{"id":76262,"date":"2025-03-21T05:48:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T09:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=76262"},"modified":"2025-03-21T05:48:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T09:48:55","slug":"doctoral-experiences-there-are-literatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctoral-experiences-there-are-literatures\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctoral experiences \u2013 there are literatures"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a bit late posting this week. This is largely down to running a writing workshop and then trying to do all the catching up. But since the workshop I\u2019ve had a nagging wondering \u2026 Let me explain.<\/p>\n

This recent writing workshop had a big emphasis on literatures work. The \u2018literatures chapter\u2019 is a key place where doctoral researchers have to write evaluatively and authoritatively. And that\u2019s hard. There\u2019s a strong temptation to put in everything, rather than a selection relevant to the thesis. And to write the chapter (or sections) as a list of summaries organised around major themes. This is what Barbara and I call the laundry list.\u00a0\u00a0The laundry list is easily recognised by the\u00a0he said he said she said<\/em>\u00a0they said<\/em>\u00a0sentence beginnings.<\/p>\n

Of course, listing summaries in chunks is often a necessary step in literatures work. But it\u2019s the step before you get to writing the literatures draft.( I have\u00a0lots of posts\u00a0<\/a>on literatures work.)<\/p>\n

Anyway to get to the point. In Day One of the workshop I gave out three papers aboutand asked people to use\u00a0my skimming approach<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 read the title, abstract, introduction and conclusion and, if there is time, one other part \u2013 usually the methods. I used a\u00a0\u00a0jigsaw group strategy\u00a0<\/a>(everyone only reads one paper, but then shares). I then asked people to discuss how the papers might fit together \u2013 what did they have in common?<\/p>\n

I typically use papers about the doctoral experience in this exercise, with two of the papers speaking to each other relatively easily, but one being a less obvious fit.\u00a0\u00a0The papers I used this time were:<\/p>\n

\n

Barnett, R., & Inouye, K. (2024). Seven pains of writing: The discomforts of academic becoming in a judgmental age.\u00a0Arts and Humanities in Higher Education<\/em>.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/14740222241305781<\/a><\/p>\n

McAlpine, L., & Boz, C. (2024) Developing as a writer: PhD researchers\u2019 evolving perspectives within a writing program,\u00a0Innovations in Education and Teaching International<\/em>, 61:5, 988-1002,\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/14703297.2023.2230190<\/a><\/p>\n

Mullins, G., & Kiley, M. (2002). \u201cIt\u2019s a PhD, not a Nobel Prize\u201d: How experienced examiners assess research theses.\u00a0Studies in Higher Education<\/em>,\u00a027<\/em>(4), 369\u2013386.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/0307507022000011507<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

These are all good reads and fairly generally available.<\/p>\n

This skim reading exercise is designed to do three things at once \u2013 to offer a way to get the gist of a paper quickly, to engage with content that is relevant to participants\u2019 doctoral experiences and then to synthesise the three papers and to find an angle on them. As is usual, different table groups in this workshop saw different ways to bring the papers together, and that is a fourth \u2018lesson\u2019 \u2013 there are often multiple possibilities for bringing literatures into conversation.<\/p>\n

And as is generally the case with this exercise, these workshop participants found the content of the papers as interesting and useful\u00a0as the reading strategy itself. In particular, it was reassuring that other people besides themselves experienced challenges, uncertainties and tensions in the process. It was helpful to know that they weren\u2019t the only ones feeling they were a bit at sea. It was reassuring to read and hear that this was all part of hard learning. It was helpful to know that intellectual understandings and elegant writing don\u2019t happen at the first go but emerge and evolve.<\/p>\n

The exercise seemed to work well. But the activity led me to my current wondering. How much and how often do doctoral researchers get into the literatures about the doctoral experience ?<\/p>\n

Higher education research is a growing field with\u00a0\u00a0a number of journals, learned societies and conferences. The higher ed research covers a range of concerns, including doctorates. But I\u2019m speculating that if you are not actually researching higher education, you perhaps don\u2019t encounter these literatures. And perhaps your supervisors don\u2019t either.<\/p>\n

This seems a real pity to me. How many doctoral researchers are missing out on research that directly addresses their everyday experiences\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 not only its diversities and complexities but also some of the often experienced emotions, difficulties and elations? I know there are supervisors and research developers who do use the higher ed research and communicate it, but maybe more could be done and more systematically\u2026<\/p>\n

If I\u2019m right, and I suspect I am, then maybe it\u2019s particularly grad schools that could do more \u2013 there is so much good and useful stuff out there which would\/could really inform and support doctoral researchers. How about more time on steering doctoral researchers to this body of work and using it as conversation starters and in courses?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a bit late posting this week. This is largely down to running a writing workshop and then trying to do all the catching up. But since the workshop I\u2019ve had a nagging wondering \u2026 Let me explain. This recent writing workshop had a big emphasis on literatures work. The \u2018literatures chapter\u2019 is a key […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[435296],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-76262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-doctoral-experience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDoctoral experiences \u2013 there are literatures - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctoral-experiences-there-are-literatures\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctoral experiences \u2013 there are literatures - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019m a bit late posting this week. This is largely down to running a writing workshop and then trying to do all the catching up. But since the workshop I\u2019ve had a nagging wondering \u2026 Let me explain. This recent writing workshop had a big emphasis on literatures work. 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