Study project (PJS30) Lecture 3

NB. Student conference

 Weds 12 th March 2008  Chance to tell everyone about your work – presentation / demonstration / poster  Get evaluation of your artefact for your report  Talk to staff, PhD students, business people  Looks good on the CV!

 Support available for getting things ready  Contact Penny.Hart@port…. for more details

Writing up your Project

Prepare for writing up at a very early stage by: • Making copious notes • Keeping FULL bibliographical details of all sources used • Organising your material

Structure

You will probably have seen by now that Study projects tend to follow a similar pattern: Abstract Introduction Research questions Methodology Literature review Fieldwork/Primary research (if applicable) Discussion Summary/conclusions Bibliography Appendices

Structure

This structure is not compulsory, but it is one that suits most projects, if you feel your project requires something slightly different that’s fine, but discuss it with your supervisor.

What is required of you ?

• IF you haven’t already done so - it would be useful for you to look at the following documents on the Project Web Pages: • “How to Mark a Project” • “PJS30 Study Project Marking Form” This is what your marker will have to complete. It forms part of a formal record as well as providing a set of marking criteria.

Abstracts

Quite difficult to get right • • They are a precis of the aims, scope, methods and outcomes of the project in circa 150 – 250 words. Abstracts are the distilled essence of a project.

Basically, the What?, Why?, How? and brief a indication of findings/conclusions • The language used must be clear, precise, written in the ‘third’ person and necessarily brief.

• Look at examples from past projects and journal articles to see how they are constructed.

Project sections/ layout

• For details about what goes into the individual sections of a project see the notes from my previous lecture: “Study Projects: How to get a First”

Presenting and interpreting quantitative evidence • Question 3 results: Agree Disagree Don't Know What does this chart indicate?

Presenting and interpreting quantitative evidence All charts are utterly meaningless unless they are correctly titled, labeled and with the correct units of measurement ! Agree Disagree Don't Know

Presenting and interpreting quantitative evidence Furthermore ! Once you have the results and the data you still need to contextualize and analyze them with reference to some theory or hypothesis Agree Disagree Don't Know

Presenting and interpreting quantitative evidence • Be aware of the difference between correlation and causation !

Correlation and causal links !

No. of Influenza cases No. of vaccinations Time

Correlation and causal links !

% growth Consumption of Pot Noodles Mobile phone thefts Time

Presenting and interpreting quantitative evidence Remember !

A good graph is worth a thousand tables !

A bad graph is worse than useless !

Reviewing the literature: A recap

Whether your project is based around: • A case study • Primary Research (finding your own data) or is • Investigative (dissertation) You will need to review relevant literature

Reviewing the literature: A recap

This means: 1) Searching for appropriate* literature in books, journals, magazines, websites, government publications, etc. etc.

2) Sorting out which materials are relevant to your needs.

* Where appropriate means any or all of: “authoritative, accurate, up-to-date, scholarly, relevant, comprehensive”

Reviewing the literature: A recap

3) Variously comparing, contrasting, evaluating, synthesising, analysing and criticising the literature.

4) Re-presenting & summarising the literature (i.e. re-writing it) in your own words, whilst adding value to it in some way by adding: • A new insight • A new interpretation • A new critique • A new perspective

Reviewing the literature: A recap

To sum up: • For an dissertation/investigative project without primary research the project IS a long literature review in effect.

• For Case Study projects, or those with some primary research, the literature review sets the context for the case/research.

Plagiarism

The University defines plagiarism as: “the incorporation by a student in work for assessment of material which is not their own, in the sense that all or a substantial part of the work has been copied without any adequate attempt at attribution, or has been incorporated as if it were the student’s own when in fact it is wholly or substantially the work of another person or persons.”

Plagiarism

You MUST therefore attribute ideas and data by citing the source in the body of your report, e.g. (Smith 1998) and also acknowledge quotations thus “…………………………” (Smith 1998. p. 57) and give the full reference in the bibliography: Smith, J. (1998). Corporate Marketing for the 21st Century. London: Routledge.

Plagiarism

Non-attribution of the work of others is plagiarism.

Plagiarism in final projects is relatively rare but the consequences for the student can be disastrous, leading to failure in the project unit and possibly their degree.

If in doubt, consult your supervisor.

The CD …

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The soft copy of your work may be checked using plagiarism detection software. As you should know, strict rules apply. In particular, all quoted material MUST be included in quotes marks: “……”, omitting these, but putting the reference somewhere in the body of the text or your reference list is NOT SUFFICIENT TO AVOID THE CHARGE OF PLAGIARISM.

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Another useful resource is:

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http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/types_ of_plagiarism.html

 NB. As a rough guide, no more than circa 20-25% of your coursework should be quoted material in any case. The other circa 75-80% should be written in your own words.

References and Bibliography

• Anything less than accurate citation, referencing and bibliographies may detract from the project and could lose you marks.

• The University has adopted a common format – Harvard APA, which you ought to use. Use the library style guides – also on the web site (If in doubt ask a Librarian or your supervisor)

References and Bibliography

The Library has free pamphlets describing how to use the Harvard APA system of referencing – also available on the web via the Library Website.

References and Bibliography

• Don’t list these according to the type of source in the bibliography, but as ONE continuous list in alphabetical order of author’s surname. • See also project web pages: “How to cite references”