Study skills

writing and study skills for academic work, research, and projects

writing and study skills for academic work, research, and projects

The Arts Good Study Guide

July 12, 2009 by Roy Johnson

best-selling introduction to study skills for the arts

This is a set text on one of the Open University’s humanities foundation courses, and it has quite rightly become a best-seller. The Arts Good Study Guide can be used as an introductory workbook or as a source of reference. It deals with reading and note-taking, essay writing, working with numbers, and preparing for examinations. It starts with getting yourself organised and managing your time, then goes on to the core study skills for subjects in the arts and humanities. These are reading skills and taking notes, various approaches to studying, writing skills, and then the central issue of writing essays. There’s a useful section on what is particular to studying the arts – questions of analysis, meaning, and interpretation.

It also deals with how you communicate your ideas and opinions; what constitutes evidence; and how you might conduct your own research or projects. Finally, there is a section on revision and examination skills, dispelling some myths about exams, pointing to some of the common pitfalls, and providing tips on the best approach This is a text-heavy book – no pictures – but all the advice is intensely practical and based on real-life examples. The main features worth recommending are its use of realistic examples and the friendly manner in which it addresses the reader. It engages you as actively as possible by posing questions, highlighting important points, setting short quizzes, and breaking up the exposition into manageable chunks.

This approach to active and [in educational jargon] ‘open’ learning is particularly suitable for anyone embarking on a distance-learning course, or students engaged in any form of independent learning. In fact there are now separate versions for sciences and social sciences. There are suggestions for further reading, there’s a full index, and at its current price this is exceptionally good value.

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Ellie Chambers and Andrew Northedge, The Arts Good Study Guide, Milton Keynes: The Open University, 2002, pp.276, ISBN: 0749287454

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The Basics of Essay Writing

July 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

how to develop and improve your essay-writing skills

The main thing to say here about The Basics of Essay Writing is that it’s very short. Nigel Warburton has compressed the essential points of essay-writing skills into an amazingly small space. He’s done this by using a technique which could be recommended to people writing in any literary form. It’s called ‘cutting out the dross’. His ideas and recommendations come thick and fast, and he doesn’t dwell on anything for very long. The result is a highly concentrated series of tips, advice, and guidance on all aspects of academic writing.

He begins by pointing out the importance of writing skills – how everyone can improve with just a few simple steps, and how writing is a form of thinking. It really is true that often you don’t really understand something properly until you have written it down. He deals with getting started, and how to encourage your own fluency; how to understand the instruction terms in an essay question; and how you must keep in mind the most important thing of all – answering the original question.

Research skills are condensed into the very sound advice that you need to be disciplined. You should not ‘get lost’ in reading everything, and your reading should be accompanied by active note-taking as a preparation for producing your essay plan.

The central part of the book deals with the all-important issue of structure: how to create order, marshal your arguments, and write good introductions and conclusions. In my experience this is the part students find hardest, and if you follow his suggestions it should be more manageable.

There’s a good section on plagiarism and referencing where he shows some practical examples of the various degrees of plagiarism which are possible, even when the original source is acknowledged.

Cultivating an appropriate style is dealt with via tips on tone, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation. There’s a section on dealing with exams, and he ends with general advice for improving your writing. He shows a rogue’s gallery of common mistakes – of which he has obviously seen many.

Nigel Warburton is the principal author of a very successful Open University course on essay-writing skills. In fact (without knowing him in the slightest) I have been tutoring it for the last few years, and I have been repeatedly struck by the thoroughness of its approach. All the students who follow the course recommendations pass with flying colours.

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Nigel Warburton, The Basics of Essay Writing, London: Routledge, 2007, pp.128, ISBN: 0415434041

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The Doctoral Examination Process

July 20, 2009 by Roy Johnson

This is an ambitious book with three separate audiences. It’s main strength is that it is based on research at twenty British universities – eleven ‘old’ and nine ‘new’. Tinkler and Jackson’s approach assumes that the research has been done and the work has been submitted. So it begins withe the Viva – which the Burnham committee described as ‘one of the best kept secrets in British higher education’. They seek to de-mystify the process by looking at what the viva is for, what the expectations of students and examiners are, and what rules (if any) surround the process.

