Academic Skills for Interdisciplinary Studies

Revised Edition

Auteur: van der Gaast, Koen; Koenders, Laura; Post, Ger
Éditeur: Amsterdam University Press
Collection: Perspectives on Interdisciplinarity
eISBN Pdf: 9789048550067
Lieu de publication: Amsterdam , Netherlands
Année de publication électronique: 2019
Mois : Juillet
Pages: 176
Langue: Anglais

Légende

What’s a theoretical framework for? How do you effectively present your data in a figure? What’s the secret to a good presentation?As an interdisciplinary student, you delve into theories and research methodsfrom a whole range of disciplines. Academic skills are the tools that you can use to take in, develop, integrate and question knowledge. This guide provides specific instructions, tips and examples to help students develop these skills, both during and after their studies.As academic education focuses on research, the empirical cycle forms a keytheme of the book, including when discussing the following skills:- Searching for, critically reading and analysing scholarly texts- Formulating research questions- Making concepts measurable, qualitatively and quantitatively- Organizing literature and data- Analysing and formulating an argument- Academic writing- Collaborating- Reflecting- Presenting

Contents
Acknowledgements
- Introduction
  - About this book
  - Central theme: research practice and the empirical cycle
Part 1. Orientation and reading
- 1. Preparatory reading and searching
  - Familiarizing yourself with a topic
    - Finding your bearings outside the university
    - Finding your bearings at university
    - Finding your bearings between university and society
  - An initial literature search
    - Concepts and theories
    - Scholarly literature
      - Grey literature
      - Academic literature and ‘ordinary’ search engines
    - Scholarly search engines
      - Availability
      - The library
      - Digital search engines and databases
      - Search methods
      - Ordering your search results
      - Continuous search
  - Exploratory reading
    - Speed reading
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
- 2. Gathering and organizing key information
  - Optimizing your study environment
  - Learning objectives
  - Reading strategies
    - Reading textbooks
    - Reading academic articles and books
    - Systematic reading
  - Organizing information
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
- 3. Studying thoroughly and critically
  - Sentence-level analysis
  - Types of argumentation
    - Simple argumentation
    - Plural argumentation
    - Coordinating argumentation
    - Subordinate argumentation
    - Implicit motivation
  - Critically evaluating texts
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
Part 2. Making your research measurable
- 4. From your topic to your question
  - Theoretical framework
    - From theories to concepts and dimensions
    - The theoretical framework and interdisciplinary research
    - The problem statement
  - Sources
- 5. Formulating a good question
  - Characteristics of a research question
  - Types of questions
  - Sources
- 6. A testable concept
  - Why operationalize?
  - From dimensions to indicators and variables
  - Operationalization and validity
  - Other forms of operationalization
  - Sources
- 7. Making a research instrument
  - Qualitative versus quantitative
  - When qualitative and when quantitative?
    - Operationalization
    - Structure of the instrument
    - Determining your sample
  - Making a qualitative research instrument
    - Formulating interview questions
      - From indicators to topic lists or questionnaires
      - Order of the questionnaire
      - Phrasing interview questions
  - Validity and reliability of your instrument
  - Assessment by an ethics committee
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
Part 3. Doing and writing up research
- 8. Research practice
  - Research practice: quantitative research
    - Safeguarding the validity of quantitative research
    - Keeping a log
    - Organizing your data
    - Getting familiar with your data
  - Research practice for qualitative research: conducting interviews
    - Before the interview
    - During the interview
    - After the interview
    - Analysing the interview
    - After coding
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
- 9. The structure of your article
  - Argumentation structure
    - Objections
    - Framing an argument: pitfalls
  - The structure of a scholarly article
    - The introduction
    - The middle section
      - The literature review
      - The research article
        Methodology
        Results
      - Presenting data
        Figures
        Table
    - The discussion and the conclusion
  - Valorization
  - Sources
- 10. Finishing your article: academic writing, titles, and abstracts
  - The title and the abstract
    - Writing clearly
    - Academic language use
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
- 11. Citing sources and the bibliography
  - Reference management software
  - In-text citations
    - Quotes
    - Paraphrasing
  - Citations in the bibliography
    - Journals
    - Books
    - Research reports
    - Internet resources
    - Personal communication and interviews
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
Part 4. Reflecting and communicating
- 12. Preventing fraud and plagiarism
  - Plagiarism of written work
    - Plagiarism of fellow students
    - Working responsibly in a team
    - Fraud: falsifying data
- 13. Collaboration, feedback, and peer review
  - Collaborating: drawing up a team charter
    - Evaluating teamwork
  - Giving and receiving feedback
    - Feedback on behaviour
    - Feedback on content
  - Peer review
    - Reflecting on assumptions
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
- 14. Presenting
  - Defining the theme of your presentation
  - Structure and coherence
  - Visual aids
    - Using figures, tables, images, or film clips
  - Presentation skills
  - Practising your presentation
  - Leading a discussion
    - Ask good questions
    - Creating a safe atmosphere
  - Giving poster presentations
    - Points to bear in mind when designing a poster
    - Your elevator pitch
  - Sources
  - Other useful sources
Appendices
- Appendix A. Sample literature review
- Appendix B. Sample research article
Index