Premium
Training in thesis writing: an evaluation of three conceptual orientations
Author(s) -
Torrance M.,
Thomas G. V.,
Robinson E. J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1993.tb01049.x
Subject(s) - psychology , heuristics , generative grammar , mathematics education , product (mathematics) , cognition , graduate students , pedagogy , computer science , artificial intelligence , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience , operating system
Three different two‐day thesis writing courses were designed and evaluated. Forty‐one graduate research students completed a product‐centred course which taught grammatical and stylistic rules for good research writing. Thirty students completed a cognitive strategies course which introduced heuristics for generating and organising thesis content. Thirty‐three students completed a generative writing and shared revision course which entailed the production of an unplanned draft followed by extensive revision on the basis of reviewing by peers. All three courses were well received by the students, but those who attended the product‐centred and generative writing courses showed significantly greater improvements in productivity than did the students who attended the cognitive strategies course. These findings suggest that short writing courses can be of benefit in teaching research writing to graduate students but that such courses should focus directly on the production of text rather than on strategies for generating and organising information and ideas prior to composing.