In Topic 2, you read three articles about the role of the researcher. In Topic 3, you took this process a step further and completed the Emerging Writer Worksheet. In that assignment, you identified t

Brandi Williams

RES-815

Dr. B

8/24/21

Emerging Writer Worksheet

Review the videos as you progress through this document for a more detailed explanation of the assignment’s objective and expectations. Important note: The theme REFLECTION cannot be used for the final submission of the assignment. It is used in the video for demonstration purposes only.

Thematic Matrix

In this section use a thematic matrix to extract key themes from the articles in order to synthesize common themes.

VIDEO: Section 1 Patterns and Themes (12:47):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpIqYOoVEqfOhH6ESVV-OiS_N7yDC-K_b

Coffman, Putman, Adkisson, Kriner, and Monaghan (2016)	Garcia and Yao (2019)	Inouye and McAlpine (2017)
Multiple identities integration	Academic and research positioning	Scholarly identity
Redefinition of roles	Combating disconnection feelings	Individual agency
Relationships development	Socialization	Personal experiences and perceptions
Knowledge co-creation	Courses and instructors contribution	Critical engagement
Community of Practice	Doctoral education foundation	Confidence and ownership

Looking over the thematic matrix above, what are two major patterns that are apparent in all three readings? In other words, where do these patterns overlap? These two themes that are common to all 3 articles will be your synthesized themes for the paper. Please list them below.

Theme 1: Multiple identities integration

Theme 2: Mentorship and direction

Enter these in the worksheet below

Finding Evidence to Support Themes

VIDEO: Section 2 Evidence Worksheet, Topic Sentences, and Thesis Statement (12:18):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpIqYOoVEqfOhH6ESVV-OiS_N7yDC-K_b

Theme One:	Multiple Identities Integration
Coffman, Putman, Adkisson, Kriner, and Monaghan (2016)	The major challenge confronting doctoral students is the ambiguity of the term “scholar” (Coffman et al., 2016). They struggle to integrate their multiple roles and identities on the journey to becoming scholars. It is significantly worse if the students’ disciplines are outside higher learning institutions. Schools contribute to the doctoral identity crisis by introducing rules and structures that define practitioner-scholars. Postgraduate students find themselves confined in categories predefined by institutional regulatory power. Scholars continue to wrestle with disorienting dilemmas after their degree completion because of the multiple identities and validation struggles.
Garcia and Yao (2019)	It is essential to combat feelings of disconnection experienced by doctoral students from the onset because they contribute primarily to the difficulty of fitting in the graduate learning. It is more daunting for distance-learning individuals because of the socialization challenges. Often full-online students are dissatisfied with some programs, have a higher risk of attrition, and are likely to have the highest identity crisis (Garcia & Yao, 2019). As online learning continues to be the new norm, it is essential to train the upcoming generation of students to facilitate their professional understanding.
Inouye and McAlpine (2017)	The central task of doctoral students is to develop a thesis that identifies their doctoral identity, but the process is not easy (Inouye & McAlpine, 2017). They have to undergo a critical individual analysis to develop and refine their area of expertise. Experiences and personal perceptions contribute mainly to this journey’s success. Doctoral students who pay more attention to self-assessment feedback are more likely to discover themselves faster than others. Additionally, the more critical the research thinking, the faster the journey to scholarly identity.
Synthesize	The three articles show that doctoral identity is the ultimate success for postgraduate students. However, it is not a sprint but a challenging marathon because of the multiple identities possessed by graduates. Often, the scholars face the dilemma even after their degree completion because of the regulatory environment in most institutions. Topic sentence: Embracing academic identity crisis early enough is crucial to students as it allows them to fit in their higher learning programs quickly.
Theme Two:	Mentorship and direction
Coffman, Putman, Adkisson, Kriner, and Monaghan (2016)	As much as students are highly knowledgeable, they need guidance to solve their doctoral identity crisis. Community of Practice (CoP) comes to their aid by providing a perfect environment for self-reflection and critical analysis (Coffman et al., 2016). Doctoral students become research subjects in the program as they develop their goals in a collaborative environment and evaluate how their experiences contribute to their identification. CoP allows students to be themselves and emerge as scholars through the knowledge gained through the identity journey. Instructors play a considerable part in mentoring students through their identity journey. They provide practical examples of their research procedures and challenges encountered to assist students in overcoming their self-doubt and reveal themselves through relational identity.
Garcia and Yao (2019)	Online students are disproportionately affected by scholarly identity crises because of the non-conventional learning setting. A first-year seminar course is recommended as the best way to guide doctoral students towards their identity. Scholars indicate positive experiences and personal development throughout the program as it is designed to deal with the imposter syndrome experienced by most individuals in higher learning institutions. Apart from the course, instructors’ contribution is integral in participants’ community building. The student-teacher interaction improves communication and creates a perfect sharing platform among students (Garcia & Yao, 2019). Identity crisis is half-solved when scholars can easily reach out to their tutors and colleagues.
Inouye and McAlpine (2017)	Supervisors’ feedback is necessary for intellectual identity development. However, it depends on how students respond to the criticism. The degree of agency in how scholars critically engage with comments contributes primarily to growing identity (Inouye & McAlpine, 2017). Instructors must understand that their purview affects thesis development, which defines the changes students introduce to their research thinking. The introduction to new methodologies, literature, and theoretical systems prompt graduates to reexamine their work. Cooperation between the instructors and students regulates the emotional journey of becoming independent researchers. Writing a thesis has its highs and lows and can cause adverse emotional reactions, but students can easily overcome the associated challenges if instructors make it a collaborative process.
Synthesize	Mentorship and direction are central to scholarly identity. Doctoral students need guidance from their supervisors to overcome challenges that seem beyond their control. The three articles indicate that instructors’ feedback plays a huge role in shaping graduates’ educational journey and identity. As much as they want to be independent, they need to learn from other experiences to know the manageable obstacles encountered. Topic sentence: Doctoral students need their instructors’ guidance through their self-discovery journey and doctoral identity development

