EDUC6010: Advanced Studies in Education- Callaghan and WebLearn GradSchool- Bibliographical Essay Writing Assignment

Internal Code: 1GIAA

Bibliographical Essay Writing Assignment:

Task: Assignment 3 provides you an opportunity to read in depth in one of remaining challenges to Australian education identified Geoff Masters’ essay at the beginning of this course: • The status of teaching as a career choice, to attract more able people into teaching and to develop teaching as a knowledge-based profession; • The provision of more flexible learning arrangements in schools to better meet the needs of individual learners; and • The identification, as early as possible, of children who are at risk of falling behind in their learning and to address their individual learning needs. Although there are subtle differences between a bibliographical essay and a review of literature, both aim to review the scholarship in one circumscribed area of education. That is, both present what other scholars and researchers have addressed, discovered, constructed, theorised, reported, and argued concerning the focused scholarly area. Further, although both genres can stand alone and are published as such, the review of literature also often appears as a section in larger projects (e.g., a p art of an MA thesis, dissertation, prospectus, grant application, and so on). Hence, a secondary purpose of this assignment is to provide you with important immersion in a professional genre that you will be expected to master as a graduate student as well as in your career. The distinctions between a bibliographical essay and a review of literature are fine but worth making. First, bibliographical essays tend to be authored by those in the humanities and some in social sciences whereas reviews of literature are more often authored by those in the sciences and social sciences, especially those who do empirical research. Second, a bibliographical essay is meant to offer a detailed snapshot of the state of scholarship—our current understandings—on an area of research. This snapshot helps to identify gaps in our understanding that other scholars can use to create their own scholarly projects. The bibliographical essay says: here's what we know right now about this area and here's what we need to know or do. By contrast, the review of literature presents a discussion of the most important research and theoretical work relating to the research problem/objective that a given scholar is studying. That is, it provides a context within which that scholar can insert her work. Where these two genres converge is that both address the following kinds of questions: What have others said about this area(s)? What theories address it and what do these say? (These theories may be in competition with each other, and thus, offer conflicting explanations.) What research has been done (or not done) previously? Are there consistent findings or do past studies disagree? Are there flaws or gaps in the previous research that other scholars should attend to (bibliographical essay) or that your study will seek to remedy (review of literature, especially when it appears as a section in a larger piece)? (Note: for a thesis committee, the bibliographical essay and the review of literature serve an additional function, namely, as a demonstration of your knowledge and understanding of relevant scholarship and, thus, a demonstration of your ability to undertake a given research project.)