Study skills• Writing techniques• Reading strategies• Researching• Critical thinking• Note making• Improving your memory• Time management• Presentation skills• Revision techniques

Extended Project QualificationLibrary section of Moodle

The Big Six

1. Task definition2. Information seeking

strategies3. Location and access4. Use of information5. Synthesis6. Evaluation

Eisenberg and Berkowitz

The Big Six

1. What do you want to do?2. Which resources are

available?3. Finding the information4. Using the information to

make notes5. Writing up the

assignment6. Assessing the result

Dominique Collins

Step 1: What do you want to do?

• What are the objectives?

• Do you need to collect data?

• How many words?

• What format?• What is the

deadline?

Analyse your topic• Account for:• Analyse:• Compare:• Contrast:• Critically

evaluate:• Interpret:• Summarise:• To what extent?

• Give reasons; explain why• Examine in close detail• Show how two or more things

are similar• Set two or more items or

arguments in opposition so as to draw out the differences

• Weight arguments for and against something, assessing the strength of evidence on both sides

• Give the meaning and relevance of data or other material

• Draw out the main points only, omitting details

• Consider how far something is true or contributes to the final outcome

KeywordsLet’s look at this brief video from The University of Houston: Developing Keywords

What is ‘What is ‘green tourismgreen tourism’? ’? What impact does tourism What impact does tourism have on the environment? have on the environment? What can be done to What can be done to reduce any damage whilst reduce any damage whilst still continuing to travel still continuing to travel and discover other and discover other cultures? Refer to problems cultures? Refer to problems and solutions found in and solutions found in France.France.A-Level French essay question

Search for eco tourism on Eclipse.net

How is the concentration of glucose in the bloodstream kept relatively constant for an athlete playing a ninety-minute game of football?

Search strategyResearch question:

AND AND AND AND

Concepts

Keywords

Synonyms

Step 2: What resources

are available?

Image: number 0000071128 from iStockphoto.com

Specific books on a subject

General books on a subject

Biographies of people involved in the subject

Specific books on a subject

General books on a subject

Biographies

Encyclopaedias

Do NOT use Wikipedia as a scholarly source

Who says so?

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s founder

“For God sake, you're in college; don't cite the encyclopedia.”

Wikipedia’s reliability is questionable

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s founder

Edward Owens

the last American pirate

Newspapers & news onlineEdward Owens

the last American pirate

Members of Warwickshire Public Libraries may search the Infotrac Newspaper Archive and The Times Digital Archive on their website.

Free online sources include:Google NewsBBC NewsBBC News Archive

Image: number 0000057784 from iStockphoto.com

Edward Owens

http://www.trentu.ca/admin/library/help/scholarly/journalcover.html

Why use Journal articles?They contain:•Up-to-date information, not available elsewhere•Research findings•Opinions of experts in their fieldHow to recognise an academic journal article:Articles are often findings of academic research. They tend to follow a pattern - abstract, introduction, review of the literature, findings, conclusions and list of references and/or bibliography.

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/pol/pol_lu/page_07.htm

Some free online sources:ERIC Education Resources Information CentreDOAJ Directory of Open Access JournalsJURN Academic search engine, indexing thousands of free journals in the arts and humanities

Periodicals

Peer- reviewed

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s founder

TeachersSupport staffParentsFriendsUniversity staff

Experts

Television and radioBBC ITV Channel 4

FilmsIMDB Internet Movie Database – can search by genre e.g. documentaries

YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/

TEDhttp://www.ted.com/

Khan Academyhttp://www.khanacademy.org/

LIBRARY CATALOGUESSchool – Eclipse.netPublic libraryhttp://librarycatalogue.warwickshire.gov.uk/ABwarwick/

University libraryhttp://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/

Universitieshttp://copac.ac.uk/

National libraryhttp://www.bl.uk/

Internationalhttp://www.worldcat.org/

University of Warwick Library

School Library catalogue

Join your local library

Join your local library

http://www.accesstoresearch.org.uk

Over 1.5 million academic articles are available, free of charge, in participating public libraries across the UK.

Step 3: Finding the information

• Use your resources to find information

• Gather the most useful information together

• Keep records• Evaluate material as you go

along

The Internet

Use a variety ofsearch engines

Image: http://seospin.net/blog/page/3/

Types of search engineMeta search engines search across several search engines at onceExample: Dogpile

Specialised search enginesExamples: ‘A computational knowledge engine’ Wolfram AlphaA search engine for students Sweetsearch

Types of search engineGateway sites chosen by expertsExamples: Open Directory ProjectPinakesIntuteIntute is no longer updated but still useful. The Internet Detective is free and worth working through. The Virtual Training Suite covers about sixty subjects and guides you around some of the best scholarly resources on the Web.

