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Written in a clear and straightforward fashion that is guaranteed to make you think, as well as encouraging constructive and engaging modes of writing that will improve your connection to your audience. - Professor Graham Crow, University of Southampton
How do you respond to adverts? Do you believe what they say, or look for a hidden agenda?
Reading critically, and writing using critical techniques, are crucial skills you need to apply to your academic work. It may seem difficult at first, but you may already be a more critical reader than you think!
This guide helps you develop both the ability to critically ask questions, and a reflective and critical approach to your own research and writing. Broken down into three parts, it builds up your skills and confidence through focused activities that progressively develop your ability to critically read and write.
New to this 2nd edition:
A range of subject specific examples from areas including linguistics, education, business and management Commentaries on using e-resources and features of e-research New online resources including worksheet templates, chapter activities and free access to journal articles.
Look at the RESOURCES TAB to view and download the additional materials.
SAGE Study Skills are essential study guides for students of all levels. From how to write great essays and succeeding at university, to writing your undergraduate dissertation and doing postgraduate research, SAGE Study Skills help you get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills website for tips, quizzes and videos on study success!
Recenzijas
Mike Wallace and Alison Wrays book confirms that the answers that you get depend on the questions that you ask. One of the most important skills for researchers to acquire is that of asking the right questions, and they show that this process begins with identifying the questions that need to be asked about the existing literature on a chosen subject. Wallace and Wray demonstrate that critical engagement with ones sources pays dividends in terms of depth of understanding what those sources tell us. In addition, developing the skills of the critical reader also helps to make budding researchers into better writers, through the realisation of what works better and what works less well when communicating ideas and information. The book is written in a clear and straightforward fashion that is guaranteed to make you think, as well as encouraging constructive and engaging modes of writing that will improve your connection to your audience. Professor Graham Crow, University of Southampton
Praise for first edition:
A very clear, accessible introduction that will be invaluable to postgraduate students trying to engage with reading and writing in a critical way - R.M. Lee, Professor of Social Research Methods, Royal Holloway University of London
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List of Figures and Tables |
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vii | |
| How to Use this Book |
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viii | |
| Author Biographies |
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xi | |
| Acknowledgements |
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xii | |
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Part One Becoming a Critical Reader and Self-Critical Writer |
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1 | (66) |
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1 What it Means to be Critical |
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3 | (11) |
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2 Making a Critical Choice |
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14 | (15) |
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3 Getting Started on Critical Reading |
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29 | (15) |
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4 Getting Started on Self-Critical Writing |
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44 | (10) |
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5 Creating a Comparative Critical Summary |
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54 | (13) |
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Part Two Developing an In-Depth Analysis |
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67 | (80) |
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6 The Key to a Mental Map for Exploring the Literature |
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69 | (11) |
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7 The Argument Component of your Mental Map |
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80 | (10) |
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8 More Components: Knowledge, Literature, Intellectual Projects |
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90 | (17) |
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9 Developing a Critical Analysis of a Text |
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107 | (10) |
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10 A Worked Example of a Critical Analysis |
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117 | (18) |
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11 Developing your Argument in Writing a Critical Review of a Text |
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135 | (12) |
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Part Three Putting your Critical Reviews to Work |
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147 | (62) |
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12 Focusing and Building up your Critical Literature Review |
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149 | (18) |
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13 Integrating Critical Literature Reviews into your Dissertation |
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167 | (19) |
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14 Tools for Structuring a Dissertation |
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186 | (11) |
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15 Using the Literature in Research Papers and Oral Presentations |
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197 | (12) |
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209 | (42) |
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1 Abridged article: `One word or two?' (Wray and Staczek) |
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211 | (11) |
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2 Abridged article: `Sharing leadership of schools through teamwork' (Wallace) |
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222 | (15) |
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3 Blank form for the Critical Analysis of a text |
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237 | (10) |
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4 Logic checksheet: Developing a logical overall argument in a dissertation |
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247 | (4) |
| Index |
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251 | |
Mike Wallace is a Professor of Public Management at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, where he teaches postgraduate courses on research methods. He was formerly an Associate Director of the Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM), responsible for research capacity building in the management field, and also the Economic and Social Research Councils Strategic Adviser for Researcher Development. His research on managing change in the public services is reported in many books and academic journals. Most recently, he is lead author of a major monograph Developing Public Service Leaders: Elite Orchestration, Change Agency, Leaderism and Neoliberalization (Oxford University Press 2023). He is co-author of Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates (4th edition 2021). Alison Wray is a Research Professor of Language and Communication at Cardiff University. Her research concerns the modelling of lexical storage and processing, particularly in relation to formulaic phrases, and it has been applied to language learning, evolution of language and language disability. Her two monographs Formulaic Language and the Lexicon (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and Formulaic Language: Pushing the Boundaries (Oxford University Press, 2008) are internationally acclaimed. Her current research focusses on dementia communication. Her 2020 book The Dynamics of Dementia Communication won the 2021 book prize of the British Association for Applied Linguistics and came second in the biennial book award of the American Association for Applied Linguistics. She has also published Why Dementia Makes Communication Difficult: A Guide to Better Outcomes (2021), aimed at people with dementia, their families and carers. She has a longstanding commitment to researcher training, including the developing of academic expertise. She is lead author of the popular undergraduate research methods textbook Projects in Linguistics (Hodder, 2012) and co-author of Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates (4th edition 2021).
