Step into academic success with Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates, your trusted companion for reviewing and writing convincingly about the research literature. This detailed guide takes you through the essentials: deciding what to read, developing techniques for evaluating the claims in texts, building strong arguments through structured literature reviews and dissertations, and writing convincingly for your readers and assessors. With practical tools, advice on using AI, and worked examples, this book provides everything you need for approaching academic work with a critical eye and a clear voice.
You will learn:
• Strategies for critically reading and analysing academic texts.
• Step-by-step methods for developing convincing written arguments.
• Strategies for planning, structuring, and writing your literature reviews and dissertation.
• Ways of responding effectively to your supervisor's feedback.
Supplemented by online self-study materials, this book is ideal for postgraduates in the social sciences and beyond, keen to develop their skills and academic confidence.
Student Success is a series of essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to boosting your employability and managing your wellbeing, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university.
Part 1: Becoming a Critical Reader and Self-Critical Writer
Chapter 1: What it Means to be Critical
Chapter 2: Making a Critical Choice
Chapter 3: A First Look: Interrogating Abstracts
Chapter 4: Getting Started on Critical Reading
Chapter 5: Getting Started on Self-Critical Writing
Chapter 6: Creating a Comparative Critical Summary
Chapter 7: Developing Your Writing Skills to Communicate Effectively
Part 2: Developing an In-Depth Analysis
Chapter 8: A Mental Map for Critical Reading and Self-critical Writing in Depth
Chapter 9: Tools for Thinking - Concepts and their Combinations
Chapter 10: Ways of Thinking - Philosophical Positions
Chapter 11: Reasons for Conducting the Research - Intellectual Projects
Chapter 12: Knowledge Claims - Creating Different Types of Literature
Chapter 13: Key Claim Characteristics - Certainty and Generalization
Chapter 14: Developing a Critical Analysis of a Text
Chapter 15: A Worked Example of a Critical Analysis
Chapter 16: Developing Your Argument in a Critical Review of a Text
Chapter 17: Writing a Comparative Critical Review of Several Texts
Part 3: Putting Your Critical Reviews to Work
Chapter 18: Focusing and Building Up Your Critical Literature Review
Chapter 19: Integrating Critical Literature Reviews into Your Dissertation
Chapter 20: Critical Literature Reviews in Alternative Dissertation Structures
Chapter 21: Tools for Structuring a Dissertation
Chapter 22: Using the Literature in Research Papers, Oral Presentations and Posters
Chapter 23: Understanding your Supervisor's Feedback
