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Q1: Where should academic writers go for reference materials?

→ agree with Hoang, add some other reference materials:

peer-reviewed journal articles

books, encyclopedias, and other scholarly works

magazines, blogs, and websites

google search

Communicating to the experts

Dictionaries

Wikipedia

Research conducted by experts

Libraries (regular and digital libraries)

Audio/video recording, interviews and newspaper records

Previous works by seniors

statistical sources

Handbooks

Museum

Biographical sources

Electronic devices such as e-books or e-dictionaries

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1. Where should academic writers go for reference materials?
2. If you are to write about students, where should you observe to come up with the ideas about the specific topic for your academic paper?
What is your suggested specific topic about students (after observing)?

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1.
Partly agree with Hoang that books is a beneficial source; however; we need to check for the authenticity and reliability of the source of information.

2.
We should also review some:
- peer review journal articles
- Wikipedia
- science magazines
- academic articles from university websites

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Topic: Current situation and recommended solutions for advancing Ha Noi’s universities' academic environment in COVID-19 pandemic

Where to observe

Sources: breaking news, student survey, international scientific journals, university’s library (graduation research paper, scientific research papers that have related topics with the topic above)

Academic articles: because there are some phenomena and questions which are currently raised, and there are statistics and other research, perceptions of different people about the topic.

Questions which are still unanswered in class (in our field)

In conversation with other scholars in our field.

Students’ interviews

Universities in Ha Noi, which intends to upgrade their academic environments.

What to observe:

phenomena or behaviors that puzzle you or challenge your beliefs and values (in a text or in the real world) which match with your interests or closely relate to/impact your life

Phenomena happen among a noticeable amount of people

Counter viewpoints on your debate

Questions unanswered during lessons

Same Failures in your and your friends’ studying (for some suggestions on how to better the studying method)

The impacts of Covid-19 to every aspect of Viet Nam, especially in education => have overall ideas about the current academic situation

Barriers during study progress (access materials, limits on paying attention, peer pressure,...)

Scientific gaps in sources such as international scientific journals, previous studies, etc so that writers will have new, creative points in their research (by answering some questions in the process of observation like: is there any solution that has been implemented but does not have positive results?)

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Where to find reference materials?

In case the topics are totally new and no one has ever mentioned , in order to find materials and evidence for our academic writing, we have to even create evidence ourselves (through doing surveys or  questionnaires,...)

News, magazines, books about a specific field

Seminar

Internet (reliable sites)

Certified scientific journals (online/physical subscription)

Research networks/literature database (eg: researchgate.net; scopus.com)

Talkshow (trusted channels)

Google scholars

Reference from research papers of students and professors posted on universities' websites. Eg: research papers from Ivy League.

Finding materials on the Internet or from books?

Both reference materials on the Internet or from books are beneficial. For books, I think it is a huge source of official writing materials. But while citing from a book, we have to take into consideration when was the book published? Was the information still relevant to this day? Were there any biases in the book? → be critical when selecting details.

Internet, additionally, provides wide-ranging information on several fields. However, we should read while being critical and selective to avoid fake/ unreliable news, since the Internet is a huge source of information -> unverified and verified news will be mixed up.

Besides the Internet and books, there are other sources to find references which we’ve mentioned above.

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Q2: Enquiring begins with observation. So if you want to write an academic paper, where and what should you observe in order to reach an academic topic?

Situation: The Target audience is students - where should you go? - If you choose that place, bring out a controversial topic?
* Observing phenomena prompts an attempt to understand them by asking questions (Why does this exist? Why is this happening? Do things have to be this way?) and examining alternatives (Maybe this doesn’t need to exist. Maybe this could happen another way instead.).

+ Observe the news in the daily world, any things that be outstanding and be much discussed, or the observation may be come from research, so you can compare them with other research to reach an academic topic

+ Observe world events, on a smaller scale changes in daily lives or in a closed environment like an office/ school. It’s best to observe the areas that concern the writer, once an area of interest has been located, read the papers published recently in academic circles and notice the gap or missing elements in those researches, or recurring patterns or respond critically to opposing ideas or develop on existing research.
* For the situation: When the target audience is students?
+ we should go for observation at places where there are many students (schools /library/ sport center/ street food stalls/ finding information about people they tend to interest or their favorite celebrities/ what might have an impact on them?)

