Critical thinking and

scientific writing for

masters
PROJ519

Dr Jason Truscott
Student Learning Services
Student Learning can help with developing
academic skills in the following:
• writing and presenting
• developing thinking
• using literature critically
• managing projects
• articulating knowledge
• communicating ideas
• preparing for exams and assessment
Where to find ALL the help and support
• plymouth.ac.uk (login via portal)
• Select study support (see 1)
• ‘Academic Skills support’ (see 2)

2
• Choose options on next screen
1
Bookable individual and group tutorials with
Learning Development Advisors (in person/zoom)
The Writing Café
• Drop in (no booking!)
• Writing Café: 1st Floor of library
(Charles Seale-Hayne Library)
N.B. blue Lanyards
• Typically, ‘Group study’ area next to with ‘Writing Café’
the library cafe
• writing support 1-4 pm, Mon-Fri
(Semester / term time)
• In person OR Zoom
www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn
English Language Centre
for NESB (non-English speaking background)
• Coursework tutorials
• Workshops in English for Academic Purposes
• Self-study resources
• ELC at the Writing Café
• Languages Café
• Hello Project
• English Language Development DLE site:
https://dle.plymouth.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=14924
Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow
(writing tutorials – currently via Zoom)
• How to structure your writing
• How to make your writing clearer
• How to write a good introduction or conclusion
• Help with dissertations
• and anything else directly related to academic writing.
• Individuals only
A closer look at academic
writing (Report writing
and dissertation)
Your thoughts
What do YOU think are the most important elements of dissertation
writing?

• Consider free writing to get started

• No rules just write
• 3-5 minutes on a topic
• Overcomes writer's block
What is the most important
aspect of academic writing
(and practice)?
Critical thinking
• This is the foundation of academic writing. Critical thinking can be
linked to practice.

Description Analysis Evaluation

• What? • Why? • So
• Who? • How? what?
• When? • What if? • What
• Where? next?
Thinking critically
Description Analysis
Where? Why?
Point ‘X’
Who?
How?
When? Topic
What if?
What?

What next? So what?

Evaluation
In terms of academic writing,
which is better? Discussion

Conclusions
Point 2

A
Point 1
Introduction

Point 3
Point 7
Point 1 Point 5

B Introduction
Point 2 Point 6
Conclusions

Point 4
For a 3000 word assignment (at masters level),
which is better? Discussion

Conclusions
Point 2

A
Point 1
Introduction

Point 5 Point 7
Point 1 Point 3

B Introduction Point 2
Point 4
Point 6 Conclusions
Why those many points?
• 3000 words assignment would give you
approximately:
• Introduction ~10-15% (450 words 15%)
• Conclusions ~10% (300 words 10%)
• Discussion ~75% max (around 2250 words remaining)

How many points in 3000 words?

• For masters it is ‘roughly’ 1000 words per ‘point’ (why? –
any thoughts?)
• It is only an estimate If you write more or less than a
1000 per point - no problem! It simply helps to choose
the number of points and focus your writing.
• Always consult your assignment brief and
tutor/supervisor guidance as this amount is not exact!
Critical thinking
• Each point in the discussion has: Discussion
• Critical thinking
• Points move logically
Conclusions
Point 3 Point 4
Point 1 Point 2
Introduction

Document structure Critical thinking

• Introduction • Describe
• Discussion • Analyse
• Conclusions • Evaluate
Title: A typical example of academic writing
Introduction
• First sentence relates to title and has a
‘hook’ to keep reader interested.
• Background
• Say what points will be discussed.
• Predominantly future tense. E.g. ‘The
following will be discussed…’
Discussion
• Discuss those points in the same order…
• Point 1 – Describe, analyse & evaluate.
• Point 2 – Describe, analyse & evaluate.
• Cont. – Describe, analyse & evaluate.
• Ensure logical flow of ideas
Conclusions
• Are a summary of the evaluations!
• Don’t add anything new.
• Write mainly in past tense. E.g. ‘It was
found’.
Third person
Are you familiar?
You already know about the assignment
Two possible dissertation formats:
• Monograph*
• Journal article
And need to decide on your project
choice.

