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Student Wellbeing Champions contribute to the work of the Student Support and Wellbeing Service. As a current student you will be well placed to promote the importance of self-care, signpost to the existing student support services available at the University of Worcester and take part in University wide wellbeing and community cohesion activities across all campuses.

This is a fantastic opportunity for those who wish to play an active role in their University community. You will be required to complete appropriate training.

We welcome applications from students of all backgrounds and modes of study. We value a wide range of life experiences and aim to recruit a team which reflects the diversity of our community.

Informal queries are welcome, and should be directed to Lucy Sandwell (Student Community Wellbeing Service Manager) at l.sandwell@worc.ac.uk
Group interviews to take place on Tuesday 20th May (morning) with a further individual interview taking place on Friday 23rd May if you are successful.

We value diversity and wish to promote equality at all levels

View All Vacancies

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Job Opportunity at University of Worcester: Student Wellbeing Champion

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Please note: this opportunity is only available to current University of Worcester StudentsStudent Wellbeing Champions contribute to the work of the Student Support and Wellbeing Service. As a current student you will be well placed to promote...

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remember it is ONLY 30 credits!!! it seems really daunting but overall it’s just another module!!!! don’t put too much pressure on it as it’s only the same as any other 30 credit module :)

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Don’t be afraid to be honest with your supervisor! No matter where you are within your research, or progress they will always be there to support you.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed don’t just try and bury it- talk to people about it and it’ll get a lot easier. Don’t try and just push on ignoring your anxiety.

Make sure you prioritise your own mental health :) so you are able to produce the best you can ! :)

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Topics do change!!!

It does make you freak out if your topic slightly changes but it’ll be so okay!! it is all part of the process and makes for a better dissertation overall!!

you will all be so okay! don’t freak out!

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Whether you’re doing a lit review, or overview and literature theories - believe me when I say this is the hardest part.

This is the chapter that you will need the most feedback on. This is the chapter that will more than likely stress you out.

Just get it done between September-December. Get it out of the way. Everything after that is so much easier! Second semester you will thank you for it. (I wish I did that)

If you’re doing research with interviews or focus groups - I hate to say it because there is nothing more boring than reading I know - you need to finish the lit review or at least the readings to create the best questions or prompts for your participants.

I promise as soon as you have started - it gets so much easier.

Dissertations are hard, but once you’ve finished it you will be so proud. It genuinely is worth (some of) the stress.

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Anyone interested in an MRes in Film, Media & Culture, Sociology or History - please come and talk to me as the Course Leader. They tend to focus on a dissertation and the few taught modules are all geared towards a topic you want to focus on.

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Media and Culture MRes - University Of Worcester

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What makes the MRes in Media and Culture at Worcester special? The MRes offers an ideal bridge to further postgraduate study (e.g. a PhD)

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Cultural Studies MA - University Of Worcester

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Explore changing cultural dynamics in relationship to representation, power, and resistance on our MA in Cultural Studies.

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Click on researcher and then starting research to find sources

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The most comprehensive, diverse, and relevant multidisciplinary research database available

ProQuest Central brings together many of our most used databases to create the most comprehensive, diverse, and relevant multidisciplinary research database available. It provides access to databases across all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion. The collection includes thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports all together on a powerful, user-friendly platform.

With its clean interface and responsive design, the ProQuest platform delivers a modern research experience that guides users' discovery, access and management of rich, varied content sources. In addition, researchers at libraries with ProQuest databases, Ebook Central subscriptions such as Academic Complete and Academic Video Online can now search and use this content on the ProQuest platform- in a comprehensive search that connects text and video.

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ProQuest Central brings bridges some of our most used databases to create the most comprehensive, diverse, and relevant multidisciplinary research database

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Student Services are currently recruiting Student Wellbeing Champions - a paid, flexible role for current students who are passionate about wellbeing and building a supportive community.

View the role online SS2505 Student Wellbeing Champion - Jobs at University of Worcester

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Student Wellbeing Champions contribute to the work of the Student Support and Wellbeing Service. As a current student you will be well placed to promote the importance of self-care, signpost to the existing student support services available at the University of Worcester and take part in University wide wellbeing and community cohesion activities across all campuses.

This is a fantastic opportunity for those who wish to play an active role in their University community. You will be required to complete appropriate training.

We welcome applications from students of all backgrounds and modes of study. We value a wide range of life experiences and aim to recruit a team which reflects the diversity of our community.

