Academic Writing 3 Brightspace 2024 PDF

Communications CM4203 Dr. Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin Academic Writing III and intro to Critical Thinking Library skills you will need: 1. Differentiating and identifying sources within a bibliography 2. Recognising...

Communications CM4203 Dr. Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin Academic Writing III and intro to Critical Thinking Library skills you will need: 1. Differentiating and identifying sources within a bibliography 2. Recognising different referencing systems 3. Finding a book 4. Finding a journal article 5. Doing keyword searches 6. Starting from “one good article”.  Searching the databases:  What are your key words? Core Terms = Related Terms = Keywords  Think about the literature search……  Keywords are a good way to begin a search, if you have a general idea of your project topic.  It also helps you to brainstorm your topic  Break the sentence into core words if possible.  Now think about words that are similar or related to each of these core words. Guidelines for evaluating online sources  Favour governmental and educational sources over commercial ones  Favour authored documents over those without authors  Favour web pages that are regularly updated  Favour web sources that document their claims (i.e. that have a bibliography) Critical Thinking: Essential for Business Professionals  Problem analysis  Evaluating alternatives  Precise contexts – implications of actions (deductive reasoning – anticipate outcomes / logical consequences… being able to assess risk, policies and regulations)  Ambiguous contexts – problem solving in contexts of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty.  (Inductive / inferential reasoning – making decisions based on likelihood of success given the available information) “When we become critical thinkers, we develop an awareness of the assumptions under which we, and others, think and act. We learn to pay attention to the context in which our ideas and actions are generated. We become sceptical of quick-fix solutions, of single answers to problems, and of claims to universal truth. We also become open to alternative ways of looking at, and behaving in, the world” Brookfield, S. Developing Critical Thinkers Questioning the status quo “Slow Violence” – Rob Nixon What is it to be critical?  Scepticism or suspension of belief towards particular statements, information, or norms.  Being critical of the prevailing structures, values, and rationalities of a society.  Critiquing relationships between power and knowledge.  Interrogating the thinking process itself – thinking turned on itself Thinking turned on itself: We may look at the narratives / stories that we tell about ourselves We may examine our emotions and how they influence our behaviour (related to emotional intelligence) We might ask ourselves: What are my assumptions about friendship, family, work-life balance, success? Do I have sufficient reasons for believing this? Triggers:  Negative triggers – any form of trauma or life transition  Positive triggers – moments of insight or self- awareness Probing aspects of our lives or our societies: Critical thinking probes important or crucial elements of our lives and values. These may be social or personal. Personal - How will you cope with losing your job? Social – What are the implications of high levels of unemployment for human happiness or liberty?  “Cruel Optimism” by Lauren Berlant (highlights the need to examine personal problems and challenges at a societal level)  “Berlantposited that our sense of identity came less from conscious choices and more from unconscious compulsions and attachments often operating without our awareness or any self-reflection.” A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing.  We should strive to become conscious of our compulsions (workaholism, consumerism, addiction, etc.), and attachment to outdated tropes (“overachievement brings success, which begets money, which surely brings us happiness”)…. Recognising Assumptions: Assumptions are our presuppositions and viewpoints that we take for granted. It is important to recognise our assumptions because they represent a ‘baseline’ for thought. If they are flawed or misunderstood, the reasoning that stems from them can also be flawed.  “Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism.” Frederic Jameson “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” Ursula K. Le Guin Example of an unstated assumption: 1980s Ireland Divorce contravenes Catholic teaching Ireland should ban divorce Unstated Assumption: Irish law should reflect Catholic doctrine.  What are your unstated assumptions? About your future? About planetary health or crisis? About money? About business success? How do you decide on your working definitions?  Definitions can change the nature of a fact  How many households live in poverty in Ireland? That depends on how you define poverty.  Living wage?  On welfare?  Debt?  