Title of the project agreed

RESEARCH AND COLLATE

Where? Online- web-crawlers, Books! Journals
People

Be critical
References: as you go, in full, cut and paste,
HARVARD!

Take notes / scan / be critical / summarize (Be

active!)

What are you trying to prove?

That you have read widely
That you can write fluently
That you can build up a well structured
argument
That you can support your ideas with
evidence
That you understand the ideas of others.

In Pairs
Look at the sources
Highlight the key words
Summarize in 10 words or less!
Give your critical thoughts on the source
What do you think this means?
What might you be looking at?

The first steps

Scan read the material
(read the intro / abstract)
What is the paper / article
about?
Who is / are the author(s)

 What sort of writing is it?

(research report / viewpoint / opinion)
What is the author's purpose?
Who is the text written for?
When was it published?

Going deeper
Highlight the key claims
What is the evidence for these claims?
Highlight anything that you do not
understand
What will you do about these?

Getting critical 1
How convincing is the evidence for the
claims made?
What might you look at here?
What alternative views are there?
What do you accept and what do you
question about the paper?

Getting critical 2

What is good about the text?

What is weak about the text?
Can you think of examples here?
What are the writers' underlying beliefs
and values?

Where next?
Having looked at this text what else would
you like to know?
Are there any references within this text
that you can follow up?
Have you kept notes including a full
reference?

What must I avoid?

Copying other peoples work plagiarism

Making things up
Writing like I speak
Waffle

Dr Richard Walton - Sheffield Hallam University

Plagiarism
This is very Bad!
Red Card Offence
It is stealing the work of others and passing
it off as your own.
Good referencing is your defence since this
shows from where you have got your ideas.

Dr Richard Walton - Sheffield Hallam University

Style tone of voice

Aim to be authoritative and objective

Use the 3rd person impersonal
Ist person I, me (sing.) us, we (plur.)
2nd person You (sing. & plur.)
3rd personHim, Her, it (sing) them (plur)

It was done

Dr Richard Walton - Sheffield Hallam University

Such as?
The things I read say this is wrong. BAD
OR
Evidence from the literature contradicts
this GOOD
Dr Richard Walton - Sheffield Hallam University

Hints and advice

When you make a point give evidence for
it.
Use facts to support your argument leave
opinions and speculation to the end.
Use references to support your points.
Cite references - we use the Harvard
system.

Dr Richard Walton - Sheffield Hallam University