This paper aims to provide a logical and comprehensive systematic review of MA students’ theses related to professional development (PD) in an educational institution in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. ...This systematic review used a qualitative method to analyze 28 unpublished PD theses (2010 – 2020) in a graduate program of a public tertiary institution in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. There were four main research concerns, including (1) research aims, (2) research methodology, (3) findings, and (4) limitations of the theses. After the review, a list of strengths and weaknesses of these studies is found, evaluated, and presented in this article. The review shows that these studies did contribute diverse knowledge and practices of PD in the educational system of Vietnam, particularly in the Mekong Delta. On the other hand, the data collection instruments and research designs needed improvement to a certain extent. Specifically, observations were not used much in the theses. Besides, the candidate researchers overused a descriptive research design for their theses. Thanks to the analysis, some implications and new ideas for further research in PD are discussed at the end of this paper.
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Purpose of the study: This study has unearthed the serious challenges faced postgraduate students in the University of Technology in either over-using or miss-using of some reporting verbs which make ...their work monotonous and repetitive
Methodology: The study is based on a small corpus consisting of the Introduction (henceforth LR) in 3 master theses written by students from the University of Technology who finished their Master's degree in engineering. It is important to mention here that the term” writer” is used to refer to the master student who is reporting information and ideas of the previous studies written in the same field and the term “source” refers to the person who is being reported as a reference in the study.
Results: The analysis revealed the students' preference to use factive verbs more than non-factive verbs; however, they are non-willing to use counter-factive verbs in writing the Introductions. This indicates their inability to challenge existing knowledge in the field effectively.
Applications of this study: This research can be used for the universities, teachers, and students.
Novelty/Originality of this study: In this research, the model of the Evaluative Functions of Reporting Verbs in the Introductions of Master Theses is presented in a comprehensive and complete manner.
A large proportion of all graduates study engineering disciplines, and the number of master theses completed far outstrips that of doctoral-level works. However, engineering disciplines in general ...and their master theses in particular have received comparatively little attention from applied linguistics, leaving writing instructors with sparse guidance when preparing courses for MSc students in engineering. Here, we present the results of a corpus analysis of introduction sections in 57 master theses in mechanical engineering and a genre analysis of 16 of their introductions. A concordance analysis of the most frequent keywords revealed the typical discourse functions employed by students when writing about their research in this section. The genre analysis confirmed the presence of most of the elements of Swales's CARS schema in MSc theses. These findings contribute to knowledge of this understudied field in applied linguistics and can be used to design materials and courses for MSc engineering students focussing on vocabulary, rhetorical structures, and academic socialisation.
•Mechanical engineering subdisciplines shared common discourse functions•Discourse functions focussed on engineering processes and text organisation•Introductions broadly adhere to the CARS model, but with sequential variations•An overlap was found between CARS moves and discourse functions
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the postgraduate disciplinary trends in architecture in Jordan. It highlights current research topics in master theses of architecture programs, to ...enhance the selection of postgraduate thesis topics that are more responsive and adaptive to the raised research demands of communities and the profession.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzed 254 master's theses published from 2009 to 2019 in three Jordanian universities. The paper employed a descriptive and content analysis for theses' titles and abstracts.
Findings
The principal results identify unique geographical, temporal and disciplinary trends in the mapped theses. The findings illustrate an interest in disciplines of design studies, building technology, housing and community and urban design among postgraduate students. The findings also highlight a centralization of theses' number and geographical location within Amman governorate. Many theses also focused on residential spaces as a scale of analysis.
Practical implications
The proposed suggestions include collaborative efforts and practical mechanisms by higher education institutions, practitioners and decision-makers for advancing rigorous, diverse and relevant research topics in postgraduate theses.
Originality/value
The paper provides a comprehensive mapping of the topics of postgraduate theses in the field of architecture. It highlights how they have evolved or have been influenced by community needs. It also draws attention toward specific disciplines that have been the focus of major architectural programs in Jordan. Finally, it highlights the coexistence of interdisciplinarity within the field of architecture.
The study of linguistic devices serving as stance expressions is one of the best means by which the relationship between the writer, the reader and the propositional meaning could be examined. This ...paper looks at a particular structural group of lexical bundles encoding stance expressions. These are clausal bundles starting with an anticipatory it in which subject comes at the end of the clause (e.g. it is important to, it should be noted that). The use of these bundles is compared in three corpora of research articles, doctoral dissertations and master theses, all in the discipline of applied linguistics, to explore the possible generic variations and address the potential differences between published and students writing too. Drawing on Hewings and Hewings' 23 functional typology of interpersonal roles of it clauses, the study shows that the use of this structural group of bundles in research articles was significantly more than that of the two groups of postgraduate writing. However, there were some it bundles used more heavily by one or both groups of postgraduate students. Functional analysis also revealed that these bundles encoded stance expressions of hedging, attitude marking, emphasis, attribution and epistemic meanings. The differences are explained by referring to generic expectations and students' growing disciplinary identity. There are also some implications for the academic writing.
•This paper looks at a particular structural group of lexical bundles encoding stance expressions.•The use of it bundles is compared in three corpora of research articles, doctoral dissertations, and master theses in the discipline of applied linguistics.•These bundles are shown to have stance expressions of hedging, marking attitude, stressing emphasis, attributing, and making epistemic meanings.•The major difference is found to be between students' genres and research articles with the former drawing less on interpersonal meanings.
We estimated the international spreading of the knowledge produced by French dental master theses by searching for corresponding publications, either as articles in Medline‐indexed journals or s of ...IADR meetings published in the Journal of Dental Research. From the 634 theses defended in 2010 in the 16 French odontology faculties, we found only one article, in a journal without impact factor, and six s, over a 3‐year period (2009—2011). This corresponds to a spreading rate of 0.6%. The participation rate of French odontology faculties at IADR meetings varies from 37.5% to 81.3% depending on the year. Although there are very few studies available on the matter, it appears that this international spreading rate is much lower than both the one found by Nieminen for odontology in Finland (8.2%) and typical spreading rates of medical theses (from 6% to 41% depending on the country). This great discrepancy could be explained by the lack of specific training provided to the students; the low awareness and little engagement of the students themselves, usually more concerned with their own private practice work; and the inadequate involvement of their supervisors. To tackle the lack of appropriate training, we suggest that a specific course on scientific writing should be offered to the students in the last year of their dental master studies.
The chapter examines the development and current state of academic public policy programmes in the Czech Republic and the role of policy analysis instruction in them. The chapter is based mostly upon ...an analysis of the publicly available list of study programmes accredited by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, an internet search, e-mail correspondence with public policy and policy analysis instructors, syllabus analyses as well as a quantitative analysis of masters theses in the three main public policy programmes. After a brief introduction to the Czech higher education system, an overview of study programmes / fields in public policy and related fields is provided. Then the content of policy analysis courses is described. The orientation of the three main public policy programmes is analysed using unique data on masters theses. The chapter concludes with some preliminary findings regarding public policy / policy analysis instruction in the Czech Republic.
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