Lifestyle factors? Evidence – a foundation for critical thinking (but not always neutral!) Evaluating Evidence: What is the source of the evidence? Isthe evidence current, accurate, relevant and authoritative? Is an inference or opinion being presented as a fact? What definitions are being used? Are the instances cited typical? Isthe evidence alone sufficient to result in the conclusion drawn? Who produces the archive / evidence? For what purpose? Some reasons for defining:  Eliminate ambiguity  Reduce vagueness  Increase vocabulary  Influence attitudes Being sceptical about tradition / conventional wisdom and the ‘way things are’: Taking less for granted and questioning deeper and more fundamental assumptions that we usually make Even seemingly objective ‘facts’ such as quantitative data do not simply occur but are the result of particular processes involving a whole variety of people, operations, and decisions/choices Which problems are raised and which are not? Which decisions get taken and which are always put off ? To what extent are particular interest groups able to promote or suppress certain information, or shape the agendas of discussions and meetings? Critical Thinking  Being sceptical or questioning about statements, arguments etc.  Being critical of societal values, structures etc.  Critiquing relationships between power and knowledge.  Critical Thinking in Communication  Disagreements  Definitions  Argument structure and validity  Fallacies Disagreements  When you disagree with an article, author, theory, lecturer, friend etc., it is important that you know what exactly you are disagreeing with!  What is the nature of your dispute? Disagreements  Verbal– talking at crossed purposes – key words are used in differing ways.  Evaluative:  Aesthetic – ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’.  Moral – conflicting values Disagreements 2  Interpretive– different opinions – persuasion can usually resolve these disputes.  Factual – disagree on what actually happened / dispute can be resolved by getting more information. If there is disagreement in the literature, deal with it. Analyse the evidence, engage in the debate and synthesise the information. The sky is blue (Smith 1957) The sky is grey (Jones 1999) The sky is black (O’Reilly 2004)  “Itis clear from our survey of 435 undergraduates at the University of California that their perception of the sky is that it is blue” (Smith 1957, p. 234).  “Having conducted in-depth interviews with 14 inmates at three Irish prisons, we conclude that the sky is grey” (Jones 1999, p. 45).  “Our content analysis of photographs taken every 24 hours over a three-month period in one Australian city clearly indicated that the sky is black” (O’Reilly 2004, p. 87). Why differences?  how research was done  definition of terms used  eg. Bullying – victim feels victimised? Over long period of time  Philosophical / psychological stance – prisoners in Ireland may think the sky is grey  In the above example - time of day, weather, and some sort of interaction between observer and observed probably were all factors Thinking about argument structure  Arguments – premises & conclusions  Premises offer reasons that support the conclusion.  Premises are the building blocks of arguments.  Overall Argument Premise 1 Premise 3 Premise 2 Evidence x 2 Evidence x 2 Evidence x 2 Conclusion Evaluating Arguments  Truth – are premises true?  Validity – is the argument structure valid? Truth P. There is little crime in Ireland (faulty premise) P. It is safe to walk alone at night in a country where there is little crime C. It is safe to walk alone at night in Ireland (flawed conclusion) Validity  P. Ireland has a damp climate  P. Spruce trees grow well in a damp climate  C. Therefore, Ireland is the largest producer of spruce trees in the world. (over-reaching conclusion)  C. Therefore, Ireland is a good location to grow spruce trees. (better conclusion) Deductive Logic  Deductive arguments - the premises contain the conclusion  If the premises are true and the argument is valid, then the conclusion is true.  All humans are mortal (All A are B) Mary is human (C is an A) Therefore, Mary is mortal (Therefore, C is B) Inductive Logic  Inductivearguments have premises which are known or are believed to be true. They do not, however, guarantee the conclusion.  Opinion polls, surveys and scientific experiments all use inductive reasoning Inductive logic – example  Empirical Generalisation: draw conclusions from a limited sample.  Opinion polls  Marketing survey Research Terminology contd:  Qualitative findings: interviews / focus groups etc.  Investigates the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of decision making  Seeks an in-depth understanding of human behaviour  Quantitative – statistics etc. (The Census)  systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques  Please complete the interactive Citing and Referencing interactive tutorial on Sulis.  And the short video “An Introduction to Cite it Right.”  Both of these (and other) resources are available in the module folder on Brightspace.  Summary  Research and academic writing skills  Key terms – plagiarism, source, referencing etc.  Key skills – referencing / identifying different types of sources in a bibliography / generating keywords / formatting quotes properly / in-text citations  Check out Cite it Right and online UL library resources