Doctorate as genre: supporting thesis writing across campus

Abstract

Increasingly learning advisors provide generic support for doctoral students. The terms 'genre' (a category, type or family) and 'generic' (ambiguously both 'of a category' and 'non-specific') are interrogated here in relation to such support. Literary studies scholars divide texts by genre for the purpose of analysis. It is helpful to see the doctoral thesis as a literary genre and discuss generic writing support in this context. Taking a theoretical position, I suggest that doctoral writing support can be theorised and conceived differently to complement supervisory support within disciplines. Ideas about the social significance of genre translate well to doctoral writing, which is also socially situated, speaking back to the discourse by which it is produced. Generic learning support is a contested phrase in higher education, a non-specific bolt-on process suspected of being never pertinent because it is not embedded in a discipline. Yet it is highly useful for doctoral students, a fact recognised in burgeoning practice. Around the world, generic support for doctoral study is increasingly provided as universities strive to sustain a healthy completion rate and ensure that discipline-specific, mainly supervisory, support is firmly complemented. Arguing for the thesis as genre enables the term 'generic' to have traction for those providing doctoral support across campus and opens up a theoretical way of discussing practice.

Lernkulturen - Schriftsprache in DaZ - Grammatik - Sprachliche Anforderungen in den Fächern

“…So plädiert Carter (2011) für einen Vermittlungsansatz, der sich auf die Besonderheiten von Textarten bezieht. Am Beispiel von Doktorarbeiten erläutert sie:…”

It’s A Jungle Out There: Challenges In Postgraduate Research Writing

“…Carter (2011) adds that this form of generic (doctoral) support is widespread and sustained by learning advisors rather than departmentally based academics. Hence, research writing is often separated from pedagogies of supervision and research learning (Aitchison & Lee, 2006).…”

The doctoral writing conversation: establishing a generic doctoral writing programme

“…Carter (2011) argues convincingly that doctoral writing is its own genre and that knowledge of it derives from 'our participation in the communicative activities of daily and professional life' (Carter, 2011, p. 731).…”