ABSTRACT
Thinking critically about research involves addressing the question ‘what evidence is there’? and an awareness of all the potential problems outlined so far in this book. But it also involves asking ‘How is the evidence being presented’? This chapter will describe a number of persuasive strategies used by academics, editors, journalists, and the media to persuade us that research is credible. In particular, it draws upon some of the ideas from the Social Studies of Science (SSS) and Discourse Analysis (DA) and addresses persuasive strategies such as being technical, using the social, and the role of language.