* ’a detailed written study of a single specialised

subject or an aspect of it.’ (dictonary.com)
 Understanding the brief
or creating a title
A critical analysis of two key areas of data science and the impact it has
on …

T.A.P. model: Topics, Actions, Parameters

Additional parameters:
What else do you need? …Word count, font size, use of table and
figures, preferred reference style? Etc …Look at your Project Handbook
and marking benchmark! Assessed Learning Outcomes (ALOs)?
N.B. The project handbook has styling requirements
ALO example: ‘3. Exercise initiative, plan and independently implement a substantial programme of enquiry, collect data
and information, and critically analyse the results obtained using appropriately chosen research methods.’
Good presentation (title page)
MY PROJECT TITLE
by

J. Bloggs

Thesis submitted to University of Plymouth

My project title
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
J. Bloggs These are the degree of
May 2018 examples only (insert relevant course name)
e.g.
Plym Uni MSc Coastal Engineering
University of Plymouth Faculty of
Science & Engineering

in collaboration with
CERC Field Research Facility, Duck, NC, USA
(where appropriate)

May 20xx

N.B. A standard title-page formatting information can be found on the DLE and note the guidance.
Please only put your name and student number on the Title Page if anonymous marking is required
Table of contents
Summary………………………………………………i
Acknowledgments……………………………….ii
Glossary of acronyms/abbreviations..…iii
1 Introduction………………………………………1
1.1 xxxxxxxx……………………………………….1
2 Main body..……………………………………….3
2.1 xxxxxxxx.……………………………………..4
2.1.2 xxxxxxxxxx……………………………5

And so on….
Title page: Typical scientific/technical report
Summary (Abstract)
Acknowledgments - thanks or recognition
Table of contents
Glossary of acronyms/abbreviations
1. Introduction (Sets scene: project aims,
objectives and background)
2. Literature review
2.1 may contain subcategories
3. Main body
3.1 Discussions about 1st topic:
Describe, analyse and evaluate
3.2 Discussions about 2nd topic:
Describe, analyse and evaluate
4. Conclusions
Are a summary of the evaluations

References (sources that are used in the main text)

Bibliography (Sources read but not used in text)
Appendix/Appendices
Main body (Discussion)
Sections of main body can be broken down further:

2.0 Materials used in onshore windfarm development

2.1 Title about a subsection to 2
3.0 Approach to efficient wind turbine construction
3.1 Current practices for building wind turbines onshore or offshore
3.1.1 further breakdown of 3.1

• However, these sections MUST include some discussion, not just bare
facts.
 Is this a good discussion?
Many intertidal species are of marine origin and occur in discrete zones according to their ability to
cope with physical stress and interactions with other species (Jones, 2021). In rocky intertidal
habitats this is referred to as ‘zonation’ and can manifest as obvious horizontal bands of species
across the vertical immersion/emersion gradient - the amount of time spent in or out of the water
respectively (Stephenson and Stephenson 1972). Depending on the tidal dynamics, waves, wind,
and atmospheric pressure, certain positions on the shore may be exposed for several days or
longer, while others are never exposed for more than a few minutes or hours. It is generally stated
that the upper distributional limits of species are determined by physical factors such as desiccation
or thermal stress whilst the lower distributional limits are determined by biological factors such as
competition and predation (Lewis 1964).

NO! This is sentence after sentence of facts (only description - no discussion happening yet)
However, it is a good use of Harvard (‘in-text’ citations) referencing.
Academic writing / Critical writing
Also needs to be applied to your literature review

