Wawasan Open University
Study Skills for Distance Learners
Wawasan Open University
Study Skills for Distance Learners   .Flexible .Affordable .Accessible Writing & Editing Team Jasmine Emmanuel Khoo Chiew Keen
Flipbook Designer and Maker Fauziyah Md Aris
Advisor Professor Dr. Zoraini Wati Abas, Ed.D
This flipbook is produced and published by ODL Lab of Instructional Design for Engaging Experience (IDeX), Wawasan Open University
WOU: Past, Present and Future
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CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction Lifelong learning Open learning Distance education The learning environment Chapter 2: ORGANISING YOUR STUDY Getting ready for study Creating a positive study environment Managing your time Staying motivated Summary Chapter 3: MAKING THE MOST OF LEARNING SUPPORT Tutorials and tutors Laboratory sessions, field trips, day schools, surgeries and lectures Being part of a study group Using email for learning support Discussion boards Summary Chapter 4: READING AND NOTE-TAKING Reading Note-taking Summary Chapter 5: SEARCHING FOR AND ORGANISING INFORMATION Step 1: planning your search Step 2: conducting your search Step 3: evaluating resources Step 4: organising and citing your sources Summary Chapter 6: ACADEMIC WRITING Planning an essay Preparation for writing Developing an outline Drafting Writing an introduction Developing the main content Concluding an essay Adding quotations and references to your essay Summary Chapter 7: ASSESSMENT Self-assessment Continuous assessment The final examination Summary 

Dear Student, This book is designed to help you, as a new or potential distance learner, to develop effective study habits for this mode of education. It provides background information and advice on how, when and where to study, as you strive to make the most of the learning materials you will receive or are already studying.
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Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTION
Lifelong Learning
Nowadays, we need to keep learning throughout our lives. Most of us are likely to change jobs regularly, and so have to update our skills or learn new skills as we move to different organisations and positions. A well-educated workforce whose members are constantly renewing and enhancing their knowledge and skills is essential for the future development of knowledge-based societies. If you have not already done so, you are encouraged to become a lifelong learner and thus accept the idea that your knowledge and skills will evolve over the years. This book will help you to develop the study skills that underpin your lifelong learning.
Open Learning
Lifelong learners need opportunities to study, whatever their background, and for many this need can be fulfilled through open learning. Open learning is based on the concept of allowing all applicants entry to courses, regardless of their educational qualifications. For example, the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) has implemented this concept: since its establishment in 1989, it has enabled tens of thousands of Hong Kong people — who would otherwise have been unable to study at tertiary level — to gain a university degree.
A Brief History of Distance Education
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NfQDnVLZSA
Open Distance Learning (ODL)
Distance education has experienced phenomenal growth worldwide in the past few decades, partly in response to the need to educate lifelong learners who are unable or unwilling to attend regularly scheduled classes. These learners want independence and flexibility in their studies, reflecting their lifestyles and their need to continue working while they are studying. There are now literally tens of millions of people studying at a distance around the world, in both developed and developing nations. Distance education allows you, as a learner, to study while physically separated from the institution at which you are enrolled, through the provision of learning materials and support that enable you to study anywhere and at any time. There may be a limited number of scheduled classroom tutorials, but in general these are not compulsory, so you can complete your course of study without having to set foot in the institution. This has been made easier in recent years through the introduction and growth of communication technologies, leading to the advent of what has come to be known as ‘online learning’ or ‘e-learning’. As you may already realise, distance education has many advantages and strengths. It allows you much more freedom in your study, in terms of: • timing — you can study whenever you like; • place — you can study wherever you wish; • duration — you can study for as long as you like; and • pace — you can study as quickly or as slowly as you wish (and go back over learning materials as many times as it takes to understand them). You may have noticed people studying distance education materials on a bus or train, for example, thus taking advantage of a short journey to go over some reading, write notes or complete an activity. The need to travel, either for business or pleasure, can be easily accommodated when studying at a distance, as learning materials are transportable and communication can be achieved online, for example through email. Are you likely to face any difficulties in studying at a distance?
Certainly, many of the potential communication problems which existed in the past have largely been eliminated through advances in technology, such as email and the Internet. However, you should be aware that, as a distance learner, you will need higher levels of self-motivation and self-organisation than are usually required for traditional classroom-based education. Distance education demands that, to a large extent, you are independent and self-directed. Though you will have a timetable to work to and deadlines to meet, it is up to you to find (make!) the time to keep up with the course requirements. If you fall behind, it is very hard to catch up, so be prepared to be self-disciplined in your studies. One of the main aims of this book is to enhance your skills so that you can study effectively as a distance learner.
The Learning Environment
As mentioned above, new technologies have had a major impact on distance education, particularly as regards communication. Whereas in the past students learning at a distance were relatively isolated because of limited opportunities for interaction, they are now able to contact both tutors and other students with ease. The learning environment with which you are/will be faced is both rich and complex. It has many facets, giving you even more choice with respect to your studies, particularly in terms of media. For instance: Your learning materials may take the following forms: • print materials; • online materials; • multimedia CD-ROMs; • television/video. Your means of communication may include: • classroom interaction; • post; • email; • online discussion groups; • telephone.
Some of these aspects can be combined for your convenience — for example, your university may have a web-based platform incorporating online course materials (perhaps including multimedia) and communication tools. In such a learning environment, you need to be able to make sensible decisions about the combination of materials and interaction which best suits you. This book will help you to make such decisions to enhance your learning effectiveness. The chapters that follow are organised to reflect a logical path through the development of the skills required to be an effective learner. However, you can, of course, read them in the order that fits in with your study needs.
Fundamentals of Online Learning with You at the Center
Source: http://www.studygs.net/online/
Organisation of Chapters
The chapters that follow are organised to reflect a logical path through the development of the skills required to be an effective learner. However, you can, of course, read them in the order that fits in with your study needs. Chapter 2 gives you advice on how to organise your study. You are also provided with a variety of means of study support, which are introduced in Chapter 3. They include both face-to-face and online support services, and you are able to choose those that suit your circumstances. Chapter 4 then looks more deeply at the study process itself, assisting you to improve your reading and note-taking skills. As a student, you are faced with a vast array of sources of information about the topics you are studying, and Chapter 5 helps you to avoid ‘information overload’. You are given tips on how to search for and make the best use of information resources, especially on the Internet. Chapter 6 brings you to the challenging task of academic writing, a key requirement for successful study. It’s not enough just to learn something — you also need to be able to express your knowledge and understanding clearly in writing. Finally, Chapter 7 examines the types of assessment you will be faced with, how assessment supports your learning, and how to be successful in examinations. Please read on and find out how to be more effective as a distance learner. Keep this book in an easily accessible place, so that you can refer to it from time to time when you are faced with study challenges. Good luck and much success in all your future studies, as you continue your education as a lifelong learner!
Chapter 2 Organizing your study How ready am I for study? What preparations can I make to maximize my success? How much time will I need for study? How can I best manage my time and balance my studies with other activities in my life? Students beginning any new course will often ask these questions. However, unlike those in a traditional university, distance education students do not have scheduled classes to structure their learning. Independent and self-directed distance learners set their own schedules and do most of their study in private, usually at home. Therefore, you need to plan your studies and schedule your time very carefully. In this chapter, we discuss some skills that can help you to organize your study successfully. We look at how you can: •
prepare yourself for study;
•
create a positive learning environment;
•
manage your time and work to deadlines; and
•
stay motivated by balancing your studies with other commitments.
Getting ready for study What should I study? Successful students think carefully about what they want to study, and why they want to study. So before you even enrol in a course, we suggest that you give some time and thought to investigating various programmes and planning your long-term study goals. You may want to consider how different programmes will interest you, build on your strengths, and help in your career. You may wish to talk to university staff and preview some course materials. Talking to family, friends and other students can also be helpful as you plan your studies. Be sure to make use of all the resources provided by your university to help you plan your study path. You may find helpful information on the university website or in the Prospectus.
How long will my degree programme take? The amount of time you will need to complete a programme depends on the number of courses you take. For example, at the OUHK, degree courses comprise 5, 10 or 20 credits; and, in general, an OUHK ordinary degree requires 120 credits, while an Honours degree requires 160 credits. The following table estimates the amount of time courses normally take to complete.
Table 2.1 Course
Approximate time needed to study courses Total study time for the course
assignments, attending tutorials and
Average study per week
(including time for completing
hours
sitting examinations)
5-credit
50 hours
7–8
course (over 1 semester, or about 20 weeks)
10-credit
300 hours
7–8
course (over 2 semesters, or about 40 weeks)
20-credit
600 hours
14–16 course (over 2 semesters, or about 40 weeks)
How much time you require also depends on your ability, your working speed and your past study experience. The best way to find out how long it takes you to study successfully is to start with one course, which will give you a clearer idea of how to plan and schedule your remaining study load. If you over-commit yourself at the beginning of your studies, you may find that you cannot handle the amount of work required and have to drop out of some of the courses you enrolled in. For an average adult with a family and a full-time job, it is usually advisable to limit your study time to less than 20 hours a week. When you become more accustomed to studying at a distance, you may want to take on a heavier study load and enrol in more courses.
How ready am I to study? University information centres usually provide information on all the courses they offer. They can advise you on special course requirements and give you guidance on how to develop any skills required (such as IT literacy, knowledge of mathematics, or language skills). As in most of life’s pursuits (such as sports, cooking or job-hunting), study requires special resources. Before you begin your courses, you need to make sure that you have the right equipment. This might include a good dictionary, set textbooks, and particular computer requirements or Internet access. Most universities produce a number of useful study support resources that are worth obtaining. (These usually include a student handbook, a library guide, and information on using technology.)
Creating a positive study environment Where and when can I study? It is extremely important that you have access to a suitable place where you can study regularly and peacefully. This could be a quiet room at home or at a friend’s house, the university library or the local public library, or a study centre. Some students find that their workplace (during lunchtime or after working hours) is quieter than studying at home. Try to find a study space where you can concentrate without any distractions. In addition to finding a good physical study environment, you also need to find time for your studies. Some people work best in the early morning, while others function better later in the evening. Think about when you study most effectively, and how you can use time on the weekends, at lunchtimes, or when travelling to and from work. In the next section, we look at some strategies for finding and making the best use of time for study.
