Dear super writers,
First of all, I'd like to express my deep sorry for my procrastination of writing the summary of our meeting on this Tuesday. And I hope my delay doesn't affect your progress of writing during this week.
We had a pretty ardent discussion and sincere sharing on Mar 11. Jinjun read books and wrote some summary during last week. She also worked on her research ethics form. Her goal for the coming week is to finish the assignment of a faculty course on discourse analysis. In addition to that, she will keep on reading some literature. Iris downloaded some articles (actually it's a bunch of articles as she took to the common room rather than 'some') on her literature review. Iris has been corresponding with her potential participants and managed to involve three teachers in her pilot study up to now. Congratulations, Iris! However, there's also some negative feedback from one of Iris's potential participants. This teacher has consented to participate in Iris's pilot study at first but later on, when she got the research plan in detail from Iris, she changed her idea. Concerning the rights and obligations of potential or/and real participants, we had a small discussion. Nicole mentioned teachers are very cautious about the right/obligation thing in the process of being researched. She thought it's better for the researcher to be informed that the participant intends to quit at the outset rather than on the way, particularly for ethnography research. If the participant withdraws on the way, it's a 'disaster' for the researcher. So in this sense, I think the withdrawal of this teacher, is not a bad news for Iris, because neither of the researcher nor the participants devote too much so far. Anyway, good luck to Iris to find more participants. And the best wishes also extend to all of us!
Nicole completed writing assignments for thesis writing and also the part of her literature review in previous week. Her new goal is to finish two abstracts for a conference. In reference to conference, super writers also showed great interest, which led us into another small discussion. Wenyu mentioned the difference between conference paper and journal paper. She thought journal paper is liable to be revised and touched up, thus eventually it turns out to be a journal paper. So it's best for us to get some feedback on the conference, which will definitely be beneficial to the improvement of our paper. We also talked of a consequential question, that is, whether do we need to inform our supervisors the submitting of any abstract or/and paper before conference or/and journal? It seems that most of us have no awareness of informing our supervisors such kind of academic attempts. Both Iris and Shirley forgot to tell their supervisors the submission of abstracts for conferences, since all these abstracts are based on their previous research in their M.A. study. Jinjun also mentioned she wouldn't tell her supervisor what she submitted until she got the positive feedback from the organizer of the conference. However, Nicole thought it's better to let our supervisor know what we seek to do, in this case it's our attempt to submit abstract for conference. She thought our supervisor would give us some useful information and helpful advice in terms of the prestigiousness of conference. Supervisors may advise us whether the conference we should go to or not. Nicole also suggested that we should relieve ourselves from the Chinese thinking (Chinese mindset?), that is, not just to present the best of our research to the supervisor. We should be brave enough to show our weakness of research to our supervisor. That's where they are here and how we can make progress.
As for Lucia, she finished two pages of outline of her project and submitted to her supervisor. She was waiting for her supervisor's feedback and relevant articles. Lucia's new goal is to write three pages of transcription of field work. Wenyu has finished three or four pages on her literature review. She also searched journal articles on her research topic and categorize them, and have read about half of these articles. Her next target is to finish the literature part before she meets her supervisor on this Friday (March 14). In addition, she also needs to finish the assignment of thesis writing and how to present effectively, which are two courses she selected this semester.
We also talked about the position we should take as a researcher while Lucia mentioned her intent to become a teacher for some time during her study. Whether we should be a so-called 'insider' or 'outsider'? How can we keep the neutrality as a researcher? Is it necessary for us to be a teacher while we interact with students (who are the participants of our research?) Can we learn students better if we are their real teacher or we can explore the interaction more objectively if we are a mere researcher? All the super writers showed great interest in this kind of question and also feel a bit puzzled which stance we should take in the process of research. Therefore, it is suggested the next discussion topic will be the research ethics and position of the researcher after the Easter Day.
The summary is based on my notes taken in last meeting. Due to my poor English and my delay, I maybe missed some points or misunderstood some of your views. Obviously, all mistakes in this summary are mine.
Lastly, I'd like to thank Issa for her regards from Netherland. The book you introduced ''How to write more'' is really insightful and encouraging. Great thanks, Issa! Wish you have a happy, smooth and fruitful study in Netherland. Iris has passed a copy to me after the meeting. All are welcome to make copy from it. Many thanks, Iris!
2008年3月18日星期二
2008年3月3日星期一
The meeting on Feb. 26
Dear all,
I am terribly sorry for the late uploading of the report on the meeting on Feb. 26.
