Writing Original Information Systems Research

Workshop date: June 21, 2022 (full-day) 

Submission Requirements/Limits: There are no Submissions or Submission requirements, although the venue will support a maximum of 30 attendees. 

Nik Rushdi Hassan
University of Minnesota Duluth

The theme of the workshop is how to write high-quality indigenous, fresh and original research in IS that really addresses critical problems facing society. Most research in IS borrow and adapt work originating within its “reference disciplines.” Such research applies highly stylized theoretical constructs that get instantiated into the IS context without significant modification. When coupled with some accounts of technology these derivative research works provide the necessary relevance to IS but do not represent indigenous, original IS research. Because doctoral students have been trained to perform this kind of research, they carry this approach with them into their lifelong careers. Working outside this comfort zone will require a reorientation in the way they theorize about their chosen research topics. The workshop begins with strengthening writing skills because publishing fresh and original research cannot be divorced from good writing itself. Next, the workshop builds a mental model of what original research looks like. And finally, the workshop concludes with practical steps on ensuring that the research truly contributes to the stock of knowledge instead of replicating and rehashing existing knowledge. The focus of the workshop is on the context of discovery of the research and not on the context of justification. That means, the workshop is not a “research methods” workshop. Instead, the workshop focuses on how to theorize about the phenomenon of interest before data is even collected or analyzed. Using the area of digitization as a running case, the workshop will demonstrate how original research in digitization may be undertaken.

The major topics of the workshop are:

Part A: How to write persuasively

1. Building stronger and more persuasive sentences
2. Coherently communicating ideas
3. Enhancing paragraph structures

Part B: What does original research look like?

1. How research adds to the world’s stock of knowledge
2. Researching in the right discursive formation and changing the rules of discourse
3. What does original research mean?

Part C: Practical steps in applying the products of theorizing with a focus on digitization

1. Asking the right disciplinary questions
2. Leveraging and shifting paradigms
3. Bridging with industry practice
4. Debunking myths
5. Drawing on analogies
6. Building metaphors
7. Applying effective models
8. Building a productive framework

Previous attendees commented: “Overall, great workshop, which I enjoyed very much! I believe that your useful writing workshop can easily attract many participants at any major conference, “The organizer has a rich and very profound understanding in the topic; (2) it tackles several of the fundamental issues concerning theorizing and theory in our field from a philosophical and foundational perspective; (3) it offered hands-on tools for how to write good papers; (4) both the content and form is something that I wanted to take a part of during the conference, and this was simply great.”