Types of search engineGoogle ScholarFocuses on books, articles and peer-reviewed (that is, evaluated by experts in the same field) materials from scholarly organisations.

Ten search engines to explore the invisible web

Search the Invisible WebSome sources say search engines index only 10% of the Web

Image: 'Danmark O, Fohn Fjord, Renodde.70°N/26°W' http://www.flickr.com/photos/14417999@N00/76566707

Improve your search skillsSome online training materials:

SAFARI: Searching for Information – Open University http://www.open.ac.uk/safari/php_pages/s04t01p010000.php

Choose the best search for your information needs – Noodletoolshttp://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html

Google Search Education provides activities and videos showing you how to search.http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/index.html

Searchtips

Do not type in whole questions

Every word matters

Order matters – try searching ‘snake grass’ and then ‘grass snake’

Capital letters do not matter in Google except for using the Boolean operator OR but they may matter with other search engines

Punctuation does not matter except for $ # C++ Google+

Boolean operatorsAND narrows your searchOR broadens your searchNOT excludes words from your search

Search tipsTruncation Pollut* will search for pollution, pollute, polluted, polluting.

WildcardsCol?r will search for colour and color

AbbreviationsSearch for abbreviation and full title e.g. NHS and National Health Service

PhrasesTo search on an exact phrase or name, put it in double quotation marks e.g. “global warming” otherwise some search engines will tend to look for global and warming as separate words anywhere in the document and not necessarily together as a phrase.

Compare search engines

• Google Scholar• Bing• DuckDuckGo• Blekko• Exalead• Visual.ly• Yahoo Directory

• Dogpile• Browsys• Trovando• Carrit2.org• Addictomatic• Wolfram Alpha• BananaSlug

EvaluationAuthority•Who are the authors? Are they qualified? Are they credible?•With whom are they affiliated? Do their affiliations affect their credibility?•Who is the publisher? What is the publisher’s reputation?

EvaluationAccuracy•Is the information accurate? Is it reliable and error-free?•Are the interpretations and implications reasonable?•Is there evidence to support conclusions? Is the evidence verifiable?•Do the authors properly list their sources, references or citations with dates, page numbers or web addresses, etc.?

EvaluationCurrency•Is the information current? Is it still valid?•When was the site last updated?•Is the site well-maintained? Are there any broken links?

EvaluationObjectivity•What is the purpose? What do the authors want to accomplish?•Does this purpose affect the presentation?•Is there an implicit or explicit bias?•Is the information fact, opinion, spoof, or satirical?

EvaluationCoverage•Is the information relevant to your topic and assignment?•What is the intended audience?•Is the material presented at an appropriate level?•Is the information complete? Is it unique?

EvaluationThe above list can be found on Evaluating What You Find – Google Guide by Nancy Blachman and Jerry Peek (Accessed: 29 May 2012) http://www.googleguide.com/evaluating_results.htmlIt was adapted from Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply and Questions to Ask by the University of Berkeley Library (Accessed: 29 May 2012)http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

Step 4: Using the information to make

notes

ReadingScanningSkimming

Note making – mind mapping

Note making – outline method

Examples

Advantages

Note making – charting method

Disadvantages

Book or article

Note making – Cornell method

Note making – sentence methodPage number: Today’s date:

1. Write every new thought, fact or topic on a separate line, numbering each sentence

2. Advantages: it is more organised than writing paragraphs and still records most of the information

3. Disadvantages: it is hard to determine major/minor points and it is hard to edit and review

4. It is a good method when there is a lot of information and you do not know how the ideas fit together. You can make some connections as you go along

Note making software and apps

Record your findings• Bookmark on your web browser• Social bookmarking site such as

Diigo. • School Library version:

http://www.diigo.com/user/wattsl• You need to be able to go back to

your sources later• Shows your reader what you have

read allows them to refer to your sources

• Demonstrates that you have spent time researching, reading and selecting materials

PlagiarismPlagiarism includes:1. Directly quoting another person's actual words, whether oral or written;2. Using another person's ideas, opinions, or theories;3. Paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written;4. Borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or5. Offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment. Source: Indiana University, Bloomington (2005) How to recognize plagiarism https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/definition.html (Accessed: 29 May 2012)

Paraphrasing‘Paraphrasing is expressing ideas and information from your sources, in your own way, using your own words.’

Godfrey,J. (2009) How to use your reading in your essays. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, p.31

ParaphrasingThe following is a quotation taken from a television programme. Afterwards there are four versions of some work on Brunel that have used the quote and whether they are considered plagiarism.