Description Analysis Evaluation

• What? • Why? • So
• Who? • How? what?
• When? • What if? • What
• Where? next?
Describe, Analyse and Evaluate
As clearly indicated in a recent publication (Jones, 2021), many intertidal species are of marine origin and occur in discrete
zones according to their ability to cope with physical stress and interactions with other species. In rocky intertidal habitats
this is referred to as ‘zonation’ and can manifest as obvious horizontal bands of species across the vertical
immersion/emersion gradient (Stephenson and Stephenson, 1972). Depending on the tidal dynamics, waves, wind, and
atmospheric pressure, certain positions on the shore may be exposed for several days or longer, …(Lewis, 1964). Therefore
it is important to establish how species cope… looking more closely at existing field research…
Field observations by Schonbeck and Norton (1978) found that the upper limits of the high-shore fucoid algae Pelvetia
canaliculata (highest) and Fucus spiralis (next highest) were periodically ‘pruned back’ on days when neap tides coincide
with drying conditions, whereas little damage occurred on spring tides when the plants were wetted every day. However,
the same study found that F. serratus (lower species) transplanted up into in the F. spiralis zone and that F. spiralis cannot
survive in the P. canaliculata. Another significant finding was on exposing the three different species to drying in the
laboratory, P. canaliculata remained alive and healthy, while species from lower shore heights suffered tissue damage and
mortality. Schonbeck and Norton (1978) concluded that tolerance to desiccation was greatest in P. canaliculata, the
species found highest on the shore, and was progressively less in species inhabiting successively lower levels. In contrast,
Schonbeck and Norton (1980) transplanted P. canaliculata down to the to the Fucus spiralis zone. However, whilst
macroscopic P. canaliculata thalli grew normally, zygotes which germinated within this zone only reached macroscopic size
when competing F. spiralis was removed. The authors concluded that the lower limits of fucoid algae was determined by
interspecific competition. Another study looked specifically at the species… ...(Johnson et al., 2000). Interestingly, they…
Having considered all the research findings these types of positive and negative interspecific interactions may be
important in modifying the maximum vertical position of many species, including those whose upper limits are more
noticeably controlled by abiotic factors such as desiccation and temperature. Therefore, the complex interplay of physical
and biological factors underpins the vertical distribution of rocky shore organisms. The challenge now is to predict how
these patterns will vary under a changing climate.

PLEASE NOTE: if you use any acronyms, make sure they are explained within the text!
Writing with critical language
• www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk
• Manchester Phrase Bank
– Note the left navigation
menu:
• Being Critical
• Being Cautious
• Classifying and Listing
• Compare and Contrast
• Defining Terms
Etc…
Conclusions
• How many of you ask, what do I conclude?
• Conclusions are a summary of the
evaluations!
• Don’t add anything new.
• Write mainly in past tense. E.g. ‘It was found’.
Appendices
• Appendices are not typically included in the word count!

• Items you might consider:

• Requirements List
• Concept sketches and photos of prototypes (not needed in main body)
• Drawings and other illustrations not appropriate for the main body of the text
• Concept evaluation tables
• Project milestone tables
• Meetings
• Sample code
• Anything that would make the main body difficult to read

However….DO NOT use the appendices as a dumping ground!

Literature
review
 Deciding on the literature review/project topic
Have you discussed this Your subject area history
with your project research
supervisor??? evidence / theory related
reasoning, literature primary
Make those conversations findings
a priority. logic, literature
interpretation /sources

WORLD AT LARGE your beliefs &

thoughts conversations
examples
You and your
/case studies
dissertation
implications
your hunches & assumptions &
intuition prejudices
power/authority
lectures and seminars

(Hilsdon, 2004)
Important steps to achieving your goals
1. literature review must be based on the initial discussion of the
project with your supervisor (who will give pointers to the
materials)
2. Being critical of the literature you find (narrow it down by analysis).
Therefore knowing what to keep or discard
3. Justification of the project itself in view of what was published
4. Planning of what needs to be done in terms of loosely defined aims
(these can be adjusted later in discussions with supervisor)
5. Writing your draft
6. Remember to reference (which also avoids plagiarism)!
 Literature informs the writing!
Abstract
1.0 Introduction
• Identifies substantive focus 2.0 Literature review
3.0 Methodology /procedure
• Informs the writing (feeds back) 4.0 Results
5.0 Discussion / critical analysis
6.0 Conclusions / future work
2.0 Literature Review References

Abstract 1.0 Introduction 3.0 Methodology 4.0 Results 5.0 Discussion 6.0 Conclusion References

Literature
Having written the literature review
What do examiners ask themselves about the literature review:

1. To what extent is the review relevant to the topic?

2. Has the candidate slipped into ‘here is everything I know about
topic x…’?
3. Is there evidence of critical appraisal?
4. Does the candidate make explicit links between the literature and
their research?
(Murray, 2006)
How to reference (a book)

In text citations:
(Johns, 2013, p. 25) or Johns (2013, p. 25)

Reference:
Johns, J.B. (2013) A guide to good scientific practice, London: A publisher.

