Module 5 - Purposive Communication PDF

RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig SESSION NO. / WEEK 9 MODULE 5: COMMUNICATION FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES...

RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig SESSION NO. / WEEK 9 MODULE 5: COMMUNICATION FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES 1. Book Review 2. Literature Review 3. Research Report 4. Project Proposal 5. Position Paper Overview This module talks about communication for academic purposes. It discusses about the different steps and techniques on how to write academic papers such as: book review, literature review, research report, project proposal, and position paper. The birth of technology has given rise to a sea of communication- via online, face-to face, computer-mediated, in a workplace and more so in an academic setting. With so many communication options, people need a wider range of communication skills than ever before. The academe posts a huge demand for students to become proficient communicators. To be effective, one must involve both understanding the components and process of communication and putting them into practice. This chapter is devoted to assist students in formulating various academic papers that are written for numerous fields of discipline. PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION 1  RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig Study Guide To carefully understand this module, you are instructed to read this module thoroughly to be enlightened more of the discussion. Furthermore, an activity and an assessment are provided at the end of this module to assess your learning. Learning Outcomes At the end of the module, you will be able to: 1. Write and present academic papers using appropriate tone, style, conventions, and reference styles. 2. Adopt awareness of audience and context in presenting ideas. 3. Convey ideas through oral, audio-visual, and/or web-based presentations for different target audiences in local and global settings using appropriate registers. Topic Presentation 1. BOOK REVIEW You have just taken a journey. Maybe you went to meet Mr. Darcy. Or perhaps, you went back in time or visited a foreign land. Perhaps you shook hands with Mother Theresa or witnessed the Declaration of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 in the then Cavite el Viejo (now Kawit, Cavite). How did you do these wonderful things? You read a book, of course. You think you and your friends should visit the world in the book you have just read. You can show your friends this world by writing a book review. Simply stating your personal feelings about a book is not enough. You need to support your statements with explanations and references to the work. The Prewriting Process Take brief notes as you read the material you will respond to. You might note your favorite parts, parts that puzzle you, and parts that you disagree with. Afterwards, ask yourself questions to help you analyze and evaluate the material: Whose point of view does the work present? Which parts reveal the point of view? What might the work’s purpose be? Which parts reveal the purpose? What is the author’s thesis? What are the most and least effective aspects of the work? What might readers and reviewers learn from the work? PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION 2  RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig Purpose and Audience You have read your book and you are ready to tell people what you think. Before you begin, think about: The purpose of your book review The people who will be reading it (your audience) Your purpose for writing a book review will be closely linked to your audience and to their purpose for reading the review. Here are some questions and possible responses to help you think about your audience and their purpose. Gather and Organize Details YOU GET THE IDEA If you want people to read the book you have chosen, you need to say more about it than simply, “It’s good.” You need to give them a summary of the book. A summary of a piece of writing includes only the key ideas of the piece. When you summarize a novel, you will briefly retell the important events. The notes that you took while you read your novel will help you write your summary. THERE IS MORE TO THE STORY If a story were plot alone, it would not be much fun to read. Readers will be more interested in plot events if they know something about the people and places involved. When you write a summary include a description of the characters and the setting. WRITING A BOOK REVIEW: ITS PARTS Introduction Body Conclusion Introduction In your first paragraph, identify the material that you are responding to. Name the author and date of publication. To help your readers, provide a summary or brief description of the work. You might also state your thesis in your opening paragraph. Body Devote at least a paragraph to each main point. Support each point with details from your planning notes- including your won responses- and with examples from the work itself. Conclusion If you haven’t stated your thesis in the first paragraph, do so in the conclusion. Sum up your judgment of the work’s main ideas and the way they are presented. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION 3  RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig A literature review is not an annotated bibliography in which you summarize briefly each article that you have reviewed. While a summary of what you have read is contained within the literature review. It goes well beyond merely summarizing professional literature. It focuses on a specific topic of interest to you and includes a critical analysis of the relationship among different works, and relating this research to your work. It may be written as a stand-alone paper or to provide a theoretical framework and rationale for a research study such as a thesis or dissertation (Helen Mongan-Rallis, 2014). It is an evaluative report of information found in the literature related to your selected area of study. The review should describe, summarize, evaluate, and clarify this literature. It should give a theoretical base for the research and help you (the author) determine the nature of your research. Works which are irrelevant should be discarded and those which are peripheral should be looked at critically. A literature review is more than the search for information, and goes beyond being a descriptive annotated bibliography. All works included in the review must be read, evaluated, and analyzed (which you would do for an annotated bibliography), but relationships between the literature must also be identified and articulated, in relation to your field of research. In writing the literature review, the purpose is to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. The literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g. your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries. Steps in Writing a Literature Review Writing the Introduction Writing the Body Writing the Conclusion Writing the Introduction The introduction should: Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature. Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic; or conflicts in the theory, methodology; or a single problem, or new perspective of immediate interest. Establish the writer’s reason (point of view) for reviewing the literature; explain the criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing the literature and the organization of the review (sequence); and when necessary, state why certain literature is or not included (scope). Writing the Body PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION 4  RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig The body should: Group research studies and other types of literature work (reviews, theoretical articles, case studies, etc.) according to common denominators such as qualitative versus quantitative approaches, conclusions of authors, specific purpose or objective, chronology, etc. Summarize individual studies or articles with as much as little detail as each detail merits according to its comparative importance in the literature, remembering that space (length) denotes significance. Provide the reader with strong “umbrella” sentences at the beginning of paragraphs, “signposts” throughout, and brief “so what” summary sentences at intermediate points in the review to aid in understanding comparisons and analyses. Writing the Conclusion The conclusion should: Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction. Evaluate the current “state of the art” for the body of knowledge reviewed, pointing out major methodological flaws or gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and findings, and areas or issues pertinent to future study. Conclude by providing some insight into the relationship between the central topic of the literature review and a larger area of study such as a discipline, a scientific endeavor, or a profession. 3. RESEARCH REPORT Have you ever written a report in which you used several different sources? I f so, you have already produced a research report. A research report is written report that presents the results of a focused, in-depth study of a specific topic. Its writer chooses a topic, gathers information about the topic from several sources, and then presents that information in an organized way. Steps in Developing a Research Report Choosing your subject Doing Preliminary Research Limiting your subject to a specific topic Finding an angle and writing a statement of controlling purpose Preparing a list of possible sources Taking notes and developing a rough, working outline Organizing your notes and making a final outline Writing your first draft Revising your draft Writing the final draft with complete list of works cited PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION 5  RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig Choosing a Subject One of the most important parts of doing a research is choosing a topic. By choosing wisely, you can ensure that your research will go smoothly and that you will enjoy doing it. A subject is a broad area of interest, such as Philippine History or animal behavior. One way to approach the search for a research-report topic is to first choose a general area of interest and then focus on some part of it. Make sure that you have a real reason for wanting to explore the subject. Often, the best subjects for research reports are the ones that are related to your own life or to the lives of people you know. Use Freewriting Techniques Freewriting or Clustering Brainstorming Questioning Discussing Limiting your Subject to a Specific Topic Once you have come up with a list of ideas for possible topics, you need to evaluate and limit them- that is on the basis of certain criteria. Here are some criteria for judging a research topic: The topic should be interesting. The topic should be covered in readily available sources. The topic should be significant. The topic should be objective. You should not simply repeat material available in other sources. The topic should be narrow enough to be treated fully. Writing a Statement of Controlling Purpose Once you have decided on a specific topic, your next step is to write a statement of controlling purpose. This is a sentence or pair of sentences that tells you what you want to accomplish in your report. It is called a statement of controlling purpose because it controls or guides your research. The statement of controlling purpose usually contains one or more key words that tell what the report is going to accomplish. Key words that often appear in statements of controlling purpose include analyze, classify, compare, contrast, define, describe, determine, establish, explain, identify, prove, and support. To come up with a statement of controlling purpose, you will probably have to do a good deal of preliminary research. That is because before you can write a statement of controlling purpose, you need to know enough about your topic to have a general idea of what you want to say in your report. Preparing a List of Possible Sources PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION  6 RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig Once you have written a statement of controlling purpose, you are ready to put together a list of potential sources. The list of sources that might be useful to you in writing your paper is called a working bibliography. You will have to use some sources during your preliminary research, and you will probably want to include some or all of those sources in your working bibliography. As you continue to research and draft, you might find new sources to add to the list. Before you decide to add a new source to your list, however, be sure to evaluate it. Both print and non-print sources will be available to you, and you will want to take advantage of both. Here are some good places to start looking for information: Other people Institutions and organization The government The library/ media center Bookstores Bibliographies Online information service Reference works Other sources 4. PROJECT PROPOSAL A proposal is a written report that seeks to persuade the reader to accept a suggested plan of action. For example, a manager may write a project proposal that seeks to persuade a potential customer to purchase goods or services from the writer’s firm, persuade the government to locate a new research facility in the headquarters city of the writer’s