Source: Collins, D. (2011) Independent Learning Guides. Swindon: School Library Association.

Original“The SS Great Britain, the biggest ship the world had ever seen …She was also the first ocean going liner to be made from iron and the first to have a propeller instead of paddle wheels. ... Everything about the Great Britain was gigantic. Its pistons were more than 7 ft in diameter. … This was the most advanced ship in the world. …. And the extraordinary thing is that a modern propeller, designed by a computer, in the 21st century, is only 5% more efficient than this propeller, which was designed by a Victorian bloke.”

Clarkson, J. (Writer). (2002, October 22). Brunel [Television series episode].In M. Harrison (Producer), Great Britons. London: BBC.

Version 1The SS Great Britain was

the largest ship in the world and the first to be constructed from iron and have a propeller. For example, each piston measured over 7 feet across. Amazingly, modern propellers are only 5% more efficient than Brunel’s propeller, created in the Victorian ages without computers.

“The SS Great Britain, the biggest ship the world had ever seen …She was also the first ocean going liner to be made from iron and the first to have a propeller instead of paddle wheels. ... Everything about the Great Britain was gigantic. Its pistons were more than 7 ft in diameter. … This was the most advanced ship in the world. …. And the extraordinary thing is that a modern propeller, designed by a computer, in the 21st century, is only 5% more efficient than this propeller, which was designed by a Victorian bloke.”

Version 1There is too much direct borrowing of sentence structure and wording. Despite changing some words, truncating the text and adding some words, the overall text closely resembles Clarkson’s. Even with a citation, the writer is still plagiarising because the lack of quotation marks indicates that version 1 is a paraphrase, and should be in the writer’s own language.

.

PLAGIARISM

Version 2Clarkson states that the SS

Great Britain “was the largest ship in the world and the first to be constructed from iron and have a propeller”. It’s incredible that modern propellers are only 5% more efficient than Brunel’s propeller which was “designed by a Victorian bloke” (Clarkson).

“The SS Great Britain, the biggest ship the world had ever seen …She was also the first ocean going liner to be made from iron and the first to have a propeller instead of paddle wheels. ... Everything about the Great Britain was gigantic. Its pistons were more than 7 ft in diameter. … This was the most advanced ship in the world. …. And the extraordinary thing is that a modern propeller, designed by a computer, in the 21st century, is only 5% more efficient than this propeller, which was designed by a Victorian bloke.”

Version 2

The writer now cites Clarkson, so the writer admits to using Clarkson’s original script, but this text still borrows too much language.

PLAGIARISM

Version 3The SS Great Britain was an incredible ship for its time. For one thing, it was the largest ship ever built with pistons measuring over 7 feet. Another innovation was that it was made of iron, rather than the traditional wood. And departing from another tradition, it used a propeller instead of paddle wheels, which had beenused until this point. To highlight the engineering marvel that this ship was, with all this modern technology, we have only managed to increase the efficiency of modern propellers by 5% from Brunel’s original design.

“The SS Great Britain, the biggest ship the world had ever seen …She was also the first ocean going liner to be made from iron and the first to have a propeller instead of paddle wheels. ... Everything about the Great Britain was gigantic. Its pistons were more than 7 ft in diameter. … This was the most advanced ship in the world. …. And the extraordinary thing is that a modern propeller, designed by a computer, in the 21st century, is only 5% more efficient than this propeller, which was designed by a Victorian bloke.”

Version 3

Version 3 shows good paraphrasing of wording and sentence structure, but Clarkson’s ideas are not acknowledged. Some of Clarkson’s points are common knowledge (largest ship built at that time), but Clarkson uses this common knowledge to make a specific and original point and his point is not acknowledged..

PLAGIARISM

Version 4Brunel’s innovations in shipping were incredible. Clarkson (2002) makes the point that the SS Great Britain was the “first ocean going liner to be made from iron and to have a propeller instead of paddle wheels”.Although Brunel developed his ship from ideas already being used or debated (albeit often on a smaller scale), there is no doubt that he brought shipbuilding into the modern era through the new technology of screw propulsion by propeller. This is still the method of propulsion of modern ships, and, as Clarkson (2002) points out, technology has not made much increase in the efficiency of the design.

“The SS Great Britain, the biggest ship the world had ever seen …She was also the first ocean going liner to be made from iron and the first to have a propeller instead of paddle wheels. ... Everything about the Great Britain was gigantic. Its pistons were more than 7 ft in diameter. … This was the most advanced ship in the world. …. And the extraordinary thing is that a modern propeller, designed by a computer, in the 21st century, is only 5% more efficient than this propeller, which was designed by a Victorian bloke.”