These are more varied (or non-existent) than you might imagine. It turns out rather surprisingly that at the University of Glamorgan for instance, you can pass the viva even if you are dead. Next comes what examiners might be looking for in the thesis which will be discussed during the viva – followed by advice on how to prepare for the experience, short and long term.

Their suggestions are that you should be presenting papers in the department or conferences, attending training courses, and even publishing your own work.

Next come observations on the selection of examiners. Who chooses them? What are their qualifications? And should your supervisor attend the viva as well?

Despite the mystique which still surrounds this part of PhD examination, there are a lot more open regulations these days. Both students and newly appointed supervisors and examiners would do well to read these chapters.

There are also some fascinating case studies illustrating practices in foreign universities, as well as some cautionary tales from the UK where the ‘flexibility’ in the system sometimes means things go wrong.

They then offer something I have never come across before – guidance to examiners on how to assess a doctoral thesis. They even cover a number of different disciplines in doing so. Then it’s a return to support and preparation for the student – using mock vivas and last minute revision.

Finally, they deal with what happens behind the closed doors of the viva itself. (More case studies of horror stories and triumphs.) How to deal with the questions; how to create a confident impression; how to overcome nervousness.

They are right to stress the range of possible outcomes for which candidates should be prepared. If the result is not what you had hoped for, they even cover the appeals process – as well as how to celebrate afterwards if it’s a success.

I think students will find the quotations and real life case studies really interesting. New supervisors and examiners will get an informative overview with some useful comparative studies from a variety of institutions.

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Penny Tinkler and Carolyn Jackson, The Doctoral Examination Process, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2004, pp.228, ISBN: 0335213057

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The Essence of Computing Projects

June 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

project writing skills for higher education

Projects are now a major part of most undergraduate and postgraduate courses – especially in sciences, business studies, and information technology. Students are required to draw on a number of different but important skills to complete their projects, and it’s not easy to know what’s involved. The Essence of Computing Projects is designed to explain what’s required. It covers surveying the literature, project writing skills, documenting software, time management, project management, and presentation skills.

The chapters follow the logical sequence of undertaking a project, starting from defining the nature of research itself, choosing a project and writing a proposal, then planning what you are going to write – including timing and scheduling.

When it comes to the process of searching and reviewing the literature, Christian Dawson makes sensible distinctions between what is required at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The chapter which deals with actually writing the project confronts some of the most common problems – and how to overcome them. Running out of time, dealing with interruptions and computer crashes; dealing with your supervisor; and working in teams.

The latter part of the book deals with the presentation of your report in written form. Here he stresses the importance of abstracts and structure, presenting data in graphs, pie charts, and bar charts, academic referencing, and two items of special interest – commenting on program code and writing user guides.

Finally he deals with the oral presentation skills required to present your project. It also looks forward to what follows in academic terms – publishing your work, funding, and intellectual ownership and copyright issues.

If you have a project as part of the next stage in your studies, this guide will give you an excellent account of what’s required. You will have to flesh out the details – but that’s exactly as it should be, isn’t it.

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Christian W. Dawson, The Essence of Computing Projects – A Student’s Guide, London: Prentice Hall, 2000, pp.176, ISBN: 013021972X

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The Good Study Guide

July 12, 2009 by Roy Johnson

best-selling introduction to study skills for humanities

The Good Study Guide started life as a set text on one of the Open University’s social science foundation courses, and it has quite rightly gone on to become a best-seller. In fact there are now separate versions for arts and sciences. The book can be used as an introductory workbook or as a source of reference. It deals with reading and note-taking skills, essay writing, working with numbers, and preparing for examinations. On learning techniques it covers learning in groups, talks and lectures, and (specially for OU students) learning from radio and television.

The main features worth recommending are its use of realistic examples and the friendly manner in which it addresses the reader. It engages you as actively as possible by posing questions, highlighting important points, setting short quizzes, and breaking up the exposition into manageable chunks. This approach to active and [in educational jargon] ‘open’ learning is particularly suitable for anyone embarking on a distance-learning course, or students engaged in any form of independent learning. There are no suggestions for further reading, but there’s a full index and at its current price this is exceptionally good value.

