Writing Functions 49: Practical implications

Academic Writing

Rhetorical functions in academic writing: Practical implications

It is often necessary, especially in practical reports and case studies, to include some implications for practice.

Examples

For example:

The pedagogical implications for the use of the wiki based learning in a tertiary education environment are drawn from the findings and the literature. Therefore the following is necessary:

  • Designating marks for those students who start early and engage in editing the implausible comments;
  • Introducing ’mini wiki-tasks’ (Elgort, Smith & Toland, 2008) that prepare students for group assessment;
  • Encouraging students to create a separate wiki page for asynchronous discussions in order to tackle delayed face to face meetings between the group members;
  • Giving formative assessment equal weight with summative assessment;
  • Encouraging late starters to participate in or initiate wiki activities;
  • Assisting ESL students in using Microsoft Word spell and grammar checkers; and
  • Giving students immediate feedback.

Alyousef, H. S. & Picard, M. Y. (2011). Cooperative or collaborative literacy practices: Mapping metadiscourse in a business students’ wiki group project. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 27 (3), 463-480.

In terms of the findings of our study specifically, we recommend that mall retailers need to actively pursue the fashion conscious
shopper as they will shop more often, but to recognize that while these fashion conscious like shopping and want variety, they are also price sensitive and will comparison shop to get fashion at the best price. Our results suggest that for mall retailers to be successful, they will have to recognize that fashion conscious consumers may no longer be price insensitive as suggested by earlier research, but that fashion shoppers are demanding more from retailers in today’s economy. Additionally, as shown in Table 1, shoppers visit the mall to meet a variety of needs that mall retailers will need to recognize and address.

Iyer, J. & Eastman, J. K. (20100. The fashion conscious mall shopper: An exploratory study. The Marketing Management Journal, 20(2), 42-53.

Reducing the demands of the evaluation process should enhance attention. Similarly, providing students with information about how their feedback will be used, and providing examples of improvements based on previous evaluations should theoretically increase motivation. Given the importance placed on student evaluations of courses and instructors, and the threats posed by careless responding, it is imperative that instructors maximise the effort students put into the process and that instructors identify instances of insufficient effort responding.

Bassett, J., Cleveland, A., Acorn, D., Nix, M. & Snyder, T. (2015). Are they paying attention? Students’ lack of motivation and attention potentially threaten the utility of course evaluations. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42, 431-442.

The practical implications of the study suggest that employers need to take steps to understand employees’ perceptions of the content of the psychological contract and from this alter the terms of the contract where circumstances permit. In light of the importance of training fulfilment in affecting attitudes and behaviour, employers may need to rethink organizational practices such as training and development to facilitate employees’ engaging in citizenship behaviour Clearly, employer obligations vary in terms of the ease and cost by which they can be altered. Consequently, employers may need to communicate to employees the reasons underlying their non-fulfilment of some obligations in conjunction to altering their delivery of others. Whether this organization in its present efforts to explicitly outline a ‘new contact’ and alter specific policies and practices to reflect this succeeds in generating a more positive psychological contact and consequences awaits future work.

Coyle-Shapiro, J. A-M. (2000). Consequences of the psychological contract for the employment relationship: A large scale survey. Journal of Management Studies, 37, 903-930.

Implications for Educators

There is a need for interested educators to become involved in sponsoring activities such as a virtual science fair. At the time of this writing, there were fewer than a handful in existence. First, teachers must be trained in the use of educational technology, and they must have hardware and software available for the students to use during class and during students’ free time. Educators who wish to sponsor a virtual science fair (or any competition) where students can publish their work, must advertise their competitions using the United States Mail Service as well as email. They must solicit and work cooperatively with schools and each other to pool their resources and share their expertise. This all begins by searching the Internet for educators who are doing similar projects and collaborating with them.

Language

The practical implications of the study suggest that …

The implications of this study can be useful in …

These results also have important implications for research in …

The pedagogical implications for the use of …

If these findings are valid, they have important implications for …, …, …, and … . First, …

In light of the findings, the following implications are offered: …

The study of visual-verbal relations in language learning materials presented in this article has three pedagogical implications. First, …

Our study delivers a clear message to educators that ….

In terms of the findings of our study specifically, we recommend that …

References