OUGD501 Context of Practice 02 Study task 05

After skimm reading multiple of the submitted dissertations from previous years I have found three over arching themes in the writing styles and structure.

The first of these is the way they all write in third person. This is something I am already aware of and utilise in my own essays. However, it was a point of concern to me that I may not be able to do this in my dissertation while still citing my own primary research. It seem that this is something a few past students have wrangled with as well when their projects are particularly heavy on the primary research. It seems the way they have gotten around this is by sticking to third person until it is absolutely necessary to cite that it is your own research, and then it was used to reinforce points made through secondary sources and never in isolation.

The second writing method I found was triangulation. Again through the tasks we have been set this year it is something that I am already aware of. However, the sheer volume of triangulation surprised me and it seems that, if a point is worth making it is worth triangulating if at all possible.

Another thing that jumped out at me was the way that although many made the effort to ingrain quotes in a point, when possible these quotes were called out and examined in great depth, rather than just left. Points were always backed up to a great extent, but even challenged and discussed through an attempted deeper understanding of the quotes that were used. This is clearly a way of demonstrating an understanding of the sources used to back up quotes and the analytical skills to use them in essay context.