Policing the boundaries: the writing, representation and regulation of criminology

Writing has a central role in UK higher education as a technology for, and signifier of, the learning, teaching and assessment of students. The nature and quality of student writing has also become an important issue outside the academy, particularly in the context of a globalised neo-liberal knowledge economy discourse which emphasises the importance of transferable and employability skills. Although there is a considerable body of research relating to student writing, the work that I undertook for earlier professional doctorate assignments suggested that the role of academic staff in regulating student writing was under-researched and under-theorised. The research carried out for this thesis sought to address this gap in knowledge by focussing on two central questions. Firstly, what role do academic staff play in regulating student writing? Secondly, how is this role shaped by the specific departmental, disciplinary and institutional contexts in which they are located? The research was undertaken in a criminology department in a post-1992 university in the UK. It was positioned in an academic literacies framework which conceptualises writing as a social practice, and drew on linguistic ethnographic methodologies to explore the written feedback that staff give on student writing. The written feedback encounter is where staff and student expectations about academic writing practices intersect, and is therefore a telling site for the study of educational discourses relating to knowledge and how it is represented. Data were collected from three main sources: written feedback and comments given by academic staff on 120 pieces of student work; 18 interviews with staff about academic writing; and institutional policies and procedures relating to marking, assessment and feedback. Employing a range of theoretical perspectives, including those informed by feminist and poststructuralist analysis, these texts were analysed to explore the relationship between institutional discourses, pedagogical practices and identity construction. My research showed that there was a considerable disjuncture between the institutional discourses which governed marking, assessment and feedback and the actual feedback practices of staff. Despite the strong scientific and positivist discourse that pervaded institutional documentation on assessment and feedback, some staff drew on a range of alternative pedagogical discourses and engaged in assessment practices which were more subjective and localised in nature. This gap between the institutional discourse and the situated literacy practices was mediated to some extent by the assessment coversheet and marking procedures which worked to provide an appearance of consistency and agreement to external audiences. This promoted a technical rational approach to feedback which obscured the epistemological and gatekeeping functions of feedback. The thesis concludes that the effective theorisation and teaching of student writing rests on an understanding of how academic staff construct and police the boundaries of appropriate knowledge in their discipline. This approach draws on existing academic literacies theories but argues for a more holistic model which understands academic writing as co-constructed through the practices of both students who produce the written work and the academic staff who mark it

Development of an Evangelism Model for the Silver Springs Shores Seventh-day Adventist Church

Problem From 1994 to 2003, the Silver Springs Shores Seventh-day Adventist Church in Florida had difficulty attracting and retaining members despite yearly evangelistic crusades and other efforts at soul winning. The purpose of this project was to develop and introduce a plan designed in response to this challenge, one tailored toward the specific needs of the Silver Springs Shores Church. Method In order to develop a model that would specifically address the needs of Silver Springs Shores Seventh-day Adventist Church, a thorough demographic study of the local community was conducted. The project entailed a feasibility study of the community and target groups during its evangelistic campaigns. To enhance the effectiveness of the church’s evangelistic programs (for example, making them more culturally sensitive, more capable of retaining membership, engaging youth, and drawing new members of people affiliated with other denominations), a study was conducted of various evangelical approaches taken by other communities. Specific proposals were then formulated. The Results The specific proposals included (1) making changes to evangelistic meeting structures and styles, (2) focusing on methods of engaging individual church members to become more involved in church activities, including evangelistic meetings themselves and community outreach programs, (3) increasing and improving involvement of young people in church services and other church programs, and (4) revising the church service itself to make it more meaningful and interesting for various age groups. A number of the project’s recommendations have already begun implementation with initial promising results. The changes thus far have sparked excitement and enthusiasm among members. The Conclusion The project has already begun to help improve the evangelistic efforts of the church. Church members have already begun to be more active in distributing literature in the community and soliciting potential members for Bible study. The church is engaged in more community projects and has participated in programs that combined its own choir members with those of other faiths. Church services have been revised to be more engaging. The fast pace at which changes are occurring in our society calls for constant and relevant changes in church programs. Revisioning evangelism and programs in the church to challenge the mind-set of new generations can only champion church growth in unprecedented ways

Mental health and wellbeing of postgraduate researchers: exploring the relationship between mental health literacy, help-seeking behaviour, psychological distress, and wellbeing.

Studies of Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) have highlighted that the population may be at risk of developing symptoms of common mental health problems. Early intervention and preventative measures may reduce this risk, such as improving mental health literacy (MHL). However, it is unclear what the relationship is between MHL and outcomes such as help-seeking behaviour, psychological distress and wellbeing, in PGRs. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore this relationship. A secondary aim of this study was to compare data collected from PGRs with undergraduate students. Two hundred and forty-one PGRs from two universities in England completed an anonymous online quantitative survey, with PGRs reporting on their MHL, help-seeking behaviour, psychological distress, and wellbeing, in addition to demographic and academic characteristics. Results indicated that 70% of PGRs were experiencing symptoms categorised as mild to severe psychological distress. Stepwise multiple regressions revealed that lower levels of wellbeing predicted higher levels of distress and lower levels of help-seeking behaviour. Compared with undergraduate students, PGRs in this study reported higher levels of psychological distress compared to undergraduate students, after adjusting for age, sex, and previous diagnosis of a mental health problem, as well as MHL, after adjusting for sex and previous diagnosis (p 0.05). Study findings suggest that PGRs, at the start of the academic year, are distressed and may not be seeking appropriate help for their concerns. Further studies should explore the environmental factors that may exacerbate mental health concerns beyond that associated with a challenging degree, within the PGR population