Managing your time Most successful distance students are ‘self-starters’. They decide to study at a distance because its flexibility suits them. Successful students work out how much time they need and then plan their time carefully so that they finish the required tasks. However, some students are not always so organized: they start their studies but then never seem to have enough time. Others get the work done but leave it to the last minute, which can be stressful and result in their having to use all their free time at the end of a course to complete it.
A time log Thinking about how much time you need and have available helps you to plan your time well. A good way to do this is to keep a time log (or a written record of what you do during the day). A time log records: •
the activities you plan to do;
•
how long you think these activities will take;
•
how long it actually takes to complete them;
•
your planned/actual study time.
Table 2.2 shows an example of a student’s time log on a particular day.
Tip: Table 2.2
Plan for the next day so that you can start the day completely organized.
A time log
Date: Monday 30 June Activity
Planned time
Actual time
Work
9.00–1.00
9.00–1.00
Study
1.30–2.00
Didn't do
Work
2.00–6.00
2.00–8.00
Dinner/Family time
6.30–9.00
8.30–9.30
Study
9.00–11.00
9.30–10.30
Total planned study time
2½ hours
Total actual study time
1 hour
You can see from this example that the person had planned to study for two-and-a-half hours that day but ended up only studying for one hour. To assess how you use your time and how much free time you actually have, you may want to make a list of all the things you need to do tomorrow (work, travel time, time with family, meals, shopping). Then, set them out in a time log (like the example above). Do this for a week to see how much you over- (or under-) estimate the real amount of spare time you have for study. Obviously, you cannot control all your time. During the week, you will be interrupted and will often have to respond to unexpected demands; and you may also have to travel for your job, work different shifts, or attend family gatherings. You should therefore try to plan your study in blocks of time that you can control.
A weekly diary A weekly diary is an excellent tool for planning and using your spare time effectively. Table 2.3 shows a typical week for an office executive.
Table 2.3 Time
An office executive’s week
Monday
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
7–8
Sleep
8–9
Breakfast
9–10 10–11 11–12 12–1 1–2
Lunch
2–3
Travel
3–4 4–5 5–6 6–7
Travel
7–8
Dinner
8–9 9–10
TV
TV
TV
10–11
Movies
TV
Reading
Although this person has a busy schedule and devotes much of her time to things she cannot control, she is still able to find some time-slots that can be used for study. For example, she can use some time on the weekends, and sacrifice some mid-week television. The following diary shows how she has re-scheduled her time so that she now has the 18 hours/week that she usually needs for studying two 10-credit subjects.
Table 2.4 Time
Adding study time to a weekly schedule
Monday
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
7–8
Sleep
8–9
Breakfast
9–10 10–11 11–12 12–1 1–2
Lunch
2–3
Travel
3–4 4–5 5–6 6–7
Travel
7–8
Dinner
8–9
Friends
9–10 10–11
Study TV
Tutorial
Movies
Study
Study
Mapping out your weekly study time commitments with a diary lets you control your time better. You can see quickly what you need to do each week, and you can balance study time with other duties and leisure pursuits. Try to keep your weekly diary in a visible place (next to your desk, or pinned on a wall) and look at it every day to remind yourself of your proposed schedule. You may have noticed how the executive above wisely blocks her study time across several days, rather than scheduling it all on one day. Short but regular sessions are often more effective than one long study session. Frequent study sessions also take account of ‘off days’. If she is sick or tired on a particular day and simply cannot study, she doesn’t disrupt her weekly study schedule too much.
Monthly and semester plans You can also block your study time for a month, or for the whole semester. This is useful if you have commitments, such as travel, shift work or special occasions that you need to work around. Table 2.5 is an example of a monthly study plan for an executive who frequently has to travel and tries to use both his travel time and his free time for study (study hours in brackets).
Table 2.5 Monday
A monthly study plan for a frequent traveller Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
1
2
3
4
5
6
HK
HK
HK
HK
HK
HK
(4 hours)
(6 hours)
(2 hours)
(2 hours)
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
HK
Beijing
Beijing
HK
Shenzhen
HK
HK
(3 hours)
(4 hours)
19
20
(2 hours) 14
15
16
17
18
HK
Shenzhen
Guangzhou Guangzhou Shenzhen
Wedding
HK
(2 hours)
(1 hour)
(2 hours)
(2 hours)
(1 hour)
party
(6 hours)
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
HK
HK
HK
Beijing
Harbin
Harbin
HK
28
29
30
31
HK
Shenzhen
HK
HK
(1 hour)
(2 hours)
(2 hours)
(3 hours) (2 hours) (3 hours) (5 hours)
You may want to create weekly, monthly and semester study schedules to help you plan your study time. You can do this using the Calendar feature that you can find in Microsoft Outlook or in your online course.
Keep to your study schedule After you’ve made your weekly study timetable or monthly or semester plan, you need to stick to it. It’s not uncommon for students to spend time planning a schedule but then to abandon it when things ‘get busy’. Following a regular study schedule has many advantages: •
It helps to motivate you, and to overcome the inertia that you may sometimes feel.
•
When you plan and carry out study in frequent but small, manageable chunks it doesn’t seem so overwhelming.
•
A study schedule means that you don’t waste time and you have time for other commitments.
•
A schedule also helps you to track your progress. You can see that you have achieved set tasks, completed assignments on time, and made good progress.
Staying motivated Set goals and rewards Try to set yourself specific and realistic goals for each study session. These can be simple goals (such as ‘read the first section of the unit and then complete the section’s self-test questions’) or something more complex (such as ‘brainstorm an outline for my first assignment’). Try to stay ‘on task’ and complete your goal within a time limit, and when you do, give yourself a reward! The reward might be a break, watching your favourite TV show, or phoning a friend.
Be positive Maintaining positive study attitudes is another important element in being a successful distance education student. You need to meet assignment deadlines and juggle a range of commitments and responsibilities, so it is natural that you sometimes feel stressed and anxious. However, you should try to build up your confidence and seek solutions to problems by: •
taking advantage of the support of family, friends, colleagues and tutors;
•
setting goals and rewards;
•
managing your time carefully; and
•
noting and enjoying your successes.
Try also not to worry too much about ‘off days’. We all have days when we can’t concentrate or finish the tasks we set ourselves. When you feel like this, you might want to: •
Start your work, but set a limit (maybe 30 minutes). You may find that once you ‘get going’, you start to feel better and keep studying.
•
Take a break and do something that relaxes or energizes you. When you return to study, you may feel more positive.
•
Work on something that has to be done but requires little thought (organizing your notes, formatting an essay).
•
Study with a friend or telephone another student. Studying can be lonely, and speaking to someone in the same situation is a great motivator. Sometimes listening to another person can also be constructive and give you fresh ideas.
Relax and exercise regularly Finding even eight hours a week for study can be difficult, and you may be tempted to take time you would otherwise use for exercise, recreation or sleep. Relaxation is extremely important for maintaining your physical, mental and emotional health. Exercise, rest and sufficient sleep help you to function efficiently at work and study, so try to schedule these into your weekly routine.
Summary In this chapter, we have looked at the key elements in organizing yourself for study, including: how to prepare yourself; how to manage your time and keep to your study schedule; and how to remain motivated and positive by balancing your studies with your family, work and other commitments.
Chapter 3
Making the most of learning support Being an independent learner can sometimes feel lonely. You don’t have much timetabled contact with teachers and other students, and most of the time you study alone, according to your schedule. Nobody else regularly tells you what to do, so you need to be very motivated and disciplined and take responsibility for your own learning. Making contact with other people can be of great help in coping with the isolation of independent study. By contacting tutors and other students you can create a support network that lets you ask questions, seek help with problems, and share ideas. Meeting other students on your course can also be very motivating: it gives your studies a social dimension and reminds you that you are really not alone. This chapter asks you to think about how you can use the support of other people to help you in your studies. We look at a number of ways in which you can communicate with others for this purpose, including: •
attending tutorials, laboratory sessions, day schools, surgeries and lectures;
•
being part of a study group;
•
using email; and
•
using electronic discussion boards.
Tutorials and tutors Tutorials are small group discussions in which the tutors, who are experts in the subject you are studying, try to help you gain a fuller understanding of the course materials and assessment tasks.
The value of tutorials Attending tutorials can be useful in a number of ways, as they allow you to: •
meet face-to-face with other students on the course and your tutor;
•
ask questions, raise problems, and discuss common difficulties;
•
hear other viewpoints and different perspectives; and
•
increase your confidence and get practice in expressing your ideas and views.
Tutorials also provide tutors with feedback on the content and presentation of the course, and let them get to know their students better.
Getting the most out of tutorials You can increase the value of tutorials by doing the following: •
Be prepared: Before you come to a tutorial, study the materials to be
discussed, prepare questions to ask, review your notes from the last tutorial, and
attempt any problems or questions that have been scheduled for the session. •
Ask questions: Tutorials are scheduled to help you, so ask questions about anything that is causing you difficulty. Don’t worry if your questions seem unimportant. You will probably find that other students have exactly the same problems.
•
Interact with your tutor: Try to make an effort to talk to your tutor. Interacting with your tutor helps him/her to get an impression of you as an individual, and not just another name on the class list.
•
Work with other students: The other members of your tutorial group can be an excellent learning resource. Listening to their views will give you a broader perspective. They may also be able to answer your questions before or after the tutorials, and approaching your tutor as a group with a common question can also save everyone a lot of time.
•
Take notes: We usually forget most of what we hear in a tutorial after a few days, so it is good practice to take notes on the key points that are discussed. Taking notes also makes you a more active listener. Tips on note-taking are given in Chapter 4 of this book.
Participating actively in group discussions Tutorials often require students to discuss ideas and share opinions. Discussions are a good learning tool because you have to express your ideas and clarify, and perhaps modify, your thinking. They also help you to identify what you do and do not understand. It is important to take an active part in discussions, and the following guidelines will help you to do so: •
Give short and clear statements to express your point of view and show that you have thought about the topic and understand the discussion. Try to be generous when sharing your ideas but remember to listen to others and not dominate the discussion.
