perceptions of writing the literature review could enable supervisors, administrators, service providers, and graduate students themselves to overcome these difficulties. This paper presents a case study of graduate students at a secondary campus of a Canadian research university. It describes survey data and results from focus groups conducted between 2014 and 2015 by communications faculty, writing centre staff, and librarians. The focus group participants were Master’s and Doctoral students, including students situated within one discipline and those in interdisciplinary programs. The questions focused on the students’ experiences of writing the literature review as well as the supports both accessed and desired. Data analysis revealed four themes: (a) literature review as a new and fundamental genre; (b) literature review for multiple purposes, in multiple forms, and during multiple stages of a graduate program; (c) difficulties with managing large amounts of information; and (d) various approaches and tools are used for research and writing. Using an academic literacies approach, the paper addresses implications for campus program development and writing centre interventions and furthers research into graduate students’ experiences of writing literature reviews.

scholarly journals ATTITUDES: AUTHORIAL STANCE IN THE REVIEW GENRE OF TAIWANESE MA GRADUATES

2019 ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Cheng-hua Hsiao
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Master's Students ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
The Status

Evaluation is a central linguistic feature that expresses a writer’s critical stance and plays a prominent role in academic discourse. By using Martin and White’s (2005) appraisal framework, particularly regarding attitude, this study conducted a textual analysis of literature review chapters in master’s theses written by Taiwanese graduates. Attitude can be regarded as a manner of behavior caused by feelings and opinions. The review genre was selected for study because that is where the writer’s position toward the status of knowledge is displayed. Furthermore, studies have explored various types of linguistic features, and the data sources were mainly journal articles. Few studies have yet studied the review genre in master’s theses in applied linguistics written by master’s students. The results of the study will render additional understanding of advanced EFL Taiwanese learners’ evaluation in the literature review genre and offer advice for instructors in academic writing.

scholarly journals Digital literacy practices in tertiary education: A case of EFL postgraduate students

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 622-641
Author(s):  
Aji Budi Rinekso ◽  
Rojab Siti Rodliyah ◽  
Intan Pertiwi
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Postgraduate Students

Over the past few decades, technologies grew rapidly, transforming traditional instructions to be more digitalized and stimulating many researchers to study digital literacy practices in a school-educational context. However, studies exploring digital literacy practices in the context of tertiary education are still scarce. Within the qualitative approach, this study investigated digital literacy practices by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) postgraduate students. Moreover, it intensively discusses the kinds of digital tools used by the participants and the purposes of using them. Additionally, the way the participants conceptualized digital literacy was also elaborated. Thirty-four EFL Master students of a public university in Bandung, Indonesia, participated in this study. An online open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were applied in data collection. Meanwhile, eight dimensions of digital literacy in the Hague and Payton’s frameworks were used as the basis of the thematical analysis of the interview data. Results showed that the participants conceptualized digital literacy as soft skills for managing digital information covering the acts of searching, comprehending, evaluating, creating, and sharing. The prominent result of this study relates to how the participants used digital tools for academic/research and general purposes. Subsequently, this study recommends that tertiary education institutions provide more training on maximizing digital tools for academic writing and broader access to prepaid journal articles. Further exploration of lecturers’ digital literacy practices is highly recommended. 

Internationalization of the Curriculum for Italian and International Postgraduate Students

2016 ◽  
pp. 209-222
Author(s):  
Ourania Katsara
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Activities

Internationalization of the curriculum (IoC) has been widely discussed in the literature but there is little research regarding the link between internationalization and language policies in higher education institutions. This chapter offers a comprehensive literature review indicating there is a gap in systematic research on designing effective curricula which could be used to justify the need for IoC. In particular, the author discusses a preliminary questionnaire survey analysing students' opinions on the usefulness of a short English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course within the context of Erasmus teaching in University of Basilicata, Italy. The main findings of the investigation indicated that Italian and International postgraduate students showed specific preferences towards academic writing skills that need to be taught in short seminars giving prominence to guided teaching activities. Finally, the author offers some implications emphasising the importance of a careful examination of the process of internationalization and its relationship to the implementation of language policies within the departmental curriculum.

scholarly journals A contrastive study of grammatical metaphors in abstracts of Chinese MA theses and expert academic writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziou Huang ◽  
Hui Yu
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
English Academic Writing

