There are three main parts to writing like a graduate student: purpose, grammar, and documenting sources. This document provides an overview of the first two and links to additional resources in specific areas. A Writing Tutorial for Graduate Students from Drake University offers a wealth of writing resources and further links on all aspects of writing, revising, and citing as well as a rubric for academic writing and examples of good, not-so-good, and bad papers. The writing center at Purdue University also provides many resources on writing and grammar. If you click on the Resources link in most of your classes there will be a folder named "Writing Tools" where you will find additional links on writing help.
Purpose
The formal writing you do as part of this program may seem similar at first glance but different assignments have different purposes. The first step toward writing well is understanding the purpose of your writing. This is related to advice you have probably heard before on understanding your audience. Following are overviews of some of the main writing assignments you will encounter and their purpose within the program.
Literature Review
When we talk about doing a "literature review" in the context of a graduate program we are referring to what most undergraduates would call a "research paper." You go to the literature and find what has already been written on a given subject or question, synthesize it, and write it up. It's "library research." *
Most literature review papers use a mix of sources; some reporting on primary research while others are more theory-building or critical analysis pieces. Here are two links on writing a good literature review:
- Review of Literature from University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Writing a Literature Review from University of Canberra
When you are writing a lit review, it is preferable to structure the document around what you know about the subject. What you have learned from the reading you have just done and what you knew beforehand inform your stance on an issue or question. The literature provides a framework for discussing what you have learned or confirmed in your reading. When writing a literature review, do not create a series of abstracts; paragraphs that start with the author's name and simply recount the main points of the article. The point of a literature review is both to show that you have investigated and understood the literature and to synthesize what you have learned and discuss it in light of what others have written.
As you are writing, make sure you cite your sources appropriately. Whether quoting or paraphrasing, you need to cite the source in your text and place the full reference on your reference page. Quoting and paraphrasing sources from the University of Wisconsin - Madison is a good source for more details on the mechanics of this task. Plagiarism is a serious issue and there is no excuse for not correctly citing the work of others.
*At the graduate level a "research paper" normally refers to a report on primary research. It will describe the findings of a particular research study undertaken by the author(s). It will *begin* with a review of the relevant literature in the area of the research and then move on to describe the methods used in the research, their results, and their commentary on those results. When you are looking for articles, what you may consider a "regular article" is probably a review of literature on a subject combined with the opinion of the authors, possibly based on their experience in the field. If you are instructed to find "X number of research articles" you need to make a point to look for those sections on methodology and results in the article.
Book Review/Critique
A book review or critique is a special kind of paper focusing on one book but still informed by other literature in the field. When you read a book for a book review/critique you are not reading in a vacuum. You are reading it in the context of the field of adult education and the subject area of the class. As you read the book you will most likely find references to other articles, book, theories, programs, etc. that you are not familiar with. Do some research. Find out what the author is talking about and don't assume you can understand all the concepts by just reading the one book. When you write the book review/critique make sure you cite those additional sources you used to understand and situate the concepts in the book.
The three main sections of a book review/critique are:
1. to describe the main focus or argument of the book in relation to the subject matter of the class (situate the book in the context of the class)
2. to summarize the main points of the book and critique the presentation/conceptual focus (analyze and evaluate contents)
3. to reflect on and describe what you learned from reading the book (synthesize with prior knowledge)
Annotation/Article Summary
You will be asked to write annotations of articles frequently over the course of your program. These are critical annotations which, in addition to describing the text, evaluate its usefulness for your particular audience or situation. An annotation includes the following parts:
- A complete APA formatted bibliographic citation
- A brief description of the main points/conclusions of the text
- A brief description of the text's format, intended audience, and purpose
- A critique of the text's accuracy and objectivity (including both explicit and implicit biases)
- A reflection on the text's usefulness to you, including what you could personally apply from the text to help you become a better adult educator
The annotation should be no more than 300 words (which is longer than a standard annotation due to the addition of the final two components). You may find that once you get going it's hard to keep it to 300 words or less. Use the word count feature in your word processing software and you'll soon get a feel for what 300 words looks like. Follow the link for examples of good, not-so-good, and bad annotations.
Essay
A general essay is "something you write to try to figure something out" (Graham, 2004). There are two main types of general essays you will encounter in adult education: the position paper and the reflection paper.
In a position paper, you start with a question like "What is my personal philosophy on adult education?" or "What do I really believe about the development of knowledge from research?" and run with it. Sometimes you are given a topic area like transformational learning and invited to come up with your own question within the context of the class readings. In your essay you are then explaining your answer to a question to the reader. In order to explain it well, you need to situate it in the context of the field of adult education, the context of the course topic, and the context of your life/background/prior knowledge. It needs to follow a clear train of thought but that doesn't necessarily mean a straight line. What surprised you as you begin to really contemplate the question at hand? Investigating the why and how of surprises and "ah-ha" moments can lead to interesting thoughts and ideas. You may bring in the views of several other writers, describe them, analyze them, keep bits and pieces of them (making sure to cite them appropriately), and discard others. You may include metaphors and comparisons to concepts in other disciplines. Keep in mind that comparisons to concepts external to the class may require some more detailed explanation to the reader.
Another type of general essay is a reflection paper. The focus of a reflection paper is the synthesis of what was discussed in the course with your personal life/background/prior knowledge and the self-evaluation of your learning. A simple listing of what you learned over the course of the semester is not a reflection paper. Think back on the ideas or concepts you encountered that gave you a sense of cognitive dissonance. Were there interactions with other students providing different viewpoints that made you re-think a belief or helped you gain a better understanding of a theory? Was there a time when you observed something in an unrelated context and it made more sense because of what you learned in class? Select a few of these sorts of examples, describe them in sufficient detail for the reader to understand the crux of the situation, explain the significance of the situation and the learning that took place, and then evaluate the relevance of your learning to your practice as an adult educator.
Grammar
Grammar is something that many students rarely think about outside the confines of an English class. The APA Publication Manual offers guidelines for grammar - especially in the area of removing bias from writing - that I strongly recommend reading. It includes tips on removing racial/ethnic bias, bias related to disabilities, and heterosexual bias. While is mainly intended for those conducting research and writing up research findings it is still helpful in more everyday situations. I also recommend Gender Fair Language from The Writing Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Non-sexist Language from Purdue University.
More general grammar questions can usually be answered in the The Elements of Style.
The bottom line is that your instructors are not English teachers and they expect you to be able to write grammatically correct papers, posts, and email messages. In an online program your writing is literally who you are a good portion of the time. It is by your writing that your instructors and fellow students know you. How does your writing reflect on you?
Documenting Sources and Supporting Statements
The Adult Education program uses the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual style for citations and references.
No matter where you get your information, you MUST cite it. Whether you are paraphrasing or quoting directly you MUST cite it. If you quote directly you MUST use quotation marks if it is 30 words or less or indent if it is over the 30 word limit.
If you make generalizations and other blanket-type statements, they must be supported with documentation. Stating a generalization which you think "goes without saying" may not "go without saying" to your audience. Cite the sources documenting your generalization and make sure they are reliable sources.
Also, even if you think your statement is non-controversial (such as "Quality training reduces operator error."), if this statement is the basis for your argument you should address alternatives. There are many other situational, motivational, and personal reasons for operator error. Providing documentation and addressing alternatives leads to stronger writing.
Finally, I encourage you to consider using bibliographic management software. Zotero is a free, open source product that works within the Firefox browser. As IU students you also have access to EndNote for free through IUWare Online.
Please see the page on APA Citations and References for more information.
