FINDING YOUR ACADEMIC VOICE

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

LECTURES

LECTURE STRUCTURE

Aims.

Social Sciences Literature.

Strategies for Finding Sources.

Accessing Sources.

Evaluating Sources.

Finding Your Voice.

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AIMS

This lecture provides various techniques of how to navigate the world of academic writing:

What is academic writing, and how does it differ from other forms of information?

What are the different types of academic writing?

How do I access this information?

How do I process or evaluate this information?

How do I find my voice in the academic debate?

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SOCIAL SCIENCES LITERATURE4

SOCIAL SCIENCES LITERATURE

How do the social sciences differ from other disciplines?

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SOCIAL SCIENCES LITERATURE

AIM: systematic, evidence-based research.

Cannot replicate the experimental research design used in the natural sciences. Medical studies use control groups (i.e. given a

placebo) to determine the efficacy of drugs. Studies on the consequences of conflict, however,

cannot start a conflict in a country.

Social sciences literature therefore evolves via debate as new information emerges.

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SOCIAL SCIENCES LITERATURE

How does academic literature differ from other forms of writing?

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SOCIAL SCIENCES LITERATURE: Peer Review

‘Peer’: “A person of the same age, status, or ability as another specified person.”

Peer-review: Evaluation mechanism in which qualified individuals within a field (i.e. ‘experts’) determine whether an academic paper is suitable for publication.

Generally used in academic journals to ensure a high quality of work.

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STRATEGIES FOR FINDING SOURCES9

SOURCES: Types

Books Political Encyclopaedias/Handbooks Single-author volume Multi-author (i.e. edited) volumes

Journal Articles

Reports

Media

Objective Data

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SOURCES: Academic Journals

What is an academic journal?Peer-reviewedPeriodicalFocus on a particular discipline

Why are journal articles useful?

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SOURCES: Academic Journals

Journals vary in their focus and scope of study:American Journal of Political ScienceWomen and PoliticsMiddle Eastern StudiesForeign PolicyJournal of Conflict ResolutionPublic Opinion QuarterlyLatin American Research ReviewJournal of Democracy

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SOURCES: STRATEGIES FOR FINDING INFO.

What is your task?

Analyse an argument?

Evaluate a theory?

Identify and analyse a topic or case?

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SOURCES: ANALYSE TEXT A

Start with Text A and broaden out to other sources.Look in Text A’s references for sources that the author consulted prior to writing the work.Search citations index for sources written by authors that consulted Text A following its publication.Check the author’s list of published works (usually on university site) to find alternative articles with which to search.

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SOURCES: Example

Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University

Press, 2001).

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SOURCES: Analysing a Text

Sources that cite Mamdani (2001) include:Stephan Kinzer, A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and The Man Who Dreamed it (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, 2008)Max Rettig, “Gacaca: Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Postconflict Rwanda?” African Studies Review, Vol. 51, No. 3 (December, 2008): 25-50

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SOURCES: Analysing a Text

Other works by Mamdani on Rwanda include:-- “A Brief History of Genocide,”Transition, No. 87 (2001): 26-47.

-- “African States, Citizenship and War: A Case-Study”, International Affairs, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Jul, 2002): 493-506

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SOURCES: Analysing a Topic

Start broad and narrow down as much as possible to specific area of interest.

Read ‘review articles,’ published in peer-review articles.

Use each subsequent text’s references to build a network of sources.

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SOURCES: Review Article Example

Howard Adelman, “Bystanders to Genocide in Rwanda (Review),” The International History Review, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Jun, 2003): 357-374.Peacemaking in Rwanda: The Dynamics of Failure by Bruce D. Jones; The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda by Alan J. Kuperman; When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda by Mahmood Mamdani; A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide by Linda R. Melvern; 'A Problem from Hell': America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power; Never Again? The United States and the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide since the Holocaust by Peter Ronayne; Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda by Michael Barnett; Re-imagining Rwanda: Conflict, Survival, and Disinformation in the Late Twentieth Century by Johan Pottier

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SOURCES: Non-Political Studies Resources

As political issues span across a wide variety of dimensions, you may find information in journals from other disciplines:Other social sciences (e.g. sociology)

Economics

Law

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ACCESSING SOURCES21

ACCESSING SOURCES: Print Information

ALEPH: http://aleph20.calico.ac.za/F/?func=file&file_name=find-b&local_base=uct01

Main Library

African Studies Library

Journals

Interlibrary Loans

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ACCESSING SOURCES: Electronic

Electronic Databases PAIS International and PAIS Archive

(specialist databases for Political Studies) J-STOR (archival information)

Electronic Journals

E-Z Proxy (off-campus login)

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ACCESSING SOURCES: A final note.