Forming a Thesis Statement

List your two synthesized topic sentences to create your thesis statement.

Topic sentence 1: Embracing academic identity crisis early is crucial to doctoral students as it allows them to fit in their higher learning programs quickly.

Topic sentence 2: Doctoral students need their instructors’ guidance through their self-discovery journey and doctoral identity development .

Thesis statement: Doctoral students overcome the scholarly identity crisis by accepting it is a common challenge in their studies and positively applying their mentors’ feedback in their research thinking process.

Organizing the Argument

VIDEO: Section 3: Outline (13:11):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpIqYOoVEqfOhH6ESVV-OiS_N7yDC-K_b

Introduction
1. Engaging statement

Doctoral students enter various programs with already defined academic identities, but crisis occurs as the learning journey becomes intense. They experience the trouble of integrating their multiple roles developed over the years into a single doctoral identity. Some experience doubts early on and may fall off the wagon if their imposter syndrome, inherent with higher learning, is not addressed.

1. Contextualize topic

The most crucial dimension in doctoral student experience is identity development. It forms a new role by applying past academic experiences, feedback, and emotions in a specific field of study. As scholars understand the internal and external shaping forces, they integrate them into their doctoral identity journey.

1. Contextualize themes

Multiple identities integration narrows down the direction that doctoral students should take in their programs. Over the years, scholars possess immense knowledge in various areas and may become confused during specialization. However, they should know the self-discovery journey is made possible through mentorship and direction. Also, instructors’ feedback is essential in directing their thinking process, but it requires a favorable response from students.

1. Thesis statement

Doctoral students overcome the scholarly identity crisis by accepting it is a common challenge in their studies and positively applying their mentors’ feedback in their research thinking process .

Multiple identities integration
1. Topic sentence: Embracing academic identity crisis early is crucial to doctoral students as it allows them to fit in their higher learning programs quickly.
2. Evidence from 3 articles

Doctoral students face educational identity issues because of the multiple roles they adopt throughout learning. They struggle to integrate their experiences into a single doctoral identity because of the confinement to the liminal doctorate process (Coffman et al., 2016).
Doctoral programs provide a perfect place for socialization, but it is not accessible if students take full-online classes (Garcia & Yao, 2019). Their connection process is not as smooth as for those learning in person. Therefore, they experience significant disconnections from the onset, making their identity journey more frustrating.
A thesis is required for the establishment of scholarly identity, but the process of creating one is a difficult task. Students find themselves overwhelmed by numerous revisions needed to refine this central task. Some develop adverse reactions to feedback, which affect the development process (Inouye & McAlpine, 2017).

1. Transition statement to next theme

Since doctoral identity is crucial to graduates, it is essential to introduce programs that facilitate the learning process and tutor support that helps them grow in their areas of specialization.

