Papers from Marrakech : a post-colonial reading of western women's travel writing in North Africa and the Middle East

This thesis takes the form of a collection of theoretical and fictional documents comprising a journal, letters and essays sent home to Australia by a woman travelling in Morocco. In different modes, these papers examine issues of colonialism, gender and desire in western women's travel writing about North Africa and the Middle East.

Autobiography in Australian parliamentary first speeches

This article analyzes the autobiographical content in the First Speeches of three Australian parliaments (1950, 1976, and 1996). It argues that such autobiographical disclosure has significant political functions—in particular, representing credentials, and representing social and political affiliations. The essay argues that these functions highlight, and finesse, the paradoxical condition that parliamentarians find themselves in, of having to simultaneously represent themselves and their constituencies.

Application of Swales' model in research papers by non-native authors

This paper reports the investigation of the organisational structure of introductory sections of research papers written by Polish authors in English and Polish. The aim of the study was to test whether in view of cultural differences, reflected in the Anglo-American and Polish intellectual styles, the rhetorical pattern of research papers would vary between the two cultures. The selected texts were analysed in terms of Swales' Creating a Research Space (CARS) model (Swales 1990). On application of the model in the analysis of articles from the English corpus, it was found that it could only be employed in very generic terms. The analysis of the Polish corpus revealed that the Variation between Anglo-American and Polish schematic patterns was too significant to justify the implementation of the same investigative tool.

The association between television viewing and preschool child body mass index : a systematic review of english papers published from 1995 to 2010

This paper is a conceptual and methodological review of the literature on the impact of TV on preschoolers' weight status. A systematic search, of papers published between January 1995 and January 2010, identified twenty-six relevant studies. Fifteen of these were cross-sectional in design and eleven adopted a prospective design; a positive association between hours of TV and child adiposity was found in all but three studies. Although assessed in a limited number of studies, diet may mediate the relationship between TV viewing and BMI. Another likely mediator may be the content of TV programs watched; only three studies examined this association and findings were inconsistent. Our review revealed that research examining mediating effects is limited, focusing more on simple cross-sectional or prospective relationships between TV habits and child body mass index. Further investigation of the mechanisms by which TV viewing affects preschool weight gain is needed.

Developing robust assessment criteria for postgraduate research oriented papers

Assessment criteria designed to fully evaluate prescribed learning outcomes is a significant aid to both student and staff alike. For the student, it allows them to fully understand the requirements for a specific grade and for staff, it simplifies marking (grading) and minimises the likelihood of student appeals against assessment. Whilst criterion referencing is common place in the more traditional analytical type taught papers common in the Engineering degree curriculum it is perhaps less commonly utilised for research based papers. Presented here is a case study where both learning outcomes and achievement criteria have been proposed for a postgraduate research methodology paper which prepares students for their thesis. It has significant cross over to a descriptor for the thesis paper itself and is considered a template which could be equally applied to other subject domains where research methodology is taught.

Using molecular level modification to tune the conductivity of graphene papers

Graphene's excellent electrical conductivity benefits from its highly conjugated structure. Therefore, the manipulation of graphene's electronic and mechanical properties should be realized by controlled destruction of its in-sheet conjugation. Here, we r