I will not hesitate to admit that I have been finding it challenging writing a literature review. I have never had a problem expressing my ideas, either orally or through writing, but when it comes to formal and academic writing, I suddenly hit a wall. I will also admit that I never did the final year of English in high school (by which point it was no longer compulsory). I feel I can generally write in such a way that I can coherently convey my ideas but suddenly I have the challenge of a ‘proper’ piece of academic writing.
This week I attended a short course offered by the university for ‘KEYS to academic writing success’ and it has been incredibly helpful in overcoming this barrier. Already it has enabled me to start thinking about deconstructing and reconstructing my research question in such a way that that it creates the entire structure for my literature review.
By looking at the different parts of a question and separating the instruction words, content words and context words, I was then able to formulate a brainstorm around the content words. I picked out ‘role’, ‘methods’ and ‘effectiveness’ as key themes to focus my discussions around. I tried piecing together more of these words to re-form my research question.
With all this in mind, created a ‘synthesis grid’ to group common themes from my readings. I was then able to go back and review my literature with fresh eyes. For the sake of being succinct and focused, I am narrowing my review back to three readings.
The course also provided a very useful structure of how to break down the content of a introduction, body paragraph and conclusion. Before even looking at the literature again, I outlined the entire structure of the entire review and each paragraph so I am feeling more confident in tackling it.
In some academic situations, it might be surprising to some that I have gotten this far without knowing how to properly write a piece of academic writing but it is probably more common within the creative industries. There is also the inherent difficulty in having to review and reference ‘academic’ texts where in new and emerging industries, sometimes those sources simply do not exist. I do feel a bit disadvantaged in this situation, suddenly having to grapple with a skill I have little experience with but at the same time, part of the nature of the bachelor of creative technologies degree is this ability to adapt more flexible learning styles and embrace new and emerging technologies. I think a lot more people are drawn to the course because of the more practical, experimental nature. I don’t feel like I was disadvantaged in anyway in regards to my practical skills and my knowledge, but now that I am in postgraduate level of study, I simply have to learn how to adapt and convey my knowledge in a different way.
It has helped me to have the ‘formula’ if you will of what is expected but I feel it is almost a restriction. Perhaps there are some aspects of education that will be slower to change as the institution still clings dearly to some of traditions.
Just for a change, here’s some traditional media in my elegant scrawl:
Creativity, Technology, Innovation 