TIPs: Make sure you place comma, full stops and brackets exactly as instructed for the reference type!
You reference list for ‘Harvard Cite Them Right’ is always in alphabetical order.
How to reference
More than three authors:

In text citation:
(Jacobson et al., 2014) or Jacobson et al. (2014)

Reference:
Jacobson, R.J., Harrison, T., Forsyth, F., and Jones, P. (2014) ‘Incorporating artificial
intelligence in robot design', Example Journal of Robotics, 33(3), pp. 323–326.
http://www.citethemrightonline.com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/journals/journal-articles
http://www.citethemrightonline.com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/Basics/setting-out-citations
How to reference
• Cite Them Right (book and also online)
http://www.citethemrightonline.com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/

• Via link on the library referencing webpage:

http://plymouth.libguides.com/referencing

• Good example of citations and reference lists in action:

http://www.citethemrightonline.com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/Basics/sample-
text-and-reference-list-using-the-harvard-style
Being critical
of texts
Learning from what we read
‘Critique’
‘To give an opinion or judgment
about a piece or work, book, film,
etc…[e.g.] Students take turns
critiquing each other's work.’
Cambridge Dictionary (2018)
Critical analysis of what we read and write
• Constructively critical of what we read
• When ‘critiquing’ texts we must:
• be constructive and consistent
• consider multiple perspectives
• ask questions of the authors

• Critical of what we write

• claims we make and how they are substantiated
• quality of our writing
 Critical synopsis*
1. Why am I reading this?
2. What are the authors trying to achieve in writing this?
3. What are the authors saying that is relevant to what I want to find
out?
4. How convincing are the authors?
5. In conclusion, what can I do with this knowledge?

TIP: The critical thinking model is ideal for a critical synopsis, What? why? how? what if? so what does it mean?

*A critical synopsis is a condensed critique of what is known .

‘Synthesis’
‘…bring[s] together research to
show you’ve grasped the
relationship between them.’
Williams (2013, p. 131)

When you compare and contrast concepts in

your writing this is critical analysis that leads to
critical evaluation, but it also demonstrates
synthesis of ideas and their relationship!
Very important at Master level.

Williams, K. (2013) Planning Your Dissertation. Palgrave Macmillan.

