Scaffolding the Language of Power

"As the title suggests, Scaffolding the Language of Power demystifies the academic writing process and breaks it down with tools and guides to support doctoral students during the dissertation process. Kathryn Strom has pulled together her many years of experience teaching doctoral students and her hands-on approach to share her teaching practices. In doing so, she seeks to empower every doctoral student in finding and expressing their voice as they bringing their academic work to fruition."

Jill A. Perry, PhD, Professor of Practice, University of Pittsburgh; Executive Director, Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate

"Our university adopted this book for use with our doctoral students in educational leadership and we love it! The book is a beautiful balance of the theory and social context of writing at the doctoral level, paired with a beautifully written, inviting, and beautifully structured course on writing. Strom has given doctoral students and faculty a gift with this insightful, scaffolded approach to writing at the doctoral level. It doesn't miss a beat... just wish I'd had it earlier. Scaffolding the Language of Power could be used as a core text across several semesters (this is how our program uses it) or can be used by graduate students as an independent guide to help build their writing skills."

Janel Anderson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership and Administration, Gonzaga University

Dr. Strom’s Scaffolding the Language of Power proved to be an indispensable resource as I navigated the complexities of doctoral-level writing. [Her] writing style is engaging and accessible, making complex concepts easy to understand. Her step-by-step guidance and detailed examples provide a roadmap for crafting strong, well-supported arguments. One of the book’s most valuable aspects is its focus on the social justice implications of academic writing. By recognizing the power dynamics inherent in language, Dr. Strom empowers students to use their writing to challenge oppressive systems and promote equity. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any doctoral student seeking to master the art of academic writing. It is a comprehensive guide that will support you throughout the entire dissertation process.

Jennifer Taylor Edens, EdD, Compliance Officer & Title IX Coordinator, Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District

Chapter 1: Introduction: A Three-Pronged Approach to Writing at the Doctoral Level

 1.1 A Critical Approach to Doctoral-Level Literacy: Social Justice and The Language of Power

 1.2 A Pragmatic Approach to Doctoral Level Literacy: Systemic Functional Linguistics

 1.3 A Pragmatic Approach to Doctoral Level Literacy: Sociocultural Theory and Learning

Chapter 2: The Rules: Writing as a Pedagogical Act

 2.1 Rules of the Language of Power

 2.2 Organization and Scaffolding

 2.3 Headings and Chunking

 2.4 Road Maps

 2.5 Topic Sentences

 2.6 Transitions and Connectors

 2.7 Signal Words and Phrases

Chapter 3: The Rest of the Rules of the Language of Power

 3.1 Making a Well-Reasoned Argument

 3.2 Supporting Arguments with Sourced, Credible Evidence

 3.3 Using Detailed, Specific, Precise Language

 3.4 Striving for Synthesis Over Summary

 3.5 Developing Original Voice and Research

Chapter 4: The Problem Statement

 4.1 Purposes of the Problem Statement

 4.2 First Steps: Exploratory Reading and Writing

 4.3 The Problem Summary

 4.4 The Problem Background

 4.5 The Problem Rationale

 4.6 The Purpose Statement

Chapter 5: The Literature Review

 5.1 Purposes and Structures of the Literature Review

 5.2 Getting Started

 5.3 Analysis of Literature

 5.4 Building Out Themes: Levels of Claims

 5.5 Making an Argument with the Gap in Literature

 5.6 Putting It All Together

Chapter 6: The Theoretical Framework

 6.1 Understanding Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks

 6.2 Pre-Writing Supports for Theoretical Frameworks

 6.3 The Theoretical Rationale

 6.4 Theory Definition and Purpose

 6.5 The Theory Background

 6.6 Key Theoretical Concepts

Chapter 7: The Methodology Chapter

 7.1 Elements and Purposes of the Methodology Chapter

 7.2 Methodology Description

 7.3 Participants and Context

 7.4 Data Sources and Collection Procedures

 7.5 Analysis

 7.6 Trustworthiness

 7.7 Positionality and Reflexivity

 7.8 Writing Your Abstract (For Your Proposal)

Chapter 8: The Findings Chapter

 8.1 Purposes of the Findings

 8.2 Communicating Findings

 8.3 “Answering” the Research Question(s)

 8.4 Providing Evidence and Analytic Explanation

 8.5 Demonstrating Trustworthiness

 8.6 Scaffolding Understanding for the Reader

Chapter 9: The Discussion

 9.1 Purposes of the Discussion

 9.2 Drawing Conclusions

 9.3 Connecting to Extant Research

 9.4 Theorizing Findings

 9.5 Making Recommendations

 9.6 Concluding the Dissertation

 9.7 Updating Your Abstract

A Beginning Note

References

Kathryn Strom

Kathryn (Katie) Strom is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at California State University, East Bay, Director of CSUEB’s Center for Research on Equity and Collaborative Engagement (CRECE), and co-founder of the Posthuman Research Nexus (a global organization that supports and connects scholars engaging in posthuman and other complexity perspectives). Dr. Strom’s research combines multiple critical and complex theories to study teacher learning and practice (particularly in support of multilingual learners), as well as to advocate more broadly for more relational, difference-affirmative ways of thinking-being-doing in education and academia. The latter includes her commitment to supporting doctoral students and early career scholars to successfully navigate the hidden curriculum of writing a dissertation and publishing afterward. A scholar of teaching and learning, Dr. Strom has used her knowledge of social justice, scaffolding, and systemic functional linguistics to develop lessons and workshops to support her doctoral students and junior academics in their writing over the last decade. Her most recent book, Scaffolding the Language of Power: An Apprenticeship in Writing at the Doctoral Level, turns these lessons into a comprehensive and interactive guide for doctoral-level writing. She is also the co-author of Becoming-Teacher: A Rhizomatic Look at First Year Teaching and Decentering the Researcher in Intimate Scholarship: Critical Posthuman Methodological Perspectives, along with many peer-reviewed articles and several special issues. Her most current work is in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute’s Network for Emergent Socioscientific Thinking (NESST), exploring ways to support educators and their students in shifting to the complex ways of thinking needed to create sustainable futures in the Anthropocene era.