Organizing Your Thoughts: Outlines Part 1

An outline is a useful tool for arranging an assignment before you commit pen to paper. Here are some strategies you can use to help develop an outline on your assignment topic:

1. Jot down your ideas for the paper. (This is a sketch outline at this stage.)
2. Look these ideas over and create a logical sequence.
3. Connect the ideas using a diagram or a flow chart. This chart should demonstrate the relationships between your ideas. I suggest planning each paragraph in your paper in the following 4 sentence structure:
a) Topic sentence - What is this paragraph about? What is the argument you are making?
b) Sentence 2 - What evidence do you have to back up your argument?
c) Sentence 3 - Explain how this evidence backs up your argument.
d) Sentence 4 - Finish your argument & link it to the next idea
4. Use transitional words to link ideas. (See next posting for more on transitions)
5. The next step is the creation of a working outline. A working outline:
a) Place ideas in order with major headings. For an assignment of roughly three pages, you should plan 3 paragraph per page. If you read all of your topic sentences, you will see if your argument is in order. Jewinski and Dodds suggest the following:
i) "Look for relationships among ideas and group them as subheadings under headings. Beware of shopping lists of topics.
ii) If you can't decide where to place an idea in your outline, put it in two or three places and see where it fits best.
iii) "If an important idea doesn't fit, write a new outline with a place for it."

Dodds, Jack and Judi Jewinski. The Ready Reference Book. (1998): 15.

In the near future I will discuss how to number the items in your outline.

Speaking to the Skills Tutor in Person

If you want to speak to the Skills Tutor in person, there are a few details you should know.

First, ask yourself what I can do for you right now using email. A phone call takes several days to set up, what do you need to move forward with your work right now? I can help with this.

You need to focus on a particular issue which we can discuss in more detail over the phone. So, think about your needs. Are you having problems with assignments, with time management, with exam stress, with writing or with thinking critically? These are just a few concerns students can have. To get more ideas, you might read my blog postings.

To be more specific, I usually speak to students using Skype. If you are fortunate enough to be in the UK, I can phone you directly on a UK landline. Otherwise, Skype is here:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home
You can get a free user account from Skype that we can use to speak together using Skype software and also see each other via webcam if you wish.

There are a few other things you should know.
1. All phone appointments are between 12:00 (Noon) PM UK/GMT and 11:00 PM UK/GMT
2. We need to have a topic to discuss.
3. Appointments are not on weekends unless I make a special arrangement with a student for a special reason.
4. The student must suggest an appointment time and date, three working days ahead. I will call at this time and 15 minutes later.
5. The student must get a notice from me verifying this appointment to which they must reply. I must then verify the time is set up. Without acknowledgments, we don't have an appointment.
6. I am always happy to call a UK landline.

I hope this makes the phone call process easier for all those who wish to speak with me.

KB

Getting Help from the Skills Tutor for Redone Assignments

Hi, it's KB again. I realized yesterday, while I was helping a student with an assignment they were preparing to resubmit, that I had never written a blog about resubmitting assignments. When I assist students who are redoing assignments, I need help from the students to ensure that I have the materials I need. I need:

1. A copy of the first, failed assignment
2. A copy of the marker's comments and the AGC form. If you don't have these things, you can write to: ulsmdladmin@le.ac.uk.
3. A copy of the assignment question with all of the instructions including how long it should be and any other special instructions from the module tutor
4. A copy of the redone assignment with all the citations included

If you haven't redone the assignment yet, that's okay. Let's look at what you have written and come to an understanding about what you should write. However, I will need items 1 and 2 from the list above.

I'm now requesting that all students write to me using their University of Leicester email account. Why? What's wrong with writing me using hotmail or gmail. Let me explain. Last week, a student told me that their hotmail account, which is by the way is not secure, had been broken into. This student lost all their materials. Because the hotmail server is not secure, this could happen to you as well. The student's solution was to open a new google account. Google is no more secure than hotmail. I told them to use their University of Leicester account.

