STUDY SKILLS - PLANNING RESEARCH AND WRITING
This information is taken from:
McWillan and Weyers (2011): 5: Planning for dissertations.
Planning your workload from the early stages will help with the final submission.
McWillan and Weyers (2011): 5: Planning for dissertations.
Planning your workload from the early stages will help with the final submission.
Writing a critical report or dissertation requires you to demonstrate:
In these extensive pieces of writing you need to plan your work carefully and ensure that you select a way of explaining your viewpoint that demonstrates your analytical abilities. ...
1. IDENTIFYING KEY THEMES IN YOUR TEXT
In thinking about potential structures for your writing, it is important to recognise that university work needs more than simple reproduction of facts ... You will need to be able to construct an argument and to support this with evidence. This means that you need to draw on the data you have produced or the literature that you have read in order to support your position ... it may be appropriate to present different viewpoints and evaluate arguments one over the others ...
written assignments require some initial description of context or process to outline the background to the topic. This is then followed by in-depth consideration of the topic, using more analytical or critical approaches. ...
2. TIME PLANNING
Planning your time (as well as your writing) will:
save time in the long run and ... the quality of the preparation will be reflected in the quality of the end product. ...
Remember to take into account other unrelated things you may need to do, for example, to attend lectures, tutorials or practicals, and any part-time work commitments ...
3. THE STAGES OF WORK FOR COMPLETING A PIECE OF RESEARCH AND WRITING
4. READING
Time is precious when you are researching, so it is sensible to be as efficient as possible in identifying the material you need ... Use the contents page and the index ... to identify which sections are relevant to your topic. ...
Begin by doing the necessary reading and note-taking. ... As you move from basic texts to more specialist books or journal articles that give more detailed analysis, your understanding of the topic will deepen. ... What are you looking for? This could be ... facts, examples, information to support a particular viewpoint, or counter-arguments to provide balance to your analysis of the topic. ...
recognise the dangers of prolonging the reading phases ... This is an avoidance strategy that is quite common. Students may delay getting down to planning the structure and moving on to the writing phase because they are uncomfortable with writing.
5. THE REPORTER'S QUESTIONS
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the important from the unimportant, the relevant from the irrelevant. A well-tried strategy, for many subjects, is to ask yourself the questions that trainee journalists are advised to use:
6. KEEP RECORDS OF SOURCES
Identify the requirements of the reference system ... (HARVARD!) favoured in your discipline and ensure that you get into the habit of noting all the necessary detail ... (PAGE NUMBERS FOR QUOTATIONS, DATE ACCESSED FOR INTERNET SITES!) required by that system ... This will make citation and referencing much easier and less time-consuming.
7. REMEMBER!
Good planning ensures that you can realistically complete the work before the submission date. It also allows you to balance the time spent on different components and devote sufficient time to aspects such as editing and proof-reading. (McMillan and Weyers, 2011, pp.40-50).
- your knowledge and understanding of your research subject;
- your ability to research a specific aspect within that area;
- your capacity to think critically about the information, views and conclusions reached by others;
- your ability to organise supporting information and evidence within a well-structured text that follows relevant academic conventions.
In these extensive pieces of writing you need to plan your work carefully and ensure that you select a way of explaining your viewpoint that demonstrates your analytical abilities. ...
1. IDENTIFYING KEY THEMES IN YOUR TEXT
In thinking about potential structures for your writing, it is important to recognise that university work needs more than simple reproduction of facts ... You will need to be able to construct an argument and to support this with evidence. This means that you need to draw on the data you have produced or the literature that you have read in order to support your position ... it may be appropriate to present different viewpoints and evaluate arguments one over the others ...
written assignments require some initial description of context or process to outline the background to the topic. This is then followed by in-depth consideration of the topic, using more analytical or critical approaches. ...
2. TIME PLANNING
Planning your time (as well as your writing) will:
save time in the long run and ... the quality of the preparation will be reflected in the quality of the end product. ...
Remember to take into account other unrelated things you may need to do, for example, to attend lectures, tutorials or practicals, and any part-time work commitments ...
3. THE STAGES OF WORK FOR COMPLETING A PIECE OF RESEARCH AND WRITING
- Exploring and analysing the subject
- Doing preliminary reading
- Planning your analysis of the topic
- Doing supplementary reading and gathering data
- Writing the first draft
- Reviewing the first draft
- Editing/proof-reading the final copy
- Printing the final copy
- Time margin for the unexpected
4. READING
Time is precious when you are researching, so it is sensible to be as efficient as possible in identifying the material you need ... Use the contents page and the index ... to identify which sections are relevant to your topic. ...
Begin by doing the necessary reading and note-taking. ... As you move from basic texts to more specialist books or journal articles that give more detailed analysis, your understanding of the topic will deepen. ... What are you looking for? This could be ... facts, examples, information to support a particular viewpoint, or counter-arguments to provide balance to your analysis of the topic. ...
recognise the dangers of prolonging the reading phases ... This is an avoidance strategy that is quite common. Students may delay getting down to planning the structure and moving on to the writing phase because they are uncomfortable with writing.
5. THE REPORTER'S QUESTIONS
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the important from the unimportant, the relevant from the irrelevant. A well-tried strategy, for many subjects, is to ask yourself the questions that trainee journalists are advised to use:
- Who? Who is involved in relation to this topic ... people/organisations?
- What? What are the problems/issues involved?
- When? What is the time-frame to be considered?
- Where? Where did it occur?
- Why? What reasons are relevant to this issue/topic?
- How? How has the situation been reached?
6. KEEP RECORDS OF SOURCES
Identify the requirements of the reference system ... (HARVARD!) favoured in your discipline and ensure that you get into the habit of noting all the necessary detail ... (PAGE NUMBERS FOR QUOTATIONS, DATE ACCESSED FOR INTERNET SITES!) required by that system ... This will make citation and referencing much easier and less time-consuming.
7. REMEMBER!
Good planning ensures that you can realistically complete the work before the submission date. It also allows you to balance the time spent on different components and devote sufficient time to aspects such as editing and proof-reading. (McMillan and Weyers, 2011, pp.40-50).
REFERENCE
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2011) How to write dissertations and project reports. Harlow: Pearson.
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2011) How to write dissertations and project reports. Harlow: Pearson.