Mentorship and direction
1. Topic sentence: Doctoral students need their instructors’ guidance through their self-discovery journey and doctoral identity development
2. Evidence from 3 articles

Coffman et al. (2016) recommend CoP as the best concept for developing doctoral students’ identity. It is a practice-based program that creates a situation where learners develop by co-creating personal knowledge in social constructs.
A first-year seminar course is necessary for online doctoral students because of the socialization capability possessed by other students (Garcia & Yao, 2019). Their research and scholarly identity journies are more complex, but the onset’s induction contributes to continuous persistence.
The doctoral process is affected mainly by instructors’ participation in the thesis creation. According to Inouye & McAlpine (2017), students who engage their tutors more actively and positively integrate their feedback are more likely to succeed than their colleagues.

Conclusion
1. Students that refine their research thinking process according to the changes recommended by instructors and knowledge from various programs successfully develop their doctoral identity .
2. Summarize theme points

Multiple identities are custom to doctorate studies, and integrating them into a single role is challenging. However, higher institutions have set programs that facilitate the process, while supervisors’ feedback is a significant drive to scholarly identification.

1. Future research recommendations

Further studies should focus on individual variation because factors such as a sense of confidence affect the journey of becoming an independent researcher. Also, while doctoral students have multiple identities that affect their academic journey, researchers should examine how different decision-making processes lead to successful or unsuccessful thesis development. Finally, comparisons between online and in-person programs are necessary to evaluate how they suit students’ needs and contribute to their development throughout their learning process.

Reflecting on the Process

VIDEO: Reflecting on the Process (2:54):

https://youtu.be/07OoXNF6diA Transcript of Video

Research skills are must-have abilities in higher learning, and they develop as students engage with various materials. As I was synthesizing information from the three articles, I realized my ability to source information and present it as summarized notes have developed over the years. Unlike when I first started researching, now I can quickly identify the keywords and understand what the authors communicate. It is also easy to compare different insights and relate them to form a comprehensive conclusion. In the past, this task seemed difficult, but my interaction with the three articles has shown it is an easily navigable and necessary part of doctoral studies. Otherwise, how else can I become an independent researcher?

Nevertheless, my research skills still encountered significant challenges. First, the doctoral program is demanding; hence scheduling is an important aspect. I found myself unable to strictly follow the timetable because of the multiple duties and responsibilities. I had to rush through the last journal and almost failed to establish a powerful connection with the other two. Besides, the development of themes was more challenging than setting my study time. I knew I had to develop aspects related to the articles from the instructions, but finding the correct terms was not easy. Without the guiding videos, it would have been impossible to know whether a concept related to the other. Once I identified the patterns, the argument organization was more straightforward because of the guiding outline. However, developing a thesis statement took me a while because I had to create a sentence connecting the two themes. This part was the most insightful because it is always a wonder how researchers can come up with a claim and then support it with evidence. Showing the validity of my argument in writing was the driving force towards completing the worksheet .

The synthesis process allowed me to break down the ideas of different authors into one topic. I learned that it is crucial to conduct this procedure while taking notes to facilitate easy conclusion drawing. Besides, making a decision about the problem, which is the doctoral identity issue, and developing arguments through synthesis prevents restating authors’ input. One learns about the line of thought and explains it according to personal understanding. Such ability is crucial in higher learning. I was pretty surprised by how research can be made uncomplicated through synthesis. I always thought it was unnecessary until I filled the required areas and made one general argument. The new perspective I have acquired and intend to carry forward is that research is beyond summarizing. It involves the combination of different ideas and showing how they diverge to develop an overall point .

References

Coffman, K., Putman, P., Adkisson, A., Kriner, B., & Monaghan, C. (2016). Waiting for the expert to arrive: Using a community of practice to develop the scholarly identity of doctoral students. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 28(1), 30-37. Retrieved from http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/

Garcia, C. E., & Yao, C. W. (2019). The role of a first-year online seminar in higher education doctoral students’ scholarly development. The Internet and Higher Education, 42, 44-52. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2019.04.002

Inouye, K. S., & McAlpine, L. (2017). Developing scholarly identity: Variation in agentive responses to supervisor feedback. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 14(2), 3-19. Retrieved from https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/

Appendix A: Transcripts of Videos

Emerging Writer Worksheet: Reflecting on the Process

https://www.loom.com/share/390765ecd2834b72bbe9b04a1765a507