Version 4

The writer makes use of the common knowledge in Clarkson’s work, but acknowledges Clarkson’s work as well as adding her own opinion. The quotation is properly cited, as is a later paraphrase of another of Clarkson’s ideas.

NO PLAGIARISM

Referencing – Harvard style

BOOKS•Authors or editors. Look at the title page.

•Put the surname first, then the initial of the first name in the order they appear. If they are editors, use (ed.) or (eds) •e.g. Fry, S. and Laurie, H. (eds)

•If there is no author but a corporation or organisation – use this.

•If there is no author or organisation – use the title•e.g. The Times Atlas of the World (2002) London: Times Books.

Referencing – Harvard style

BOOKS

•The year of publication. Look at the reverse of the title page.

•Title of the book and the subtitle. Capitalise the first letter of the first word and proper nouns

e.g. A lust for window sills: a lover’s guide to British buildings from portcullis to pebble-dash.

•Italicise the title. If you are writing by hand – underline it.

Referencing – Harvard style

BOOKS

Edition – only include this if it is not the first edition. If there is no indication of which edition it is, this means it is the first.

Use edn so edition is not confused with ‘editor’.e.g. 3rd edn

Place and publisher – Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Pages – If you include a page reference in your in-text citation, put p.23. If you are referring to a chapter, use pp. 200 – 220.

Referencing – Harvard style

JOURNALS

Author – surname followed by initialsYear of publication (in brackets)Title of article ‘in single quotation marks’Title of journal – in italics. Capitalize the first letter of each word in the title, except for linking words.Issue – volume, part number, month or seasonPage reference – p.7 or pp.13-17

Referencing – Harvard style

JOURNALS

EXAMPLE:Splatt, J.W. and Weedon, D. (1977) ‘The Urethral Syndrome’, British Journal of Urology, 49(2), pp.173-176. Wiley Online Library [Online]. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-410X.1977.tb04095.x/abstract(Accessed: 4 March 2012).

Referencing – Harvard style

INTERNET SITES AND WEB PAGES

AuthorYear the site was published or updated (in round brackets). If there is no date – how useful is the information?Dates can be checked on sites such as http://lookup.ws/whois.phphttp://www.allwhois.com

Referencing – Harvard style

INTERNET SITES AND WEB PAGES

EXAMPLE:Davis, T. (2001) How to write an essay.Available at: http://www.unask.com/teaching/howto/essay.htm (Accessed: 4 March 2012)

In-text citation: Davis (2001) gives advice on writing professionally

Referencing – Harvard style

INTERNET SITES AND WEB PAGES

•For web pages with no authors – use the title of the site.

•For web pages with no authors or titles – use the URL, followed by (no date)

Referencing – Numerical

• Ibid. Short for ‘ibidem’ which means ‘in the same place’. It refers to the source immediately before.

• Op. cit. is short for ‘opere citato’ which means ‘in the work already cited’.

1. J. W. Trimmer, How to avoid huge ships, 2nd edn, Cornell, Cornell Maritime Press, 1993, p.82. Ibid., p.17 [this means p. 17 in the book above]3. P. L. H. McSweeney (ed.), Cheese problems solved, Cambridge, Woodhead Publishing, 2007, p.924. W. Westfield, Does the Earth rotate? No! [publisher unknown] 1919.5. P. L. H. McSweeney (ed.) op.cit. [this means in the book already cited but not the one directly above]

Help with referencing• Word – References option in the top toolbar.

Uses APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian• Neil's Toolbox (Harvard Reference

Generator)• Bibme Uses APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian• Books: Cite Them Right by Pears and Shields

You can see a PDF copy of an old edition here

• Websites: My collection of websites about referencing and plagiarism at Scoop.it!

Help with referencing

Pears, R. And Shields, G. Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 8th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Multiple copies in stockin the School Library

Referencing imagesImages, whether photos, paintings or artwork,

should have a caption, a figure number and the type of material in square brackets. There are variations however as in this Harvard Guide: Example from Harvard Referencing Guide for Visual Material (RMIT University)

Painting: In text citation: Artist/creator/designer and date in brackets straight after the name of the artwork.Reference list: Artist, year, Title, type of work, dimensions (if available), Museum or Gallery, City.

In-text:Joseph Turner's use of light in Snow Storm: Hannibal and Army Crossing the Alps (1812) is staggering.Reference list: Turner, Joseph Mallord William 1812, Snow storm: Hannibal and army crossing the alps, Oil on canvas, 145×2360 mm, Turner Collection, Tate Gallery, Britain.