•
Make eye contact with your tutor and other students. This shows that you are interested. If you are talking to the whole class, make eye contact with people
around the room. •
Ask for clarification if you don’t understand something. If a point is unclear, ask the speaker to repeat it and explain it further.
Table 3.1 overleaf shows some phrases and expressions that you can use to convey your views effectively in a class discussion.
Table 3.1
Useful phrases for a class discussion
Giving an opinion
‘I’m sure that …’ ‘I really do think that …’ ‘As I see it …’ ‘In my opinion …’
Agreeing with others
‘Right …’ ‘That’s just what I was thinking …’ ‘I agree entirely …’ ‘That’s a good point …’
Disagreeing with others
‘Yes, that’s quite true, but …’ ‘I’m not sure I agree …’ ‘You have a point there, but …’ ‘I see what you mean, but …’
Interrupting politely
‘Excuse me for interrupting, but …’ ‘Sorry, but …’ ‘May I interrupt for a moment?’ ‘May I add something here, please?’
Laboratory sessions, field trips, day schools, surgeries and lectures In addition to tutorials, distance education universities usually offer a number of other kinds of face-to-face meetings between students and tutors. •
Laboratory sessions and field trips, in which students do practical work and learn outside the classroom, are often part of science and technology courses.
•
Day schools are often used for studying cases, giving oral presentations and for team-based problem-solving.
•
Surgeries, as their name suggests, are like consultations with a doctor. They are times that are set aside for students to consult tutors on a one-to-one basis to discuss individual problems or receive detailed answers to specific questions.
•
Lectures, unlike tutorials, are formal talks given by an expert in a field. Since we tend to forget much of what we hear in a lecture, it’s always useful to take notes on the central points. Unlike tutorials, lectures are not interactive, but members of the audience can usually ask the lecturer questions at the end of the talk.
Being part of a study group In addition to meeting at tutorials, you may also want to form or join an informal study group with others on your course. Belonging to a study group motivates members by offering emotional support and social contact. It can help you to realize that other students face the same challenges, and it allows you to share ideas and answer each other’s questions. Student telephone networks and email are other useful ways of helping each other if you do not have the time to meet frequently.
Using email for learning support Email can be extremely useful for communication and learning. It is also a very convenient way to make contact with your tutor and other students, as emails can be sent at any time and you can attach print documents or other learning resources to email messages.
Good practice •
Check your email account frequently. The success of email depends on everyone using the system regularly. If you don’t check emails, their value for communicating is lost.
•
Do not attach large files to email messages. Many people have limited email account sizes.
•
Try to observe ‘netiquette’ when you send emails. Netiquette refers to ‘network etiquette’: the ‘dos and don’ts’ of online communication. (For more about common courtesy in cyberspace, go to: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/.)
•
Use, and frequently update, reliable anti-virus software on your computer, to ensure that you don’t spread viruses to others you email.
Discussion boards Discussion boards are electronic communication tools that allow people to interact with each other to ask questions, seek help for problems, share and discuss ideas, and exchange resources, knowledge and experiences. Discussion boards exist for all kinds of different communities, including academic communities. If you surf the Web, you can find discussion boards for sports enthusiasts, fans of famous singers and actors, political organizations and professional groups. If you’d like to see an example of a community discussion board, you can go to the following travellers’ discussion forum: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/. You may want to read some of the postings (messages) on this discussion board, and perhaps make a contribution to one of its discussions.
Academic discussion boards Academic discussion boards allow students to interact with each other and with their tutors. Like tutorials, they let students ask questions, discuss ideas and solve problems. The main difference between a tutorial discussion and an online discussion (sometimes called an ‘e-conference’) is that e-conferences are virtual: participants don’t meet face-to-face but instead ‘post’ their ideas or comments by writing messages and sending these to the discussion board. Discussion boards are usually moderated (or monitored or directed) by a tutor or a member of the group. Online discussions can be organized into different subject threads or topics, and members can respond to the threads that interest them, or just read other members’ ideas. Figure 3.1 represents various threads in a conference.
Figure 3.1
Threads in a conference
The learning benefits of discussion boards There are several advantages of using discussion boards to communicate with others on your course. For instance, you can: •
send your messages anytime, and anywhere. (If you have access to a computer, you can join the discussion, which is a great advantage for people who need to travel or work but still want to interact with their tutor and other students.)
•
share documents and link websites to your message. (You can easily upload various files, including large multimedia files and graphics, to discussion boards.)
•
gain access to different perspectives and collaborate with others.
•
get equal access to discussion. (In e-conferences, everyone has the chance to contribute: shy students have more opportunity to ‘speak’ and very active students have less chance to dominate.)
•
record and store comments. (In a tutorial discussion, all the contributions are ‘lost’ after they are spoken but, in e-conferences, messages are stored and everyone has access to what was said, so you can revisit and reflect on interesting ideas.)
•
develop critical thinking and writing skills. (Writing messages often encourages more thoughtful responses in a discussion than spontaneous spoken contributions.)
Tips on using discussion boards effectively The following figure illustrates how discussion boards can be used for sharing ideas, asking and answering questions, swapping resources, and seeking help. Notice how the user signals the main point of the message by using the ‘Subject’ box. Also, look carefully at the language the writer uses in the message.
Figure 3.2
An example from a discussion board
Communicating with other students on a discussion board may feel rather impersonal because you can’t see the faces of the conference members when you ‘speak’ to them. There are several techniques you can use to reduce this impersonal feeling. •
Try to use inclusive and friendly language. (Using ‘we’ and ‘our’ helps to create a sense of group identity. Including greetings, smileys ☺ and some personal information can also help to create a stronger sense of being part of an online community.)
•
If your message is a general question, address it to all members of the group so that everyone feels included. (For example, in Figure 3.2, the writer uses ‘Hello everyone’.)
•
Acknowledge others’ contributions and praise helpful messages.
•
If you are responding to one person’s specific message, quote what he/she said and then respond. (For example, ‘Winnie said … and I’d like to respond by saying …’, or ‘I’d like to build on Patrick’s ideas about … by saying …’.)
•
Ask open-ended questions. (For instance, questions such as ‘To what extent do you all agree?’ or ‘What does everyone think about …?’ will probably get better responses and generate fuller discussion than a yes/no question such as ‘Do you agree?’.)
Summary In this chapter, we have considered how you can use the support of other people to help you in your studies. Interacting with tutors and other students in tutorials, laboratory sessions, day schools, surgeries and lectures can reduce the sense of isolation in independent study, and provide a forum for seeking solutions to your problems. To gain the full benefit from tutorials, you should prepare well, play an active role and take notes for later study. Being part of a study group is beneficial to learning and emotionally supportive. Also, email and discussion boards offer flexible and powerful ways of communicating with other students and tutors to create a supportive and stimulating learning community.
Chapter 4
Reading and note-taking As a distance learner, you will get a set of course materials containing various items — including a Course Guide, study units and an Assignment File — and you will probably wonder where to start. In your studies, you will require the skills of reading, listening or visualizing — and thinking about the text you have read or heard — and the ability to develop a summary and then learn from it. Let’s begin by looking at reading.
Reading In distance education, you have to read a great deal of material and understand it. The quality of your reading will determine how well you learn. Do you like reading? Do you read well? Can you learn to read better and more effectively? Reading can be categorized into four different types — scanning, skimming, speed reading and study reading. Most of the reading you will do falls into the last category, so we look at the first three types very briefly and then focus mainly on study reading. After you have some understanding of these four types of reading, we suggest how you should use them in your study process.
Scanning Scanning involves searching rapidly through a text to see if a particular word or topic is included in it. This approach is used when searching through headlines or titles, tables of contents, the index of a book, or perhaps a list of references to see if there is a particular topic or author there that might be of use to you. It is rather like using the <Find> feature in a computer program in that you are looking for one or a few specific words. The key to effective scanning is not to get sidetracked — don’t stop to read other things along the way.
Skimming Skimming differs from scanning — here you are trying to get an overview of what a book or article is about and its possible value to you. Skimming is often useful when you have a specific task to carry out, such as finding additional information for an assignment. You look at chapter or section headings, or some paragraphs to quickly assess their relevance, or some figures and tables. After you have skimmed a text, you should have a reasonably good idea if it is likely to be helpful for your particular needs at that time. The following URL provides a very useful summary of scanning and skimming: http://www.42explore.com/skim.htm.
Speed reading Speed reading involves trying to get the gist (the essence) of what a text contains. Speed reading for good understanding is not easy; it takes practice. You should try to look at words in groups, not letting your eyes rest on each and every word in the text. This technique works quite well for simple texts (e.g. newspaper articles) but is less effective when you are faced with a technical or complex topic. You might find the article about speed reading at the following URL interesting: http://www.studyhall.com/SPRD/spreading.html. Most of the reading you will do in your courses will probably not fall into these first three categories, but such techniques can be helpful when you are searching for additional resources in the library, the E-library, or on the World Wide Web (WWW). You simply don’t have the time to read every book or journal in detail, but you often need to look through many books to determine their relevance. That is when scanning, skimming and speed reading can be extremely useful. It is important to ensure that you don’t spend your valuable study reading time dealing with information that has no, or limited, value.
Study reading Study reading involves reading for understanding, and you might have to read every word carefully. There is a simple model that can help you with visualizing this reading or study process. It is known as the SQ3R model — survey, question, read, recall, review — as shown below.
Figure 4.1
SQ3R study (reading) technique
However, reading the words is not enough — you have to extract meaning from them; that is, you have to be an active reader who interacts with the words in the text to create meaning for yourself. For example, with a study unit, first read the title carefully; understanding the title puts everything that follows into context and gives it meaning. Then read the Overview, Objectives and Introduction to get an idea of what the unit contains (the survey step in the SQ3R model). As you begin reading, it is helpful to read the material paragraph by paragraph, although you can skim the text section by section if you wish. Read a whole paragraph, without doing any highlighting or marking up of the text. The main point in a paragraph (the so-called ‘topic sentence’) is often at the beginning, but it doesn’t always come there — which is the reason why you should read the whole paragraph before marking it. You should then think about what you have read.
