Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Becoming a scholar by publication – PhD students citing in interdisciplinary argumentation

Becoming a scholar by publication – PhD students citing in interdisciplinary argumentation The purpose of this paper is to analyse scholarly subjectivity in the context of citation practices in interdisciplinary PhD research.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides an analysis of longitudinal series of qualitative interviews with PhD students who write scholarly articles as dissertation components. Conceptualizations of subjectivity within practice theories form the basis for the analysis.FindingsScholarly argumentation entails a rhetorical paradox of “bringing something new” to the communication while at the same time “establishing a common ground” with an audience. By enacting this paradox through citing in an emerging interdisciplinary setting, the informants negotiate subject positions in different modes of identification across the involved disciplines. In an emerging interdisciplinary field, the articulation of scholarly subjectivity is a joint open-ended achievement demanding knowledgeability in multiple disciplinary understandings and conducts. However, identifications that are expressible within the informants’ local site, i.e. interactions with supervisors, other seniors and peers, are not always expressible when negotiating subject positions with journals.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to research on citation practices in emerging interdisciplinary fields. By linking the enactment of citing in scholarly writing to the negotiation of subject positions, the paper provides new insights about the complexities involved in becoming a scholar. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Documentation Emerald Publishing

Becoming a scholar by publication – PhD students citing in interdisciplinary argumentation

Gullbekk, Eystein; Byström, Katriina
Journal of Documentation , Volume 75 (2): 23 – Feb 19, 2019
Download PDF
23 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/becoming-a-scholar-by-publication-phd-students-citing-in-TQeFFQUNPy
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
0022-0418
DOI
10.1108/jd-06-2018-0101
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse scholarly subjectivity in the context of citation practices in interdisciplinary PhD research.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides an analysis of longitudinal series of qualitative interviews with PhD students who write scholarly articles as dissertation components. Conceptualizations of subjectivity within practice theories form the basis for the analysis.FindingsScholarly argumentation entails a rhetorical paradox of “bringing something new” to the communication while at the same time “establishing a common ground” with an audience. By enacting this paradox through citing in an emerging interdisciplinary setting, the informants negotiate subject positions in different modes of identification across the involved disciplines. In an emerging interdisciplinary field, the articulation of scholarly subjectivity is a joint open-ended achievement demanding knowledgeability in multiple disciplinary understandings and conducts. However, identifications that are expressible within the informants’ local site, i.e. interactions with supervisors, other seniors and peers, are not always expressible when negotiating subject positions with journals.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to research on citation practices in emerging interdisciplinary fields. By linking the enactment of citing in scholarly writing to the negotiation of subject positions, the paper provides new insights about the complexities involved in becoming a scholar.

Journal

Journal of Documentation – Emerald Publishing

Published: Feb 19, 2019

Keywords: Interdisciplinary research; Information practices; Scholarly communication; Subjectivity; Citation behaviour; PhD research

References

  • The public sphere and discursive activities: information literacy as sociopolitical skills
    Andersen, J.
  • Normative versus social constructivist processes in the allocation of citations: a network-analytic model
    Baldi, S.
  • Epistemic multiplicity in iSchools: expanding knowledge through interdisciplinarity
    Budd, J.M.; Dumas, C.
  • The authority of citations and quotations in academic papers
    Carrascal, B.
  • The performance of subject positions, power, and identity: a case of refugee recognition
    Dagg, J.; Haugaard, M.
  • Positioning: the discursive production of selves
    Davies, B.; Harré, R.
  • A taxonomy of motives to cite
    Erikson, M.G.; Erlandson, P.
  • The reflexive subject: towards a theory of reflexivity as practical intelligibility
    Farrugia, D.
  • To cite or not to cite: a note of annoyance
    Garfield, E.; Garfield, E.
  • When to cite
    Garfield, E.
  • Theorising postgraduate pedagogy
    Green, B.; Lee, A.
  • Apt information literacy? A case of interdisciplinary scholarly communication
    Gullbekk, E.
  • Methodological challenges in using practice theory in consumption research. Examples from a study on handling nutritional contestations of food consumption
    Halkier, B.; Jensen, I.
  • Google Scholar, Scopus and the Web of Science: a longitudinal and cross-disciplinary comparison
    Harzing, A.W.; Alakangas, S.
  • Referencing in the humanities and its implications for humanities
    Hellqvist, B.
  • What is interdisciplinary communication? Reflections on the very idea of disciplinary integration
    Holbrook, J.B.
  • Information science: an interdisciplinary effort?
    Holland, A.G.
  • Categorization: identity, social process and epistemology
    Jenkins, R.
  • The failure of dissertation advice books: toward alternative pedagogies for doctoral writing
    Kamler, B.; Thomson, P.
  • The norms of citation behavior: prolegomena to the footnote
    Kaplan, N.
  • Climate change and transdisciplinary science: problematizing the integration imperative
    Klenk, N.; Meehan, K.
  • Liberating interdisciplinarity from myth. An exploration of the discursive construction of identities in information studies
    Madsen, D.
  • Epistemological or political? Unpacking ambiguities in the field of interdisciplinarity studies
    Madsen, D.
  • Citation analysis
    Nicolaisen, J.
  • Articulating practice through the interview to the double
    Nicolini, D.
  • Negotiating academicity: postgraduate research supervision as category boundary work
    Petersen, E.B.
  • A practice-based exploration of the enactment of information literacy among PhD students in an interdisciplinary research field
    Pilerot, O.
  • Interdisciplinary research: meaning, metrics and nurture
    Porter, A.L.; Roessner, J.D.; Cohen, A.S.; Perreault, M.
  • Building identity in online environments: an information science perspective
    Ryan, F.V.; Cruickshank, P.; Hall, H.; Lawson, A.
  • Conceptualizing students’ written assignments in the context of information literacy and Schatzki’s practice theory
    Schreiber, T.
  • Cited documents as concept symbols
    Small, H.
  • Core elements in the process of citing publications: conceptual overview of the literature
    Tahamtan, I.; Bornmann, L.
  • The role of trust and authority in the citation behaviour of researchers
    Thornley, C.; Watkinson, A.; Nicholas, D.; Volentine, R.; Jamali, H.R.; Herman, E.; Tenopir, C.