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Andrew Northedge, The Good Study Guide, Buckingham: The Open University, 2nd edition 2005, pp.392, ISBN: 0749259744

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The Little Brown Handbook

June 19, 2009 by Roy Johnson

encyclopaedia of writing skills + exercises and examples

Don’t be misled by the title. This book is neither little nor brown. It’s a reference guide to all aspects of academic writing that its authors say will “answer almost any question you have about writing…find out how to get ideas, punctuate quotations, search the Internet, cite sources, or write a resumé”. That’s a bold claim, but in almost one thousand densely packed pages, I think they live up to it. The Little, Brown Handbook has become a classic style guide over its many editions.

Fowler and Aaron start with the standard academic essay and its requirements, then cover grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence construction, vocabulary, and research. However, these simple headings belie the richness of the material they provide. The latest edition takes full account of computers and the Internet for writing and research, advice for users of English as a second language, plus the latest (1998) MLA guidelines.

It actually starts with a chapter on critical thinking and reading, then puts its emphasis on writing as a process of development, drafting, and revising. These sections act as a thorough course in essay-writing techniques, from formulating ideas to revising, editing, and proofreading the final drafts.

It’s full of handy hints. They suggest for instance the use of two-column reading journal – left column for summaries, and an empty right column which will “beckon you to respond” with critical notes. Every point is illustrated with examples, and there are exercises at the end of each chapter [though you have to work out the answers for yourself].

This is a book that could be used for reference [“Where does the comma go?”] as a teaching aid [“Work through exercises 4 and 5”] or as a source of self-instruction [Outliners and how to use them in generating structure]. For students, there are some very useful examples of revised drafts, tips on essay introductions and conclusions, the generation and substantiation of arguments, and recognising fallacies of argument. For tutors, they make suggestions for coursework.

The section on sentence construction is also an introduction to the basics of English Language and grammar. Like many other guides of its kind, it assumes that readers need to know about ‘prepositional phrases’, ‘subordinating conjunctions’, and ‘restrictive apositives’. Every single case and difficulty is listed, to the point of exhaustive completeness. The problem is that it might not be easy for students to locate the case they require from index entries which read ‘Commas – with conjunctive adverbs and transitional expressions’.

After sections on grammatical correctness, it goes on to questions of taste, style, and conventions in language-use. This embraces choosing the appropriate word, being concise, eliminating dross, and extending one’s vocabulary. The vexed issue of spelling is explained with all its common exceptions, and the latter part of the book discusses meta-issues such as planning a research project, using the Internet to good effect, evaluating sources, the traditional skills of taking notes, and the latest MLA conventions on text citation. At the end, there are sections on writing under exam conditions, business writing (with plenty of examples) and appendices on page layout, document design, oral presentations, and writing with a computer. These latter sections will be of interest to more advanced users.

For students, there are some very useful examples of sample research papers and an examination essay – not only the complete text, but a running commentary on the right-hand page explaining points of detail and commenting on structure, format, citation, and the handling of secondary sources. They even include revised drafts and notes made in the composition of the papers. This is an excellent resource, and just about the closest you could get to live tuition in the subtleties of academic writing.

This may be a book that will appeal more to course tutors, instructors, and librarians than to the students it is written for, but for anyone concerned with the development of writing skills Fowler and Aaron cover all (and I mean all) the details. It might be an expensive investment, but if you’re teaching writing skills it’s the most comprehensive resource I’ve ever come across, and if you’re just starting your academic career, it will see you through to post-graduate studies and beyond.

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H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, Little, Brown Handbook, (7th edn) New York: Longman, 11th edition 2009, pp.992, ISBN: 0205734960

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The Sciences Good Study Guide

July 12, 2009 by Roy Johnson

best-selling introduction to study skills for sciences

This is a set text on one of the Open University’s science foundation courses, and it has quite rightly become a best-seller. It’s written for maths, science, engineering, and technology students approaching further education or undergraduate courses – possibly after a long break from study. The Sciences Good Study Guide can be used as an introductory workbook or as a source of reference. It deals with reading and note-taking, essay writing, working with numbers, and preparing for examinations. The main features worth recommending are its use of realistic examples and the friendly manner in which it addresses the reader. It’s packed with practical exercises and activities, and it aims to make studying more enjoyable and rewarding.