What is the main point in the paragraph? Highlight or underline it now if you wish. But what does that main point actually mean? Why is it important? How is it relevant to you or what you are doing? The point could be related to an assignment or to some aspect of your daily life and work. Don’t be afraid to write any comments or connections you make in the margins beside the paragraph, including questions you might want to ask your tutor, or your tutor has suggested (the question and read steps in the SQ3R model). Then read the next paragraph fully before marking it up. Note any important links to the previous paragraph — after all, paragraphs should not be isolated from each other. Again, what is the main point, what does it mean, and what is its relevance to you? And so the process goes on. Studying a text does not finish with reading. At the end of each section, or perhaps more frequently with complex material, try to recall what you have read, and write brief notes on the main ideas or details you think are important. Finally, you should review what you have read, to check how well you have recalled it, possibly by going over the first four steps again quickly. The suggestions above apply generally when you read any text. Focus on extracting the main ideas at each level of the text; do not read passively — raise questions as you read; make an active attempt to recall and write down the main points in your own words; and, finally, review what you have read to assess how accurately you have remembered it. Using the SQ3R strategy should improve your reading effectiveness, though you may have to adapt it to suit your individual needs.
Note-taking N
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broadest sense, is done to produce a ‘summary’ of the text and its meaning, and therefore
combines the skills of reading, listening or visualizing with the ability to write a summary. Many distance learning courses have written, spoken, audio and visual components, and you may find it useful to make notes on them. •
Taking good notes from text requires a thorough understanding of the text and its meaning in relation to (a) particular task(s) or question(s). In other words, you are taking notes for a purpose — which you should always keep in mind.
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In note-taking on the spoken component, for example in face-to-face or telephone tutorials, it is important to record the ideas, suggestions and solutions raised by your tutor and other students.
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Some courses (especially language courses) have audio programmes on CD-ROMs. You might be directed to do a specific task based on the spoken text, and this would undoubtedly require you to make notes about what you hear.
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Many courses have supporting video programmes. Again, you might be set specific tasks based on the video, and you would benefit from making notes on what you see and understand.
Let’s look at each of these components in turn, starting with the written component, which will be the most common form on which you will have to make notes. We then turn to notes on the spoken component (probably the most difficult situation in which to take notes), and finally deal with the audio and visual components together.
Annotating your text We have already mentioned the value of highlighting or underlining — but be careful not to overdo it. Highlight the main points only (though there can be value in highlighting key supporting words in a different colour). If you highlight too much, when you look back at your work everything will seem important and you will have to read it all again. Your highlighting should help you to see the main points, as if you were reading a summary. Besides highlighting, you may also like to make annotations and notes in the margin to help you to identify relationships, and locate and summarize information. There is no prescribed way for annotating your text; it depends on the text, your understanding of it and your own particular techniques. Here are some tips that may be useful to you for highlighting and annotating your texts. •
Read the whole paragraph or section before you start highlighting and annotating.
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Select the information relevant to the task or purpose. Highlight the important key phrases, sentences and facts.
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Make annotations, comments and notes in the margins or anywhere on the page but ensure that you do not clutter up the text.
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Number the points and reasons that occur in a sequence in the text to help you to locate the information more easily.
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Use point form or lists to write notes or comments in the margins as these summarize meanings clearly.
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Many students may find it useful to make notes in Chinese (the process of translation can make you understand better).
Figure 4.2
Annotating a text
Two main styles of note-taking Sometimes you may want to go further than just marking the text, by producing a more comprehensive set of notes. To do this, you may find it useful to adopt some of the approaches suggested below.
Linear notes Linear notes are written in the same order as the text. Usually, they adopt the form of main points followed by a listing of sub-points (see Figure 4.3).
Figure 4.3
Making linear notes
In writing linear notes, you should: •
use your own words and system of shorthand;
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reference them well and file them in an easily-accessible form;
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show any relationships with knowledge/ideas you have already learned;
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use diagrams, lists, key words, etc. to aid understanding; and
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include only relevant points, and show their order of importance in some way.
For distance-learning students, a good note-taking system should attempt to coordinate material from various sources (e.g. study units, textbook(s), readings from journals). You could start, for example, by drawing a line down the middle of your notepaper. In the left column, take notes from your units, and in the right column write your comments, references to other sections and relevant materials, and especially other details related to the unit that you have come across in your reading. Some students add a column for key words, new words, important questions, and so on.
Network notes Network notes are a structured overview chart, or a map, of a specific area of knowledge showing the relationships among a domain of ideas or concepts. Research shows that students who draw their own maps after reading course materials perform better on recall tests than students who rote-learn. Figure 4.4 provides an example of network notes drawn from the text in Figure 4.3.
Figure 4.4
Making network notes
To make your own set of network notes, start by writing the central idea — the name of the section you are reading — at the centre of the page. Add a branch for each main idea and subdivide if appropriate. Some people even add links around the edge and use visual memory aids as has been done in Figure 4.4. The advantages of network notes are that they show the relationships between an idea and other ideas, and thereby challenge you to think about those relationships. They go part of the way towards organizing ideas and information, and also towards representing the structure and internal relationships within this knowledge. One benefit of network notes is that they can be more easily recalled in an examination because the network can be readily visualized. Try this method yourself — it may make your note-taking, and learning, easier and more effective.
Summarizing a speech (talk) This is the environment in which you have the least control, and where you cannot replay (recover) the text exactly as it first occurred. You cannot even control the speed at which the text is delivered, so you must be an active and alert listener. •
Do not try to record everything a speaker says. Spend more time listening, and try to isolate and record the main points.
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Good speakers often put ‘flags’ into their talks that can help you. Listen for repeated statements, or statements like ‘the key issue is …’, or ‘note carefully’. If a point is strongly emphasized, it is probably important. Note it down, and try to connect it to the theme of the talk.
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Most speakers only want to make a few main points, supported with examples and detailed information. Separate out the details from the main points, and focus on the latter (the main points — the big picture).
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Do not be passive or afraid to ask questions, especially when you want a speaker to repeat something you consider important, or to clarify a statement you did not understand.
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There is a lot of information on the World Wide Web that gives ideas about note-taking in lectures/tutorials. For example, the two URLs below should be helpful: http://www.yorku.ca/cdc/lsp/notesonline/note1.htm http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/lrnres/handouts/1415.html.
Summarizing audiovisual (AV) material In this format, you are in charge of the speed of delivery of the text using the control buttons. You can replay to view or listen to the content again. The main point to emphasize about AV material is that these resources are normally provided for a particular learning purpose, so view them with that specific purpose in mind — and then make your notes accordingly. Use your note-taking skills (and the <Pause> and <Stop> buttons) to extract and summarize the information you need. Make notes, perhaps network notes, on what the images show about the issue at hand, and also about what the commentators (speakers) say.
Summary To study distance learning materials well requires you to read, listen and visualize effectively; extract relevant meaning from what you read, hear or see; and reduce the mass of material that you deal with to a manageable size. There are several ways to improve your reading effectiveness, for example by scanning, skimming and speed reading when appropriate. Also, for study reading, the SQ3R approach can be very useful. In studying distance learning materials, you should also write notes (selectively) on the various components â&#x20AC;&#x201D; written texts, lectures/discussions and audiovisual material. You can, for instance, annotate texts, and write your notes in a linear or network style. The main purpose of note-taking is to summarize the key points to produce a useful summary that you can review later.
Chapter 5
Searching for and organizing information Modern libraries and the Internet make finding information much easier, but using these vast resources efficiently can be difficult. How can we find useful resources without wasting time? How should we choose and organize the resources we find? In this chapter you are introduced to skills and techniques you need to collect information, both from traditional sources such as libraries, and from the Internet. The approach to finding information, we suggest, includes four steps: 1 Planning your search 2 Conducting your search 3 Evaluating and choosing the information you find 4 Organizing and citing your sources Before we start to discuss these four steps in detail, a word of warning is in order. Academic searches rarely proceed in an orderly, step-by-step way. Once you start, you will find that you frequently go off at a tangent, following unexpected and interesting leads — and sometimes coming to a dead end. The four steps above constantly overlap, and you will often find that you need to jump directly from one to another — both backwards and forwards. The following diagram illustrates this.
Figure 5.1
Steps in finding information
Please note that all the examples in this chapter have been chosen strictly for teaching purposes, with no intention of promoting any particular one. You are encouraged to explore relevant sources of information on your own.
Step 1: planning your search The first step in conducting an effective search is to set — and stay focused on — clear aims. You need to think as specifically as you can about what you need to find, and how you will find it. Here are some tips to consider as you begin your planning.
Defining the scope of your search Set a limit on how long you can devote to searching for information. If you have ten hours to prepare an essay, you can’t spend six hours looking for information to include in it! Try to set limits — both on the amount of time you need to complete your writing assignment, and the proportion of that time you want to spend finding information.
Identifying potential information sources Think about the kinds of information or data you really need to complete your assignment. For example, let’s say you need to write a short report on the trends in Hong Kong’s population over the past 50 years. You might be able to find enough data to describe these trends in a single visit to a library’s reference collection, or from a well-aimed search of a government website. For a typical academic essay, you can often focus on finding a number of representative, relevant journal articles for a literature review. In other words, the clearer your idea about what you are looking for — based on what the purpose of your search really is — the easier it will be to find and choose relevant information later on. As you know, the range of sources you can use is wide. Academic information can be found in books, journals, newspapers, multimedia archives, magazines and websites. Although the Internet has become the first option many people use to find information, you should not automatically abandon ‘old-fashioned’ resources. For many academic information searches, spending an hour in a library is more efficient than going online, especially if you are doing a basic search. It can actually be quite hard to find the solid background provided by encyclopedias and textbooks when you are searching online. We’ll now take a closer look at some types of information, and information-searching tools, you can find in libraries and online. •
Books: You can search online catalogues from many libraries for book names and circulation information. For most, you’ll need to go to the library in person to get the actual book, but many open and distance education universities also provide their students with access to ‘e-books’, i.e. books that can be viewed online.
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Full-text articles and article abstracts: To find journal articles, you may first want to search databases provided through your university library’s subscriptions. You can search these databases by specifying any of a number of criteria, such as keywords that appear in article names or text, author names, and publication date. You will learn more about how to make these searches more effective later in this chapter. Some free online databases also provide full-text articles, or at least give you an abstract or table of contents. Although many online e-journals restrict access to full-text articles to subscribers, most provide at least abstracts or tables of contents free of charge.
