ACADEMIC WRITING: BIVOCALITY IN RESEARCH

Post published:28 October 2021
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Bivocality: An integral feature of research writing

Research writing is a serious venture. It is not haphazardly done. People only get to know of your research when it is documented. It is a way of communicating to the target audience the research output. Writing is therefore one of the most vital aspects of a research project. Like other forms of writing, there are basic traditions of research writing, and one of which is the tradition of writing in two voices commonly referred to as bivocality.

Bivocality means that there are two voices in all research writing. These are the voice of the researcher, and other voices which the research writer uses to support his findings or opinion. These two voices have to be synthesized, using techniques designed for such a purpose in order to make the communication coherent. Bivocality has some implications for research writing which include that the writer has to source and identify the other voices, and to integrate the voices into their point of view to form a unified whole.

The first implication is that of sourcing the other voices. As a writer, you must understand that the first preparation has to do with sourcing as many other voices related to the subject matter as possible. This can be done by physically visiting libraries and archives to source materials in form of books, articles in edited books, as well as journals and other academic pieces. However, this has been made a lot easier with the advent of the internet where a writer can source as many voices as possible in the comfort of their home, surfing the internet for articles in online journals, electronic books and even academic blogs. It is the volume of the other voices that a writer sources, and captures while writing that makes a research piece to be scholarly. It distinguishes an academic piece from other write-ups. The beauty of research writing is in sourcing and capturing other voices!

The second implication of bivocality has to do with integrating the voices into their point of view to form a unified whole. After the tedious task of collecting other voices related to the subject matter, the next and important task is weaving the voices in such a way that your reader does not hear just one voice but all the voices. Such kind of weaving entails showing how related or different the voices are, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they support or contradict any point or idea. This also extends to the practice of referencing, i.e., backing-up any idea or point with views and opinions from other voices. This confers originality to a research piece as no two writers can weave in the same way, other voices into a unified whole.

Bivocality should underlie every part of a research piece including the conceptual and methodological aspects, and very importantly the discussion section, as well as identifying a context within which the study is embedded. The merit and value of research writing lie in the writer’s ability to weave a context of the study; showing what obtains or give their readers an idea of the literature particularly the extant literature and identifying the gap in the literature which the present study intends to fill. In doing this, note should be taken to source for voices that are extant not extinct, as well as to duly acknowledge all the other voices sourced and captured in the piece. This is a vital ethical issue in research writing. Failure in this regard, not only gives the impression that the writer claims ownership of all the ideas captured in the piece but also amounts to an academic crime called plagiarism. A research writer who lacks a rich pool of other voices will only produce or write a research piece that falls short of a scholarly piece- thesis, dissertation, long essay and proposal. Go for other voices and be scholarly in your research writing!!!

ACADEMIC WRITING: BIVOCALITY IN RESEARCH

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