The University of Leicester server is much more secure than any public server you can use; thus, it makes sense to use your U of Leicester email account. Of course, you should take the appropriate measures to guarantee security. You should use alpha numeric codes, capitals and punctuation marks. Don't use the name of your favourite dog, cat or something else that you've written about on Facebook. Don't use something you've been tweeting about with your friends. If you must write it down, which is not recommended BTW, you should put it in a secret place that is not accessible to all of your friends or disguise the password so that it doesn't look like a password. All of this may seem very basic to some of you, but most people use a significant name or their birthday as their password. If you don't know your student email account, you can write to me and I can put you in touch with someone who can help you. I also will not write to any student using their work email address because these mailboxes are subject to scrutiny from employers. So, they are not secure.

This is what I need to help you. If you're at an early stage and haven't committed pen to paper, this is even better. I can help you so are spot on with your topic.

Until next time,

KB

Descriptive Writing - Change the research cycle

Okay, your assignment came back. You received a C-. The markers said you were writing descriptively. You're puzzled. What is descriptive writing? The marker also said that your paper was well-researched. How do you fix this problem and turn your C- paper into a B or possibly an A? What have you done wrong?

Well, the first answer is that you haven't done anything wrong. You've taken the first step but you've failed to complete the job that you began with your research. In short, your paper has lots of information but doesn't follow up that information with critical analysis and thinking. Thinking critically is the next step you must take. You need to explain the significance of every citation you put into your assignment.

You would be mistaken to think that your paper shouldn't have citations. Citations are there to provide support for your arguments. For example, let's say you are using Porter's Five Forces Model to discuss the textile industry in Egypt. You would need to use citations to advance your argument and support your claims about this industry. Your textbook will probably be the best source material on the Five Forces model itself but you would need to find out more about the textile industry in Egypt itself. If you wanted to make a point about "competitive rivalry within the industry", you would need to use journal articles and books and examples from the industry environment to back up any assertions you need to make about this "competitive rivalry."

At this point I need to say a word about the kind of information a student paper doesn't need. Many students, when faced with a topic such as the one above, are not sure what they should write for their three page assignment. This is their work cycle for the paper:
1. Read the assignment topic
2. Go onto the internet and look up Porter's Five Forces
3. Amass a battery of quotations on Porter's Five Forces
4. Look up basic information about an industry, in this case Egypt's textile industry
5. Begin writing

There are a number of problems with this research cycle. First and foremost, all the information you need on Porter's Five Forces is in your textbook and in your head. Information from a lot of internet sources is likely to result in "poor scholarship", "bad referencing", or even "plagiarism" on your assignment sheet. When the student is presented with a failing grade and the words "bad referencing" or "referencing problems", this student will usually try desperately to rewrite their assignment by changing the words or looking for more citations.

It is important to see here, in the bad work cycle I presented above, that the problem really is the use of the internet. Sure, there's lots of information on Porter's Five Forces on the internet. However, the question wants you to explain how each of these forces affect an industry. Internet information on the Five Forces is not going to help you here. What you need is your head, your textbook (that doubtless describes these forces) and good articles that you can reference on the textile industry in Egypt. You can see, by reading articles on this industry, what threats the textile industry in Egypt faces or the power of suppliers.

Students should know the purpose of every citation that is used in their assignments. The work cycle should look like this:
1. The student receives the assignment question

2. The student reads it over several times to understand every aspect of the assignment

3. The student takes a highlighter and marks the important terms

4. For terms they don't really understand, they use the textbook to understand the terms

5. Discuss the question on blackboard with other students

6. Make a mind map with the terms if you are confused. A mind map places the central topic in the middle on a blank sheet of paper and puts the other terms around it in a wheel structure. When you do this, you also try and think of things that you're going to need when you do this assignment. For example, if you were doing this topic, the Egyptian textile industry would be in the middle with the Five Forces all around it. You would have questions about each force in terms of the textile industry that would need to be addressed by good research. In short, you would need to understand how a force such as "power of suppliers" works in this industry. Note: that if you did research on the Five Forces, this wouldn't answer the question being asked and would probably provide a lot of confusing detail that the module tutor is assuming you know.

7. Begin your research on the Egyptian textile industry using a. The University of Leicester Digital Library and b. a search engine such as Google. Of course, you may be lucky and have a good academic library nearby as well.

