Story Telling Time!

Okay! I'm done with a revising of the Introduction. One problem I face is that I begin with much enthusiasm but by the time I reach the last few paragraphs of the text, I tire out and don't edit them as well. So next time I need to also start from back to front to give those back material a chance.

But now, I will look at my Literature Review so that when I do my Discussion, I will be better about to connect my findings to the wider literature.

So here is a reminder of what the literature review is all about:

Areas of inquiry within disciplines exist as ongoing conversations among authors and theorists. By way of your literature review, you join the conversation - first by listening to what is being said and then by formulating a comment designed to advance the dialogue. The literature review thus involves locating and assimilating what is already known and then entering the conversation from a critical and creative standpoint. As Torraco (2005) defines it, "The integrative literature review is a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated" (p. 356). Ultimately, your review "tells a story" by critically analyzing the literature and arriving at a specific conclusion about it. (p. 74) Linda Dale Bloomberg and Marie Volpe in Completing your Qualitative Dissertation: A Road Map from Beginning to End (2nd ed.)

Introducing and defining the problem

... if the problem is not stated in a reasonable, understandable way, readers will have no interest in your solution. Even if the reader labors through your paper, which is unlikely if you haven't presented the problem in a meaningful way, he or she will be unimpressed with the brilliance of your solution... In the introduction you should have a "hook" to gain the reader's attention. Why did you choose that subject, and why is it important? - Robert A. Day and Barbara Gastel in How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (7th ed.)

So here I am. Thesis update! Yesterday I have read through once my findings section. Yippie! That means, now my weakest section is the Literature Review, Discussion and Conclusion. Today, I am planning to work on these. But before I will do so, I want to revise/edit my Introduction so that when I write the rest, they will cohere. So here I am reminding myself the purpose of the introduction. Define the problem and entice my readers to be interested in my solution! :)

Fear and Greed

I didn't write this. It was something my colleague's boss sent to him, written by someone else. But I remembered how comforting when I first saw this two years ago, because I experienced strongly the emotions of fear and greed as a beginning writer. I have a hardcopy of it and am thinking of archiving it here so I can throw it away and save some space. (And to also share it with you. :))

So here it goes:

"I feel any writing project has two phases: 1. fear and 2. greed.

To get started in writing, you are stepping into the unknown and you are not sure if what you write is going to be good or not. So, you are fearful, and you are paralyzed by the fear. Usually the best thing to do is "just do it". Don't be a perfectionist. Write whatever comes to your mind. "There is no good writing, only good rewriting". 

Once you get started, the momentum may carry you over to phases two. You feel good about your paper and can't wait to finish. Along the way, it might be a good idea to get your students, postdoc, and colleagues to help you such as writing certain parts of the MS, so that it is not too solitary an endeavor.

Having an incremental goal and reward mechanism also helps. For example, if I write one page today, I will do something I really want to do. Or when I finish this paper, I will go to Bermuda for a nice vacation."

Strategies for developing your thoughts

I've never seen such an interesting way of describing the tools of the writer before. So I'm showing it here. It's from pp. 136-176.

1. Description: Showing it
2. Narration: Telling it
3. Illustration: Making it specific
4. Process Analysis: Explaining how it works
5. Cause and Effect: Explaining why it happened
6. Classification and Division: Putting it in its place
7. Comparison and Contrast: Showing likeness, showing difference
8. Definition: Establishing what a word means

Packer, N. H. and Timpane, J. (1986) Writing worth reading: A practical guide. New York: St. Martin's Press, A Bedford Book

Cumulative efforts

As I am working on my Findings, I also find that I have to work on my Literature Review. Only then, I can work on my Discussion. So this passage motivates me to write my Literature Review and I want to share it with you. It's also from Harry Wolcott's book but now page 76:

Another role theory plays - and could play to a greater extent - addresses a nagging shortcoming in qualitative study: our individual and collective failure to make our efforts cumulative. Every study tends to be one-of-a-kind, largely because of the fierce independence of most qualitative researchers and the limited scope of what any one individual can accomplish. A small step in this regard, in addition to a more generous spirit in recognizing the relevant work of others, might be for each of us to make better use of our own earlier studies in interpreting our later ones, to make our individual efforts cumulative over time, such as pursuing different aspects of a central issue or studying a common phenomenon from different perspectives.

I find myself doing such things as I had written the literature review. I was trying to bring together many individual studies together in a way that pursued the topic on hand differently or from a different perspective. It made doing the literature review more fun. :)

Feedback

I think I enjoy thinking about writing, sometimes more than writing itself. I am in the thick of it. I have revisited my Chapter 1 and a newly created Chapter 4 which talks about the context of Singapore. And recently, I have started revising my Chapter 5 which is findings. And now, time for a break. I read this passage in Harry Wolcott's Writing Up Qualitative Research (ed. 3 page 73):

The search for theory, like a cogent review of the literature, offers another way to link up with the prior work of others and a shorthand way to convey the gist of our interests and inquiries. This "searching" stage is where one's dissertation committee, one's faculty colleagues, even anonymous reviewers, can - but seldom do - render invaluable service. Rather than belittle the efforts of novice researchers who thrash about trying desperately to hook up with theory, those more experienced in inquiry of this kind can - and should - suggest possible leads and links. We all run the risk of getting tunnel vision when writing up our own research, failing to see the broader implications or remaining unaware of relevant work that might provide a fresh or clearer perspective. 

I like this passage because I have been the recipient of many kind feedbackers. I don't take very well to criticisms and praises. I'm like those tender reeds that break easily, though I'm put in that situation so often, I hope my skin has grown thicker. So I have been extremely blessed that people who give me feedback are always very kind. They never fail to first draw out my strengths, before showing me my weaknesses. My confirmation reviewers wrote such nice comments about my work that I hid the comments for about a year. I was so embarrassed by it. But when I took them out to read them more objectively, I found that they had given me very good directions about how to expand my work, rather than having that "tunnel vision".

I've written here a couple of times about how I broke out of that theoretical box and that mesmerization with theories. It took me one year to get out of it. But actually, early into my study, my reviewers have already pointed out that I should break out of it. As I continued my research, the part that I have wanted to distance myself most from - the context of Singapore and Asia - were what my reviewers and supervisor thought were key to my research. The more I analyze my data, the more I realized what they said were very relevant and true on hindsight.

So that was my journey. Your feedback counts. :) So invaluable to my thoughts and thinking.