Presenting the Onion

Cassily Charles – Academic Writing Coordinator (HDR students) | Academic Support

Presenting The Onion:

a tool for discussing academic writing


The Onion

Outline

1. Introductions 2. What is the Onion?

• Features of the Onion model • Provenance – application & theory • Applications in Higher Ed

3. The Onion in use at CSU: research literacies


The Onion 1. Introductions

• Cassily Charles

• Academic Writing Coordinator (HDR students) • New unit in Academic Support in 2012 • Role: develop & implement HDR literacy strategy • Background: linguistics, higher ed, academic literacy


The Onion 2. What is the Onion?



Analytical

Descriptive

Persuasive

Critical

(Humphrey, S., Charles, C., Economou, D. & Drury, H., forthcoming)

Providing information & facts

Re-organising information:

applying models to data,

comparing, finding patterns &

categories

Taking a position, making a claim

or recommendation, interpreting,

developing an argument

Evaluating others’ work, entering a

debate, considering alternatives –

at least 2 positions, including yours



Analytical

Descriptive

Persuasive

Critical


e.g. materials & methods, paraphrases

e.g. results, identifying themes in

the literature, applying a model to a

case study

e.g. discussion and conclusion,

interpreting findings, arguing a

case, recommending an action

e.g. identifying a research ‘gap’,

critiquing the literature, evaluating a

methology, entering a debate



Analytical

Descriptive

Persuasive

Critical


1. Model of academic writing

types, based on recognisable

types of academic purpose

2. Applied linguistic model,

based on grammar &

discourse features



Analytical

Descriptive

Persuasive

Critical


Endorsement (+/-), specific or

generalised reference to other voices

+ value-laden language

e.g. Lack of explicit focus on this issue

Concrete entities & processes – objects of

study in the discipline

e.g. saline soils occupy 830 million ha.

Abstract categories, logical relations,

taxonomies

e.g. primary vs. secondary salinity

Value-laden language, modality

e.g. shows the importance of AMF

diversity in revegetation of saline land



Provenance of the Onion model • Approx 10 years in academic literacy teaching Learning Centre, University of Sydney • Roots in Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday, 1994; Martin, 1992; Martin & White, 2005) • Early work on essay types (Martin & Peters, 1985) • Critical literacy in school (Macken-Horarik, 1998) • Evaluative stance in academia (Hood, 2010) • Gap: ‘critical analysis’ is universally desired but ill-defined. • Humphrey, S., Charles, C., Economou, D, & Drury, H. (forthcoming) The Onion – Building a textual model of critical analysis



Applications in Higher Ed • Feedback, instructions and rubrics:

o Shared metalanguage between students and staff o Accessible for students and staff across disciplines o Highly adaptable for specific disciplines & tasks

• Tool for literacy mapping across curriculum • Potential aid to constructive alignment: bridging between learning outcomes and assessment tasks



Analytical

Descriptive

Persuasive

Critical

Process of developing sophistication


The Onion 3. The Onion at CSU

Examples: Scaffolding research literacies 1. Visualising, reflecting on, and discussing candidates’ processes

e.g. - Individual discussions with students +/- supervisors

- Workshop for supervisors on feedback strategies

→ product versus process – planners versus drafters

→ developing a shared understanding with supervisors

→ negotiating timeline, format of drafts & focus of feedback



Analytical

Descriptive

Persuasive

Critical

Process of developing sophistication



Examples: Scaffolding research literacies 2. Demonstrating critical engagement with the literature: Workshops on critical writing


Critical writing

Analytical

Descriptive

Persuasive

Critical

Concrete terms for the objects of study;

reference to sources

Abstract terms for groups or

categories; language to show

relationships between facts and

ideas

Value-laden language, modality,

words referring to claims/views

Specific or general reference to the

views/work of others, combined with persuasive language


Persuasive

Critical

Value laden language: e.g. important,

suitable, narrower, lack, omit, beneficial,

improvement

Discipline-specific value laden language,

e.g. Law: Rule of Law, judicial activism

Education: student-centred

Anthropology: thick

Modality: e.g. could, might, should

– probably, possibly, clearly

– likely, possible

– probability, chance, risk,

suggest, seem, appear,

opportunity, need, important, etc.

Words for views: agree, claim, suggest,

argue, position, belief, etc.

Defining language features


Persuasive

Critical Specific reference to the work of others:

e.g. the model of Gnyawali & Fogel (1994)

General or implicit reference to the

work of others: e.g. the few studies

that have examined PA; a historic

reliance on positivist approaches

…PLUS persuasive language

e.g. Phongsava, Merom et al. (2004) did

not consider …

Words for more than one opinion: e.g.

disagree, debate, critique

Defining language features



Examples: Scaffolding research literacies 2. Demonstrating critical engagement with the literature: Workshops on critical writing

o Onion as a map of where critical writing sits o First pass: onion layers in terms of purpose o Second pass: onion layers in terms of language o Use the Onion to read some model research texts o Apply the Onion to participants’ own writing



People seem to find it helpful • The onion model was particularly illuminating (much information

in a relatively simple diagram). [Research candidate, CSU] • This is an idea that I teach over and over to my students and a

model like this is just perfect. [Research supervisor, UNSW]


The Onion

Closing Any further comments, ideas or questions?

[email protected]

Date post:	13-Jan-2015
Category:	Education
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