The final step is to write an outline of the paper. We'll discuss this in another posting.

KB

Referencing Problems: What do I do?

Your assignment comes back and you've failed. You have, the marker tells you, "referencing problems". You think, "No problem, I'll email the Skills Tutor and find out how to use Harvard style". This is a great idea but this isn't the whole problem. Allow me to guide you.

While I would strongly urge all students to use Harvard style, poor referencing is not about citations, it is about references. References inside your assignment link it to your readings on the assignment subject matter. When you do the assignment that the module tutor gives out, I suggest this paragraph format:

Paragraph Format
a) Topic sentence - First sentence to introduce any paragraph. This guides the reader through the same topic within this sentence.
b) References - The second sentences shows an example or quotation from an authority. For example: Johnston says in his 1919 article: "The best....."
c) Explanation this reference. Okay, what does Johnston say that is relevant to the subject you're writing about. Explain it. Use two sentences if you must, but explain why this is important. What does it say about the topic you're talking about.
d) Finish up and link it to the next paragraph.
Notice, this paragraph could be five sentences if necessary. One sentence is inadequate.

If you follow this model, you should never have referencing problems. What the module tutor wants is your opinion, backed up by evidence, not the opinion of someone else or diluted references to a number of internet sources. This is what causes referencing problems.

Referencing problems are really about NOT understanding that the use of any source materials inside your paper, without directly citing them, is a form of plagiarism. This includes any quickie materials you pick up from the Internet in a cursory search. The biggest problem with assignments that rely on quickie Internet searches is that they usually don't answer the assignment question. Instead, using a lot of material from a numbers of Internet sources, they skirt around the issue.

Writing using one citation for each paragraph, as in the model above, helps ensure that the citation is on topic. Citations that are not on topic have no place in your assignment and you should eliminate them. It is actually harder and more time consuming to write an assignment by stringing together citations from the Internet. It is easier to figure out what the assignment question is really asking and providing citations that are on topic.

It is also important that you note when a set of assignment questions is given in a particular order such as:

1. Pick out the main topic of the article you have been asked to find.
2a. What is the stated purpose of this research?
2b. What are any additional reasons the author might have for doing this research?

In this case, you should stick with the order of the questions provided in the module assignment. You don't have to restructure this assignment in any way. Answer all the questions in order, don't go off course and do something completely different. After all, why reinvent the wheel if you've been given a perfectly good one to use?

When you look at the assignment question(s), you should see a clear link between what you have written and the assignment question(s). Often, students have referencing problems because they did initial research to understand the question, for example on what SWOT analysis is, and then decided they didn't understand the actual assignment question. At this point, the lost student decides to use their research on the terminology of the question in the hope tta it will be enough to complete the assignment successfully. In fact, they are lost and should go to blackboard, the Module Tutor and the Skills Tutor to find out what to do now. They shouldn't write the thing they just looked up and which actually isn't the assignment in question.

An important point here. When you get an assignment back and the tutor has failed you and told you that you have a "referencing problem", don't revise your old assignment. Junk it and start again. It is likely that understanding the assignment is your first key and the old assignment is already compromised. Look at it from this perspective, if you've already been told that you have referencing problems do you really think the next marker won't comb through your assignment to ensure you've rectified this issue? Of course they will. To pass, you must fix this problem and do it right the first time. Why put yourself through this time and trouble? Do it right, do it once.
Until next time,
KB

Remember the Small Stuff: Writing Assignments that Work

People always say, "don't sweat the small stuff." However, in my experience the small stuff makes or breaks a good assignment. Misspellings, poor grammar, disorganized information and off-topic answers make an assignment look carelessly done, whether or not the writer spent a short time or hours preparing and researching if before handing it in. So, let's look at some of this 'small stuff' that can take just minutes to fix.

1. Always reread your assignments

Of course, you are tired when you hand in an assignment. You are also probably very sick of looking at your work. However, you must re-read it before submitting it. Careless mistakes, especially in opening titles and headers, create a bad impression. Your submission, that you have just laboured over, is worth a final re read and edit. Do this and get better grades...automatically.