There is also an extra maths help section with exercises and answers which allows you to assess your own skills. It’s an invaluable source of ‘hints and tips’, helping you to learn more effectively and develop study strategies that really work. Another important feature is that it engages the reader as actively as possible by posing questions, highlighting important points, setting short quizzes, and breaking up the exposition into manageable chunks.

It contains lots of good advice on general study skills – note-taking, reading, time-management, and confidence building – but the centrepiece is a section on maths – one of the most daunting topics for most beginners. It also covers working with diagrams, flow charts, and graphs and tables; working with numbers and tables; using a computer efficiently; conducting experiments, and writing essays and reports.

The book is designed to meet the needs of a range of learners – not just those involved in distance education. It will appeal to beginning and experienced students alike, including those: starting to study at college or university; taking access or study skills courses; looking afresh at how they study.

This approach to active and [in educational jargon] ‘open’ learning is particularly suitable for anyone embarking on a distance-learning course, or students engaged in any form of independent learning. In fact there are now separate versions of these guides for arts and social sciences. At its current price this is exceptionally good value.

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Andrew Northedge et al, The Sciences Good Study Guide, Buckingham: The Open University, 1998, pp.470, ISBN: 0749234113

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The Student’s Guide to Exam Success

July 20, 2009 by Roy Johnson

revision and exam skills, stress and time management

The Student’s Guide to Exam Success combines essential study skills guidance with counselling on overcoming exam fears. It offers practical information on the most effective study and exam techniques: organising your revision, how to write essays, speed reading, taking effective notes, mind-mapping, and improving your memory. Eileen Tracy explores the attitudes and emotional states that can cause you not to deliver your best, and she shows you how to improve. You can learn how to understand your nervousness, how to avoid panicking, and how to develop a balanced mental approach to your work. She takes a supportive, understanding, and very personal approach to her readers.

If you feel nervous, under-confident, or overwhelmed by the prospect of exams, she knows how you feel, and has plenty of remedies on offer. The advice she gives is sensible, and she’s not a killjoy. Your revision and study should be organised and disciplined – but it should be punctuated by breaks and rewards. There are two particularly good chapters on mnemonics (strategies for memorising) and on writing essays – particularly under exam conditions.

There are plenty of examples to support her arguments, and the chapters are packed with mind maps, notes, diagrams, graphs, and checklists of what to do and avoid.

This guide offers advice on developing emotional strength in response to the increasingly heavy demands that are made on students in the modern world. The variety of strategies include: developing self-awareness; finding out how to stop procrastinating and worrying about results; learning about the dangers of swotting; developing the necessary confidence to handle reading lists, coursework, presentations and practicals; learning to deal with tutors, lecturers and examiners.

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Eileen Tracy, The Student’s Guide to Exam Success, Buckingham: Open University Press, 2nd edition 2006, pp.208. ISBN: 0335220487

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The Student’s Guide to Research Ethics

July 13, 2009 by Roy Johnson

solving moral dilemmas in research projects

You might not think there is a book-length study to be made of the ethical issues in academic research, but Paul Oliver makes a convincing case that there are moral considerations to be made at every stage of the process – from the original concept to the publication of results. The Student’s Guide to Research Ethics starts off with the need to define terms. Is someone a subject, a participant, or an interviewee? Each term contains its own nuances, and these can have an ethical bearing on the relationship between researcher and the people being studied.

The book is mainly aimed at students in education and the social sciences who might be likely to gather information from interviewing people. However the issues it raises are general ones and might be encountered by anyone conducting a research project or doing market research. Tracing the development of a research project from methodology, through data collection and analysis, to publication, he looks in detail at the moral dilemmas which might arise between researcher and subject – including even people who are dead at the time the information is gathered.

Many of the topics he inspects involve making fine distinctions between the rights and responsibilities of the researcher and the interviewee – and sometimes between the researcher and the information that is being gathered. These issues are explored in what becomes a practical philosophic manner, so that the underlying ethical issues are brought to the surface.