firm, or persuade a foundation to fund a project to be undertaken by the writer’s firm. Proposals may either be solicited or unsolicited. Government agencies and many large commercial firms routinely solicit proposals from potential suppliers. For example, the government may publish an RFP (request for proposal) stating its intention to purchase 5, 000 microcomputers, giving detailed specifications regarding the features it needs on these computers, and inviting prospective suppliers to bid on the project. Similarly, the computer manufacturers that submit the successful bid might publish an RFP to invite parts manufacturers to bid on supplying some component the manufacturer needs for these computers. The unsolicited proposal differs from solicited proposal in that the former typically requires more background information and more persuasion. Because the reader may not be familiar with the project, the writer must present more evidence to convince the readers of the merits of the proposal. The proposal reader is typically outside the organization. The format for these external documents may be a letter report, a manuscript report, or even a form report, with the form supplied by the soliciting organization. If the soliciting organization does not supply a form, it will likely specify in detailed language the PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION  7 RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig format required for the proposal. The reader’s instructions should be followed explicitly. Despite the merits of a proposal, failure to follow such guidelines may be sufficient reason for the evaluator to reject it. When writing a proposal, the writer must keep in mind that the proposal may become legally binding on the writer and the organization. In spelling out exactly what the writer’s organization will provide, when, under what circumstances, and at what price, the report writer creates the offer part of a contract which, if accepted, becomes binding on the organization (Ober, 2006). Techniques in Writing Project Proposal Give ample, credible evidence for all statements. Do not exaggerate. Provide examples, expert testimony, and specific facts and figures to support your statements. Use simple, straightforward, and direct language, preferring simple sentences, and active voice. Stress reader benefits. Remember that you are asking for something, usually a commitment of money; let the reader know what he or she will get in return. Sections of a Typical Project Proposal Background Objectives Procedure Qualifications Request for Approval Supporting Data Background Introduce the problem you are addressing and discuss why it merits the reader’s consideration. Provide enough background information to show that a problem exists and that you have a viable solution. Objectives Provide specific information about what the outcomes f the project will be. Be detailed and honest in discussing what the reader will get in return for a commitment of resources. Procedure Discuss in detail exactly how you will achieve these objectives. Include step-by step discussion of what will be done, when, and exactly how much each component or phase will cost. Qualifications PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION  8 RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig Show how you, your organization, and any of others who would be involved in conducting this project are qualified to do so. If appropriate, include testimonials or other external evidence to support your claims. Request for Approval Directly ask for approval of your proposal. Depending on the reader’s needs, this request could come either at the beginning or at the end of the proposal. Supporting Data Include as an appendix to your proposal any relevant but supplementary information that might bolster your arguments. 5. POSITION PAPER There may have been instances when you were required to explain a variety of positions on an issue, possible including those in favor of it, those against it, and those with various views in between. These patterns used for expository papers (narration, description, exemplification, etc.) can be expanded for a position paper. The objective for a position paper is to take a stand on the issue, organize materials and notes, and write a paper that is convincing to your reading audience. Organization, or deciding on a framework of ideas for your paper is the first step, then you will need to think about: (1) how the material can be divided into parts, (2) how these parts can be placed in an order, and (3) what the logical relationships are among the ideas and parts. To help accomplish this, let us look first at the advice classical writers give on these matters. PARTS OF CLASSICAL ORGANIZATION OF ARGUMENTS Introduction Statement of Proposition and Division Narration Proof Refutation Conclusion Introduction Make the subject and purpose clear at the start. Also, include information that will interest the audience so that they will want to keep reading. Statement of Proposition and Division  PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION 9 RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig State your claim at or near the end of the introduction. Sometimes, name the major sections of the paper so that is easier for readers to follow along. Narration Provide background about the subject and the events that have led to the controversy. Indicate why the subject is important. Offer reasons for an interest in the subject and cite qualifications for writing about it. Proof Establish reasons and evidences that are acceptable to the audience to prove the proposition or claim. Refutation Refute opposing positions. It may be placed after the proof, before the proof, or at various points among the items of proof. Conclusion Emphasize the important point and remind the audience of the other important points. Use Organizational Patterns to Help You Think and Organize Organizational patterns represent distinct ways to think about the parts of your reaction paper, the order in which you place them, and the relationships among the ideas and parts. They can be incorporated into overall structure of the classical model, particularly in the proof section (body) of the paper. Use the patterns alone or in combinations accompanied by an introduction and a conclusion. Use these formats both to help you think about your ideas as well to organize them. Claim with Reasons (or Reasons followed by Claim) Cause and Effect (or Effect and Cause) Chronology or Narrative Deduction Induction Compare and Contrast LEARN SOME MORE ABOUT BOOK REVIEW!  COMMUNICATION 10 PURPOSIVE RIZALTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITY Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION 11