The implicit position of writing during Research Higher Degree (RHD) candidature shapes how students in science approach the task of writing their theses. The dedication of universities to the principles of research has pushed writing to the fringes of the research higher degree. When writing is pushed to the fringes, it is rarely taught explicitly as an integral part of the postgraduate program. This research has found that students who are concerned with writing a thesis often require writing to be discussed explicitly during their education. In response to the absence of explicit instruction on writing, students turn to the principles of research to discover how to write their theses. However, students find that writing belongs to a different epistemological tradition than scientific research. This investigation found that as students realise that research is different from writing, they often write their theses by mimicking the work of other published authors in the same field. These findings emerge from eight semi–structured interviews with linguistically homologous students from a science faculty at a research-intensive university in Australia. These interviews show that students are initiating their own writing groups to learn more about writing. This research presents a case study which culminates in recommendations about how to re-position writing as an explicit discourse requiring attention during the research higher degree. These writing recommendations are developed in this research by analysing the principles of writing programs, examining the literature on writing groups, and reflecting the experience of students during the research higher degree.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/254203 |
| Creators | Naomi Anastasi |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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