Thanks everybody for their contributions to the discussion about person
in academic writing. As that seems to be blurring nicely into a number
of other themes, here's another issue that comes up in relation to
refereeing the DRS conference.
One of the roles of a conference is to introduce doctoral students to
their new professional community. For them it can be a scary thing
although they soon seem to get over their first conference nerves.
However I have observed that doctoral students seem confused about what
is expected from them, especially as they may be in a regime where they
are being challenged to explain their research as it develops, with
emphasis on methods and future plans.
Suddenly, when submitting their work to a conference, they find
themselves challenged to tell us about their contribution to knowledge,
an idea that may be on the agenda of their PhD programme but more as a
vague future possibility rather than today's priority.
I have my own ideas about how that problem can be solved, and it is
clear that a good few students are solving it, but I thought this would
be a good time for us to consider what we should expect from students
who are starting to publish their work, and how they can go about
distilling some useful contributions from their incomplete enterprises.
best wishes from Sheffield
Chris
*********************
Professor Chris Rust
Head of Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, S11 8UZ, UK
+44 114 225 2706
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www.chrisrust.net
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the
future of the human race. - H. G. Wells
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