Four of us attended this meeting, Wenyu, Rina, Jin Jun and I. We reflected on our writings and set the goals for the following week. Then, we shared our experience of application and reasons of doing our own research. Some took it as a continuous journey of MA. Some followed supervisor's interest and instruction. Some made it out of working experience. It was very interesting to observe how everybody started their journey of MPhil or PhD. Since many others hadn't shared their research, we suggested that we could continue with this topic next meeting.
I am terribly sorry for the late uploading of the report on the meeting on Feb. 26.
Four of us attended this meeting, Wenyu, Rina, Jin Jun and I. We reflected on our writings and set the goals for the following week. Then, we shared our experience of application and reasons of doing our own research. Some took it as a continuous journey of MA. Some followed supervisor's interest and instruction. Some made it out of working experience. It was very interesting to observe how everybody started their journey of MPhil or PhD. Since many others hadn't shared their research, we suggested that we could continue with this topic next meeting.
2008年2月18日星期一
Lucia's New Goal
Translate one chapters (around 5 pages) of my dissertation.
No delay task: Read at least one chapter of Life in schools : an introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education by Peter McLaren. (Many thanks should be given to Nicol for introducing it to me! )
No delay task: Read at least one chapter of Life in schools : an introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education by Peter McLaren. (Many thanks should be given to Nicol for introducing it to me! )
A Review on Today's Meeting
On our first Super Writers Meeting after Chinese New Year, we ate some desserts and discussed several issues.
Since we all came back from a relaxed vacation being together with our family, the production is not much and it seemed like a confession meeting at first. But you know, it is quite understandable and reasonable to rejoin in the family in this traditional festival since we've been apart so long. So needless to feel guilty, just catch up! (Haha, Lucia always can find an excuss to rationalize laziness:P)
The construction of new campus brought out by Nicol arose heated discussion later on. Some ridiculous arrangement of classroom design workshop and the huge gap between ideal vision and practical measure was identified. It is problematic that the immediate users of classroom were left out in the decision-making procedure and the bureaucracy blocked the full participation of people who are interested in or whose specialty is relevant to the issue. Many insightful opinions were brought about by our super writers, pity we didn't keep a record. That's why Issa suggeted we record our discussion every time for possible reference in future. Given the complex nature of the problem such as research ethic, privacy etc. we will discuss it in next meeting to find out a good solution. If you have any idea on it, please put forward on the blog or the meeting next time.
We also share some strategies for time management and avoid procrastination. Issa will kindly help to scan and circulate a handout from a workshop Lucia attended, which lists the common reasons for us to put off things. Maybe it can help you to reflex on your own habit and try to change.
Last but not least, do remember to 'Have the passion on your postgraduate study and your research!' This is what we agreed on in the meeting:)
Since we all came back from a relaxed vacation being together with our family, the production is not much and it seemed like a confession meeting at first. But you know, it is quite understandable and reasonable to rejoin in the family in this traditional festival since we've been apart so long. So needless to feel guilty, just catch up! (Haha, Lucia always can find an excuss to rationalize laziness:P)
The construction of new campus brought out by Nicol arose heated discussion later on. Some ridiculous arrangement of classroom design workshop and the huge gap between ideal vision and practical measure was identified. It is problematic that the immediate users of classroom were left out in the decision-making procedure and the bureaucracy blocked the full participation of people who are interested in or whose specialty is relevant to the issue. Many insightful opinions were brought about by our super writers, pity we didn't keep a record. That's why Issa suggeted we record our discussion every time for possible reference in future. Given the complex nature of the problem such as research ethic, privacy etc. we will discuss it in next meeting to find out a good solution. If you have any idea on it, please put forward on the blog or the meeting next time.
We also share some strategies for time management and avoid procrastination. Issa will kindly help to scan and circulate a handout from a workshop Lucia attended, which lists the common reasons for us to put off things. Maybe it can help you to reflex on your own habit and try to change.
Last but not least, do remember to 'Have the passion on your postgraduate study and your research!' This is what we agreed on in the meeting:)
2008年1月29日星期二
Google Notebook
Actually, I found google notebook a better platform to organize my web readings, you can also share your notebook with others. and you can create multiple notebooks for different topics. Of course del.icio.us is faster and more convenient. so try and see which suits your need the best!
http://www.google.com/notebook/
http://www.google.com/notebook/
2008年1月24日星期四
Jan 22 meeting minutes
In our Jan 22 meeting, a number of problems relating to writing the dissertation at various stages were raised, they are:
1. Difficulty finding the right papers, journal articles related to one's study. Things we need to check such as are we looking in the right database? Are we using the right keywords for search? Some people suggest that we can book an appointment with an librarian to shape up our information searching skills
2. Strategies for reading/writing in the beginning. We can start by reading without a clear purpose, which takes longer but will allow one to have a broader understanding on topics. We can also start by reading with clear purpose such as reading in order to finish writing a chapter. A chapter outline will help in this case, to focus your reading on specific topics. This way is more efficient, but will certainly narrow your perspective.
