Reading and Writing Critically GUIDELINES
Writing in the first person and more advice
✓ While the use of the first person in academic writing is debated, using the first person in your social science assignment allows to have different voices throughout. Your voice is important in this assignment as you will be encouraged to reflect on our practice or what you see in the classroom.
✓ Understand who your audience is and consider this throughout the assignment.
✓ Use simple sentences and keep them relatively short and when you are using longer sentences use logical indicator to tell the reader what you are doing.
Reading and Writing Critically
Structuring your written assignment
Understand how the assignment is laid out. What is the word count for every section? Be clear of what is required in every section. Ensure that you address all the points in each section.
Introduction and context (Approx. 750 words)
Describe why you have chosen this topic and how this is relevant to the context of your school/class. Provide an overview of the focus for your assignment signposting key areas you will address.
Literature review (Approx. 1500 words)
Consider the literature regarding your chosen topic and in relation to your class environment and climate for learning.
Provide a brief summary of the key points from the literature that you will take with you into the classroom to explore further.
Include a range of perspectives and theories on the topic and ensure that you are reviewing them critically. You do not need to locate your reading in this section in your subject area.
Practical reflections (Approx. 1000 words)
Consider your own practice using the reflective model, you may want to use this to support your practical reflections.
Discuss what you observed/what you learned and make an explicit link to your literature review.
Conclusion (Approx. 750 words)
Summarise your findings, going back to your research question. Explain the most important finding and why you have chosen this. Explain how this project has affected your own practice.
The introduction:
Be clear about what the focus of your assignment is right from the start. Make it evident to the reader what fascinates you, what you feel you need to know more about or what might even trouble you.
You introduce the reader to the issue that is interesting or troubling.
Example
Indeed, the work of Jerome Bruner defined the purpose of education as being encapsulated in three questions: “1) What makes us human?; 2) How did we become so?; 3) How might we become more so?” (Gardner, 2001, p91) – these are three questions not fully realised by the national curriculum, the third being potentially lost. However, in both this essay and my practice I aim to give full consideration to all three questions, with a particular focus on furnishing students with the skills they need to become proactive, independent thinkers.
Reading and Writing Critically
The introduction
You are setting the scene and your reader needs to understand the context of your school and/or why you have chosen this topic.
Then give an overview of what you are going to address.
Two key points:
Be clear about the overall point of your assignment
Outline the map of the assignment.
Reading and Writing Critically
Academic Literature
Four types of academic literature:
✓Theoretical – present conceptual systems to understand aspects of social world, often underpins research literature
✓ Research Literature – written by academic empirical research in research journals
✓ Policy Literature – developed by policy makers and often written by those in government
✓ Practice Literature – Literature that relates to your subject and will give you practical advice