He deals with the difficulties of obtaining genuinely ‘informed consent’ amongst respondents, researching vulnerable groups of people, and dealing with problems of permissions and protocols. Even the manner in which data is recorded can raise ethical issues.

He covers issues of privacy, confidentiality, anonymity, ethnocentrism, differences in gender, ethnicity, and religion, participant observation, and the disposal of data when a research project has been completed. It’s all done in a fair and even-handed manner, without any sense of taking sides or favouring the researcher.

He also looks closely at the potential – and actual – difficulties arising from the funding of research projects, of intellectual property rights, and the dissemination of research findings via publication. Although he speaks against Internet publication earlier in the book, I was surprised at this point that there was no mention of it in his discussion of plagiarism.

This will be of particular interest to students in sociology, psychology, management and organisational studies, communication studies, education, and the health service. And although the title suggests it’s for students, I can think of quite a few supervisors who would profit from considering the issues it raises.

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Paul Oliver, The Student’s Guide to Research Ethics, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2nd edition 2010, pp.224, ISBN: 0335237975

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The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research

July 17, 2009 by Roy Johnson

complete guide to undertaking a PhD – and beyond

This is a guide to the whole process of postgraduate research – from the point of selecting a topic and a supervisor, through to surviving your viva and starting to apply for jobs. The claim of authors Gordon Rugg and Marian Petre is that their advice includes all the things nobody ever tells you – either because they think you already know, or they have passed through the system and forgotten that they themselves once didn’t know. For instance, they start off with topics such as the need for tact, patience, and restraint: after all, you’re not the first person to undertake research.

This is followed by what they call knowing how to have ‘the right cup of coffee’ – that is, getting the best sources of advice. They even include things as obvious but often disastrously forgotten as the need to back up your work at every stage. Their urgings are all very sound. Get to know all stages of The System and its procedures; learn how to fill in forms (first in pencil, on a photocopy); understand the role of a supervisor, and create the groundwork for establishing a good working relationship.

They take a realistic attitude to the current tenor of academic life in the UK. Yes, everything has been driven by the Research Assessment Exercise, but the PhD research project is still worth doing as an intellectual exercise in its own right.

They cover all the reading and writing skills you will need – and the general advice is that you must learn to be professionally rigorous. There’s also a section by section critique of a typical thesis, showing why it’s important that you get the smallest details right.

For the ambitious who can’t wait to further their careers by getting into print, there is a section on how to write a journal article, plus how to increase your chances of getting it accepted.

For a piece of work as long as a thesis, most of which will be produced by people who have never written such a long piece of work before (and probably never will again) I was glad to see that they tackled the issues of creating structure and generating the appropriate style.

They go into style and writing skills in relentless detail, quoting plenty of good and bad examples so that you are left in no doubt about what’s required. Then for good measure they offer guidance on delivering presentations and speaking at conferences.

There’s very good chapter on dealing with the nerve-racking finale to all this – the viva. For anyone who has not yet reached this point, it’s worth buying the book for this chapter alone.

And they don’t end there. It’s assumed that your research and your PhD are leading towards some form of employment – either to do more research or to take up a teaching appointment. They provide excellent guidance on taking both these routes.

If you are contemplating a PhD, buy the book and read it straight through to get the larger picture; then re-read each section in greater detail as you tackle each stage of your work.

I did the basic research for my PhD in about twelve months, then spent two years writing up the results – and producing possibly too much. It succeeded, but I think I might have made a better job of it if I had read a book like this first. But they didn’t exist in those days.

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Gordon Rugg and Marian Petre, The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2nd edition 2010, pp.320, ISBN: 0335237029

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Study skills

writing and study skills for academic work, research, and projects

best-selling introduction to study skills for the arts

how to develop and improve your essay-writing skills

project writing skills for higher education

best-selling introduction to study skills for humanities

encyclopaedia of writing skills + exercises and examples

best-selling introduction to study skills for sciences

revision and exam skills, stress and time management

solving moral dilemmas in research projects

complete guide to undertaking a PhD – and beyond

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