literature Archives - Enhancing Postgraduate Environments

Reading for a PhD

PostGrad — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 16:06:34 +0000

Postgraduate students often ask How much reading they should be doing. There is no one answer but this brief audio recording offers a few ideas as to what is a suitable length. Importantly, it argues that you cannot make a contribution through your research if you don’t know about the current debates in the literature.

This audio and transcript offer a means of assessing how much reading is enough for postgraduate studies. It looks at the hours that should be spent reading and the purpose of reading. The transcript also offers links to a number of other resources.

https://postgradenvironments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/65A-Reading-for-a-PhD.m4a

Developed by Sioux McKenna, Director of Postgraduate Studies, Rhodes University. Download the transcript here.

Explore these additional resources

I strongly recommend watching the video on how to keep reading journal to help you with this process.
Writing resources book – see especially the section on keeping a reading map
Two minute tips – these short videos outline how your relationship to the literature changes at postgraduate level:
Just Write video – this video shows the indivisible link between reading and writing at postgraduate level (Remember the mantra: “For every reading there must be a writing.”)

The post Reading for a PhD appeared first on Enhancing Postgraduate Environments.

2 minute tip #3: Direct and Indirect Quotes

PostGrad — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 09:56:49 +0000

Two-minute tips provide short suggestions on how to improve your research. This two-minute tip looks at when it is appropriate to use a direct quote from the literature or when it is better to paraphrase and share the literature in your own words.

Developed by Sioux McKenna, Director of Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University, ably supported by the wonderful graphics of Leo Baasch, leobaasch@gmail.com.

Explore these additional resources

Who might find this useful?

The two-minute tips might be useful for any supervisors or students who would like a bit of inspiration. They also make quick additions to a workshop.

The post 2 minute tip #3: Direct and Indirect Quotes appeared first on Enhancing Postgraduate Environments.

2-minute tip #2: Relationship to texts

PostGrad — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 09:44:14 +0000

Two-minute tips provide short suggestions on how to improve your research. This two-minute tip looks at how there is a shift in relationship to texts from undergraduate to postgraduate level. At undergraduate level, students are often expected to be ‘knowledge tellers’ who have to demonstrate that they have read and understood the literature. Many novice researchers continue to engage with the literature in this way at postgraduate level and this is problematic. What we need is a more authorative stance where the researcher sees herself as a (novice) member of the field. In this way she draws on literature to make her own contribution.

Developed by Sioux McKenna, Director of Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University, ably supported by the wonderful graphics of Leo Baasch, leobaasch@gmail.com.

Explore these additional resources

Who might find this useful?

The two-minute tips might be useful for any supervisors or students who would like a bit of inspiration. They also make quick additions to a workshop.

The post 2-minute tip #2: Relationship to texts appeared first on Enhancing Postgraduate Environments.

2-minute tip #1: Joining the conversation

PostGrad — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 09:19:38 +0000

Two-minute tips provide short suggestions on how to improve your research. This two-minute tip looks at how writing is about contributing to a field. The tip argues that because academic knowledge is a contribution to an existing conversation, we need to have read widely and deeply to find out what has come before us. Rushing to collect data or to comment on our views without first engaging in the deliberations in the field is problematic.

Developed by Sioux McKenna, Director of Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University, ably supported by the wonderful graphics of Leo Baasch, leobaasch@gmail.com.

Explore these additional resources

Who might find this useful?

The two-minute tips might be useful for any supervisors or students who would like a bit of inspiration. They also make quick additions to a workshop.

The post 2-minute tip #1: Joining the conversation appeared first on Enhancing Postgraduate Environments.