Course description:

The goal of this course is to provide PhD students with a starting platform to understanding of the importance of academic writing as a part of their research education by taking into account differences in academic traditions among institutions. In a long-term perspective, the course seeks to contribute to the development of students' international research skills, facilitate their diffusion into international research community and increase the number of individual and joint international publications by researchers coming from areas with different research traditions.

The course is arranged as a guided self-study online course. It will take place in the CANVAS, web-platform for distant learning. When a student is registered at the Nord University and enrolled for the course, he/she gets access to the course “room" in the CANVAS where all study materials and assignments are available. The course consists of blocks which cover the following topics:

• The nature of research and research training in different countries
• The role of theory in research and writing academic articles
• How to work with the literature and do good literature review
• What library tools and how to use when doing literature review
• Dissemination of research results: journals, rankings, citation indexes, types of articles
• Developing good academic texts
• Reviewing and publishing process

Each block includes several self-study videos supplemented with PowerPoint presentations/slides and other materials (required and recommended readings, Internet links, etc). Each block consists of a short Introduction to block, video lectures, a list of required literature and recommended materials, several written exercises and/or quizzes to evaluate learning progress.

The course will be arranged through combining the competences of Nord University Business School and its partners universities. The faculty is represented by the following institutions:

• Professor Anatoli Bourmistrov (Nord University Business School, Norway)
• Professor Katarina Kaarbøe, (Norwegian School of Economics, Norway)
• Professor Giuseppe Grossi (Nord University Business School, Norway)
• Professor Inger Johanne Pettersen (Trondheim Business School, NTNU, Norway)
• Karina Maria Gregersen (Librarian, Nord University)

Learning outcomes: ​

Knowledge

The candidate:

• has advanced knowledge and understanding of the connections between the nature of research, the research profession, reviewing and publication process, the nature of theoretical contribution and the main components of academic writing​
  
  

Skills

The candidate:

• can assess and carry out the components of academic texts, the difference in its research approach and quality of communication including the reflection on the theory used and its links with methodology and empirics
• can plan and carry out literature search with the use of advanced library tools, select and review relevant literature for a particular academic paper;
• can handle the choice of a potential internationally recognized academic journal for own academic text ​
  
  

General Competence

The candidate:

• can identify and reflect on relevant methodological and theoretical issues related to the components of academic writing within own research area / PhD project;

​ 

Prerequisites:

Must fulfill the requirements for admission to the PhD program at his/her institution.

Recommended previous knowledge:

The course is offered on a PhD-level from various fields. It is relevant for students at any stage of their PhD project but especially for students at the early stage of their PhD and students with background from different academic traditions.

Mode of delivery: 

online course

Learning activities and teaching methods:

As the course is web-based, all the main communication is to take part in the CANVAS room: video lectures, reading materials, exercises or/and quiz and faculty feedback. In addition, there will be a forum where students can communicate with each other and/or the faculties any time during the course.

Assessment:

To finish the course students must complete all blocks and pass blocks related exercises and quizzes. Successful accomplishment of all blocks and final quiz will be evaluated as “passed"/"not passed" results.

Course literature and recommended reading:

Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J. (2011). Generating research questions through problematization. Academy of management review, 36(2), 247-271.

Bårnes, V. & Løkse, M. (2014). Where to find information. In Information literacy: How to find, evaluate and cite sources (pp. 15-28). Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk.

Becker, L. and P. Denicolo (2012). Publishing Journal Articles, SAGE Publications (chapter 1-4, pp. 1-73).

Booth Wayne, Colomb, G., Williams, J. The Craft of Research: 3^rd Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. (first two chapters pp. 1-32)

Booth, A., Papaioannou, D. & Sutton, A. (2012) Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. Chapter 1: Literature review: its role within research, pp. 1-17.

Bourmistrov, A. (2017). Mental models and cognitive discomfort: Why do users reject even a small change in a financial accounting report. Pacific Accounting Review, 29(4), 490-511

Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R., & Jackson, P. R. (2012). Management research. Sage (chapter 1 and 2)

Gooneratne, T. N., & Hoque, Z. (2013). Management control research in the banking sector: A critical review and directions for future research. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 10(2), 144-171.

Grossi, G. (2015). Publishing in the International Arena: Guest editorial experiences in Accounting and Public Management Journals. Högskolepedagogisk debatt, (1), 88-97.

Jesson, J. K. & Mathison, L. & Lacey, F. M. (2011). Searching for information. In Doing your literature review: Traditional and systematic techniques (pp. 26-45). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Jönsson, S. (2006). On academic writing. European Business Review, 18(6), 479-490.

Kyvik, S. (2013). The academic researcher role: enhancing expectations and improved performance. Higher Education, 65(4), 525-538.

Malmi, T. (2016). Managerialist studies in management accounting: 1990–2014. Management Accounting Research, 31, 31-44.

Øvretveit, J. (2008). Writing a scientific publication for a management journal. Journal of health organization and management, 22(2), 189-206.

Whetten, D. A. (1989). What constitutes a theoretical contribution?. Academy of management review, 14(4), 490-495.

Overlapping courses:

N/A