Getorganized

Get Organized: Tips for finding and managing

your research

Jo-Anne Naslund UBC Education Library

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

OutlineOutline

• Keep a research journal• Be clear about what you are doing• Read some books about research• Consult some writing references • Get started, keep going, keep writing• Don’t give up

Explore some useful tools (for your research & writing)

• Spreadsheets, analysis tools• Plotting programs• Graphics programs• Citation management

programs eg. RefWorks• Citation style guides• Guides to writing• Start learning these before

you collect the data (e.g., during the thesis proposal process)

Writing Resources

• Use books, not just web sites to help your writing

• Citation style manual(APA, MLA, Chicago etc.)

• maybe even a thesaurus and a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms.

RefWorks

Keep a research journalKeep a research journal

• Folder on your desk top• Online Google docs• Physical notebook or binder• File box

NOTE: Something that is with you whenever and where ever.

Purpose of a research journalPurpose of a research journal

• Idea generation• Plan your time and set target dates • Track your search tools• Record your search strategies• Keep questions and answers together

A reader/reviewer will ask: • what is the research question?

• is it a good question? (has it been answered

before? Why is it a useful question to work on?)

• did the author convince me that the question was adequately answered?

• has the author made an adequate contribution to knowledge?

Chinneck, J. (1999). “How to Organize Your Thesis” Retrieved July 26, 2010 at http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html

Know your taskKnow your task

• Clarify information needed • Get background information• Design search strategy• Choose places to search• Use searching techniques • Get to the fulltext• Manage results• Evaluate the information • Cite references

Getting StartedGetting Started

What’s YourTopic?

List Keywords

Search for journal articles

Internet Books IndexesOther

sources

• Google

• Google Scholar

What research is there about digital literacy and teacher education in Uganda?

Digital literacy, technology literacy, computer literacy, teacher education, teacher training, Uganda, Africa

broader term = Technology, Educational

technology

original term = Digital literacy

Related/narrower term = information literacy, computer

uses in education, online learning, virtual classrooms

• academic journals

• magazines

• newspapers

• organizations

• web sites

• directories

• bibliographies

The outline is the necessary The outline is the necessary frameworkframework

• Use the MS Word outline tool

• Keep going back to “outline view” throughout your searching and then through the various drafts of your writing

Schermer, L. (2009) “Tips for organizing and writing your thesis” Retrieved July 26, 2010 ahttp://geology.wwu.edu/dept/resources/thesiswriting/

writingbrownbag.ppt

MS Word Outline ToolMS Word Outline Tool

Create the OutlineCreate the Outline

• Prepare an extended outline. • Use MS Word “outline” tool • List each section and subsection • For each section and subsection, write a brief

point-form description of the contents. • Review with your advisor.

Keep to the pointKeep to the point

• Place extraneous information in a miscellaneous file

• Focus and eliminate items

• Revisit your outline

Build a search strategy

• Key word search

• Generate a list of terms—synonyms

• I want to find out about schooling and effects of accountability.

AND

AND

AND

+

High stakes tests

Public education

program effectiveness

Elementaryeducation

accountabilityschooling

Idea 2 Idea 1

Use truncation (wild card)

• Truncation

* most commonly used by databases and search engines

High stakes test*

test

tests

testing

test*

Choose a good role model

• Papers in your field (check handbooks of research, annual reviews)

• Author who consistently writes clear, important papers

• Note content, style, form

• Remember: this paper likely went through many drafts too!

Organization• Single most important concepts.

• Outline critical observations and reasoning that support the concepts

• Draft the body of the text : methods first, observations next, interpretations last.

• Draft in rough the contextual elements: conclusion first, introduction next, abstract last.

• Insert transitional sections, paragraphs, and sentences.

Organization• Abstract• Introduction• Background and Literature review• Problem statement/research question• Methods• Data presentation• Interpretation• Discussion• Conclusions• References

http://toby.library.ubc.ca/webpage/webpage.cfm?id=502

Literature Review

• Limited to the state of the art relevant to your thesis. Organize this section by idea, and not by author or by publication.

• Often comes after the problem statement

• Some advisors do not expect a long lit. review for the thesis proposal or the thesis--be sure you ask your committee!

Schermer, L. (2009) “Tips for organizing and writing your thesis” Retrieved July 26, 2010 ahttp://geology.wwu.edu/dept/resources/thesiswriting/writingbrownbag.ppt

Literature review

• Provides context for and details about the motivation for the project

• States why the problem is important

• Describes what others have done and hence sets a benchmark for the current project

• Justifies the use of specific techniques or problem solving procedures


Tips for literature review• Keep up with current literature in your field of

study

• Jot down key points of an article and note the journal title and place of publication

• Devise a tagging/folder system that will allow you to retrieve the paper quickly. (e.g. use RefWorks)

• Make sure that you have read and understood cited work –quoted material in red

Tips for literature review• Organize your content according to

ideas instead of individual publications.

• Do not simply quote or paraphrase the contents of published articles. Weave the information into focused views. Demonstrate your deeper understanding of the topic.

• Do not be tempted to summarize everything you have read; only include those relevant to your main points.


Shed light on your subject:clarity is everything


Focus on one important thing in each paragraph

Each paragraph needs a topic sentence

Contents of paragraph should only relate to that topic

Use Outline view to see and revise this


References

• Include all references cited, including those in Tables and Figure captions.

• Use consistent style throughout –learn the style used in your discipline

• Use RefWorks program (start NOW building your library database)

Getting over writers block

• Pile of poo theory• write something, anything & mold it afterward • Quiet that voice in your head that says “this

sucks”--just get something on paper for a start• Start the pile of poo early enough so you can

leave it for a day or so, then come back to it.• Have confidence that you know more about

your project than anyone else does, you just need to convey that knowledge

Schermer, L. (2009) “Tips for organizing and writing your thesis” Retrieved July 26, 2010 at http://geology.wwu.edu/dept/resources/thesiswriting/writingbrownbag.ppt

Keep going

• Write as you go

• Share writing early and often

• Deal with procrastination. • Identify a time and location where you can

write with good focus and few distractions, and take advantage of it regularly -- at least weekly, possibly daily

• Finally:It’s an uphill battle(if at first you don’t succeed…..)

Schermer, L. (2009) “Tips for organizing and writing your thesis” Retrieved July 26, 2010 at http://geology.wwu.edu/dept/resources/thesiswriting/writingbrownbag.ppt

References


Newcastle University. School of Engineering and Advanced Materials. (2009) Writing Tips. Retrieved July 26, 2010 at http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/writing/writeindex.htm

Schermer, L. (2009) “Tips for organizing and writing your thesis”Retrieved July 26, 2010 at http://geology.wwu.edu/dept/resources/thesiswriting/writingbrownbag.ppt

http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html

http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/writing/writeindex.htm

http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/writing/writeindex.htm

http://geology.wwu.edu/dept/resources/thesiswriting/

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Getorganized