Abstract As a significant indicator of College students’ ability in academic English communication, academic papers, especially their condensed abstracts require various writing techniques among which the use of grammatical metaphors (GMs) is typical. To improve the English academic writing level of Chinese postgraduate students, it is significant to compare their use of GMs with that in expert research articles. On the basis of Halliday’s reclassification of GMs, this study aims to compare the characteristics of GMs in abstracts of MA theses and expert research articles (RAs). It is found that there is universal use of nearly all GM types in both groups. The two groups are similar in that they share the top five most frequently used GMs, and there are no significant differences in the use of more than half of the GM types. However, the overall GM frequency of expert RAs is significantly higher than that of MA theses. Significant differences are also found in the use of six GM types. Furthermore, some correlations between certain GM types found in expert RAs are missing in MA theses. Reasons for these differences may include the limited understanding of GM, the underdeveloped cognitive ability, the genre differences and the first language differences. Based on these findings, implications for teaching and learning are discussed.

scholarly journals The importance of enhancing pedagogical skills through continuing professional development

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 121-129
Author(s):  
Md. Sajedur Rahman ◽  
Fatimah Tambi ◽  
Nusrat Zerin Anny
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Conference Proceedings ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Review Paper ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
College Teachers ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Pedagogical Skills ◽  
Scarcity Of Resources

This paper attempts to explore the issue of enhancing pedagogical skills among the college teachers of Bangladesh through CPD. This is a literature review paper that divided the topic into different themes and sub-themes in order to analyze the issue properly. After analyzing 60 studies including journal articles, conference proceedings, and research reports of different authors and organizations this study found several positive impacts of CPD on the teachers regarding uplifting their professional skills. It has also found some challenges of implementing CPD for college teachers identifying the scarcity of resources at the heart of all the challenges. Finally, the paper ends up with some recommendations to enhance the teachers’ professional skills through CPD in Bangladeshi colleges

Institutional Plagiarism Policy (Georgian higher education institutions’ case)

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natela DOGHONADZE ◽  
Ekaterine PIPIA ◽  
Nikoloz PARJANADZE
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Survey Questionnaire ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Copyright Violation ◽  
University Policies

The article deals with various aspects of plagiarism: definition (discriminating it from cheating and copyright violation), types (intended / unintended), involved people, causes, prevention, detection and punishment of plagiarism. A survey (questionnaire containing 42 items to be assessed in a 5-point Likert scale and one open- ended item) was conducted in Georgia. The questionnaire developed based on the literature review was uploaded on social media in three variants (to analyze the results separately and compare them): for students, for researchers and for assessors. The obtained results revealed that the opinions of the three groups of respondents differed to a certain degree, but were quite similar, eventually. The survey disclosed the existing problems, such as: lack of academic writing (in the native and especially foreign language) and research skills, lack of training in avoiding plagiarism, insufficiently clear university policies in the area, the emphasis on punishment instead of prevention, etc. Based on the obtained results recommendations for universities are given concerning plagiarism policies. 

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION AMONGST STUDENTS IN UTTAR PRADESH

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anu Kohli ◽  
Neha Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intention ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Career Option ◽  
Postgraduate Level

This research paper analyses factors that impact entrepreneurial intention among graduate and postgraduate students enrolled in professional courses at government and private institutes in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The objective of this study is to analyze whether the student’s academic background, demographic profile and family background impact various factors that affect entrepreneurial intention. The study was conducted during 2015-16 on a sample of 460 student respondents across various cities of Uttar Pradesh.The results of the analysis indicate that students of male gender, belonging to higher income, in older age groups, having work experience, enrolled in government institutes, belonging to business background and enrolled at postgraduate level are more likely to consider entrepreneurship as a more attractive career option, perceive that it is easier to start and do business, have more positive perception about family and societal support they receive in entrepreneurial career choice, are more open to risks and are more confident about their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge . The students having work experience, enrolled in government institutes, and belonging to business background are more likely to find availability of capital as a constraint in entrepreneurial career. The students belonging to older age groups, having work experience and enrolled in government institutes are more likely to consider availability of land/premise and resources as a constraint in entrepreneurial choice. The findings of this study will be instrumental in understanding and in designing policy imperatives for promoting entrepreneurship in the state.Key Words: Entrepreneurial intention, Students, Demographic factors, Family background, Educational background.

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