Events

21 April 2010

Determining the discourse requirements of empirical thesis/dissertation part-genres

Lecture

Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics seminar by Professor John Bitchener, School of Languages and Social Sciences, AUT.

Anecdotal evidence and the published literature often report that students writing their first thesis or dissertation are unsure about:
(1) what content should appear in various parts of the thesis or dissertation,
(2) the most effective ways of presenting the content so that it achieves maximum rhetorical impact and
(3) the presentational conventions and typical linguistic characteristics of different parts of the work.

One approach that has proven to be effective with first-time thesis/dissertation writers is to acquaint them with the skills required to analyse the discourse moves typically employed by other thesis and dissertation writers in the same discipline or subject area. Drawing upon the published research on the part-genres of the thesis and on 8 years of presenting seminars and workshops in New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the USA, Professor John Bitchener will discuss the genre approach and illustrate, with reference to the discussion of results part-genre, how students can make use of what the research findings on this section of the thesis tell us and analyse the approach taken to this and other part-genres by different thesis writers. In doing so, he will draw upon material in his book entitled 'Writing an Applied Linguistics thesis or dissertation: A guide to presenting empirical research'.

Dr John Bitchener is Professor of Applied Linguistics in the School of Languages and Social Sciences at AUT University. He is co-editor of New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics. His research interests include the discourse of academic genre (in particular, the part-genres of the thesis) and the efficacy of written corrective feedback for L2 development. He has most recently published in Applied Linguistics, Journal of Second Language Writing, ELT Journal, and Language Teaching Research Journal. He is presently completing a co-authored book with Professor Dana Ferris (University of California, Davis) for Routledge on the theory, research and practice of written corrective feedback. A recipient of three Ako Aotearoa grants, he is leading a team of researchers (Helen Basturkmen, Martin & Heather Meyer) on a national project to determine best practice in supervisor feedback to thesis students.

All welcome.

Organisation:

Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics, University of Auckland