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News archives and databases: Collecting news stories can be a viable method for gathering certain types of information. Many commercial websites provide the latest news and ‘broadcast’ it to the world through the Internet. Their websites provide wide-ranging news content for you to use as evidence or as
support for your arguments. Most university libraries also subscribe to one or more news-related databases.
Knowing where to look Think about where you might find the information you need. If you have easy access to a library, you might want to go there first and see what you can find. If you don’t, you may want to focus on an online search first, and make a trip to the library only if you can’t find what you need online. This flexibility is possible these days because many kinds of information are distributed widely. Keep in mind, however, that sometimes you will not be able to find what you need in the first place you look. Then you’ll need to think about where you will turn next in your search.
Identifying the right search tools No matter where you conduct your information search, you will need to identify — and learn to use — the most effective tools available. If you are conducting a library search, you should make a point of finding out what search tools, reference materials and databases are available to you. Asking a librarian could save you many hours of tedious search time. If you are searching online, your range of search options is vast. Choosing the right search tools is especially important. The most common way to conduct online searches is to use a search engine. Yahoo! and Google, two of the most popular search engines, are based on quite different organizational principles, but both are excellent starting points for an online information search. Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) is centred on its famous table of links organized into content-based categories. Clicking a categorical link moves you on to a page with more specific sub-categories; and eventually, you reach a page with links to outside websites. Google (http://www.google.com) gives you an empty text box in which you can type the word or words you want to search the Internet for, and then matches your search word or phrase with occurrences anywhere they appear on the Internet. Although Yahoo! and Google are very frequently used, you should not ignore other possible online search starting points. For example, a site such as Answers.com (http://www.answers.com) might often be more suitable for your purposes. Answers.com combines access to reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and statistical databases with the results of a broader online search. In other words, most queries are answered with both immediate factual information and links to other webpages you can explore. Remember that a search engine will not search all possible online locations. Most large organizations, including universities, restrict access to much of their online information. In the next section, we look at strategies for making the most of your searches, no matter what search tools you are using.
Step 2: conducting your search In many academic searches, you will find yourself being pulled in two directions at the same time. On the one hand, you want to find out as much about your topic as you can — you don’t want to overlook any aspect of it that might be crucial. On the other hand, you know there’s no way you can find out everything about any academic topic. How do you balance these two competing needs? Here in Step 2, we consider ways to both expand and narrow down an information search. For most searches, you will need to use both of these approaches at some point. For example, in many cases, an initial round of broad searching can help you brainstorm for ideas, and formulate your approach to your topic. Later, however, you will have to focus your search on the aspects of your topic you need to concentrate on, and target the sources you will need to use as references. In this section, we look at ways of choosing keywords, using a broad online search as an example of keyword searching. You will then learn some techniques for focusing your searches.
The search-by-keyword approach One way to make your searching more effective is to list a number of keywords related to your topic. Once you’ve prepared a preliminary list of keywords, you can use them over and over: you can try them out in searches for library books and journals, in academic database searches, and in online search engines. Searching by keywords can be exploratory: using a variety of different, but related, search terms can help you make sure you cover all the important aspects of your topic. Combining keywords in your searches can also help to cut out unwanted results, thereby clarifying and focusing your search. Searches conducted using online search engines and databases can be enhanced by using a few simple techniques. The most common searching ‘technique’ is simply to type in keywords as search terms, and see what happens. This is inefficient, given the huge number of ‘hits’ that usually result. For example, let’s say I have to write a paper on globalization. When I type ‘globalization’ into Google, I come up with over 17 million hits! What I need is a way to cut down this number of responses. Most search engines and databases (both in libraries and online) provide many more services, such as predefined options for limiting searches. These options may include: •
limiting the search to a region;
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limiting the search to a date;
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searching according to the last time a resource was updated; and
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limiting the search to results in a given language.
Focusing your search Once you have completed an initial round of information searching, you may find yourself rather frustrated. You may have found less information than you needed or, more likely, far too much. At this point, therefore, you may need to do another round of searching. This phase often requires more advanced (and focused) searching techniques. By using the guidelines that follow, which should work in most search engines and databases, you can design much more directed, efficient searches: •
Search for a phrase, not just a word: Putting a phrase in double quotation marks — “ ” — limits a search to instances of the phrase in the quotation marks, rather than just separate instances of the individual words. This is essential when searching for names, both of people and of journals, articles, and books. It also helps you to focus your searches by combining keywords or phrases with the names of researchers and journals.
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Combine keywords in a single search: Let’s say you want to search for information that includes two keywords, ‘business’ and ‘English’. To restrict your search in this way, you can simply type ‘business + English’ in the text box of a search engine. The search engine will then display search results in which both of these words appear. You can also use the ‘&’ character to replace the ‘+’.
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Combine a name with a keyword: Using the basic techniques just mentioned, you can often conduct very effective searches that include both a name — for example, of a particular author or journal, set out as a phrase in double quotation marks — with one or more keywords related to your topic.
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Combine numbers and keywords: Let’s say you need the most current figures available for Hong Kong’s economic performance. You could compose a search combining the phrases ‘Hong Kong’ and ‘economic performance’ with a number, i.e. the last calendar year.
The tips we have given here apply to most popular search engines, and can also be used in many online article databases. Here is another piece of advice: no matter what search tool you decide to use, you should always take the time to read the instructions/help options provided. You are likely to pick up numerous search-engine-specific tips and tricks that can translate into hours of time saved if you are doing serious searching.
Step 3: evaluating resources At this stage, you are almost certain to have found some information, but how do you know it is reliable, and academically appropriate? You need to be able to quickly assess information you find to ensure it is of a high enough quality to save or bookmark as a source for your assignment/project. The following guidelines will assist you in doing this. Different issues will be important for different types of information, so be prepared to use them flexibly in your critical analysis of sources: •
Relevance: Is the information really relevant to the question I am seeking to answer? Be ruthless: don’t spend time reading material that isn’t promising ‘just in case’ there’s something worthwhile in it.
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Intended audience: Who was the information written for? At what level is it pitched? This is especially important at the university level since material prepared for use in schools does not usually provide enough depth or nuance.
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Accuracy: Is the information accurate? Can it be checked against other sources? Are sources of data supplied?
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Coverage: What range of information is covered? Does it have the level of detail I need?
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Authorship/authority: Who is the author? What are her qualifications or credentials? Under the authority of what institution/organization is the information published? For example, you might find information on a webpage of a university website, but it may be a student project rather than research information from an academic staff member.
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Currency: How current is the information? When was it last updated?
If you keep these criteria in mind, and consciously apply them to every source you come across, you will soon develop a reliable critical sense for judging the reliability of your information sources.
Step 4: organizing and citing your sources To keep your information search focused, you must avoid collecting too many irrelevant documents. But how do you know what literature you will actually need when you are just starting your search? Isn’t it safest to just save everything you find, and sort it out later? These days, it is quite easy to photocopy or print lots of articles you find in the library, and even easier to bookmark every WWW page you come to — but this does not mean you should do so. To make sure you can provide an accurate bibliography or reference list when using your information in an academic assignment, you need to organize your resources so that you can quickly and easily acknowledge the sources. The following points should help you to organize your search results: •
Create a folder in your PC: You can download/save soft copies of resources to a folder in your personal computer. If your search is extensive, you will probably have to create a system of clearly-labelled sub-directories to begin the process of sorting out the resources you have found.
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Create a folder in your browser: A dedicated folder in your Web browser’s ‘Favorites’ or ‘Bookmarks’ section will help you to keep track of useful websites and their URLs in a systematic way, and enable you to quickly re-visit them in the future. If you are bookmarking a large number of sites for a major project, you may again want to begin to classify them by creating sub-folders.
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Whenever possible, download e-texts, e-books and e-journal articles if you plan to use them: If an e-library or e-journal provides ‘downloadable’ versions of its
files, you can usually use your Web browser to download and save them. â&#x20AC;˘
Back up your digital resources: Do not assume your digital resources will always be there â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a single hard-disk crash could mean you have lost them all. You need to back up your bookmarks and important files by saving them to CD-ROMs or other large-storage devices.
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Create a filing system for hard copies: Even though much of the information you find these days will be in digital form, you will still need a way to organize resources you have printed, photocopied or hand-written.
Citing your sources When you use information that comes from another source in your academic writing, you must provide details of where that information came from. Providing well-documented citations shows the extent of your investigation, and demonstrates the effort you have put in to finding the best information possible; and such information is, therefore, strong evidence or proof of your argument or case. Citing your sources correctly also ensures that you avoid plagiarism, which is copying the work of other people and claiming it as your own. Plagiarism is a serious offence in any setting; for students, it can lead to disciplinary action that will usually mean failure for the offender, or even expulsion from the institution. There is a wide variety of approaches or styles for citing information; no single approach has been adopted universally. You will find details of the styles used at the Open University of Hong Kong in the next chapter.
Summary In this chapter you have been introduced to ways of finding information efficiently, and using it effectively once you have found it. You learned how to plan a search, how to conduct a search using keywords and other techniques, how to evaluate the information you find, and finally how to organize the information you decide to keep and use. If you can develop and maintain a disciplined approach to finding information, you will save time and effort, and be better prepared for writing good academic essays.
Chapter 6
Academic writing In this chapter, we are going to focus on the writing skills you will need for your essay assignments. One of the key skills involved is the ability to plan and write clearly. We are going to look closely at how you can produce writing which is logically structured and contains all the essential elements for academic writing.
Planning an essay Before any writing begins, you need to go through a process of preparation. In other words, you need to spend some time trying to understand the writing task you have been given, and gathering material to help you complete it. Plan your essay in as much detail as possible, to produce an assignment which is: •
directly related to the question;
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clearly organized; and
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accurate and complete.
Preparation for writing When you are tackling an essay, you need to ask yourself several questions to ensure that your writing is relevant to the topic, e.g. •
What is the essay question about?
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What are the key words in the question?
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What information would my tutor expect me to include?
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What is the word limit? How much should I write in each section?
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What reading and information-gathering must I do before I start writing?