The (natural) temptation is to type a search term into:Google Scholar Wikipedia

Remember, reputation matters!

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EVALUATING SOURCES25

EVALUATING SOURCES

What is a reputable source in the social sciences?Expert

Peer-reviewed

If quantitative, methodology must be transparent and replicable.

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EVALUATING SOURCES: Citations

GoogleScholar for any type of source.

ISI Citation Database for journal articles.

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EVALUATING SOURCES: Google Scholar

1. http://scholar.google.co.za/2. Enter the source’s title and/or author.3. The number of citations will be listed

below the source. Mamdani’s book, for example, has been

cited over 1,000 times!

4. Click on the link. These sources will be listed in order of

their respective citations.

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1. Go to http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/show-database2. Click on “ISI Web of Science”3. Click on “Cited Reference Search”4. Type in the title and/or author and/or

timeframe in which you would like to restrict your search.

5. Tick the box next to the work you want to search for and click “Finish Search”.

6. A list of the works that cite the text will appear and you can then refine your search depending on what exactly you’re looking for.

EVALUATING SOURCES: ISI Citations Index

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EVALUATING SOURCES: Review Articles

The following articles review Mamdani (2001):

Jeffrey Herbst “The Unanswered Question: Attempting to Explain the Rwandan Genocide (Review)”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 3 (May-June, 2001): 123-126.

René Lemarchand “A History of Genocide in Rwanda (Review)” The Journal of African History, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2002): 307-311.

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EVALUATING SOURCES: Journal Rankings

Why do journals vary in reputation?

Which are the best journals in political studies?

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EVALUATING SOURCES: Suggested Reading

For more information on journal rankings in political studies, please consult: McLean et al. (2008), available at: http://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/Politics/papers/2008/McLean%20Blais%20Giles%20and%20Garand%20(April%202008).pdf

Journal Citations Report – Social Sciences Edition (under UCT Library’s databases)

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FINDING YOUR VOICE33

FINDING YOUR VOICE: Strategies

Master all the concepts and/or theories involved in your assignment.

Find relevant sources.

Analyse the debate.

Form your own argument.

Justify your position.

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FINDING YOUR VOICE: Debate Analysis35

Who is saying what?

Which authors agree/disagree with each other?

Which authors are the most prominent?

FINDING YOUR VOICE: Your Argument

See previous lecture for more information on forming arguments.

Remember to express the argument in your own words.

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FINDING YOUR VOICE: Justify Your Position

Why did you choose your argument?

Which arguments did you find convincing?

Why?

Which were unconvincing?

Why?

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FINDING YOUR VOICE: Student Example 1

“Personally I believe Mahamood Mandani’s argument for mass participation is a sound one. The political wing combined with the economic factors and the Burundi Hutu’s made a deadly combination. One that resulted in the death of 1000’s of people and one that resulted in the events that shocked the world!”

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FINDING YOUR VOICE: Student Example 2

“Mamdani’s stance, however convincing and appealing it is to one’s sensitivity, does not take into account that within the “moment of decision” there are certain influencers that sway the individual to in a means that may not necessarily correlate to one’s individual choice – those influencers that have been culturally and historically embedded within one’s psyche. Hintjens’ acknowledges the pivotal role of the Rwandan state but moves on to show that one cannot deny the involvement of other factors (1999; 243)…”

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Subject Librarian: Tanya Barben tanya.barben@uct.ac.za 021 650 3108

Subject Guide http://libguides.lib.uct.ac.za/Political_Studies

YouTube Tutorials http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/research-help/library-guides-and-

tutorials/

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