1
Summary Acadamic Competences
Inhoud
Week 1:..................................................................................................................................................2
Clip: What is a master thesis?.............................................................................................................2
Module A: Understanding information...............................................................................................2
Module B: Google and library databases............................................................................................7
Module C: Database searching...........................................................................................................9
Module D: Worldcat discovery.........................................................................................................10
Module E: Library databases............................................................................................................11
Week 2.................................................................................................................................................12
Clip: How to evaluate the quality of literature.................................................................................12
Clip: Plagiarism (How to cite and quote)..........................................................................................13
Clip: How to perform advanced literature review............................................................................14
Slides: The outline of a research proposal........................................................................................14
Synchronous session 2: 12 interactive exercises/questions.............................................................17
Week 3.................................................................................................................................................18
Paper 1: What a theory is not...........................................................................................................18
Paper 2: Construct clarity in theories of management and organization.........................................21
How to read and analyse a paper?...................................................................................................24
Tutorial 1 (antwoorden op canvas)...................................................................................................26
Week 4.................................................................................................................................................28
Developing research ideas................................................................................................................28
Paper 1: Structuring the review........................................................................................................30
Paper 2: Defining research problemens**........................................................................................31
Week 5.................................................................................................................................................33
Paper 1: Theory contributions in strategic management.................................................................33
Paper 2: Constructing research question..........................................................................................38
Synchronous session 5......................................................................................................................43
Week 6.................................................................................................................................................45
Paper 1: The distinction between theory, theoretical framework and conceptual framework........45
Synchronous session 2 ): The distinction between theory, …...........................................................49
How to formulate PS and RQ’s.........................................................................................................52
Week 7.................................................................................................................................................55
Paper: Methodological fit in management field research................................................................55
, 2
Synchronous session 7......................................................................................................................59
Week 1:
Clip: What is a master thesis?
Introduction: Why the topic is interesting and showing the current literature, what is missing. Exact
problem/question statement. What kind of data and method uses. Academic papers already give
away findings in the introduction (not in master thesis!)
Theory: Writer gives an in-dept overview of existing literature. Goals is to create the best possible
research to avoid mistakes other people made or doing something that has already been done.
Builds up to what will be tested, like a full model or a set of hypothesis. The theory and the empirical
part of the master thesis should be clearly connected. The theory determines what you are going to
research.
Method: Asking the question: Why this kind of data and why this data origin? What method using
and why? These questions should be answered using literature, (e.g. why is it a good method, why
this kind of data).
Results: Show the actual empirical outcome, with tables and graphs, and helicopter view. Craft a
good story around it that are important for the research.
Discussion and conclusion: Answer to the problem statement in de introduction. Also, reflect on
unexpected results. (If you expected B, but found C > check literature and try to explain) Implications
for academics, managers and ideas for future research.
Module A: Understanding information
At the end of this module, you will:
- know the difference between popular, professional, and scholarly sources;
- be able to recognize a scholarly source;
- know what a traditionally published source is;
- know how a scholarly article is structured;
- understand the peer review process;
- understand what 'citing' is;
- be able to recognize grey literature;
- be able to assess source credibility using the CRAAP test.
1. Popular, professional & scholarly sources
Intended audience
Sources of information are created for different audiences, and that affects both their content and
layout. Based on their intended audience, sources can be categorized into three main groups:
(1) Popular sources: are intended for readers who do not have specialist knowledge of the subject.
(2) Professional/trade sources: are written by and for professionals or practitioners in a particular
field or industry (e.g., medical doctors or business executives).
(3) Scholarly/academic sources: are written by scholars who are experts in a particular field of study
and serve to keep other scholars in that field up to date on the most recent research findings and
ideas.
Different types of sources: A comparative chart
The intended audience affects all aspects of a source, such as the difficulty of information shared, the
overall appearance, the presence and the nature of advertisements, and more.
, 3
2. Traditionally published sources
Publishing method
In categorizing sources, we have talked about the audience to which a source is directed. But there
are other perspectives to consider as well.
One possible perspective is the way in which a source is published - how and by whom is the source
made available to the public? First, we'll discuss so-called 'traditionally published' material.
