Research is difficult. Even though students are trained in the basic research methodology skills, when confronted with research writing, it feels to them as if they enter a bizarre world, with its own language and conventions, where it is hard to get things right. This book translates the apparent complexities of research writing into everyday ideas, language and skills, and will enable novice researchers to start overcoming the major stumbling blocks immediately. This book focuses only on the greatest challenges in research writing, specifically those that supervisors find most difficult to explain to novice researchers. These challenges include both basic and more complex skills, such as: finding original research contributions; establishing one's voice while drawing on other authors; turning a vague idea into a feasible research question; generating literature reviews that are original in themselves; and avoiding list-like writing when discussing the research methodology. Wentzel shows that it is easier to overcome these challenges, not with lists of prescriptions that are difficult to remember while writing, but rather by cultivating an argumentative mindset. Not only is such a mindset much easier to maintain, but it offers a central point around which one can organise any difficult writing task. The book shows how to use the argumentative mindset to approach every important writing challenge. It translates all the necessary skills into jargon-free language using a variety of visuals and simple step-by-step procedures that will enable any person to read the book quickly and start writing immediately. The book is accompanied by a website containing an instructor's manual with guidance on the teaching and assessment of research writing, as well as lecture slides.
Author(s): Arnold Wentzel
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 172
Tags: Argumentative, Research Writing, Thinking
Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Table of Contents......Page 6
List of figures......Page 10
List of tables......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 13
Preface: About this book......Page 14
1. Research as argument......Page 20
1 Academic research is not so strange......Page 21
2 Argument in research......Page 22
3.1 The Toulmin model......Page 23
iii) Make the claim more specific......Page 25
3.2 The importance of counterarguments......Page 27
4 Using the Toulmin model......Page 28
4.1 Awareness of argumentation......Page 29
4.3 Evaluation of arguments......Page 30
4.4 Writing single arguments......Page 31
6 References......Page 32
1 How to search for relevant academic sources......Page 33
2 How to read......Page 37
3 How to summarise......Page 38
4 How to write in your own words......Page 42
5 Conclusion......Page 46
1 Finding a reason to be original......Page 47
2 What does it mean to be original in social science research?......Page 48
3 A fast way to find some original contributions......Page 51
4 Originality through the intellectual problems of the discipline......Page 53
4.1 Understanding intellectual problems as logical conflicts......Page 54
4.2 Constructing a conflict diagram from actions or decisions......Page 58
4.3 Constructing a conflict diagram from an undesirable state......Page 60
b) Identifying assumptions......Page 63
c) Challenging assumptions......Page 64
d) Addressing inconsistencies......Page 65
e) Finding provocative questions......Page 66
f) More insightful literature reviews and cutting-edgeempirical research......Page 67
5 Originality through the questions of the discipline......Page 68
5.1 Van Fraassen analysis......Page 69
5.2 Doing a Van Fraassen analysis......Page 71
5.3 Relational analysis......Page 72
6 Conclusion......Page 73
7 References......Page 74
4. Writing argumentatively......Page 75
1 Arguments within arguments......Page 76
2 Finding smaller arguments......Page 77
2.1 How to do it......Page 78
2.2 Why we do it......Page 80
3 Connecting arguments......Page 82
4.1 Writing with your own voice using other authors’ ideas......Page 87
4.2 Writing the talk show in academic research......Page 91
4.4 How the responses happen: the author as puppet master......Page 93
4.5 Stages of a conversation: open, explore, close and connect......Page 99
a) Open......Page 101
b) Explore......Page 102
c) Close and connect......Page 107
5 Conclusion......Page 109
Types of arrogance......Page 110
Original text 1......Page 111
Talk show 2......Page 112
6 References......Page 113
2 Thinking: make others care......Page 114
2.2 Identify the obstacles......Page 116
2.3 Identify your audience......Page 117
3 Thinking: identify an appropriate context......Page 118
3.2 Inverted pyramid......Page 119
4 Writing: ‘background to the research’ section......Page 120
5 Thinking: determine why current studies are not good enough......Page 121
6 Thinking: identify a provisional research question......Page 125
7 Thinking: refine the research question......Page 127
8 Writing: the ‘research problem’ section......Page 131
9 Thinking: anticipate how you will find the answer......Page 132
11 Evaluating the quality of your arguments......Page 133
12 Overview of the process......Page 135
1 What is a literature review?......Page 138
1.1 What a literature review does......Page 139
1.2 Why the research question needs a series of supporting arguments......Page 140
1.3 Why an argumentative literature review is easier to write well......Page 141
2 Generating the content......Page 142
3.1 Technique for connecting the content of the literature review......Page 144
3.2 Technique for structuring the content of the literature review......Page 145
3.3 An alternative approach when you have a large number of assumptions......Page 146
4.1 Technique for expanding on the content of the literature review......Page 148
4.2 Technique for organising the writing of the literature review......Page 149
4.3 What if I need to use a conventional structure?......Page 150
Appendix: Revision and editing......Page 152
7. Principles of writing argumentatively about your research design and methodology......Page 154
1 A tool for generating arguments......Page 155
2 Using the tool when writing about research design......Page 156
2.1 Selecting an appropriate research design......Page 157
2.2 Using research designs in combination......Page 159
2.3 Generating the arguments about research design......Page 160
4 Beyond research methodology......Page 162
Appendix: Simplifying sampling, validity, reliability and generalisability......Page 163
Sampling......Page 164
Validity......Page 165
Reliability......Page 166
Other issues......Page 167
8. In conclusion......Page 168
Index......Page 169
