A couple of days ago I participated in thesecond plenary session for the Applied Artists who are writing their degree essay this year. We are given very good support to be able to write a decent essay, and are taken through various exercises to practice certain skills.
This week's exercise was about how to write with authority. Succinctly, we do this via critical analysis (I've never been strong on analysis, so I sat up, listened carefully, and paid attention).
- Read widely
- Actively critique others' ideas.
- Question whether it is good material
- Identify strengths and weaknesses of argument
- Use evidence to back up, as authority
- Read articles, understand the jargon, change to layman's terms in your mind, then in your own words, rewrite in academically appropriate language.
- Seek teh nuances in the text
- Acknowledge the work of other researchers by using phrases like " Chanelle argues that ..."
It's not easy, but we really are shown exactly what we have to do. And some of the students pay attention, and others ... sadly do not.
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