Reading and Reviewing
Today I’m reviewing papers for tomorrow’s round table discussions about our papers. I’ve had the pleasure of reading two of my classmates papers with an eye to provide effective feedback. This is framed with a seven item rubric to help focus the response. Both papers show the passion and areas of interest for these two people. Both are worthy topics for research.
Here is the rubric outline, key questions and sequence for the feedback.
- Significance of Issue Explored: Does this paper make a useful contribution? Does it focus on a topic that needs addressing? Does the paper adequately highlight the importance of the issue?
- Relevance of Issue Explored: Is the issue highlighted within the paper relevant to a specific issue or topic of educational research? Does the paper adequately address the relevance of what is being explored in the paper for the discipline of educational research? If not, is there a more specific focus for the paper?
- Clarity of Thematic Focus: Does the author clearly state the themes being explored in the research (e.g., literature review)? Does the paper explore the themes in a coherent manner?
- Connections to the Literature & Theoretical Grounding: Does the paper illustrate an adequate understanding of the current literature in the field? Does the literature reviewed assist readers to understand the area it pertains to? Any suggestions for the author? Are the theories that inform the researcher’s orientation clearly outlined? Does the author weave theoretical concepts into the interpretations that they offer?
- Criticality: Does the author demonstrate self-awareness of their situated-ness or positionality? Do they acknowledge possible alternative interpretations from other cultural, social, political, theoretical or intellectual locations/positions? Does the author include some practical implications for the propositions offered in the paper?
- Organization & Clarity: Are the conclusions clearly stated, or if conclusions are not the aim of the research, does the research reflect an epistemological orientation consistent with not positing conclusions? Is the paper cohesive – that is, does it adequately tie together all the elements of the paper (e.g., theory, procedures, findings, critical perspectives, and implications)?
- Quality of Writing / APA: Does the paper adhere to the format standards of APA 6.0? Has the author considered the audience, purpose, organization and style expected for publishable papers? Any suggestions to the writing? Are spelling and grammar of good quality? Does the author avoid excessive use of jargon? Is the language and presentation appropriate for academic and professorial readership?
While I was completing these reviews, I used the Owl Perdue APA guideline website and noticed something quite pertinent to my style of writing, so I’ve taken note of this for the final writing of this paper, and future writing. This website is moving to a new location and format, with similar great content to support writers. The page I was paying attention to today was APA stylistics, where I read about avoiding poetic language, specifically “minimize the amount of figurative language used in an APA paper, such as metaphors and analogies unless they are helpful in conveying a complex idea”. Something to consider!
As part of today’s tasks, I am also finalizing a presentation for the roundtable discussion of my paper. The graphic that I posted yesterday will be a key artifact for this session, but it will be the beginning point of the conversation. I am detailing key points that I hope to highlight in the presentation as well as going over the paper in greater detail. This is certainly helping me pull back from a narrow view of the work I’ve completed and take a reflective stance, before I have to go back into the final writing phase to complete the paper.
As I was preparing my thoughts, I came across this particular video about the application of David Thornburg’s Campfires in Cyberspace model for learning. I’m capturing it here for future reflection since this is included in my paper’s outline.
Image attribution: Photo by _HealthyMond . on Unsplash