2. Always paginate

If a marker gets lost when reading your assignment because it isn't paginated, you have a major problem. A lost marker is a cross marker and you don't want a marker who is cross reading your papers and grading them. It takes a few minutes to paginate your assignment; it takes the same amount of time for a marker to get lost when marking your assignment and conclude that your assignment is too disorganized to pass.

It should be easy for anyone to get from the top of page one to the bottom of page three in your assignment. Sometimes, students have the mistaken impression that a lost marker will give up trying to find the point of your assignment and simply assign you a passing grade. This might have happened at some point before university; this won't happen in your MBA/MSc. If a marker can't read or find the cogent points in your assignment, they won't stop looking and pass you just because they like you. If your assignment doesn't come up to scratch, you will simply fail. Don't fail because your assignment lost the tutor.

2. Make it legible.

Gone are the days, if they ever existed, when markers cheerfully give up trying to read your illegible writing and give you a passing grade. Markers must find the relevant points to give you the marks you deserve. So, if you know your handwriting is poor, do something about it. In fact, make every effort to make your handwriting neat and easily legible. If you can't, then always use printing instead of cursive writing for your assignments and exams.

3. Fix your grammar

If you have a problem with this, ask for help. There are excellent manuals and books to assist you to fix grammar problems. Don't suffer in silence! Poor grammar leaves a bad impression in any assignment. Never be too embarrassed to fix your problems!

Good grammar is a building block of excellent writing. When you have good grammar, you can state your points clearly every time. I caution students not to rely on the grammar checkers in word processing software alone. Buy manuals and grammar books. Get other people to read your assignments and look for grammar errors (make sure their grammar is excellent of course).

4. Stick with the question that was asked

If a marker can't understand the points you're making, then they can't give you credit for your work. One of the most common mistakes in both assignments and exams is not answering the question that was assigned. Frequently, students DO know the answer to the actual question but think - for some reason - that an argument that is unique and different will be more interesting than answering the question that was actually asked. Nothing could be further from the truth! Markers can only give credit to answers that really stick with the questions that were asked in the first place.

Sometimes, students don't understand the question. In an effort to find the correct answer, they go off on several tangents hoping one will be the correct answer. It is better to spend your time analyzing the question and finding the correct answer the first time. Look in Blackboard to see what other students are saying about the assignment. Start a thread and ask the module tutor relevant questions to find out what the question actually says. Then you will have more confidence in your answer. Confidence also equals concentration. This concentration means what you write is on target. Thus, you will get better grades when you understand what you are doing from the outset.

5. Organize the material in your answer carefully

When a module tutor provides you with an order to use in your assignment, use it. Don't feel you must be original and hide the points you are trying to make. Markers like assignments that make the main points clearly. Don't hide your main points inside large swatches of unrelated data.

I advise all students to use an outline. In an outline, you can see how your argument develops without actually committing pen to paper. Moreover, you can reorganize your argument by reordering your quotations. This helps you to build a stronger argument step-by-step. While it is true that some arguments unfold easily, it is much easier to revise an outline than to revise a full-length paper.

If the tutor has provided a set of questions, use these questions to predetermine the order inside your paper. After all, why make it harder to write your paper? Additionally, markers will be looking for these points when they assign a grade to your paper. Why make your life harder?

6. Spell check

Use your spell checker. Don't rely just on the one taht comes with your word processing software. Read over your work to make sure you used the correct version of words with several meanings that sound the same but are spelled differently such as there/their/they're. Always, always check your spelling! Never hand in any work that is not spell checked. It takes a few minutes to check your work. It may take a complete rewrite to fix a paper that is filled with spelling errors and detract from the argument you have made. Don't take a chance with any assignment, spell check it every time. Do not fail to have a good English dictionary such as the Oxford Concise. The University of Leicester is an English university and you should therefore use English spelling, not American.

7. References

All students should know that any reference to the words or ideas of another person's writing and ideas must be duly referenced. See:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/ld/resources/study/avoiding-plagiarism?searchterm=help%20with%20plagiarism

for the University of Leicester's policies on plagiarism and referencing. When a marker comments on 'referencing', please read U of Leicester's policies on this subject to clarify what you must do. I am also available to assist any student who is confused on this point. I would also strongly suggest that any student who had failed to pass their MSL/MSc thesis or an assignment because of a "referencing problem" should reread the material at the addy (http address) above and contact me.

