Transcript Paul-F Tremlett - Arts Presentation PGSRPres.ppt

Developing as a Researcher – the next steps
PGRS Induction, 2014
Paul-François Tremlett
Religious Studies
Arts Faculty
Aims and Objectives:
1.What is a PHD?
2.What is a literature review and why
do I need one?
3.Existing work and my own voice:
framing an intervention
4.Critical thinking: what’s that?
 Entering students often think of a PhD as a ‘magnum opus’, a
brilliant research project culminating in a great work. This is rather
a demanding model, and few students win Nobel Prizes as a result
of their doctoral studies. More realistically, a PhD is research
training leading to a research qualification. The PhD is a passport to
a research career.
 There are other views of a PhD, as well. Getting a PhD can be a ‘rite
of passage’, a prerequisite to admission into the academic ‘tribe’. It
can be a deep, specific education in a discipline, preceding a postdoctoral period of on-the-job training. It must make a contribution
to knowledge, and so it can be viewed as one’s entry into the
research discourse.
 There are certain things that you are demonstrating through your
thesis:
 mastery of your subject
 research insight
 respect for the discipline
 capacity for independent research
 ability to communicate results and relate them to the broader
discourse.
 These reflect competence and professionalism, rather than genius
or greatness. Importantly, they are as much about comprehending
others’ work as about doing one’s own.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY AND METHODS

CHAPTER 3 CASE STUDY 1

CHAPTER 4 CASE STUDY 2

CHAPTER 5 CASE STUDY 3

CHAPTER 6 CASE STUDY 4

CHAPTER 7 ANALYSIS

CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. A thesis is one coherent overriding ‘story’ or argument
2. The literature review demonstrates your knowledge of your subject area
3. Positions the research question in existing knowledge, i.e. a critical
review of prior research which motivates and justifies the research
question
4. Demonstrates a gap in the existing research which the research
addresses
5. The research delivers clear and explicit evidence, substantiation and
chains of inference and the impact on existing knowledge
 More hangs on your ability to demonstrate intellectual maturity and
critical depth (and through them to provide insight) than on the scale
or scope of the research findings. A good PhD is based on an honest
report of research that reflects sound practice and well-articulated
critical thinking.
 Citing others and ventriloquism
 Who is speaking? The individual and
the tradition
 Voice and style
 Authority, power and representation
 there is no such thing as data free from
interpretation
 Are facts ‘out there’ waiting to be
found or are they constituted by
research methods?