Image from a websiteIn text: Figure 6 shows the exterior of King Edward VI Grammar SchoolReference list: Brown, Elliott (2013) Guildhall – King Edward VI Grammar School [photograph]. Available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39415781@N06/8357852042/in/photolist-dJybeh-7ybJcy-cX9EhA-5TpCaN-7ybEyA-65xwsc-6xCkpE-6xybyz-bbiADx-6xyaNV-bbjrYc-6xyb8V-6ood9e-6osoQw-8FRTAE-6oocc2-8FNGht-6xyawc-dJspsg-5XfyaM-6eQjxR-52hLHt-7y7NkM-7y7LuH-bbDUbZ-e6qgGp-8xtsBP (Accessed: 1 June 2013)

Image from the Internet with no author

In text: Figure 3 shows a swimming pool next to the sea.

Reference list: Swimming pool. [Photograph]. [no date]. Available at: http://www.freeimages.co.uk/galleries/sports/lifestyle/slides/bondi_swimming_pool_181566.htm (Accessed: 1 June 2013)

If you look at the title of this once you have saved it, you may be able to trace the photographer – this certainly gives the location.

Finding imagesGoogle imagesFlickr: Creative Commons Lets you copy and distribute work under certain conditions as long as you give credit and it is not for profit.FlickrCC. bluemountains Allows you to choose from a menu of thumbnail photosMorgueFile Free photo archiveStock.EXCHNGEWikimedia CommonsTinEye Reverse image search which allows you to submit an image to find out where it came from and how it’s being used.

Paid-for image sites:These usually have more choice, vector images as well as photos and better search facilities but you need to register and they can be expensive. iStockphoto 123rf

Et Plagieringseventyr (A Plagiarism Carol), University of Bergen, Norway

A Plagiarism Carol

Step 5: Writing up the assignment

Organising information from a number of sourcesDecide how to put together the notes you have made and your own ideasCreate a rough draft first How are you going to present the information?Make sure that you follow any instructions you have been given on how to present your work.Check what you were asked to include at the beginning of the project.  

For research essays you may need:Title pageContents pageSummaryIntroductionMain textConclusionsGlossaryBibliographyAcknowledgements The writing process:PlanFirst DraftRead throughEdit and cutRedraftBibliographySpell CheckProof read (EVEN if you spell check)

Writing

For non-essay-based formats (e.g. play, story, artwork):•How will you present your work?•What do you need to include?•How will you incorporate everything you’ve learned into the structure? Source: Collins, D. (2011) Independent Learning Guides. Swindon: School Library Association.

If you are making a presentation you could use PowerPoint. If so, it is worth learning what makes a good presentation, for example Good presentations matter by Ned Potter. Prezi is an alternative and makes for some dynamic presentations.

Presentation

Step 6: How good was the result?

• Judge• Evaluate• Review,

reflect and build

FIFA World Cup, Brazil 2014Available at: http://www.fifplay.com/worldcup2014/Accessed: 15 June 2014

Thank you for listening

REFERENCESSlide 3King Edward VI School Library Pintrest board on Exams and revision. Available at: http://pinterest.com/libkes/exams-and-revision/Slide 4Scoop.it! site on Study Skills. Available at: http://www.scoop.it/t/study-skills-kes-stratford-upon-avonSlide 5EPQ booklet. Photo of open book from http://www.istockphoto.com 000006892972Slide 6The Big Six http://big6.comSlide 7Version of The Big Six. Source: Collins, D. (2012) Independent Learning Guides at Hurstpierpoint College. Swindon: School Library Association. Available from: http://www.sla.org.uk/publications-list.phpSlide 9Question markImage: 'Question mark' http://www.flickr.com/photos/50451886@N00/3534516458Slide 10Magnifying glassImage: 'untitled' http://www.flickr.com/photos/29464865@N08/2978069887 Slide 12 Image: 'Jordan - Dead Sea' http://www.flickr.com/photos/43419254@N06/4430604723 Slide 14Footballer. Image: 'Mind games' http://www.flickr.com/photos/30595068@N06/7856977400 Text: Robbins, S. (2009) Science Study Skills. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Slide 24Wikipedia logo. Available at: http://majerus.hypotheses.org/645Slide 25Jimmy Waleshttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jimmy_Wales_July_2010.jpgSlide 26Edward Owenshttp://us.cdn4.123rf.com/168nwm/mcdonald/mcdonald0707/mcdonald070700011/1279962-jolly-roger-skull-and-crossed-swords-symbol.jpg

REFERENCES