SCIENTIFIC WRITING & STORYTELLING METHODS

Marcus  Birkenkrahe  —  msb@hwr-­‐berlin.de  Berlin  School  of  Economics  and  Law  ICCI  *  CC    @  LSBU  August  19,  2014  

Photo:  Flickr  collecLon

 of  the

 State  Library  of  N

ew  Sou

th  W

ales  

               Thesis  challenges    ScienLfic  storytelling    PreparaLons    Research  Methods  xMOOC    Outlook  

ShooLng  range  

Photo:  Flickr  collecLon  of  the  State  Library  of  New  South  Wales  

Three  thesis  challenges  

Students writing their thesis

Photo:  Flickr  collecLon

 of  the

 NaL

onal  Archives  U

K,  Ref  AIR  27/149  

Length

Level

Loneliness

»We  have  two  jobs  as  scholars:  Answering  interesLng  quesLons    

and  telling  the  story.«    (Pollock/Bono,  2013)   Ph

oto:  Gregory  Peck  as  Captain  Ahab  in  M

oby  Dick  (1

956)  

The Conjecture

The  applicaLon  of  storytelling  techniques    to  teaching  research  methods  to  students    who  work  towards  their  thesis  can  improve  (A)   thesis  structure/content,  and    (B)   wriLng  process/progress.  

Structure:  elements  of  narration  Whe$en  theory  building  block*  

Structure  element  

Narra8ve  element  

Sample  ques8ons  for  students  

What   Constructs,  models,  conjectures,  hypotheses  

Plot  line,    development,    arc  of  acLon  

What  happens  in  your  thesis?  

How   RelaLonships,  approach  

Actors,  characters,  parLcipants  

Who  is  involved  in  the  research?  

Why   JusLficaLons,  theme,  message  

Theme,  Significance,  message  

Why  is  this  interesLng?  

Who,  where,  when  

Boundary  condiLons,  limitaLons  

Scene  sehng,    back  story,    Point  of  View  (POV)  

What  other  results  exist?    

*)  Whejen  (1989)  What  consLtutes  a  theoreLcal  contribuLon?  Acad.  Manag.  Rev.  14/89.  

Photo:  Orson

 Welles  a

nd  Je

anne

 Moreau  in  Chimes  at  M

idnight  (1966)    

Plotline:  elements  of  narraLon  

Sehng  (opening  scene,  introducLon)  

Sehng  (opening  scene,  introducLon)  

Set  up  (exposiLon,  iniLaLng  event)  

Rising  acLon  (conflict)  

Rising  acLon  (more  conflict)  

Climax  (crisis)  

Falling  acLon  

ResoluLon  

[cp.  Noden  (1999)  Image  Grammar:  Using  GrammaLcal  Structures  to  Teach  WriLng.]  

Elements  of  narraLon:    Point  of  view  (POV)   Ph

oto:  Flickr  collecLon

 of  the

 State  Library  of  N

ew  Sou

th  W

ales  

PreparaLons  2010-­‐2014  

Own  ficLon  wriLng  Blogging  term  papers  Wiki  supervision  

 Photo:  Flickr  collecLon

 of  the

 NaL

onal  Archives  U

K,  Ref  M

UN  5/385/1650/1  

Term  1:  training   Term  2:  thesis  

“Research  Methods”  xMOOC*  

*)  [e]x[tended  Massive  Open  Online  Course  

 

Unsupervised   Supervised  

Online     Virtual  presence  

PracLce  focus   Thesis  focus  

InteracLve   Immersive  

Photo:  Flickr  collecLon

 of  the

 NaL

onal  Archives  U

K,  Ref  M

UN  5/385/1650/1  

Crowd-­‐based   Community  

Storyfied  thesis  vs.  IMRaD    

Sehng  up  an  argument   IntroducLon  

Which  results  to  share  &  how  

Method  =  “acLon”  begins  

AcLon    research  

Climax  =  high  point   Discussion  

Summarizing  

ResoluLon  Results  

Method  

State  of  research  

Conclusions  

Outlook  

SWOT  Analysis  of  Course  Design  Strengths   Weaknesses  

•  Flexible  online  delivery  &  coaching  •  Storytelling  (interest,  entertaining)  •  Agile  process  (reader-­‐focus,  dialog)  

•  Methodical  mix  confuses  students  •  Lack  of  good  examples  •  Dependency  on  supervisor  high  

Opportuni8es   Threats  

•  Improving  well-­‐known  issues  (moLvaLon,  ahtude,  emoLon)  

•  Scalable  concept  (xMOOC)  •  Quality  &  Lme  management  

•  DisrupLve  of  rouLnes  •  Lack  of  acceptance  in  scienLfic  

community  •  Too  many  changes  at  once  

Photo:  Flickr  collecLon

 of  the

 State  Library  of  N

ew  Sou

th  W

ales  

                                 Outlook  

•  Create  course  (2014-­‐2015)  •  Pilot  in  new  Masters  program  (2015)  •  Evaluate  in  parLcipant-­‐observer  mode  •  Open  course  to  outside  users  (2016)  •  Experiment  with  different  plavorms  •  InvesLgate  swarm-­‐supervision  (!)  

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