ACTIVITY: Example texts that
utilise critical thinking
Finding description, analysis and evaluation in what we read
Example of description? analysis? evaluation?
‘…Nolan and Temple Lang’s (2010) call for increased computational skills in the
statistics curriculum was just one of the first: many other authors have followed suit in
both statistics and data science. However, in recent years the lines between statistics
education and data science education have become increasingly blurry. During the last
ten years the need to help statistics, data science, and computer science educators
incorporate modern programming and software resources such as
R/RStudio/RMarkdown, Python/Jupyter, and GitHub into their classrooms has been
partially understood and met (Dichev and Dicheva 2017; Stander and Dalla Valle 2017;
Çetinkaya-Rundel and Rundel 2018; Hicks and Irizarry 2018; Broatch, Dietrich, and
Goelman 2019; Fiksel et al. 2019) and lesson plans or case studies used in data science
programs are often shared with the wider community (Loy, Kuiper, and Chihara
2019)…’
Schwab-McCoy et al. (2015) p. 542
Schwab-McCoy, A., Baker, C. M. & Gasper, R. E. (2021) 'Data Science in 2020: Computing, Curricula, and
Challenges for the Next 10 Years'. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 29 (sup1), pp. S40-S50.
Example of description? analysis? evaluation?
‘…Computing in introductory data science programs and courses takes many
different forms, however, there are some common threads. Over 75% of
faculty respondents surveyed indicated using at least one programming
language in their data science programs: usually (but not always) Python or
R. This is in-line with many industry surveys, such as the 2018 Kaggle
Machine Learning and Data Science Survey, which found that 83% of Kaggle
users used Python on a regular basis, and 36% used R (Mitchell 2019). In our
survey, faculty respondents were more likely to be housed in departments of
mathematics or statistics, which may explain the slight preference for R in
our data…’
Schwab-McCoy et al. (2015) p. 546
Schwab-McCoy, A., Baker, C. M. & Gasper, R. E. (2021) 'Data Science in 2020: Computing, Curricula, and
Challenges for the Next 10 Years'. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 29 (sup1), pp. S40-S50.
Example of description? analysis? evaluation?
‘…There are some limitations of this work. Data were collected through
invitations shared by E-mail and on the authors’ social media and
professional networking websites and is not a representative sample of all
data science faculty. Furthermore, since there is no designated professional
network or accrediting body for data science programs and curricula, we
cannot know for certain which faculty or departments are underrepresented
or overrepresented. Many of our respondents were housed in departments
of mathematics, however, at many smaller colleges and universities
computer science and statistics faculty are still located in mathematics
departments, so this may not be a misrepresentation. As a reference, only
nine of our respondents…’
Schwab-McCoy et al. (2015) p. 549
Schwab-McCoy, A., Baker, C. M. & Gasper, R. E. (2021) 'Data Science in 2020: Computing, Curricula, and Challenges for the Next 10 Years'. Journal of Statistics and Data Science
Education, 29 (sup1), pp. S40-S50.
Drawing from examples of writing
• Other example reports or dissertations
• What does your supervisor/tutor suggest, any examples?
• PEARL – Dissertations both PhD and Masters: https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/

• Journal articles:
• How are they constructed?
• Can you see where they are using analysis and evaluation?
• Structures can vary (headings and sub-headings)
• Often very similar to dissertations (but for standalone title page, and contents etc)
Summing up
Think about why you are writing
• Planning:
• The aim of my report/dissertation is to…
• My argument will be valuable because…
• My main points are… (Check the brief/supervisor you have covered all)
• My conclusion will be…
• My recommendations will be… (this often informs a ‘Future work’ section)
Writing the first draft
You have your literature, but not sure how to start…
• Free writing maybe all you need to get started
• Ensure you structure your writing appropriately
• Decided on appropriate sub-headings or sections needed
• Easier to establish the main structure earlier on
• What is it that your tutor wants or supervisor suggests?
• Did you have discussions with your supervisor?
• How can you achieve this?
• Writing café!
Keep writing
• Write regularly, 15-30 mins a day, to maintain momentum
• Avoid over elaborate writing, be concise and to the point; being
aware of linking phrases and flow
• Proofread aloud and carefully to ensure proper language use and
readability
• Talk about your ideas and writing as much as you can with others
• Read academic texts to see how they ‘sound’, follow the principles of
their good practice
Feedback on Jason’s workshop - direct to Jason

bit.ly/394fLnG
Questions?
Report/paper check list
1. What is the purpose of this report, and has it fulfilled that clearly?
2. Are your ideas presented logically?
3. Is there enough information, is the information included accurate?
4. Does the report cover all the key points?
5. Do you analyse your evidence/data?
6. Data & information → conclusions → recommendations/future work?
7. Language, tone and style clear, direct and formal?
8. Is the grammar, punctuation and spelling correct? (Turn on your grammar/spell checkers!)
9. Is the layout simple, clear, logical and consistent?
10. Clear, useful figures and tables, integrated and referenced?
11. Appropriate range of sources? Acknowledged properly?
12. Should there be a glossary? If there is one, is it comprehensive?
13. Are the appendices clearly labelled and signposted?
14. Have you left it for a while, gone back and reviewed it?
(adapted from Burns and Sinfield, 2008)