Academic Conventions

- discussing the necessities for having a structured writing technique

- why you should have your own personal writing style

Academic Conventions are like an institutional framework for your work

- structure and standardise

- aspire to academic honesty

- showing the reader where your arguments are coming from

- formulas with a certain reason and logic behind them

Superficial Surface Approach - Things NOT To Do:

- concentration on learning outcomes

- passive acceptance of ideas

- routine memorisation of facts

- no level of critique

- ignoring guiding patterns or styles

Deep Approach - Things You SHOULD Do:

- independent engagement with material

- critical and thoughtful about ideas and information

- relates ideas to own personal experiences and knowledge

- relates evidence to conclusions

How to do this:

- following certain academic conventions

- formal style and tone 

- specialist vocabulary for each academic discipline (graphic design talk)

- the substance of academic writing must be based on solid evidence and logical analysis and presented as a concise, accurate argument

- academic writing allows you to present your argument and analysis accurately and concisely

- opinions must be based on thought through and logical analysis

Tips for academic writing

- aim for precision

- don't waffle or use unnecessary words

- get straight to the point

- if there is any uncertainty about a particular point, use cautious language and back it up

- avoid repeating the same words

- avoid abbreviations and contractions

- avoid slang words and phrases

- avoid conversational terms

- avoid vague terms

- everything has to be referenced using Harvard Referencing

- bibliography should be alphabetised and seperated out into types of reference (books, webpages, etc)

- pictures should be included as a list of illustrations in accordance to the Harvard referencing system

- use a combination of extended quotes, in text quotes and paraphrasing

General Essay Structure

Preliminaries - Title / Acknowledgements / Contents / List of illustrations

Introduction - The Abstract / Statement of the problem / Methodological approach

Main body - Review of the literature / Logically developed argument / Chapters / Results of investigation

Conclusion - Discussion and conclusion / Summary of conclusions (answer the question)

Extras - Bibliography / Appendices

Web links I have found for the history and culture of Uganda:

http://www.crossculturalfoundation.or.ug/Downloads/culture_in_devt_experiences_and_prospects.pdf

http://countrystudies.us/uganda/

http://www.enoughproject.org/conflicts/lra/beginnings-in-uganda#Museveni

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199846733/obo-9780199846733-0075.xml

http://www.katutandike.org/facts-about-uganda

http://mobile.monitor.co.ug/Oped/As+Uganda+turns+50++we+should+take+pride+in+national+identity/-/691272/1477634/-/format/xhtml/-/2fw0siz/-/1346961768000

http://www.independent.co.ug/features/features/3690-what-is-uganda-a-crisis-of-national-identity

http://www.acpcultures.eu/_upload/ocr_document/Commonwealth_Spotlight_Uganda.pdf

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/154364/

Yesterday I had another tutorial with Simon where we discussed the chapter structure of my essay and ideas for the practical part.

This is his feedback form:

I need to go off and now solidify the chapter plan and begin writing and I think I'll decide on an exact title and question once I am further into the topic. I also need to do some more research into both tourism theories and tourism in Uganda, before looking into design for tourism and branding/marketing theories.

As my essay topic is now discussing tourism design in Uganda and whether or not it is possible to create an identity that is sensitive to the Ugandan national identity, it makes sense to use the results of the essay and create a brand identity for a tourism location in Uganda as the practical part of the module. That way I will be able to synthesise the two elements together by using the direct results of the written part for the practical part.

Brief:

Using the research from the written dissertation, produce a brand identity for a tourism service in Uganda that can be considered sympathetic to the Ugandan national identity, the tourist visiting and the business itself.

Produce a brand identity that can be portrayed through a set of brand guidelines, plus relevant practical products and applications which will reinforce the brand.

Visual sights around Uganda that tourists are exposed to:

After changing my topic slightly, I have gone back to my own primary research images again and now picked out the more relevant ones to blog.

Tourism sights around Uganda:

The list of places I visited or stayed at in Uganda so that I can choose ones out of these as examples in my essay:

I've taken these three books out of the library to try and gain an understanding of tourism theories to see which apply the most to my topic to back up my research:

'Tourists and Tourism' - Abram, Waldren & Macleod

'Visual Culture and Tourism' - Crouch & Lubbren

'The Tourist Gaze' - John Urry


I think the concept and idea of applying the theory of the gaze to tourism is very interesting and would work well as a theory to support my research. Also, the concept of authenticity is discussed at length in the book 'Tourists and Tourism' so this is definitely an interesting one.

So today I had my second tutorial (first official scheduled one) with Simon and we have solidified my topic. This is the feedback form he filled out for me:

And my own brief notes:

Methods

How the information you have found is
- sourced
- collected
- collated
- presented

- write out a short explanation of the methodologies you have used for the research
- will be unique to your project
- putting in thought to the methodological approach will gain you a higher grade

- clearly evidence why you selected the methods of gathering information and selecting evidence and why they are the most appropriate for your study - stops the project from being biased or naive
- shows you are in control of your project and are aware of what you're doing

- a systematic way of sifting through information to get to the point
- should occur in the introduction

- inquiry procedure
- organising approach

- think of the limitations - looking at the research from one methodology will give you different outcomes than looking at it from a different methodology

Theories

- theory can help you decide upon the methods you use
- alternatively, the material you find may suggest the appropriate theories

- theory is one element of a methodology

Methods, Theories, Application

1 - make decisions about how to collect and order information

2 - choose a relevant theory

3 - apply these to the study

4 - explicitly outline this in the introduction, address suggested failings in the conclusion

Critical Analysis

- not only how you approach a subject but how you interpret it

- 'skepticism'
- 'reasoned thinking'

- stepping away and using evidence and logic to come to conclusions rather than using emotions and personal opinions to guide the analysis

- can declare your stance on the topic, but back it up with research

' context is everything '

- consider the influence of one or more of the following: the time, place, society, politics, economics, technology, philosophy, scientific thought, etc...

'critical analysis is not just about reporting' - looking for a report, plus analysis of theories, then those theories mapped onto a research project

Evidence

- critical distance
- theories
- all of the critical analysis fused coherently into a methodological approach
- not just quotes, could be data, empirical evidence
- could you find more evidence to support your conclusions?

Evidence - Reason - Logic - Argument

Today I had my first informal tutorial with my tutor Simon (it wasn't a scheduled one as I just asked for his help and advice).

Through a conversation with Simon, I have decided to narrow down my topic away from the discussion of behavioural response to design and advertising in Uganda, into looking more at the way foreigners interact with it. As a way of solidifying the topic, I'm going to look at how globalisation affects the way tourists interact with design and the way destinations are designed for tourists.