Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second C r Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition i Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second t i Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition c Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second a Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition l Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second R Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition e Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second a Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition d ‘This book confirms that the answers that you get depend on the questions that you ask… i Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Wallace and Wray demonstrate that critical engagement with one’s sources pays dividends n Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition g in terms of a deep understanding of what those sources tell us. Developing the skills of the Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second critical reader helps to make budding researchers into better writers, through the realisation a Edition Second Edition Second Edition Second Edition Critical Reading of what works better and what works less well when communicating ideas and information. n The book is written in a clear and straightforward fashion that is guaranteed to make you d think, as well as encouraging constructive and engaging modes of writing that will improve W your connection to your audience.’ r and Writing for Professor Graham Crow, University of Southampton i t i Praise for first edition: n g Postgraduates ‘A very clear, accessible introduction that will be invaluable to postgraduate students trying to engage with reading and writing in a critical way.’ f o R.M. Lee, Professor of Social Research Methods, Royal Holloway University of London r Second Edition In this book the authors show students how to read critically and how to write using critical P techniques. The book is a ‘must-have’ resource for postgraduate students and early-career o s academics. This new edition has been expanded and updated to include: t Mike Wallace and Alison Wray g • A range of examples encompassing disciplinary areas including linguistics, r a education, business and management d • Commentaries on using e-resources and features of e-research u • New material available online including access to journal articles and four a t completed critical analyses. e s This book is for postgraduate students, methods course tutors and researchers. 2E Mike Wallace is a Professor of Public Management at Cardiff University. Alison Wray is a Research Professor in Language and Communication at Cardiff University. W a l l a c e a n d Additional W Online Material r a y wallace and wray_critical_2E_aw.indd 1 13/12/2010 15:46 Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 1 02/12/2010 11:57:40 AM Education at SAGE SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Our education publishing includes: (cid:117)(cid:0) accessible and comprehensive texts for aspiring education professionals and practitioners looking to further their careers through continuing professional development (cid:117)(cid:0) inspirational advice and guidance for the classroom (cid:117)(cid:0) authoritative state of the art reference from the leading authors in the field Find out more at: www.sagepub.co.uk/education 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 2 02/12/2010 11:57:40 AM Critical Reading Education at SAGE and Writing for SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, Postgraduates and professional markets. Our education publishing includes: (cid:117)(cid:0) accessible and comprehensive texts for aspiring education professionals and practitioners looking to further their careers through continuing professional development Second Edition (cid:117)(cid:0) inspirational advice and guidance for the classroom (cid:117)(cid:0) authoritative state of the art reference from the leading authors in the field Find out more at: www.sagepub.co.uk/education Mike Wallace and Alison Wray 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 3 02/12/2010 11:57:41 AM © Mike Wallace and Alison Wray 2011 First edition published 2006 Reprinted 2006, 2007, 2008 Second edition published 2011 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. All material on the accompanying website can be printed off and photocopied by the purchaser/user of the book. The web material itself may not be reproduced in its entirety for use by others without prior written permission from SAGE. The web material may not be distributed or sold separately from the book without the prior written permission of SAGE. Should anyone wish to use the materials from the website for conference purposes, they would require separate permission from us. All material is © Mike Wallace and Alison Wray 2011 SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP SAGE Publications Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road New Delhi 110 044 SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 Library of Congress Control Number: 2010925469 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-84920-561-0 ISBN 978-1-84920-562-7 (pbk) Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India Printed by MPG Books Group, Bodmin, Cornwall Printed on paper from sustainable resources 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 4 02/12/2010 11:57:41 AM Contents List of Figures and Tables vii How to Use this Book viii Author Biographies xi Acknowledgements xii Part One: Becoming a Critical Reader and Self-Critical Writer 1 1 What it Means to be Critical 3 2 Making a Critical Choice 14 3 Getting Started on Critical Reading 29 4 Getting Started on Self-Critical Writing 44 5 Creating a Comparative Critical Summary 54 Part Two: Developing an In-Depth Analysis 67 6 The Key to a Mental Map for Exploring the Literature 69 7 The Argument Component of your Mental Map 80 8 More Components: Knowledge, Literature, Intellectual Projects 90 9 Developing a Critical Analysis of a Text 107 10 A Worked Example of a Critical Analysis 117 11 Developing your Argument in Writing a Critical Review of a Text 135 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 5 02/12/2010 11:57:41 AM critical reading and writing for postgraduates Part Three: Putting your Critical Reviews to Work 147 12 Focusing and Building up your Critical Literature Review 149 13 Integrating Critical Literature Reviews into your Dissertation 167 14 Tools for Structuring a Dissertation 186 15 Using the Literature in Research Papers and Oral Presentations 197 Appendices 209 1 Abridged article: ‘One word or two?’ (Wray and Staczek) 211 2 Abridged article: ‘Sharing leadership of schools through teamwork’ (Wallace) 222 3 Blank form for the Critical Analysis of a text 237 4 Logic checksheet: Developing a logical overall argument in a dissertation 247 Index 251 vi 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 6 02/12/2010 11:57:41 AM List of Figures and Tables FIGURES 2.1 How theory and evidence interact through modelling 20 7.1 Dimensions of knowledge claims and their vulnerability to rejection 86 8.1 Tools for thinking and the creation of three kinds of knowledge about the social world 91 13.1 The logic of the overall argument in a dissertation 173 13.2 Developing the logic of the overall argument in a dissertation 175 15.1 The logic of the overall argument in a paper reporting your research 199 TABLES 1.1 Targeting an effective balance between different academic traditions 8 1.2 Linking a critical approach to your reading with a self-critical approach to writing 12 3.1 Identifying flaws in arguments 36 7.1 Components of the mental map 81 8.1 Types of literature and indicative limitations of claims to knowledge expressed in them 96 8.2 Five intellectual projects for studying aspects of the social world 102 9.1 Linking Critical Synopsis Questions with Critical Analysis Questions 109 14.1 Example of completed logic checksheet 187 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 7 02/12/2010 11:57:41 AM How to Use this Book The book is aimed primarily at postgraduate students in the social sciences, embarked on work requiring an engagement with the published (and unpub- lished) literature, including coursework essays, Masters dissertations, Doctoral dissertations or theses, and related research papers and oral presentations. But critical reading and self-critical writing are highly transferable skills, crucial to effective professional academic publications, presentations and research grant proposals. So the book will also be useful to early-career academics who wish to enhance the quality of their research writing by reading the literature more critically and by honing their skills as self-critical writers. The book design makes it suitable for self-directed learning, for use as a class textbook in a research methods module and as a handbook from which supervisor and student can work side-by-side. In addition, peer mentors within the academic profession may find a role for it in supporting their less experienced colleagues. The text is supplemented by on-line self-study mate- rials (see www.sagepub.co.uk/wallaceandwray). They include exercises illus- trating our approach to in-depth critical analysis of individual texts, and electronic versions of forms for analysing texts and checking the development of the overall argument in a dissertation. Our structured approach to learning critical reading and self-critical writ- ing skills is underpinned by two core ideas. The first is the recognition of aca- demic discourse as a two-way constructively critical process of enquiry where: • as a critical reader, one evaluates the attempts of others to communicate with and convince their target audience by means of developing a sufficiently strong argument; and • as a writer, one develops one’s own argument, making it as strong and as clear as possible, so as to communicate with and convince one’s target audience. The product of critical reading is, typically, a written account of what has been read. Assessors take such accounts as the basis for judging an individual’s ability to engage critically with the literature in the field of enquiry. Successful writers, therefore, are those who can apply their critical reading 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 8 02/12/2010 11:57:41 AM how to use this book faculties equally to the research literature and to their own commentaries upon it. The techniques we introduce will make it easier to respond effectively and positively to constructive feedback on assessed work, and to emulate the good practice (and avoid the worst practice) observed in published materials. The second core idea is that arguments combine two major components: the conclusion, a set of claims or assertions about some aspect of the social world or how to interpret it; plus the warranting, backing for these claims based on some form of evidence. For a conclusion to convince a sceptical audience, it must be adequately warranted by sufficient and appropriate evidence to justify its acceptance. Sources of such evidence include research findings, professional experience, the definition of a theoretical idea, or guidelines on research ethics. The book is structured in three parts: 1 Getting started on critical reading and self-critical writing. 2 Developing a mental map for navigating the literature, analysing individual texts in depth and writing critical reviews of them. 3 Structuring critical reviews of the literature for a dissertation, and their applica- tion in research papers and oral presentations. Parts and chapters Insights and techniques Target written product Part One • Critical reading for • Critical Summary (one text). (Chapters 1–5) self-critical writing. • Comparative Critical Becoming a critical reader and • Critical choice of texts to Summary (several texts). self-critical writer. read. • Developing an argument. • Critical Review (one text). • Critical Synopsis Questions. • Comparative Critical • Critical Synopsis of a text. Review (several texts). Part Two • Mental map. • Critical Review (one text). (Chapters 6–11) • Critical Analysis Questions. • Comparative Critical Developing an in-depth • Critical Analysis of a text. Review (several texts). analysis. Part Three • Structuring a Critical • Self-contained Critical (Chapters 12–15) Literature Review via Critical Literature Reviews. Putting your critical reviews to Analyses and Critical • Dissertation incorporating work. Synopses. several Critical Literature • Integrating Critical Reviews. Literature Reviews into the • Research papers and oral structure of a dissertation. presentations • Integrating a Critical underpinned by a Critical Literature Review into the Literature Review. structure of a research paper and as underpinning for an oral presentation. ix 00-Wallace-4083-Prelims.indd 9 02/12/2010 11:57:41 AM