+ we should aim at topics related to students and go to sources familiar to them, like social media. Besides skimming academic materials on the internet or books, etc surveys, and interviews are also necessary, this should include measurements of reaction to social media postings and how students choose to communicate them
+ Observing emerging issues on the social networks, students are mostly internet addicts and they are attracted by controversial information which appears on their feeds.

+ Observe mental health issues in students, what have led to these issues.
--> A chosen topic:
Student mostly revolve around Genz, so why the generation that have access to many conveniences, modern technology tend to be more depressed? (What are the reasons for this phenomenon)?

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Should students be allowed to study offline at the university ?

Where to find the materials
- Through materials on the Internet or academic forums
- Surveys among university students
- "Thoi Su" on VTV

What to observe:
- Current situations related to online learning among students.
- Students' opinions and viewpoints towards this issue.

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Where to observe:
- Social media
- Interactive webinars
- Classes
- Forums, groups
- Surveys

Topic:
Affects of peer pressure to FTU students' mental health

What to observe:
- Some examples of students' peer pressure
- The reasons to this issue,
- Where does students' peer pressure come from? (themselves ,other students, teachers...
...)

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Phenomena that are usually seen in daily life: at home, at school or at work

Scientific developments in various fields

Surveys

Behaviors

Interview students

Environmental occurrences…

Find a controversial topic and point out what/where should we observe?

The impact of over focusing on scores at university in Viet Nam.

Observation location: Universities in Viet Nam

Online and offline, on a daily basis (uni clubs, family,...)

Observe that students only focus on getting high scores at all cost => spend too much time at home studying => ignores other skills such as soft skills

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- Dictionaries (both language and topical)
- Encyclopedias
- Bibliographies (list of resources on a specific topic)
- Research handbooks and guides
- Catalogs
- Atlases and maps
- Directories

Many websites:
- Google Scholar

- ScienceDirect
- Elservier
- Taylor&Francis
- Springer Link
- SSRN
- NBER
- Econstore
- ResearchGate
- Crossref
- Kantar
- Nielsen

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Partly agree

We agree with Hoang partly:

Physical books are expensive: most of the time we are only using a small part of the book (probably an author’s viewpoint and reasons about the issue) → will be a waste if buy → go to libraries instead

The Internet, on the other hand, is a great place to find reference for many reasons: It bypasses the barriers of geography, allowing us to have access to various authors/experts/scholars around the world → wider net of viewpoints, ideas; a lot of trusted, legit papers are available for free on the Internet for you to use.

Some of the places you can go to find are SciHub and zLibrary → help you find a lot of useful information (Keep in mind that you should check the sources and the credibility of such materials on the Internet)

Other sources:

Online: PhD dissertations and Master’s theses; published, certified reliable works in online archives

Old researches, surveys

Search references on GoogleScholar

Search for fresh articles about the recent tendencies in the academic world.

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- Main claims: All classes should begin in the afternoon – This is a claim of policy

- Reasons:

+ Most students try to schedule afternoon or evening classes anyway – While it is true there are cases where students would prefer an afternoon or evening class, assuming that most students make the same choice is a big generalization. Furthermore, just because students may prefer it, it doesn’t mean it is better for them. This supporting idea is neither reliable nor accurate.

+ Experts say that the students who are alert learn more and learn more quickly – Who are these experts? How reliable are they? What kind of studies have they conducted? Moreover, “alert” is a very vague term. What does it mean to be alert? Is it relevant to the example provided later? Regarding the example, many reasons can account for “slightly higher advantages”: Differences in the tests prepared for each class, the participation of students, or just simply the luck of the draw. The fact that the distinction between the two classes’ results are “slightly” should be enough to prove that the time at which you study doesn’t affect the effectiveness of the course. Moreover, one example of two classes is not enough to generalize the whole of university students. This supporting idea is, once again, unreliable and inaccurate.

- No concessions nor counter-arguments.

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BRIEFLY INDICATE THE FOUR ASPECTS OF THE SHORT ARGUMENT THAT YOUR TEAM HAS ANALYZED

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1. Generally, the author states the main claim quite explicitly: “For a better college learning environment, all classes should begin in the afternoon”. This is a claim of policy, representing the author’s beliefs that afternoon classes are more beneficial to students’ performances.

2. The supporting ideas of the main claim are not convincing. The reasons are not supported by any specific numbers and examples, which decreases their reliability.

