Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates 4/e

Part One: Becoming a Critical Reader and Self-Critical Writer Chapter 1: What it Means to be Critical Chapter 2: Making a Critical Choice Chapter 3: A First Look: Interrogating Abstracts Chapter 4: Getting Started on Critical Reading Chapter 5: Getting Started on Self-Critical Writing Chapter 6: Creating a Comparative Critical Summary Chapter 7: Developing Your Writing Skills to Communicate Effectively Part Two: Developing an In-Depth Analysis Chapter 8: A Mental Map for Navigating the Literature Chapter 9: Tools for Thinking and Ways of Thinking Chapter 10: Reasons for Conducting the Research Chapter 11: Knowledge Claims and Their Key Characteristics Chapter 12: Developing a Critical Analysis of a Text Chapter 13: A Worked Example of a Critical Analysis Chapter 14: Developing Your Argument in Writing a Critical Review of a Text Part Three: Putting Your Critical Reviews to Work Chapter 15: Focusing and Building up your Critical Literature Review Chapter 16: Integrating Critical Literature Reviews into your Dissertation Chapter 17: Critical Literature Reviews in Alternative Dissertation Structures Chapter 18: Tools for Structuring a Dissertation Chapter 19: Using the Literature in Research Papers, Oral Presentations and Posters Chapter 20: Developing Advanced Writing Skills

This book provided invaluable practical help for me in both organising my approach to research and in writing my thesis. A real strength of the book is that it backs up the various approaches it suggests with worked examples of all the points made. As a result, I saw a genuine and marked improvement in the quality of my own writing. -- Stephen Cutler A comprehensive and sharp guide to taking your reading, writing, and thinking to the next level. The authors do not only explain the concepts they bring forward, but also show what it can look like in a text. It makes everything much easier to understand! The tools in the book have helped me a lot! This book taught me how to logically structure a piece of work before even starting to write it, which, in my case, took away lots of stress, and made my work much easier to follow. I strongly recommend reading this book! -- Axel Bergstroem The best research-skills support I have encountered for social-sciences postgrads. It not only breaks down the anatomy of a research project in detail and with practical examples, but also illuminates theoretical issues such as author bias and reader response. This book is invaluable, and I find myself turning back to it frequently as I reach the next stage of a project. It will always have a place on my desk! -- Bethan Tovey-Walsh A must-read for any student looking to develop their reading and writing skills at research level. It delves into how students can develop their critical thinking and research skills before tackling their writing woes. Wallace and Wray will become personal tutors, offering an array of academic knowledge through writing exercises in which students can apply in their research directly. It is one of the few books on the market written with the student in mind, and one in which effectively identifies the steps needed to write a research paper, dissertation, and/or thesis. -- Tamara Tarchichi