Successful Assignments

Editor's Notes

• #10: No absolutes in academic knowledge. Always changing. Again quick refs for tips on brainstorming and researching
• #13: Checklist exercise for each source type? Book, journal article, magazine, newspaper Checking for resource reliability is an important part of selecting information for use. In most cases, peer-reviewed, scholarly articles are valid resources to use. Things to check for include: the authority of the source. Is it peer-reviewed? Are the credentials of the author appropriate (are they an expert?)? Who has published the source (is it a reputable, scholarly or university publisher?)? who was the resource written for? Is it targeted at an academic audience, or popular audience? You should be using academic or professional sources. currency – the resource should be recent and up-to-date bias – there shouldn’t be any advertising or bias in the content verification – experiments should be able to be replicated, and you should be able to see how the information was gathered and analysed Reference: Brick, J. (2006). Academic culture: a student’s guide to studying at university. Sydney: Macquarie University.
• #14: You are usually expected to use scholarly, or academic information when researching for your Monash College and University assignments. So, how does academic information differ from other types, such as information written for the general reader? Scholarly information is written by experts, usually researchers in the field. Their qualifications and often institutional affiliations are usually provided on the resource. The information is reliable – it’s been refereed, or peer-reviewed, which means that the publishers have had experts check over the article prior to publication to ensure that it’s of an appropriate standard. Look for an abstract and a good bibliography. Scholarly works refer to other sources, and these should be represented in a bibliography. And, the authors will use technical language. They won’t explain basic concepts, and will assume that the scholarly audience (you) has a base understanding of the topic. What to do if you don’t? Use a dictionary, encyclopaedia or textbook to increase your knowledge.
• #29: No absolutes in academic knowledge. Always changing. Again quick refs for tips on brainstorming and researching
• #33: I have an idea! Do some research! I’m going to show you 4 really good sources of information for your assignment I’m also going to get you to think about how to approach your search. Let’s do that first.
• #34: Expanded Academic – accessible from library guide (general content). Newspaper databases – online, easy to use BUT
• #36: Checklist exercise for each source type? Book, journal article, magazine, newspaper Checking for resource reliability is an important part of selecting information for use. In most cases, peer-reviewed, scholarly articles are valid resources to use. Things to check for include: the authority of the source. Is it peer-reviewed? Are the credentials of the author appropriate (are they an expert?)? Who has published the source (is it a reputable, scholarly or university publisher?)? who was the resource written for? Is it targeted at an academic audience, or popular audience? You should be using academic or professional sources. currency – the resource should be recent and up-to-date bias – there shouldn’t be any advertising or bias in the content verification – experiments should be able to be replicated, and you should be able to see how the information was gathered and analysed Reference: Brick, J. (2006). Academic culture: a student’s guide to studying at university. Sydney: Macquarie University.
• #37: You are usually expected to use scholarly, or academic information when researching for your Monash College and University assignments. So, how does academic information differ from other types, such as information written for the general reader? Scholarly information is written by experts, usually researchers in the field. Their qualifications and often institutional affiliations are usually provided on the resource. The information is reliable – it’s been refereed, or peer-reviewed, which means that the publishers have had experts check over the article prior to publication to ensure that it’s of an appropriate standard. Look for an abstract and a good bibliography. Scholarly works refer to other sources, and these should be represented in a bibliography. And, the authors will use technical language. They won’t explain basic concepts, and will assume that the scholarly audience (you) has a base understanding of the topic. What to do if you don’t? Use a dictionary, encyclopaedia or textbook to increase your knowledge.
• #52: No absolutes in academic knowledge. Always changing. Again quick refs for tips on brainstorming and researching
• #55: I have an idea! Do some research! I’m going to show you 4 really good sources of information for your assignment I’m also going to get you to think about how to approach your search. Let’s do that first.
• #56: Expanded Academic – accessible from library guide (general content). Newspaper databases – online, easy to use BUT
• #58: Checklist exercise for each source type? Book, journal article, magazine, newspaper Checking for resource reliability is an important part of selecting information for use. In most cases, peer-reviewed, scholarly articles are valid resources to use. Things to check for include: the authority of the source. Is it peer-reviewed? Are the credentials of the author appropriate (are they an expert?)? Who has published the source (is it a reputable, scholarly or university publisher?)? who was the resource written for? Is it targeted at an academic audience, or popular audience? You should be using academic or professional sources. currency – the resource should be recent and up-to-date bias – there shouldn’t be any advertising or bias in the content verification – experiments should be able to be replicated, and you should be able to see how the information was gathered and analysed Reference: Brick, J. (2006). Academic culture: a student’s guide to studying at university. Sydney: Macquarie University.
• #59: You are usually expected to use scholarly, or academic information when researching for your Monash College and University assignments. So, how does academic information differ from other types, such as information written for the general reader? Scholarly information is written by experts, usually researchers in the field. Their qualifications and often institutional affiliations are usually provided on the resource. The information is reliable – it’s been refereed, or peer-reviewed, which means that the publishers have had experts check over the article prior to publication to ensure that it’s of an appropriate standard. Look for an abstract and a good bibliography. Scholarly works refer to other sources, and these should be represented in a bibliography. And, the authors will use technical language. They won’t explain basic concepts, and will assume that the scholarly audience (you) has a base understanding of the topic. What to do if you don’t? Use a dictionary, encyclopaedia or textbook to increase your knowledge.
• #61: Limited space in matrix cannot copy out huge lumps of text, prevents plagiarism Tip: get some A3 paper What is the issue? How do the writer’s support their position? Strong/weak example Strengths and weaknesses/benefits and limits/advantages disadvantages Implications: does it support the writer’s position and does it support yours? Can I use it in my essay