Skills and Top Tips in Completing Projects

Presentation Content

• The Research Process• Choosing a Project• Writing Plans• Time Management • Literature Reviews• Developing Information skills• Useful information sources• Completing Projects

The Research Process

Formulating and clarifying a topic Reviewing the literatureChoosing a strategy Collecting the dataAnalysing data Writing up

Choosing a Project • Choice • Motivation • Regulations and

expectations• Students subject or

field of study • Previous research

• Size of project • Time available • Cost of research • Resources available • Need for support • Access issues

Can’t Think of a Project?• Ask friends, family, lecturers • Look at/develop previous work • Relate it to your interests • Start from a quote • Follow your hunches • Mind Mapping • Be Prepared to Change direction

Writing Plan• Set deadlines • Write regularly • Write up a section as soon as it is

ready • Stop where it is easy to resume

writing • Leave space for revisions • Publicize your plans

Time Management • Inadequate primary research • Insufficient literature search • Handing in a project without any advice on draft

chapters • Incomplete sections • Inconsistency throughout • No constant links / themes• No proof reading • Poor presentation of final project

Literature Reviews • Evidence of reading • Include only relevant items• Locate information sources • Decide what you need to know • Select the topic• Define the terminology • Define the parameters • Select sources• Locate appropriate materials

Developing Information Skills

• Critical Thinking Exercise - http://lis.tees.ac.uk/infoskills_gen/critical/exercise.

• Internet Detective – • http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/

Useful Information Sources

Subject Guides • HEA subject Centreshttp://www.heacademy.ac.uk/subjectcentres• L&IS subject guideshttp://lis.tees.ac.uk/subject/• Websites for visitorshttp://lis.tees.ac.uk/links/

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Useful Information Sources

Intute - http://www.intute.ac.uk/

DISSC - http://lis.tees.ac.uk/dissc/

Google Scholar

Extended Project• Excellent Opportunity to experience HE

library http://lis.tees.ac.uk/

• Limited to Print collection

• External membership available

Completing Projects • Clear aims & objectives• Literature review • Sound methodology

• reliability and validity, ethics

• Accuracy in interpretation of results• Qualified assertions (NOT sweeping statements)

• Important to cite and reference

• Presentation• Logical approach

• discussion and links throughout the work

A COHERENT PROJECT