Center for Project Management: Responding

Academically to TMAs

Lawrence Cleary, Patricia Herron, Dr. Íde O’Sullivan,

Research Officers for the

Regional Writing Center, UL

Material Covered

•Writing

•Satisfying Academic Audiences

•Understanding and Addressing an Academic Assignment

•Essay Writing

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Writing

•What is writing? Define ‘writing’.

•What are its components?

•What forms can writing take?

•What are its stages of development?

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Ways of Ordering

•Writing Process—Planning, Drafting, (Discussing / Consulting), Revising, Editing and Proofreading.

•Rhetorical Situation—Occasion for writing, writer, topic, audience and purpose.

•Writing Strategies—cognitive, metacognitive, affective and social.

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Microsoft Office PowerPoint Presentation

The Rhetorical Situation

•Occasion

•Writer

•Topic

•Audience

•Purpose

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Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003 Document

Me, an Academic Writer?

•When given an ‘academic’ writing assignment, or any kind of writing assignment, what are your immediate feelings and thoughts?

• Freewrite– Write for five minutes without stopping– Private writing

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Freewriting

• Write for 5 minutes• In sentences• Without stopping• Private writing -- no one will read it• Write about about paper topic or sub-topic• Like brainstorming in sentences• Structure and coherence not required• Explore many angles, do ‘open’ writing

(Murray 2006)

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Satisfying Academic Audiences

When someone says academic writing, what features characterize that

kind of writing for you?

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Academic Writing

•Complexity

•Formality

•Objectivity

•Explicitness

•Hedging

• ResponsibilityResponsibility

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Microsoft Word Document

An Academic Assignment

•Topic?

•Aspect or focus?

• Instruction or comment?

•Scope?

•Viewpoint?

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Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003 Document

Writing Prompt

Given what you have learned about the assignment question, how will you approach this essay? What will you do first? What then? Include thoughts on what you think you might read? What aspects of your organization might come into your essay?

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Generative Writing

• Same as freewriting, but more ‘closed’.

• Generative writing exercise focuses on one part of your writing assignment.

• To be read by ‘writing buddy’; ask for specific feedback.

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Essay Writing

•Purpose: – to persuade using appeals

honored by academics– to explore and explain your

understanding of change in the work environment

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Essay Writing

– to explain and argue, for or against, the reductionalist versus the systemic approach to future management problem solving

– to use, if appropriate, your existing organisation as an example for such an application

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Organization and Structure

•Preliminaries—Title page

•Body Text– Introduction– Main body– Conclusion

•End Matter—References/Works Cited page

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Body Text and BalancePresent the arguments for A

•Who argues for A? Who else? Do they agree on everything? Are their arguments exactly alike? How are they similar; how different?•What are the claims and the evidence that supports the claims.•Who makes which claims?

Present the arguments for B•Who argues for B? Who else? Do they agree on everything? Are their arguments exactly alike? How are they similar; how different?•What are the claims and the evidence that supports the claims.•Who makes which claims?

Evaluate the Opposing Arguments•By what criteria will you evaluate the evidence?•Can you use your experience as criteria? Logic and reason? Previous studies? •What are the limits of the value of your evaluations given the criteria used?

Conclude with your opinion. Base your opinion on what you discovered during the evaluation of the opposing arguments. 16

Reporting

•Summaries

•Quotes

•Paraphrases

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Microsoft Office Word Document

Works Cited• Bryde, J.D. (2003) “Modelling Project Management Performance”.

International Journal of Quality& Reliability Management 20(2): 229-254.

• Critical Thinking—Demo, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of South Florida (2005) “Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid” [online], available: http://www.cte.usf.edu/materials/institute/ct/index.html [accessed: 15 Aug. 2008].

• Ebest, S.B., Alred, G.J, Brusaw, C.T. and Oliu, W.E. (2005) Writing from A to Z: The Easy-to-use Reference Handbook, 5th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill.

• Murray, R. (2006) How to Write a Thesis, 2nd ed. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.

• Senge, P.M. (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. London: Random House.

• UEfAP.com (2008) Writing: Rhetorical Functions, Comparing and Contrasting Exercise 2 [online], available: http://www.uefap.com/writing/exercise/function/compcon2.htm [accessed Aug 16 2008].

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