Informal queries are welcome, and should be directed to Lucy Sandwell (Student Community Wellbeing Service Manager) at l.sandwell@worc.ac.uk
Group interviews to take place on Tuesday 20th May (morning) with a further individual interview taking place on Friday 23rd May if you are successful.

We value diversity and wish to promote equality at all levels

View All Vacancies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Job Opportunity at University of Worcester: Student Wellbeing Champion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Please note: this opportunity is only available to current University of Worcester StudentsStudent Wellbeing Champions contribute to the work of the Student Support and Wellbeing Service. As a current student you will be well placed to promote...

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Prospects for graduate jobs, postgraduate study, advice about work experience, internship opportunities and graduate careers

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Manchester phrasebank

https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/being-critical/

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As an academic writer, you are expected to be critical of the sources that you use. This essentially means questioning what you read and not necessarily agreeing with it just because the information has been published. Being critical can also mean looking for reasons why we should not just accept something as being correct or true. This can require you to identify problems with a writer's arguments or methods, or perhaps to refer to other people's criticisms of these. Constructive criticism goes beyond this by suggesting ways in which a piece of research or writing could be improved.
... being against is not enough. We also need to develop habits of constructive thinking.
Edward de Bono

Highlighting inadequacies of previous studies

Previous studies of X have not dealt with ...
Researchers have not treated X in much detail.
Such expositions are unsatisfactory because they ...
Most studies in the field of X have only focused on ...
Such approaches, however, have failed to address ...
Previous published studies are limited to local surveys.
Half of the studies evaluated failed to specify whether ...
The research to date has tended to focus on X rather than
published studies on the effect of X are not consistent.
Smith's analysis does not take account of ..., nor does she examine ...

The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y.
Most studies of X have only been carried out in a small number of areas.
However, much of the research up to now has been descriptive in nature ...
The generalisability of much published research on this issue is problematic.
Research on the subject has been mostly restricted to limited comparisons of ...
However, few writers have been able to draw on any systematic research into ...
Short-term studies such as these do not necessarily show subtle changes over time ...
Although extensive research has been carried out on X, no single study exists which ...
However, these results were based upon data from over 30 years ago and it is unclear if ...
The experimental data are rather controversial, and there is no general agreement about ...

Identifying a weakness in a single study or paper

(However,)

Smith fails to fully define what ...
Jones fails to acknowledge the significance of ...
the author overlooks the fact that X contributes to Y.
what Smith fails to do is to draw a distinction between ...
the paper would appear to be over-ambitious in its claims.
another weakness is that we are given no explanation of how ...
no attempt was made to quantify the association between X and Y.
the main weakness of the study is the failure to address how ...
the study fails to consider the differing categories of damage that ...
the research does not take into account pre-existing ... such as ...
the author offers no explanation for the distinction between X and Y.
Smith makes no attempt to differentiate between different types of X.

Smith
The paper
The book

fails to
does not
makes no attempt to

specify ...
quantify ...
compare ...
separate ...
account for ...
suggest why ...
analyse how ...
ascertain whether ...
distinguish between ...
explain the meaning of ...
provide information on ...
address the question of ...
assess the effectiveness of ...
use a standardised method of ...
give sufficient consideration to ...
consider the long term impact of ...
offer an adequate explanation for ...
engage with current discourses on ...
determine the underlying causes of ...
systematically review all the relevant literature.

Offering constructive suggestions

The study would have been more interesting if it had included ...
These studies would have been more useful if they had focused on ...
The study would have been more relevant if the researchers had asked ...
The questionnaire would have been more useful if it had asked participants about ...
The research would have been more relevant if a wider range of X had been explored

Introducing problems and limitations: theory or argument

Smith's argument relies too heavily on ...
The main weakness with this theory is that ...
The key problem with this explanation is that ...
However, this theory does not fully explain why ...
One criticism of much of the literature on X is that ...
Critics question the ability of the X theory to provide ...
However, there is an inconsistency with this argument.

A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that ...
However, such explanations tend to overlook the fact that ...
One of the main difficulties with this line of reasoning is that ...
Smith's interpretation overlooks much of the historical research ...
Many writers have challenged Smith's claim on the grounds that ...
The X theory has been criticised for being based on weak evidence.
A final criticism of the theory of X is that it struggles to explain some aspects of ...

The theory is unable to

predict ...
explain why ...
fully account for ...
adequately explain the ...
explain what happens when ...
make any useful prediction about ...
explain the differences observed when ...
provide a comprehensive explanation for ...

