Each research community has its own problems or topics of focus, epistemological foundations, and methods. Yet all researchers must address fundamental concerns: developing a focused research question or argument, conducting a literature review to situate their work, and upholding academic and scientific integrity. While these shared challenges shape all research, each methodological community also faces ...
What Are the Most Common Methodological Flaws The exponential growth of academic publishing has led to an overwhelming volume of research. Unfortunately, not all journals adhere to rigorous peer review processes, and some are predatory, mimicking scholarly standards while publishing low-quality or unverified studies. In this crowded and often misleading landscape, research methods may seem ...
What is Critique? Critique is the systematic evaluation and assessment of a creative or intellectual work—often a text—to analyze its effectiveness in content, structure, and style, among other factors like originality, relevance, and impact. The goal is usually either to improve the work through formative feedback or to provide a final evaluation via summative feedback. ...
Throughout your time in school, most of your classes have probably been graded. If you met certain criteria, you received an “A,” a “B,” a “C,” and so on. Maybe your school used numbers, grades, or GPA-style grading, but whatever the grades looked like, the mechanism was pretty similar. Your teachers probably used a combination ...
You may think of writing as a lonely activity, something to work at in a hushed, half-lit library carrel. Or you may think of writing merely as a matter of correctness, of getting all the commas in just the right places. Or you may suffer from writing anxiety and feel unable to produce the first word, let alone the first page. These writing challenges, and many others, can be addressed in a meeting with a writing tutor. Tutoring has the reputation of being remedial, of serving students with limited writing experience. But the writing tutorial can benefit all writers—freshman, graduate, or faculty—and represents a significant learning opportunity.
Make the most of your conferencing experience by being prepared before you meet with your instructor.
As an undergraduate student, you may be provided with the opportunity to have conferences with your instructor. Conferences are typically 15–20 minutes long and may be individual or small group conferences. In many cases, your instructor may cancel classes for student conferences. This is because the individualized attention you will receive in your conference is extremely valuable for your development as a writer, and the time spent in your conference will be as valuable as your time spent in class.
Consider these suggestions when critiquing documents in group situations. Feedback in group situations provides an excellent opportunity to have your work read and evaluated by your peers. Rather than merely imagine how a potential audience might respond to your work, you can meet with classmates and discuss your ideas for writing projects or evaluate drafts. ...