3. Transcribing and translating non English medium data. Since most of the group memebers' data will come from Chinese language sources, such as interviews, the question was do we need to translate all the data into English in the very beginning. This is actually not necessary, even during the data analysis stage. You should analyze your data in its most raw/original format. And not until you are going to write about them, then you select the segments you need to demonstrate in your paper and translate them into English.
4. How to write a good discussion and conclusion based on the analysis findings. Some suggest that we may need further reading, and revisit our original research questions to find a focus for the paper conclusion.
Iris made a good suggestion that for future meetings, we can pick a particular theme to talk about, such as how to write a good lit review. The idea was to spend the 1st half of the meeting to report our progress, then the 2nd half to discuss the selected theme. So for our next meeting, the group has decided that we find some material or info on how to conduct good information search. If you have personal experience or you have come across material that you think would be useful for our next meeting theme, please do bring them with you next time!
1. Difficulty finding the right papers, journal articles related to one's study. Things we need to check such as are we looking in the right database? Are we using the right keywords for search? Some people suggest that we can book an appointment with an librarian to shape up our information searching skills
2. Strategies for reading/writing in the beginning. We can start by reading without a clear purpose, which takes longer but will allow one to have a broader understanding on topics. We can also start by reading with clear purpose such as reading in order to finish writing a chapter. A chapter outline will help in this case, to focus your reading on specific topics. This way is more efficient, but will certainly narrow your perspective.
3. Transcribing and translating non English medium data. Since most of the group memebers' data will come from Chinese language sources, such as interviews, the question was do we need to translate all the data into English in the very beginning. This is actually not necessary, even during the data analysis stage. You should analyze your data in its most raw/original format. And not until you are going to write about them, then you select the segments you need to demonstrate in your paper and translate them into English.
4. How to write a good discussion and conclusion based on the analysis findings. Some suggest that we may need further reading, and revisit our original research questions to find a focus for the paper conclusion.
Iris made a good suggestion that for future meetings, we can pick a particular theme to talk about, such as how to write a good lit review. The idea was to spend the 1st half of the meeting to report our progress, then the 2nd half to discuss the selected theme. So for our next meeting, the group has decided that we find some material or info on how to conduct good information search. If you have personal experience or you have come across material that you think would be useful for our next meeting theme, please do bring them with you next time!
Dear all,
First of all, thank the guys who have accepted my invitation to have a dinner party at my home this Saturday. I am heartily looking forward to sharing with you wonderful food, talk, and thought. For those who cannot come, I do hope that we have further opportunities to be together in the future :)
I set my goal to revise a paper last Tuesday. I have done it but was just told by my pervious supervisor that it was unnecessary :( Anyhow, I think that my work won't be wasted; at least I've done some writing and thinking :P I'd like to set myself a new goal: take notes and write summary at least for one article by next Tuesday meeting.
Finally, many thanks to Nicol who introducing the valuable learning web to us. I'd like to follow Nicol's example by sharing with you an article about procrastination since many of us claim that it is one of our biggest weaknesses :P http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/
The beginnig of the article is like this :
"I have been intending to write this essay for months. Why am I finally doing it? Because I finally found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have papers to grade, textbook orders to fill out, an NSF proposal to referee, dissertation drafts to read. I am working on this essay as a way of not doing all of those things. This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish and the good use they make of time. All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this bad trait work for you. "
First of all, thank the guys who have accepted my invitation to have a dinner party at my home this Saturday. I am heartily looking forward to sharing with you wonderful food, talk, and thought. For those who cannot come, I do hope that we have further opportunities to be together in the future :)
I set my goal to revise a paper last Tuesday. I have done it but was just told by my pervious supervisor that it was unnecessary :( Anyhow, I think that my work won't be wasted; at least I've done some writing and thinking :P I'd like to set myself a new goal: take notes and write summary at least for one article by next Tuesday meeting.
Finally, many thanks to Nicol who introducing the valuable learning web to us. I'd like to follow Nicol's example by sharing with you an article about procrastination since many of us claim that it is one of our biggest weaknesses :P http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/
The beginnig of the article is like this :
"I have been intending to write this essay for months. Why am I finally doing it? Because I finally found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have papers to grade, textbook orders to fill out, an NSF proposal to referee, dissertation drafts to read. I am working on this essay as a way of not doing all of those things. This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish and the good use they make of time. All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this bad trait work for you. "
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