Reading Research Reports Robert Blake Student Learning Development Centre

Reading Research Reports This session covers research report structure in Communication Systems efficient reading techniques avoiding plagiarism Reading techniques for mini-projects and in dissertations Use an ejournal written by Comms system lecturer

Reading Research Reports: How we read? First a question about reading skills in general. How do you read a novel? a newspaper? assessment feedback on a mini-project? the blurb on a DVD or video film? a letter from your partner?

Reading Research Reports: Reading strategies We change speeds & depths of reading according to our purpose: skimming and scanning light reading ‘normal’ reading intensive reading i.e. reading with great attention critical reading to evaluate texts & then answer specific research questions e.g. design, operation, etc

Reading Research Reports: You have a pile of research papers to read just like the one handed to you. Are you going to read them all in depth? How are you going to make efficient use of your time?

Reading Research Reports: Look at either the article by Coulton and Honary or b) Coulton, Rashid and Ahmed. or find an article in your own scientific field What strategies are you going to use to read it?

Strategies for Surveying Research Reports use the abstract to get an overview of content skimming & scanning read the intros & conclusions first scan headings & sub-headings scan graphical information: tables, figures read topic sentences & concluding sentences of paragraphs glide over each paragraph to pick up key words

Reading Research Reports: Surveying Now have a go at surveying the report as a whole using the strategies just suggested. Spend about 7-8 minutes

Reading Research Reports: Surveying What did you learn? What is the overall structure of this article?

Reading Research Reports: Surveying-IMRaD Many scientific & engineering reports are based on an IMRaD structure: Introduction Method Results And Discussion In some reports there is also a conclusion. Can you trace an IMRaD structure in this article? If the terms are different, what are they?

Reading Research Reports: Surveying- IMRaD Whilst many scientific & engineering reports are based on an IMRaD structure. At the same time there may also be a: Situation Problem pattern Solution Evaluation In some reports this may be recursive- repeated until an appropriate solution is reached.

Reading Research Reports: Surveying- IMRaD What other strategies & information did you use to help you work out the main idea of the article?

Reading Research Reports: SQ3R We’ve been using the 1st stage of SQ3R The 5 stages are: SURVEY QUESTION READ RECALL REVIEW

Reading Research Reports: SQ3R- Surveying Once you have an idea of the overall structure by surveying the text you can reduce your processing load when you come to read the article closely. you can then work out the structure & meaning of smaller chunks You can also identify which bits to glide over and which bits to concentrate on

Reading Research Reports: SQ3R- Questioning The 2nd stage of SQ3R is to question This involves making questions about what you want to learn from the article adopting a critical i.e. evaluative frame of mind

Reading Research Reports : Questioning Why formulate questions? Reading to answer specific questions allows you to read more purposefully & ‘time-efficiently’ give you points to look out for allows you to glide over unimportant sections means that you’re reading critically- interacting with the content and evaluating, thereby reading at postgrad level

Reading Research Reports : Question Now use your knowledge of the article from the surveying stage to make 3-4 questions about the topic of the article [maximum 5 minutes] What sort of questions did you formulate?

Reading Research Reports : Reading Spend 10 minutes reading the article with the purpose of finding answers to your questions

Reading Research Reports : Read What questions did you ask? Did you succeed in finding answers to your questions? How well has surveying & questioning worked so far?

Reading Research Reports : Recall & Review The final two stages are: Recall Review Recall- unless you have a remarkable memory you’ll probably forget 50% of what you read, shortly after reading. So you’ll need make a deliberate attempt to recall the key ideas &/or take notes

Reading Research Reports : Recall You can record your notes in a number of ways including: Linear notes Flow diagrams Mind maps

Reading Research Reports : Recall An example of Mind maps from Tony Buzan http://www.mind-map.com/EN/mindmaps/how_to.html

Reading Research Reports : Recall Use subordination to identify the importance of information: key information on the left hand side detailed points in the middle comments & questions on the right hand side

Reading Research Reports : Recall Symbols and abbreviations can save valuable time, enabling you to write less and identify the main points more efficiently

Reading Research Reports : Recall When taking notes: remember on each page of your notes to record author[s], year, title of book or journal, article name,+ pages if journal. paraphrase the key ideas put quotations i.e. any identical chunks of the original article in speech marks “” These techniques will help you to avoid plagiarism, the serious offence of using other people’s ideas as if they were your own

Reading Research Reports : Review How well can you recall the key ideas? Look at your questions. Can you still remember the answers? If not, reread to refresh your knowledge and fill the gaps in your knowledge NB This is very useful for test and exam revision!

Avoiding Plagiarism

Which Of These Is Plagiarism? 1. Copying a paragraph verbatim from a source without any acknowledgement. 2. Copying a paragraph and making small changes - e.g. replacing a few verbs, replacing an adjective with a synonym; acknowledgement in the bibliography. 3. Cutting and pasting a paragraph by using sentences of the original but omitting one or two and putting one or two in a different order, no quotation marks; with an in-text acknowledgement plus bibliography. 4. Composing a paragraph by taking short phrases from a number of sources and putting them together using words of your own to make a coherent whole with an in-text acknowledgement + bibliography. 5. Paraphrasing a paragraph by rewriting with substantial changes in language and organisation; the new version will also have changes in the amount of detail used and the examples cited; citing in bibliography. 6. Quoting a paragraph by placing it in block format with the source cited in text & bibliography. [Carroll J. 2000 Teaching News November, 2000. Based on an exercise in Academic Writing for Graduate Students by Swales and Feale, University of Michigan, 1993] on http://www.ilt.ac.uk/resources/Jcarroll.htm Accessed 12/05/2003 ]

Avoiding Plagiarism From Purdue University, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html accessed 14 May 2003

Avoiding Plagiarism Practise paraphrasing from the beginning of your course look at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_paraphr.html http://www.uefap.com/writing/report/rep_para.htm Remember to reference all original ideas that are not common knowledge http://www.uefap.com/writing/citation/citefram.htm Remember that software programs are used to detect plagiarism from the internet & plagiarism between students on the same course

Reading Research Reports :SQ3R If you want to read more about SQ3R, see Rowntree’s excellent book Derek Rowntree (1998) Learn How to Study,Warner Books