3. There are some concessions that can be utilized in order to make the passage more well-supported; for example; the author should analyze more aspects by admitting a few shortcomings of having afternoon classes.

4. In fact, some students want to take a long nap until the afternoon, so morning classes would be a wiser choice for them. This is a noticeable counterargument that the author needs to take into consideration to make the passage more comprehensive.

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- claim: policy + value

Main: all classes should begin in the afternoon for a better college learning environment

minor:

most students try to schedule afternoon and evening classes

experts: alert students learn more quickly

eg: southern state uni, 2 groups of students learn at 8a.m and 2p.mm

Argument

recent:

no time shown in the evidence the writer gives ⇔ it’s hard for readers to verify the source.

relevant:

minor 1: its relevance is still questionable because the writer just based on his personal experience to make this claim.Therefore, it is not typical or probable.

minor 2: no connection btwn being alert and learning in the afternoon

The research study directly links to the main + minor 2  claim: 2 st group taking part in 2 classes in the morning and evening

Reliable

Minor 1: nope, questionable based on personal observation

Minor 2: lack of explanation why being alert = learning > quickly

there are no citations of a journal, reports, statistics or analysis

no background info abt. the experiment in SS uni

Result: no analysis: how many sts have higher scores, how much higher, the duration of the experiment, the method of examining

no specific in4: number, breadth, randomness …

no obvious result: slightly higher

language: informal

Accurate: low accuracy cuz no specific number,  in4 abt. the eg to varify

concession: No concession

counter-argument: No counter but possible ones:

Students might get a bad habit of waking up late when classes are arranged in the afternoon

Classes in the afternoon mean students have to study till late -> less rest

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Claim: For a better college learning environment, all classes should begin in the afternoon.

Type of claim: Policy (Because there is “should” in the sentence => calling for change the current situation)

The reason that supports the claim:

- Most students try to schedule afternoon or evening classes.

This is totally the author’s personal opinion, not based on logic, data, or analysis.

This is anecdotal evidence that needs to be tested for relevance.

- Experts say that students who are alert learn more and learn more quickly.

+ We do not know whether the research of Southern State University is reliable or not. (How many students take part in the research? And how does the researcher choose the two groups of students?)

+ The author mentioned “ experts” , but only in general terms, and didn't name any experts, what field they are in. So, this information may not be reliable.

+“Slightly higher averages”: What is the background information/ ability / academic performances of the students in both classes? Maybe, the students in Dr. Miller’s afternoon classes are more hardworking than those in his morning classes.

Concession: There is no concession offered in the writing. It seems that the author believes that their side of the argument is absolute.

Counterargument: There is no counter argument offered in the writing.

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- Claim: “For a better college learning environment, all classes should begin in the afternoon” is a claim of policy, as it suggests that something should be the case, in this sentence the fact that “all classes should begin in the afternoon.”
It is also a claim of value: He expressed explicitly that university students changing starting time in the afternoon, instead of morning, helps them learn more effectively => that is the writer's own assertion.

- Reasons:
+ Most students try to schedule afternoon or evening classes anyway
This might not sound like an obvious reason, but rather an indirect one. The author might refer to a reality of college students who usually or often get to morning class late and are often dismissed, or “closed out” for that reason. Therefore, by moving all classes to the afternoon, this occurrence could be prevented and fewer students would complain. Also, the author also acknowledges the fact that students are more prone to scheduling classes in the afternoon or in the evening, so this change would definitely benefit them.

+ Expert say that students …. quickly
With this sentence, the author points out that students are more alert in the afternoon and evening, probably due to the fact that they have time to prepare themselves in the morning before coming to school, instead of trying to rush to class at a hurried pace.
- Evidences: The example of Southern State University

This evidence has no stated timeline, or a specific period of time when this experiment/observation was conducted → don’t know if the source is recent or relatable enough to be used

This evidence doesn’t include other factors that may affect the students’ performance in Dr. Miller’s classes like: external factors like weathers, disturbance, or basically the fact that the students in the morning class and the afternoon class are very different in many ways.(ignoring other causes)

“Averages” may not be suitable to be used to compare the learning progress of students.

There are no sources that can prove that this information is correct.

The example only comes from one specific school, Southern State University → may need a bigger and more diverse sample. => This evidence is weak because: Hasty generalization: One group of 1 school can’t represent for the whole college learning system

→ This example may need additional information to be more reliable and accurate.
- No counter-argument or concession