An A to W of Academic Literacy: Book Review

oooh

DoctoralWriting

By Cally Guerin

Mary Jane Curry, Fangzhi He, Weijia Li, Ting Zhang, Yanhong Zuo, Mahmoud Altalouli & Jihan Ayesh (2021) An A to W of Academic Literacy: Key Concepts and Practices for Graduate Students. University of Michigan Press.

This book is jointly written by the eminent academic literacy scholar, Mary Jane Curry, along with a group of graduate students at Rochester University in the USA. Curry is well known for her work that engages directly with the politics and implications of globalisation in which “standard English” (or “Englishes”) has become the common language of academic scholarship. I was keen to see how these authors together explored core concepts of academic literacy that are important to post/graduate writers. Arguably, the co-authorship of this book with international students performs Curry’s position on academic literacy. And the book does satisfyingly deliver significantly more than a standard dictionary of terms or advice to…

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An update on triangulation

a really signficant commentary on triangulation

QualPage

Although the concept of triangulation has been used for 50 years, what triangulation means and how it is used by qualitative researchers varies considerably. This blogpost begins by providing a brief history of triangulation that highlights how the meaning of the term “triangulation” has changed over time as it has been taken up by qualitative and mixed methods researchers.

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Peace-of-Mind Consequences of Law: An Introduction and a Proposed Definition (Part I)

lovely writing for a case study about an important issue

The ISTJ Blog

In part one of this two-part blog, each co-author Professor Cerminara and Dr. Petrucci share a different perspective on the topic: one co-author shares her personal experiences, and one co-author shares a legal perspective. In part two, they explore additional legal examples.

The idea of peace-of-mind laws and therapeutic jurisprudence came up after a post on the TJ listserv*. A very sad story was shared in which a man with terminal illness committed suicide by shooting himself in his backyard. He lived in a state in the U.S. that did not have an aid-in-dying law. This story began our discussion of the role of laws that permit medical aid in dying (previously termed physician-assisted suicide or physician aid in dying) and the therapeutic peace of mind this type of law could provide.

Peace-of-mind laws could encompass laws whose presence brings a long-term therapeutic effect on quality of life for those…

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Strategies for effectively editing and proofreading academic writing

editing as writing practice

Nick Hopwood

Strategies for effectively editing and proofreading academic writing

When we think of academic writing, we often think of the painful, difficult process of getting words onto the page. But what about when we have a bunch of words down, what next? Does the act of writing get all the glory while we overlook editing and proofreading? Do we think about ourselves as writers too much, and as editors not enough?

Mark Haddon (a Whitbread Award-winning novelist) says of himself: “I’m not a terribly good writer, but I’m a persistent editor” (The Guardian, 2016).

The production of good journal articles, thesis chapters and other scholarly texts very much depends on editing and proofreading.

I was recently contacted by someone who does these things for a living, who offered to share some tips and strategies. Our dialogue over email and various drafts (yes, we edited and proofread this post!) made…

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Insights from being an online research participant

from the far side…..

Anuja Cabraal (PhD)

In the first half of last year, I agreed to be a participant in a research project where I was interviewed online. I found the experience interesting, eye opening, and learned so much from it. Here, I wanted to present my thoughts and experience, rather than what I learned, because I think that everyone will take away something different depending on their own research. So, here is my experience of being a research participant – during Covid and online. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Why did I decide to participate?

The primary reason was because it was a topic I was personally interested in (not academically). I was in a transition period in my life, and this topic was relevant to that. I was looking for validation. To be accepted as a participant meant something to me, almost like a stamp of approval. Especially because I did not think…

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