Dr Jessica Hancock, Glasgow Caledonian University It's more personal: transitioning to critical writing for international students Dr Jessica Hancock, Glasgow Caledonian University

Why critical writing? Masters degrees International students – not shared meanings? Fox (1995) - frustrations from absence of clear definitions / requirements of critical writing Maringe and Jenkins (2015) international students and academic writing

GCU London 75% international (previously 89%), 13 % EU Postgraduate (MSc / MBA) –business, public health, construction management – 12/15 months London school of Glasgow Caledonian University

Critical writing interviews 18 female students – 16 business-related courses, 2 Public Health UK, Europe, China, India, Thailand, Canada 4 lecturers - business-related courses - 2 female, 2 male UK and Europe ALDinHE funding – thank you!

Critical writing definitions - students You propose your question to the things that you have read/ deep dive and not accept things as they are Like a fair research to both sides … questioning your own opinion/ counter arguments / clashing thoughts / having a lot of opinions in your mind Keeping in mind quality criteria in order to only compare high quality authors Whatever opinion you have written, it has some solid proof My personal insights and my personal understanding It’s really a passion for me … I just kind of describe my feeling … I won’t say ‘I don’t think this is not good’ but I would say ‘Is this good enough for people?

Analysis definitions - students Dissecting a piece of work, so it’s looking at every little thing and talking about what it means to me Analysis is undergoing a lot of sources in order to form an opinion that is not only one sided I try to find some logic inside and to make it like a story … I can predict the future things Brief history about it and then how things are working Critical writing is more about strategy, having the overall picture in mind and analytical writing, to me, is more technical, like having a piece of research in front of me and just analysing it Trying to deduce and coming up with your own decision or sort of solution or conclusion A global view on what you are going to say. So pick up as more information as you can. Actually looking at those statements and thinking why has someone said that

Description definitions - students Use my own words to describe this idea without taking apart / just the information that’s available/ to tell something in a very objective way You have to point out the real points, some points that are not just your personal feeling Anonymous writing Using fluffy [academic] words [from thesaurus] / too flowery Just describe what you think about the subject and it’s more like analysis Elaborating … analysis is an briefer form of descriptive writing

Critical writing definitions - staff You would go to a variety of different sources in order to build up a good robust evaluation of the literature and articulately present that … to help explain those kind of things that perhaps the literature may not have identified. You’re able to convey a point about that understanding, so that you’re able to draw some sort of conclusion from that Precise … concise/ relevant … recent It’s not a term that I use. So I’ve used the terms or am aware of the terms ‘critical thinking’. So thinking about what’s good and what’s bad and what they think works well and why.

Appreciation of the variety of definitions I don’t know if there will be a resolution as such because what that reflects is what is actually going on there in the world or in that world of that discipline. So you wouldn’t want students to think that there’s an easy answer to that, you want to reflect that these are debates that are going on and these are changing opinions all the time and those opinions were very different even ten years ago let alone now.

Analysis definitions - staff Trying to unpick why somebody has written what they have written or why somebody has said what they have said How, say those 5 most important sources are actually different Taking the idea and really trying to see what additional information and implications or conclusions you can draw from it Being able to identify what’s good and bad and then providing explanations for that.

Description definitions - staff Presenting the facts … context It simply picks up something that has been said by somebody else and restates it It wouldn’t be involving a great amount of intelligence to put it bluntly … we don’t usually do that Literally to say what’s there, rather than, but in a way that shows you’ve understood it. So it’s not just paraphrasing or repeating, it’s actually saying, but without necessarily doing any of that analysis or critique or evaluation. Although sometimes I think there’s an inevitable overlap.

Feedback – student view Just put highlights and put ‘academic writing’ and that’s it and I think ‘Urgh?’ I don’t understand. I know that this is wrong, but now can you also tell me what should I do so it’s kind of right? The principle is difficult for me to change from this topic to that topic They haven’t commented on it, that means it’s not completely absent, so somewhere it’s present. I don’t think there’s a clear cut definition, I think that’s very blurry.

Feedback – staff view So when you write ‘Errs on the descriptive’ basically another way of writing that is saying you’re not engaging in critical writing. I’m not sure that statement’s too helpful. In discussions with the PhD student that I’ve got we can talk for ¾ of an hour and then all of a sudden we understand what each other is saying … you don’t have that luxury to have those kind of conversations. You get those pressures of deadlines … and you’re just going through a process and you’re often not thinking carefully about how can I properly support this student?

Culture When I study in Taiwan I am not familiar to express my opinions The critical thinking is not common in Taiwan, but analysis for me I’m quite familiar with this because I studied a science and when I work for the project of the science I have to be objective Design is very [sub]jective, it’s just your view. If you lost your view then people would say ‘Ah that’s not your style’. So that’s why I feel in Taiwan when I study it’s much more critical