What is a traditionally published source?
Traditionally published sources come from a commercial or academic publisher. Examples:
(1) Books/e-books, focusing on different audiences:
- popular books;
- professional/trade books;
- scholarly books.
(2) Periodicals (publications that are published regularly: daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly), again
focusing on different audiences:
- Popular periodicals:
-- Newspapers: are usually based in a city and provide local news, as well as domestic and
international news (e.g. The Washington Post);
-- Magazines: some magazines provide news articles just like newspapers (e.g. Time, Newsweek).
Business or economic news and analysis (e.g. Forbes, The Economist, Fortune). Etc.
- Professional/trade periodicals may use the name journal or magazine. They provide content that's
of interest to anyone working in a particular profession or industry (e.g. Law Practice Magazine,
Advertising Age).
- Scholarly periodicals are called journals, with only a few exceptions (such as the scientific magazines
Nature and Science). Examples of scholarly journals include Psychological Bulletin, European
Economic Review, Journal of the History of Ideas, and Modern Theology.
Availability: Publishers manage the editing, layout, printing, advertising, and distribution of
traditional sources such as books, journals, and newspapers. They are widely available from public
libraries, university libraries, (online) bookstores, but also from supermarkets and gas stations.
Formats: Newspapers, professional/trade journals and many magazines are available online as well
as in print form. Nearly all scholarly journals have established digital versions (called e-journals). Any
new quality journal will almost always be online-only these days, for economic reasons. Print books
are also increasingly available as e-books.
3. A closer look at scholarly sources
Scholarly communication
Academics share their theories and research findings with the academic community. The most
important way in which researchers tell other researchers about their work is by publishing journal
articles ('papers') and books. That said - academic fields differ as to the importance that is attached
to articles and books.
What makes a source scholarly?
In order to effectively search for sources for a writing assignment, it's critical that you can quickly
identify scholarly publications. Look for the following characteristics:
, 4
Authors: written by academics who are experts in the field of study. Authors’ names are listed with
credentials/ degrees and places of employment, which are often universities or research institutions.
Language: advanced vocabulary or specialized language intended for other scholars in the field, not
for the average reader.
But perhaps the most important feature of a scholarly source is:
Citation: scholarly sources refer to (cite) the origins of information and ideas the author has used to
support his/her argument.
Citation is the practise of identifying the sources you have quoted, paraphrased or otherwise used in
your writing. (1) it allows reader to verify, (2) acknowledge the people ideas you have used to
advance your argument. (3) see the connection between books and articles by many different
authors.
4. Scholarly sources: Journals
Article types published by scholarly journals
(1) Theoretical articles present new or alternative ways of thinking about a subject, challenge
existing theory, or synthesize recent advances and ideas into new theory.
(2) Research articles (also called original or empirical articles) report of new research. In the sciences,
economics, and the social sciences this is a highly valued article type. Research articles typically
include an extensive description of how the research was done and what the results mean.
(3) Review articles (also referred to as 'reviews') summarize the current state of knowledge about a
research topic. Recent reviews are very helpful to quickly get an overview of a topic.
(4) Case studies are reports in which an individual, event or phenomenon is the subject of study.
Purpose is not to generalize, but to let others know similar things (e.g. a medical condition, job
stress) may occur elsewhere.
(5) Book reviews are relatively short articles that provide insight and opinion on recently published
scholarly books (monographs). These articles are not considered scholarly even though they are
written by scholars, but they can help identify suitable books that are.
Structure of a scholarly article
Scholarly articles are composed of the following components:
- Article title
- Abstract (the article's summary containing the key points discussed)
- Introduction or literature review
- Article text/body: For research articles typically consists of 2 parts: a Methods and Results section.
- Discussion
- Conclusion (may be part of the Discussion)
- References
Peer review
One of the cornerstones of science is 'peer review', also known as 'refereeing'. Peer review is the
process whereby an article is assessed for quality by his or her peers (experts working in the same
field) before it's published. Articles that have undergone peer review are called 'peer reviewed' or
'refereed'. The peer review process is used by most scholarly journals.