Reading Research Reports
Robert Blake
Student Learning Development Centre
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Reading Research Reports
This session covers
•
research report structure in
Communication Systems
•
efficient reading techniques
•
avoiding plagiarism
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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?
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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
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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?
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Reading Research Reports:
Look at either the article by
a) 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?
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Strategies for Surveying Research Reports
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•
•
•
•
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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
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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
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Reading Research Reports: Surveying
• What did you learn?
• What is the overall structure of this article?
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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?
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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 recursiverepeated until an appropriate solution is
reached.
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Reading Research Reports: Surveying- IMRaD
What other strategies &
information did you use to
help you work out the
main idea of the article?
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Reading Research Reports: SQ3R
We’ve been using the 1st stage of SQ3R
The 5 stages are:
•
SURVEY
•
QUESTION
•
READ
•
RECALL
•
REVIEW
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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Reading Research Reports : Reading
Spend 10 minutes reading the article
with the purpose of finding answers to
your questions
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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?
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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
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Reading Research Reports : Recall
You can record your notes in a number of ways
including:
•
Linear notes
•
Flow diagrams
•
Mind maps
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Reading Research Reports : Recall
An example of Mind maps from Tony Buzan
http://www.mind-map.com/EN/mindmaps/how_to.html
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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
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Reading Research Reports : Recall
• Symbols and abbreviations can save valuable
time, enabling you to write less and identify
the main points more efficiently
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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
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Reading Research Reports : Review
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!
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Avoiding Plagiarism
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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 ]
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Avoiding Plagiarism
From Purdue University, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html accessed 14 May 2003
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Avoiding Plagiarism
• Practise paraphrasing from the beginning of your
course look at:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_p
araphr.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
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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
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