Returning to Study (Study Skills) School of Business and Economics Executive Education

Returning to Study …. topics to be explored in induction Library Resources – Library orientation Critical Reading Academic Writing Academic Referencing Using Feedback Submitting Online – Turnitin orientation School of Business and Economics Executive Education

All you need to do to pass is... Undertake a certain number of assignments and projects within a timescale and to a set standard Challenges: You are asked questions to which you don’t know the answer You are asked to write in a style that is more formal than normal You are asked to do something called “referencing” School of Business and Economics Executive Education

You are asked questions to which you don’t know the answer Discuss the works of Shakespeare? How to unblock a drain? The best school in your town? The theory of evolution? Gravity? Running a car retailer? School of Business and Economics Executive Education

Finding answers to questions Daily life Existing knowledge – school, apprenticeship, other formal learning Direct experiences – what we personally have done or seen Indirect experiences – what other people have experienced Group/community knowledge – ask your mates, colleagues, a policeman, Google, YouTube When all else fails, read the instructions Academic context ? School of Business and Economics Executive Education

Finding answers to questions Make sure you know what the source of belief/knowledge is Don’t mix them up There is no such thing as academic “belief” School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education Secondary information/sources – what other people have researched and written about This will be your biggest source of answers for the first part of this programme Reasons for obtaining and using: help to define and refine the problem secondary sources may have already solved the problem researchers can tap into existing research communities search costs are substantially lower than for primary data collection adds credibility if the right sources are used gaps in secondary information help you plan primary data collection School of Business and Economics Executive Education

Primary – new research undertaken to look at a problem or issue You will generate your own “primary” knowledge in the latter part of the programme, and therefore add to the secondary knowledge available to other people Two main forms – for different areas of study and contexts (in social science) “Qualitative” – smaller sample sizes, greater depth, seeks to explain details about events and experiences to gain general agreement/understanding “Quantitative” – larger sample sizes, less depth/more specific, seeks to establish robust agreement School of Business and Economics Executive Education

Ways to think about evidence to support your arguments Causation - the action directly caused the outcome: scientific cause – something will always happen legal cause – something happened because Correlation - two variables move together but do not cause the move Coincidence – things happen without a relationship School of Business and Economics Executive Education

You are asked to write in a style that is more formal than normal Q. Critically evaluate the role that customer satisfaction plays in the retail automotive sector. Q. Your CEO has concerns over the level of staff turnover in your organisation you are asked to come up with suggestions for improving this situation. School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education “Critically evaluate the role that customer satisfaction plays in the retail automotive sector” School of Business and Economics Executive Education

Apply structure to your answering process School of Business and Economics Executive Education

You are asked to write in a style that is more formal than normal “Formal” with a defined and expected purpose scope style structure content School of Business and Economics Executive Education

Typical “report” structure See hand out School of Business and Economics Executive Education

You are asked to do something called “referencing” Why you have said what you said? Who said it first/who’s idea/who intellectual property? What is their evidence/credibility? How can the reader/marker/reviewer check? How does the marker know you have read the source? How does the marker know you work is current? Answer – you “reference” your work (in a particular way) School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education How to reference Use the “Harvard” style In the text and in a list of references as an attachment to your work http://www.citethemrightonline.com/ http://endnote.com/downloads See hand out School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education Plagiarism “Plagiarism” covers: passing off someone else’s work as your own using someone else’s work without giving credit using large tracts without adding anything to it Taken very seriously Do not do it and expect to get away with it! Be careful not to do it by accident School of Business and Economics Executive Education

All work submitted to the University goes through “Turnitin” Turnitin is used by most major institutions worldwide Compares what you submit with all other submissions Gives a “score” – all medium and high scores get looked at School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education Marking standards Your work is measured against general standards applicable for the academic standard of the programme “Level 7 Generic band descriptors: These should be used alongside the specific marking criteria for each assignment or project”. School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education

School of Business and Economics Executive Education Q & A School of Business and Economics Executive Education