Crossing Boundaries to Become a Critical Writer: A Reflective Study of Writing a Literature Review from a First-Year International PhD Student
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Abstract
This reflective study examines my personal experiences as a PhD student in a British university writing a literature review. It focuses on exploring the coping strategies that I have learned from my supervisor’s corrective feedback as I overcome my boundaries to becoming a critical writer. Employing auto-ethnography modes of enquiry, I provide “thick descriptions” of my supervisor’s corrective feedback – in the form of tracked changes, notetaking, and recording – in order to identify critical writing strategies that can be learnt from the feedback. This might be valuable for others who face similar struggles and complexities. This study identifies seven strategies that can be effectively applied in developing critical literature review; these are to: (a) provide general comments on the literature; (b) demonstrate research gaps; (c) highlight the limitations of previous related studies; (d) comment on the weaknesses of theories/ perspectives; (e) state the deficiencies of research methods; (f) recommend constructive feedback; and (g) highlight strengths of previous works. The findings are of interest to those who face similar struggles and are from a similar background, particularly other international students from non-English-speaking countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and China. This study offers fresh insight into practical and applicable strategies for becoming a critical writer. For the sake of clarity, strategies are presented with illustrations to help readers easily apply them in practical, appropriate ways.
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