All these questions are part of the planning process, and by thinking about them, you are already doing essential preparation work for your essay. When you are planning your essay, you also need to consider what your tutor will expect to read. Don’t be afraid to ask him/her for further information or clarification if there is anything you are not sure of, or need to know more about. Some students carry out very good preparation work for their essays, but still get low marks. This is usually because they have not organized the material they have collected in the most effective way. Writing a good essay means more than just putting together ideas and pieces of information from different sources. You have to put the information together in a way which is easy for your tutor to read, and shows that you have thought about the logical connections between the different sections of your writing. Your essay must have a clear structure and theme which leads the reader from one item to another, and finally to the conclusion at the end.
Developing an outline Not even the best writers can write an outstanding essay first time. Every essay needs a structure so that all the information you have gathered can be organized in the best way. It is always a good idea to plan the structure of your essay using a diagram so that you can actually ‘see’ how it is organized and how one section leads to another. The process of outlining will help you to do this effectively. When you outline, your aim is to develop a ‘plan’ of your essay from beginning to end. At this stage, you are not too concerned with the detail of what will be included — you are focusing more on the flow of information throughout your writing and the connections between the various parts of your work. An outline or plan of your essay should include a brief summary of all the main and supporting points. Below is an example of a basic outline which a student prepared for an essay on ‘New developments in computer technology’. Notice how the essay outline follows a simple pattern of Introduction → Main body/Discussion → Conclusion.
Introduction •
Identification of main theme: computing and new technology
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Assignment overview
Main body •
Background to computing and new technology
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Summary of past developments
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Impact of key developments
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Applications of advanced technology
Conclusion •
Bringing together main ideas/themes covered
When you have sketched out a basic outline for the essay, feel free to add further detail, by noting what will be covered in each section. If possible, also note how many paragraphs will be needed and the content of each paragraph. Once you have done this, you can then start assessing the whole structure of your assignment by deciding if the paragraphs in your outline follow a logical order. If they don’t, rearrange them into an order that makes it easy for the reader to follow. Here is a fuller outline of the same essay showing more details and examples which will be used in the different paragraphs. Introduction Identification of the theme: computing today/ rapidly changing technology Paragraphs 1–2 Overview of the assignment and what will be achieved Paragraphs 3–4 Reference to key thinkers / predictions on future advances Paragraphs 5–6 A brief summary of past changes — link to current developments / changes Paragraphs 7–8 Major computing advances and their impact on life / business Paragraphs 9–10 Illustrations and descriptions of specific advances and their impact — e.g. intelligent systems / robotics Paragraphs 11–12 Applications of advanced technology — discuss theoretical advances and practical implications Paragraphs 13–14 Bringing together main ideas and themes covered
Figure 6.1
Essay outline
You can change your outline by adding, deleting and amending as many times as you like during the planning stage. This is normal and shows that you are thinking very carefully about the content and flow of information when planning the essay.
Drafting Drafting is the process of creating the first version of your text. Don’t expect to write a final version of your essay at the first attempt. Your first draft may be quite rough and incomplete, but that is perfectly acceptable. The main point of drafting is to begin the process of writing by putting down some ideas. You have spent a long time collecting information during the ‘search’ stage, and you have made a clear plan of how it will all fit together in the outlining stage. In drafting, you are writing up a ‘first version’ with the intention of coming back later to make further changes and improvements. In the drafting process, it is often best to refer to your own notes as you write, and not to the original articles, textbooks, etc., as this helps you to produce an original piece of work using your own ideas and words. As you work from your outline, you may once again find yourself adding, changing or deleting as you go along. The main point is that you are writing and your essay is beginning to take shape. When you begin the drafting process, try to write as much as you can without stopping and checking it frequently. This can all be done in the second or third draft. The purpose of the first draft is simply to get something down on paper as quickly and as completely as possible. Also, too many pauses in the drafting process will affect your fluency, so try to ensure that you have all the information you need readily available, without having to look up references, case studies or quotations. The drafting process can be rather slow if you are writing by hand, as you may have to cross out and re-write sentences several times before you are happy with the way the ideas are expressed. Nowadays most people draft their written work using a word processor, as this powerful tool allows them to amend and move around information very easily. You may need to do a lot of ‘re-drafting’, in which you add more detail, develop the ideas more fully and correct any errors, before you are able to produce a version of your essay that you are happy with. It is quite normal to revise and redraft your work up to four or five times, so make sure that you allow enough time for this part of the process, to avoid rushing your final draft.
Revising the structure and content To communicate your understanding clearly, you must check your work. Try to be objective when you read over your first draft. Is there anything that might confuse your reader? Is the style of your writing appropriate? Is your grammar and spelling correct? Noted below is a list of questions which will help you to check the content and structure of your writing. Use this as a guide and talk to your tutor if you have any problems.
Table 6.1
Essay-writing checklist
Questions about your essay Is my essay the correct length? Are the paragraphs in a logical order? Does my essay have all the important parts, i.e. introduction, main body, conclusion? Do all the paragraphs have a similar amount of information? Have I used enough signposts (or linking words) to link the ideas? Questions about each paragraph Does each paragraph have a topic sentence? Does it contain the main idea of the paragraph? Do all of the sentences in each paragraph relate to the main idea? Are the sentences in the paragraph in a logical order? Questions about each sentence Is each sentence complete? Does it express a complete thought or idea? Is each sentence correct? Are the grammar, spelling and punctuation correct? We now look more closely at how to write an introduction and conclusion, and develop the main content, for your essays.
Writing an introduction The introduction is important as it provides a focus for the essay. The aim here is to capture the reader’s attention and interest in the topic you are writing about. One common way of achieving this is by indicating the overall organization of your essay. For example, you might begin the essay like this: In this essay, I am going to look in some detail at the problem of X and Y and come to a conclusion about Z. In the first part of this essay, I will focus on the way in which the problem X has developed in Hong Kong. I will then go on to examine some of the negative affects of Y in the second part of the essay before coming to some general conclusions. or As we all know, X has been a controversial topic of conversation in Hong Kong in the last few years. In this essay I will try to explore some of the arguments for and against X and develop some conclusions based on the information presented. In addition to describing the general topic of your essay, your introduction should aim to: •
provide definitions of any key vocabulary/terms to be used in the essay;
•
set the context and give brief background information on the topic; and
•
state clearly what you would like to say about the topic.
Provide definitions If your essay deals with specialist subject matter or will include vocabulary and terms of reference which relate to a particular field of study, then do your best to provide definitions or explanations of these terms in your introduction. Keep your explanations clear and simple and, where possible, illustrate them with examples that your reader will be able to understand.
Set the context Before going into great detail in your essay, it may be necessary to provide your reader with some basic background information on the topic. Use your introduction to briefly set the context for the essay by mentioning any key pieces of information which will help the reader to understand the points to be presented in the body of your essay.
Outline topic coverage Even at the beginning of the essay, the reader would like to know something about the ‘coverage’ of your writing. Always give a brief summary of the points you intend to include in the body of your essay, so that the reader knows what to expect, and has a clear idea of how the essay is organized.
Adding interest to your introduction There are many ways to ‘add interest’ and get the attention of your reader. Here are five common techniques, each with an illustrative example. Example 1:
Use an interesting fact or statistic as a starting point. In a recent survey, more than 86% of people agreed that air pollution is now a major problem in Hong Kong.
Example 2:
Ask some questions to signal key issues/problems. What are the key elements in a successful marketing campaign?
Example 3:
State your personal opinion/point of view and then spend the rest of the essay defending and supporting it. In my view, the road transportation system in Hong Kong is in a state of crisis.
Example 4:
Outline the background to your essay. As you may be aware, the government has begun a series of initiatives to improve special needs education in Hong Kong’s primary and secondary schools …
Example 5:
Find a good quotation when you are doing your information search and planning. ‘… because of the pace you have no choice — an organization must do an effective planning job or get lost in the maze of increasing complexity … If information systems are to be an integral part of the implementation, they need to be addressed at the same high level, at least in terms of the role they will play.’ (Callon 1996, 284–87)
Feel free to experiment with each of these styles and to use any that you feel comfortable with in your writing.
Developing the main content There are no strict rules for organizing the content of your essay, and the format you choose will depend on the type of writing you are doing. Your essay will certainly be divided into paragraphs, however, and from your essay outline you will already have a good idea about the content of each paragraph and the way in which information will flow from one to the next.
Paragraphs A well-structured paragraph has a single subject, a topic sentence and some supporting sentences. This means that when you are planning your writing you should think in terms of ideas and paragraphs. For example, an essay on the effects of reclamation in Victoria Harbour might be planned as in Figure 6.2. Introduction Background/history including important facts and statistics Paragraphs 1–2 Importance of the harbour to Hong Kong Paragraphs 3–4 Environmental considerations Paragraphs 5–6 Commercial considerations Paragraphs 7–8 Government policy and intentions Paragraphs 9–10 Choices facing the authorities on reclamation Paragraphs 11–12 Possible solutions Paragraphs 13–14 Conclusion
Figure 6.2
Example of an essay plan
In the outline, notice that a simple two-paragraph structure has been used for each of the main sections of the essay above. Of course, some sections of the essay may be longer than others and require more than two paragraphs to express all the information. For the paragraphs themselves, however, it is important to make sure that there is balance in the way they are expressed. In other words, some paragraphs should not be ‘light’, while others are ‘overloaded’ with information. When you have produced your first draft of the essay, check the balance of your own paragraphs and, if you feel they are unbalanced, break up longer paragraphs and add more supporting points and details to shorter ones. The same topic can be viewed from a number of different angles. For example, you could look at issues concerning reclamation in the harbour from a technical, biological or social point of view. The way you develop the content of the assignment will depend on the focus of your course and the question set. To develop content for the assignment on the harbour, for example, you would need to take each paragraph in the outline and add to and expand on what you have included there.
