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Characteristics of Academic Writing

Use technical terms

Operationalize terms: need to explain as some terms may be specifically used for your

genre of psychology ; so lecturer can assess whether or not the student understands what the

terms mean

Normally no contractions (e.g. I)

Presence of a formal structure : connections between parts

Subheads

Connectors (e.g. However, next ...)

Purpose

What is it for?

To summarize in a focused manner an area, in order to make decisions or recommendations

about treatments, services or need for research

it should validate the research you are doing, and show how it fits the work being done more

widely in your subject area

Who is this for? Implications for length and language

Which professionals/journals

**How to go about choosing the type of publications/journal to submit your research to?

when you are reading in preparations see how a certain journal would be used again and

again for similar topic articles

you wouldn't want a general publications (e.g. Nature)

if you really want it to be accepted for publications then you try to find a journal which

publishes more articles

A good review should:

convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what

their strengths and weaknesses are

be organized around and related directly to the thesis research question you are developing

should be a synthesis and analysis of the relevant published work

* difference between synthesis and analysis:

1) synthesis putting things together; you have to structure the way you put it together to create a

new whole

2) analysis taking things apart; analyzing the characteristics individually

summarize what has and has not been researched

formulate questions that need further research (your study!)

identify areas of controversy in the literature (e.g. Nature vs Nurture )

compare and contrast different authors' views on an issue

criticize aspects of methodology

* what is one characteristic of a good study:

- the way the population has been sampled

- do they have the baseline data

- large sample size; so we can make a more accurate inference

- double blind

- having a control group

- ensuring the treatment/intervention was conducted properly group authors who draw similar conclusions (SYNTHESIS)

note areas in which authors are in disagreement (SYNTHESIS)

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highlight exemplary studies

A good review should:

not be simply a description of what others have published in the form of a set of summaries

must group, and critically analyze the relevant literature

What does CRITICAL mean?

In colloquial everyday ENGLISH, it usually means 'finding fault with', or 'saying what iswrong'

In academic English, it is used more precisely the word 'critic' is derived from the Greek

word for 'judge'

Being critical therefore means making judgements and involves the use of evidence, weighing

up its worth

i.e. The writer comes to a balanced judgement, with reasons, of its usefulness or other qualities

Format

1. Separate assignment

2. One of the introductory sections of a report, dissertation or thesis

In the latter cases in particular, the review will be guided by your research objective or by the

issue or thesis you are arguing and will provide the framework for your further work

Getting started

evaluate resources ;

1) whether author has been cited: social science citation index or google cited in number

2) whether journal is peer-reviewed or not

3) whether published in a reputable journal

4) year of publication/ how recent is the research?

select and narrow the topic

learn to use literature search tools (ONEsearch, google scholar, psychINFO etc.)

locate and scan/read articles (read at abstract first, look at references and then read the

relevant parts)

focus on relevant articles and take notes allow time to extract the major findings

final stage organize notes, synthesize, write

Reviewing the literature

define your idea in as general terms as possible by using general sources, such as google,

wikipedia, books and articles on the general theme, rather than on your specific topic search through the secondary sources ( sources talking about other people's data); scholarly

summaries of research, more sources of references

search through the primary sources ( sources with original data); provide reports of original

research; articles are written in a specific, uniform format

( peer review process: - experts review the article for its quality and merits and make

recommendations prior to publications; many submitted articles never get published)

organize your notes

write your review

**DOWNLOAD ENDNOTE (Highly Recommended!!!)

record dates and search terms used;

make notes about articles read could keep card index or on computer; your notes should

indicate the source of the ideas. Are they yours?

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- Add references to EndNote as you go along saves huge amount of time and effort at the

end of the process

Getting down to the task

Reading when to stop?

- what is available in the area

- can set exclusion/inclusion criteria- can look at recent developments/last 10 years

- check if there has been a recent review

Identify important areas: conceptual organization

Plan sub headings of areas to cover in a logical order

Writing the literature review

introduction, body, conclusions

read other literature reviews take advantage of what others have done

organize your background materials

work from an outline it will help you stay organized related different areas that you are working with to each other tell a coherent story

SECTION 1: Introduction

State your aims

Define your terms

Indicate your search strategy (what database, what terms you've used)

Outline your structure what are you going to do in the review

- Give an outline of the review

- include the main topics covered

- include the order of the arguments

SECTION 2: Body

Do not list the papers

Think about grouping

- e.g. Papers with similar findings, then those with contradictory results

- look for explanations of contradictions which relate to methods/sample i.e. Using critical appraisal

skills

- group type of studies together (e.g. Quasi-experimental)

- or can use chronological perspective

- need to think about this conceptual organization early on PLAN!

Pitfalls to avoid

Be critical, not merely descriptive

Write clearly and link sections

Organize before writing

Don't get bogged down in reading plan how to search the literature, i.e. Read with a purpose

Make notes as you go along, as you won't remember

Get someone to proofread

RELC journal 1999 ( Renandya, 29-60)