ACADEMIC SKILLS REVIEW
Session II
Mgr. Martin Jirusek, Ph.D.
Topic selection - How to begin?
□ Issues that are interesting or attractive for us (among other things©) or issues we can relate to
□ Critical assessment whether the topic can be turend into a thesis
□ 'To have an issue...'
□ 3 key questions:
- WHAT?
- WHY?
- HOW?
Developing a topic
literature
Developing a topic
□ Research area
□ ... (may include one or more steps further specifing the topic)
Research topic
□ Research question(s)/hypothesis
□ Specific research questions
□ Particular questions related to data mining/collecting... (interviews)
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Let's give it a try...
Developing a topic
□ Keep in mind:
- availability of methodology)
- deadlines
sources   (sometimes   relates to
topicality
what falls within the area/topic and what does not
Literature search
Differs by...
□ Purpose
Longer (thesis): comprehensive search of majority if not all relevant authors
- Shorter (essay): key authors, most recent contributions
□ Stage
- early stage skimming (looking for topics, 'What is going on?')
- more focused on particular area ('Now I'm interested in this...')
- intensive reading and assessing sources ('Ok, tell me more and let's see if I can use this...')
Literature search and assessment
□ What is known and what is not?
□ How solid are the findings?
□ Can we build on them?
□ Does the literature identify key points and cleavages
□ Where I stand according to other authors/findings?
□ Can my position be justified?
□ Don't make premature conclusions.
□ Apply critical approach (!)
□ Mind the nature of assessed sources (!!)
□ Mind authors's background and affiliation (!!!)
Some mixed remarks...
□ Avoid biased sources (blogs?) - mind the purpose, author, background, sponsor,... - every author is just a human being!
□ Mind the difference between commonly used sources and sources used in academia
□ Mind   the   difference   between primary secondary sources
- (X prim. & sec. data)
- choose sources with the lowest level of distortion
□ Wikipedia! — rather a starting point...
□ Verification/triangulation of sources (!)
and
Referencing
□ ...is necessary
□ Naturally, no one knows everything therefore we use other people's knowledge. Using it without reference is not ethical
- Infringement of intellectual property — in fact a robbery
□ Reader must be able to differentiate already known findings from new ones (author's inputs)
□ rephrased a content vs. direct citation
□ Referencing = reliability!
□ Referencing enables replicability (^reliability)
□ Reader must be able to track and find the referenced source
□ Most cases of plagiarism are unintentional!
Referencing
□ ctr+cf ctl+c = plagiarism
□ ctr+c, ctl+c, reference = no plagiarism
□ Don't 'over-reference' your text (ok, this is a bit controversial ©)
- an academic work should NOT be a compilation of previously released texts
- should be original (i. e. worth reading)
□ Referenced materials are basis for our own findings
Referencing
□ What should be referenced and what need not to be:
1) Should be: evidence, data that are not commonly known among the population among the targeted audience, different views on commonly known facts/events
2) Need not to be: Commonly known facts ('WWII ended in 1 945') — mind the level of information and targeted audience!
□ Reference list — may be divided according to nature of sources (primary/secondary, articles, monographies, interviews,...) - should be easy to follow and use
□ Generally: in text or as footnotes
□ Automatic referencing engines: included in MS Office, Zotero,...
□ Only sources used in the actual text can be referenced!
□ In case of interviews or other materials that are hard to include as annex — statement of availability
□ Do not translate language of the source
□ Only known reference details are used
□ Many different styles of referencing and citations
always mind the targeted audience and rules of the targeted platform/journal
□ http://mve.fss.muni.cz/en/masters-degree/study-agenda/citation-style
Rephrased content vs. direct citation
□ Both should be referenced
□ Paraphrase/Rephrased content (i.e. information ABOUT the content, NOT the same text) is cited in plain text
- no quotation marks or italics — only if exact and/or specific words/terms are used
□ Direct    citation    (i.e.    the    content    itself) is
highlighted/differentiated from the rest of the text (quotation marks, italics)
Writing style
□ Only a question of self-confidence...?
□ Use „The study shows...", „lt was proved that..." instead of „The outcomes might show that...", „lt is likely that the evidence might point to..." where possible
□ Avoid shortened forms (e.g. use are not instead of aren't)
□ Try to be concise (NOT wordy)
□ Keep the text coherent (making sense) and cohesive (internally interlinked)
Thank you for your attention
jirusek.martin@mail.muni.cz