For example, you might develop the main content of paragraphs 1 and 2 in the following way: Importance of harbour to Hong Kong Paragraph 1 Physical details about harbour —size/area. Quote statistics from marine department. Historical and current functions and usage Transportation and logistics
Figure 6.3
Planning paragraphs in more detail
As you can see from the paragraph outline above, the basic content for paragraphs 1 and 2 has been sketched out. The student has considered what information would best fit into each of the two paragraphs by grouping and arranging it into a logical sequence. To add more detail to the general ideas contained in each paragraph, the student has indicated where statistics and quotations will be added and where this information will be taken from. When developing the content of your own assignments, you can work in the same way. Decide how your notes and ideas can be put together — first of all within a paragraph and then from paragraph to paragraph to build up a logically sequenced assignment. If you plan the content of your assignment in this way, you will be at an advantage when it comes to writing up the draft, as the connections between the various parts of your writing will be clearer for you as the writer and for your tutor as the reader.
Concluding an essay Most of the techniques used in the opening paragraph can also be applied when writing the conclusion. The conclusion is the final part of your essay which brings together all the different parts of your argument or discussion and gives the reader a sense that your essay is complete. In academic writing, the conclusion to an essay is usually either: •
a summary of the main ideas in the essay; or
•
a paraphrase of the main points or arguments.
It is also normal for the conclusion to include a comment from the writer as a final message to the reader. New ideas and details are not usually introduced at this stage since they will distract the reader’s attention and suggest that you have not mastered the information in the discussion.
Adding quotations and references to your essay Using material from other sources and quoting what other people have said is a central part of academic writing. When you are writing your essays, there will be times when you wish to refer to a writer or another source of information. This is known as ‘referencing’ and it is something which all academic writers have to do. When you quote from another text, it is important to provide an exact reproduction of a writer’s words without changing anything. If you find a quotation which you feel summarizes a key point or provides an insight into the topic you are writing about, it is acceptable to include a direct word-for-word quotation. Such quotations should be quite brief, and you should not use too many of them in your essay. The idea is to write what you think about a topic, rather than to constantly quote what other people think and have said about it.
Quotations When you introduce a direct quotation, it is necessary to use a reporting verb like ‘suggest’ or ‘state’, e.g. As Chan has suggested, ‘The development of a hi-tech logistics hub in Hong Kong is now a number one priority’. or My point is supported by Wilson and Chu, who state that: add quotation. Look carefully at the reporting verbs shown in Table 6.2:
Table 6.2
Using reporting verbs to introduce quotations
Purpose
Expression
Reporting verb
Quotation
To introduce a
As + family name of
has suggested
+ direct quotation
writer’s/speaker’s
writer/speaker …
claims
point of view
argues etc.
To use a writer/
This point/My
makes the point that ... + direct quotation
speaker to
argument is
concludes that …
support a point
supported by + name etc.
you are making
of writer/speaker who …
To agree or
I agree/cannot agree belief that
+ direct quotation
disagree with a
with + writer’s/
suggestion that
writer/speaker
speaker’s name in
etc.
the possessive
As we have already said, very long quotations are not normally used in academic writing, although occasionally it may be necessary to include a quotation of more than a few lines. In the examples given above, reporting verbs are used to add quotations to the body of your essay. With longer quotations, the generally accepted rule is to ‘indent’ the quotation as a separate paragraph, e.g. It has been observed that …
(Choi 1996, 3).
In-text references We add in-text references by giving the family name of the author, the year of publication, and the page number. The reference details should always be kept close to the actual reference so that it is easy for readers to know exactly which piece of information the reference refers to. Here are three examples of in-text references: 1 Jones and Chan (2005, 157) have identified a number of ways in which … 2 Au Yeung (1999, 64) has shown that … 3 The evidence presented by Kwan (2002, 262) demonstrates clearly that … In the examples above, only a date and page number are included in the brackets; the author’s name is outside the brackets. The connection between the name and the bracketed details is made clear by using a ‘reporting verb’ — in the examples above, ‘have identified’, ‘has shown’ and ‘demonstrates’. Another type of reference that can be used is the ‘non-integral’ type. Here we do not integrate the reference into the body of our writing. In this type of reference, the author(s’) name(s), the date and the page number(s) are placed within reference brackets and usually come at the end of the sentence in which the information appears. Here are two examples of non-integral references: 1 A number of ways in which this system can be modified … have been identified (John and Wong 1999, 25). 2 It has been shown that managers’ approaches to … vary greatly (Lo 1998, 7). Note that it is not necessary to include given names, initials or titles (e.g. Mr or Dr). Finally, we include this information in the references section at the end of the assignment to create a bibliographic reference.
Writing a reference list At the end of an assignment, you should list alphabetically the books and articles you have referred to or cited. In the academic world, there are several common ways of writing references such as the APA (American Psychological Association) and the Chicago referencing styles. For more information on any of the referencing styles you can do an online search (see p.44). In courses developed by the OUHK, two referencing styles are used: APA style and our in-house style (OUHK style). When writing your assignments for a course, you should follow the style that is used in the study units for that course. In the following, we are going to illustrate these styles with examples.
An article in a collection APA style
1
2
3
1
4
Bates, A. W. (2004). Technology and lifelong learning: Myths and realities. In D. Murphy, R. Carr, J. Taylor & T. M. Wong (Eds.), Distance education 5
and technology: Issues and practice (pp. 9–30). Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong Press. OUHK style
1
2
3
4
Bates, A W (2004) ‘Technology and lifelong learning: Myths and realities’ in Murphy, D, Carr, R, Taylor, J and Wong T M (eds) Distance Education 5
and Technology: Issues and Practice, Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong Press, 9–30. 1
An author’s initials follow his or her surname. The surname is followed by a comma. Initials have a space between them. If there is more than one author, the format is (APA style) ‘Bates, A. W., & Tate, Y. A.’ or (OUHK style) ‘Bates, A W and Tate, Y A’. In APA style, if names appear in the middle of the reference, the initials come before the surname and there is no comma before ‘&’.
2
The year of publication is in brackets.
3
APA style uses more punctuation than OUHK style but does not use quotation marks.
4
If a book is edited (not authored), this is indicated in brackets after the name(s) of the editor(s) by (APA style) ‘Ed.’ / ‘Eds.’ or (OUHK style) ‘ed.’ / ‘eds’.
5
Titles of books and journals are in italics (for word processing) or underlined (for handwriting).
A book APA style
Callon, J. D. (1996). Competitive advantage through information technology. New York: McGraw Hill.
OUHK style
Callon, J D (1996) Competitive Advantage Through Information Technology, New York: McGraw Hill.
An article in a journal 1
2
APA style
Jarvis, P. (2000). Globalisation, the learning society and comparative education. Comparative Education, 36(3) , 119–134.
OUHK style
Jarvis, P (2000) ‘Globalisation, the learning society and comparative education’, Comparative Education, 36(3) : 119–34.
1
1
2
These are the volume and issue numbers, the latter being in brackets. In APA style the volume number is italicized and a comma is used. In OUHK style a colon is used.
2
In APA style the number of the last page of the article is given in full.
An official document APA style
Education and Manpower Bureau. (2005). The new academic structure for senior secondary education and higher education — Action plan for investing in the future of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Government Logistics Department.
OUHK style
Education and Manpower Bureau (2005) The New Academic Structure for Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education — Action Plan for Investing in the Future of Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Government Logistics Department.
Online references APA style
Tornikoski, M. (2000). Radio spectra and variability of gigahertz-peaked spectrum radio sources and candidates. Astronomical Journal, 121(3). Retrieved July 15, 2006, from http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJ/journal/issues/v121n3/200486/200486.html
OUHK style
Tornikoski, M (2000) ‘Radio spectra and variability of gigahertz-peaked spectrum radio sources and candidates’, Astronomical Journal, 121(3), http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ AJ/journal/issues/v121n3/200486/200486.html (accessed 15 July 2006).
Summary In order to complete your essays at university, there are a number of academic writing skills which you will need to master. Planning your writing involves several stages of preparation and searching for information, to make sure that you understand the requirements of the assignment and produce work which is directly related to the question. A well-organized assignment outline will help you to structure the information you would like to include and guide you through the writing process. The outline should contain information on the content of the introduction, main body and conclusion of your assignment. The main point of drafting is to begin the process of writing, and not to produce a perfect assignment the first time. The focus is on putting ideas down on paper with the intention of coming back later to expand and improve on those ideas. Adding brief quotations and referencing other source material is an important way of showing your learning and supporting the arguments presented in your assignment.
Chapter 7
Assessment Assessment is a part of every academic course at a university. Many of you probably have memories — not always very pleasant ones — of cramming for examinations during your school days. However, you should not feel anxious about assessment, regardless of your past experience with it. You should try to view it positively as an integral part of the learning process. How do you know if you have learned the course material well or can apply the knowledge you have gained? Assessment gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, understanding and skills, and possible applications of the course material in ‘real life’ situations. There are several ways in which your learning and progress can be assessed: •
Self-assessment items (self-tests and activities) are strategically placed throughout the study units and, while they don’t count towards your final grade, they allow you to check your understanding of key ideas immediately after learning about them.
•
Continuous assessment, in the form of assignments, provides an opportunity to demonstrate what you know, and how well you understand, throughout the course — and you can learn from the feedback provided.
•
A final examination, which brings together all the learning achieved throughout the course, is your chance to show how effectively you have studied.
Let’s look at each of these assessment components in turn.
Self-assessment Self-assessment items, which usually take the form of self-tests or activities, are an important part of study units in distance learning course materials. A study unit is normally divided into a number of sections, with each section forming a major topic of study; and a self-test and/or an activity is often inserted near the end of a section to allow you to test your understanding of the main ideas in it. Suggested answers or feedback are often provided at the end of a unit, so that you can check how well you have learned. A self-test usually involves answering factual questions, while an activity normally asks you to try to apply your knowledge in a new situation, e.g. to modify something to produce something new. You should always try to answer all the questions in a self-test or perform all parts of an activity before referring to any feedback. If you find your responses are unsatisfactory (you must be the judge), you should immediately review the relevant parts of the section again, or perhaps the whole section. This is how assessment helps you to learn — it shows you the areas in which you are weak and, therefore, require additional study. If you still have difficulty in understanding the material after further reading, you can always ask your tutor to explain. Your tutor is there to help you. Finally, carrying out the self-assessment tasks thoroughly and learning from them can contribute indirectly to your final grade because it will help to prepare you for your assignments.