Introducing problems and limitations: method or practice

The limitation of this approach is that ...
A major problem with the X method is that ...
One major drawback of this approach is that ...
A criticism of this experimental design is that ...
The main limitation of this technique, however, is ...
Selection bias is another potential concern because ...

Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that ...
In recent years, however, this approach has been challenged by ...
Non-government agencies are also very critical of the new policies.
All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that ...
Critics of laboratory-based experiments contend that such studies ...
There are certain problems with the use of focus groups. One of these is that there is less ...

However,

this method of analysis has a number of limitations.
this method does involve potential measurement error.
there are limits to how far the idea of/concept of X can be taken.
one of the problems with the instrument used to measure X was ...
approaches of this kind carry with them various well known limitations.

However, all the previously mentioned methods suffer from some serious

drawbacks.
limitations.
weaknesses.
shortcomings.
disadvantages.

Introducing general criticism

Critics question the ability of poststructuralist theory to provide ...
Non-government agencies are also very critical of the new policies.
Smith's meta-analysis has been subjected to considerable criticism.
The most important of these criticisms is that Smith failed to note that ...
The X theory has been vigorously challenged in recent years by a number of writers.
These claims have been strongly contested in recent years by a number of writers.
More recent arguments against X have been summarised by Smith and Jones (1982):
Critics have also argued that not only do surveys provide an inaccurate measure of X, but the ...
Many analysts now argue that the strategy of X has not been successful. Jones (2003), for example, argues that ...

Introducing the critical stance of particular writers

Smith (2014) disputes this account of ...
Jones (2003) has also questioned why ...
However, Jones (2015) points out that ...
The author challenges the widely held view that ...
Smith (1999) takes issue with the contention that ...
The idea that ... was first challenged by Smith (1992).
Smith is critical of the tendency to compartmentalise X.
However, Smith (1967) questioned this hypothesis and ...

Jones (2003) has challenged some of Smith's conclusions, arguing that ...
Another major criticism of Smith's study, made by Jones (2003), is that ...
Jones (2003) is probably the best-known critic of the X theory. He argues that ...
In her discussion of X, Smith further criticises the ways in which some authors ...
Smith's decision to reject the classical explanation of X merits some discussion ...
In a recent article in Academic Journal, Smith (2014) questions the extent to which ...
The latter point has been devastatingly critiqued by Jones (2003), who argues that ...
A recently published article by Smith et al. (2011) casts doubt on Jones' assumption that ...
Other authors (see Smith, 2012; Jones, 2014) question the usefulness of such an approach.

Smith (2020)

criticises ...
questions ...
challenges ...
is critical of ...
casts doubt on ...
points out that ...
takes issue with...
raises a number of questions about ...

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As an academic writer, you are expected to be critical of the sources that you use. This essentially means questioning what you read and not necessarily agreeing with it just because the information has been published. Being critical can also mean looking for reasons why we should not just accept something as being correct or true.

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Read the article abstract: this summarises the author's key findings and methodology. This will help you decide whether you want to read the full article.

Note the year of publication: you might need the very latest research. However, also check the dates of the references at the end of a document. While an article might have been published recently, it may refer to older research that has been challenged by more recent findings.

Consider objectivity and consistency: ask yourself whether the author's argument develops with consistent rationality? Does the author reveal bias, perhaps omitting reference to key academic perspectives that might undermine his/her argument? Are the methodologies used appropriate for the scope and theme of the research?

Check accuracy: if you suspect that a piece of information presented as "fact" is suspect, check its accuracy using least two other respected sources of information.

Follow up references: you could also check an article's references to find out if the author has used reputable sources.

Follow up citing links: if you search databases such as Scopus and Web of Science to find articles on a topic, you can see how many times an article has been cited by other articles indexed in that same database. You can also re-sort your database results in order of those most highly cited and therefore, potentially most influential. However, be cautious: some articles may be highly cited because their findings are contentious!

Consider limiting your article searches to peer-reviewed journals: these only include articles that are evaluated and approved for publication by other researchers from the same discipline. Reviewers will check, for example, that the author has drawn appropriate conclusions deriving from strong evidence, and has used appropriate methodologies. All journals covered within Scopus and Web of Science are peer-reviewed. In some databases, such as Business Source Complete and IBSS, you can limit your searches to articles from peer-reviewed journals.

For more detailed advice: refer to Critically evaluating what you read.

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Quickly Evaluating a Journal Article Tool