Crafting Effective Documents in Qualitative Research

How to Write Qualitative Research CHAPTER 12: WRITING DIFFERENT KINDS OF DOCUMENTS

Use successful examples as models. Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

TWO KEY QUESTIONS Who is your audience, really? What do readers want to know? Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

COMMON DOCUMENT TYPES Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

COURSE PAPERS The Audience: Usually just the instructor(s) What the Audience Wants to Know Did you learn the course content? Can you write using disciplinary-specific norms? Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

DISSERTATION OR THESIS PROPOSALS The Audience: An advisor and a small committee of professors What the Audience Wants to Know What will you research? Why is that important? How will you conduct the research? What addition will you make to knowledge? Do you have a plan to accomplish your goal? Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

GRANT & FELLOWSHIP PROPOSALS The Audience: Depends on the grantor maybe one officer and/or maybe peer reviewers May be expert or generalist; may not know qualitative What the Audience Wants to Know Why do you need and deserve the money? Does the study have concrete value to the grantor and its stakeholders? Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

THESES & DISSERTATIONS The Audience: An advisor and committee; sometimes external reviewers Scholars and students worldwide for decades to come What the Audience Wants to Know Differs by audience. Do you know how to conduct research? Can you write like a scholar? What did you find through the research? What are the implications and novel contributions? What can readers borrow or cite? Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

JOURNAL ARTICLES The Audience: Peer reviewers and editors first assume they are picky!! The journal s readership What the Audience Wants to Know Is this good, quality science? What they list in the journal s author guidelines What research literature relates to your study? Enough about methods to check your design Do you have good data and interpret it well? What did you find through the research? What are the implications and novel contributions? Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

MONOGRAPHS & TRADE BOOKS The Audience: For monographs, specialists in a field For trade books, a broad general audience What the Audience Wants to Know For monographs, nuance and detail and deep history For trade books, accessible content, with interest and style Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

CONFERENCE PAPERS The Audience: Reviewers first may not be experts or know qualitative Attendees level of expertise depends on the conference What the Audience Wants to Know The complete argument, regardless of time or word restrictions Reviewers want savagely concise but patiently clear proposals with clear description of your study and its importance. Attendees want to hear things that help them with their own work, usually findings and discussion, but perhaps unique methods, too. Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research

ACTIVITY: INVESTIGATE THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALS YOU MIGHT PUBLISH IN Look up a journal that could potentially publish your work. Go to the journal s website and read all linked pages, especially any author or submission guidelines. Write down a list of expectations they have that may impact your writing. Skim the table of contents for each issue from the last five years. Do you see much qualitative work? Do you notice popular topics? Do any authors appear multiple times? Skim a few of the articles that pique your interest or relate to your topic. Do they have commonalities in structure, formatting, content, or style? Compare the journal you reviewed with those done by others. Weaver-Hightower, How to Write Qualitative Research