Continuous assessment The continuous assessment (your assignments) typically makes up 50% of your final course grade. Your assignments are not just tests to measure your progress — you should view them also as teaching and learning opportunities through which you will learn how well you understand the material. Naturally, you should try to do your assignments as well as you can, but it is important to recognize that they enable you to learn from any mistakes or weaknesses, unlike in examinations where the only feedback you are likely to get is your grade. The feedback you receive from your marker (your tutor or the computer) is the key to helping you to improve. Therefore, do not focus only on the mark or grade — look closely at the comments and the items you got wrong because you can learn a great deal from them. Such feedback should lead you to review your areas of weakness, thereby enhancing your learning and understanding. Of course, do not neglect what you did correctly — build on your strengths.
What tasks can you expect in an assignment? This is an extremely difficult question to answer in the space available, simply because assignments vary so much across courses. They can take the form of, for example, multiple-choice questions, short paragraph answer questions, essays, case studies, or programming exercises (in computing courses), and not all of these question types are necessarily used in any particular course.
What do you need to do in an assignment? Timing Keeping to the assignment schedule is very important — if you fail to submit your assignments to your tutor by the due dates, you are likely to fall behind in your studies. You should allow three to four weeks to complete each assignment, but this work has to be done in parallel with your normal study schedule — you cannot take four weeks out of your schedule for each assignment. In other words, you may need to put in extra effort in the weeks leading up to assignment submission, so be prepared for this. Most assignments cover a few units (or chapters) of work. When you have finished studying a unit(s), you should attempt the associated assignment question(s)
while the content is still fresh in your mind. Do not leave them so late that you are rushing to meet the deadlines. In fact, try to have everything completed a few days before the due date to allow yourself time for a final review.
Understanding the questions Regardless of the type of task, the most important point is that you are very clear about what you are being asked to do — and then do it. To understand the requirements of assignment questions or tasks, it is critical to identify the key words (and their meanings) in the questions. Look at the example and key words provided in Table 7.1 overleaf.
Table 7.1
Examples of key words in assignment and examination questions
Here is an example of a possible assignment (or examination) question taken from a publication by the OUHK School of Education and Languages entitled Study Skills for Education Courses (2006): Compare and contrast how consensus theory and conflict theory explain the effects of teacher–pupil relationships in classroom society. Which are the important words? In this example, most of them are very important, as explained below. ·
Compare and contrast: discuss similarities and differences between
·
Consensus theory and conflict theory: both theories must appear in your answer
·
Explain: indicate the meaning, give reasons for
·
Effects: the results of
·
Teacher–pupil relationships: this should be self-explanatory
·
Classroom society: in a specific environment.
You are required to outline how each theory explains the effects, as well as pointing out the similarities and differences. Your answer will be unsatisfactory if you simply describe separately how each theory explains the effects of teacher–pupil relationships. Some key words in assignment and examination questions Here are some key words that might appear: Describe
Give a detailed account of something. This type of question is usually straightforward, but it is important that you use terminology properly and are able to elaborate on the terms in sufficient detail. Good answers will also include relevant illustrative examples.
Outline
Give the main features or general principles. Minor details are not required but the key points must be highlighted. It involves less detail than a question that asks you to describe.
Discuss
Argue and debate, giving reasons for and against. Your discussion should usually be based on relevant theories or research — it is not enough to simply state your own opinions.
Give an
This is similar to ‘describe’.
account of Explain
Indicate the meaning, give reasons.
Account for This is similar to ‘explain’. Evaluate
Make a judgement on the strengths and weaknesses. You should be as objective as possible, discuss both strengths and weaknesses, and support your discussion with relevant theories, examples or research findings.
Analyse
Explore every aspect of an issue, including its background, context and content. This might include describing all the problems or issues, discussing them from various perspectives and examining the different factors causing them.
Apply
Discuss how a theory or idea could be put into practice in a real situation.
To what
Assess the degree to which a statement is true. Questions of this type often do not have a definite answer, so you must make clear what you support (agree with) and what you do not support (disagree with) — and why.
The key words above are the verbs in the question or task that tell you what to do, but you must also note carefully what else is important. For example, the sample question given above specifies classroom society, not out-of-class society, and teacher–pupil relationships, not some other relationship.
Doing the questions Most assignments include a number of suggestions on how you should deal with the questions or tasks, e.g. an indication of word length, and general guidance on how they should be tackled. Try to make the best use of any such guidelines. You can also discuss the questions with your tutor (or other students) to ensure you have a full understanding of what is required. While you are free to use any resources at your disposal (learning materials or people) to complete an assignment, the final product must be your own work. You should never copy (plagiarize) someone else’s work and submit it as if it were your own. Also, if you use material directly from other sources, you must acknowledge where it came from — that is, you must include references (or citations) for any material you have copied or even paraphrased. A key factor in completing assignments effectively, however, is to use your own ideas and preferably your own words, perhaps supported by other people’s ideas.
If you make a point which is supported by some expert(s), you have added value to your ideas. But if you copy too much (even with acknowledgements), there will be little room for your ideas to come through. It is also important to aim for quality, not quantity. You may be very familiar with a particular topic, but you should not simply include all you know in an answer (or solution to a problem). You need to focus on the key points which are relevant to the task at hand. Many assignments require essay-type answers. The previous chapter on ‘Academic writing’, which discusses this type of assignment in detail, should be helpful to you in planning and writing an essay. Finally, once you have completed an assignment, send it to your tutor in time to meet the due date for submission and make sure you keep a copy just in case the original is lost in the post.
Learning from your assignments When you receive your marked assignments, not surprisingly, the first thing you probably look for is your mark. However, you should also pay attention to the feedback from your tutor. Read his/her comments — both positive and negative — very carefully, and try to learn from them. If necessary, you can contact your tutor to seek more information on how you can improve. Also, keep all your marked assignments and use them as active learning documents for improving your later assignments; and review them all when you are studying for the final examination.
The final examination You should try not to be too anxious about final examinations. As we have explained, if you have worked conscientiously on your assignments (and learned from your tutor’s feedback) you should be adequately prepared. Here is some advice for you on planning your revision for the examination.
Before the examination The two- or three-week revision period before the final examination is invaluable for consolidating your knowledge and preparing you to perform well (although, of course, some of the points mentioned below should be practised throughout the course). •
Keep up to date. This applies throughout your study of the course, but if you are up to date at the start of this revision period you can focus on consolidating what you have learned, rather than learning new material.
•
Work to a revision timetable. Develop a schedule so that you can use your time as productively as possible, and stick to it as closely as you can.
•
Use active revision techniques. Passive reading of linear notes is not the ideal way to prepare for examinations. Ask yourself questions; imagine new scenarios or problems that need to be solved; develop new network notes to integrate your learning; test your knowledge against past examination questions and, if you have time, prepare some sample answers (see the section on ‘Using specimen and past examination papers’ on the next page). Remember to review your assignments as well as the course material.
•
Develop a refined overview of the course. Summarize your notes on each major topic in a few pages. This will force you to focus on the main ideas, and the relationships between them.
•
Look after your health — work, eat and sleep well, and also try to find some time for relaxation.
Using specimen and past examination papers As part of your preparation for the final examination, you should receive a specimen examination paper before the actual event. This should help you to prepare by giving you a preview of the types of questions that will be included, and the overall structure of the examination. It can even help you to practise planning your time allocation in advance. The final examination will obviously not be identical to the specimen paper, but it will be similar in various ways. You should read carefully the general instructions about how many questions you should answer. Then you should note the types of questions that will be asked and the marks allocated to each type (for time management during the examination). Next you can highlight key words in each question. Finally, if you have time, you can practise answering one or two questions under ‘exam conditions’. If you can get hold of past examination papers, look through them to become familiar with the format, and try to assess the range and depth of the question topics.
Close to the examination •
You should not study too much close to the examination day. If you have prepared well, you will be familiar with the main ideas, and relevant examples and key relationships. Last minute cramming can, in fact, cause you to panic because you think you do not know
•
enough to pass.
Try to avoid discussing the course and its contents with other students at this stage. If they have different views on the topics, what they say could raise doubts in your mind and lead to confusion.
•
Make sure you are as well rested as you can be, and that you are not hungry but avoid having a heavy meal before your examination. Also, remember to take items such as stationery, a dictionary and a calculator, where these are permitted.
Taking the examination •
Try to relax!
•
Read the instructions carefully, underlining or highlighting how many questions you are supposed to attempt, and be especially careful if the paper is divided into sections. Be very clear about how many questions you are supposed to answer from each section.
•
Skim through the paper and, keeping the instructions in mind, identify the questions you will attempt.
•
Plan the amount of time you will give to each question. For example, if the total marks for a three-hour examination are 100 and a question is worth 20 marks, you should allow about 20% of the total time for that question or task, i.e. about 35 minutes. A 10-mark question should receive slightly less than 20 minutes. Stick to these times quite rigidly.
•
Answer the required number of questions, allowing enough time to answer each one well [see the previous point].
•
Decide on the order in which you will answer the selected questions. Start with the one you feel you can answer best, but be careful that you do not spend too much time on it because you want to include everything you know.
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Read each question very carefully. Highlight or underline the key words and make sure you know what they mean — you have to carry out the task described. Some of the questions will probably look like those you have seen in assignments, but the tasks are very unlikely to be exactly the same.
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Plan each answer with your understanding of the question in mind, and decide how much you should include.
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Try to finish the whole paper with about ten minutes to spare and use this time to check your answers. Have you answered the required number of questions? If not — if you are one short — attempt it quickly, using point form in an attempt to gain some marks. If you have done all the questions required, skim through each answer and add any points you think would be of value. Finally, make sure that all the pages, including your planning notes if you used separate sheets of paper, are put together for submission to the invigilator.
Summary Assessment is an integral part of the learning process. Self-assessment (self-tests and activities) provides immediate feedback on whether or not you understand the material; and assignments allow you to assess your knowledge and understanding against the course and unit objectives. Also, feedback on assignments should strengthen your performance. In preparing for the final examination, look closely at any specimen paper provided to ensure that you are familiar with the format and types of questions asked, and review your assignments and the comments made on them by your tutor. If you have worked hard on the course and prepared for the examination, there is no need to worry — it will not pose a threat or contain any surprises.
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