Additionally, students should go to this addy:
http://www.le.ac.uk/li/research/harvard.html
to find out exactly how Harvard style referencing works. I can assist students with more specific inquiries. Please note that the style must be done precisely as it is illustrated on that page. Your bibliography will still be in alpha-order at the end of your assignment. The word count on your bibliography never counts in the overall accepted size of your paper.

I also suggest that students use the U of Leicester's free bibliography formatting tool, Refworks, available here:
http://www.le.ac.uk/li/research/refworks.html
This tool will be very helpful when you need to format your bibliography for your thesis.

Take care, until next time,

KB

More on Memory Tricks for Exams

How do we retain information so that we can be successful on an exam? This is a problem all students, to a greater or lesser extent, face. If, as I've suggested in previous posts, you spend your time leading up to the exam repeating the information in the module texts you have already worked on one obstacle. Repetition has been shown to be a successful strategy for students. It is better, testing demonstrates, to use your time taking short breaks every hour and go over the material several times. While intensive study over long periods is better than no study at all, it is not as effective as shorter periods with more repetition in terms of memory and retention.

However, in addition to breaking up the material, you can organize the module materials. This will help you remember hard to remember information. How does this work? There are 5 strategies you should keep in mind (see Schonwetter & Walker (2002), "Success Secrets of University Students", 157.) These strategies are: chunking, mnemonics, selecting out the main ideas, defining hierarchies and integrating.

Chunking is "grouping of words or ideas into categories that reflect some common element". (ibid.) For example, if you are were studying dogs, you would divide the module into types of dogs that have some common element such as herding dogs or hunting dogs. The same principle applies to management or even accounting.

Mnemonics is a learning strategy that relies on using a word cue that uses the first letter of every word to remember the names of a group of inter-related ideas. For example, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is a popular way to remember the notes of the treble clef in Music.
There are many examples of students using mnemonics in many subjects. This memory device goes all the way back to the Ancient Greeks. If you have used memonics to help learn a concept, it might might be interesting to post these ideas to this blog and we can compare them.

The next concept, selecting the main idea, is way to remember complex inter-related ideas. These ideas can often be found in the chapter headings or summaries of your text to find these concepts. Linking ideas through empirical concepts in the material allows you to remember large chunks of information that you find difficult to remember.

Let's look at another method of remember information, creating a hierarchy. When you define a hierarchy of material from the text, you put material together in large groups. Often, the textbook shows students the hierarchical order within the module subject. For example, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is just one motivational theory. When you look closely at the textbook, you can find other theories. You can map these theories on a piece of paper while you are studying to see how these these theories are inter-related.

Finally, you can integrate the new material into a larger view of the subject from your previous studies. New material fits into previously learned concepts and ideas. This is even more meaningful if your practical experience in the field, for example working as a marketer after learning marketing in school, has helped you integrate your original ideas with practical experience in a subject.

That's it until next time. Keep learning.

KB

Studying and Memory: Part 2

"Studying is defined as the active processing of information that involves attending, acquiring, organizing and integrating information into memory."

I left you with the above quotation in my last post. Let's look at what Schonwetter is really saying in this quotation. Attending, as I would describe it, is asking relevant questions and reading class materials when you are in class. If you do not do this in a first reading of the materials, you will need to do it later when you finally do read the text. Obviously, if you don't know what the text means or understand terminology, you need to either get an explanation from the module tutor or find out some other way. If the material you study is only half-understood, it will make a great difference in the exam outcome. Module tutors are there to explain terminology but sometimes a student must go further when they do not have the background in a subject. Sometimes, basic texts from undergraduate studies must be taken out and reviewed to ensure that you know all the basics in a particular subject - say for example Finance - if it has been many years since you first studied this subject.

Acquiring is a process that involves planning and taking the time to review all your materials. This includes going through your text, highlighting headings and important terminology which you may have to commit to memory. As discussed in previous postings, you need to use effective time planning skills to ensure that you allow yourself enough time to review your text more than once.

SQR3 is part of this. This is a short form which describes the study cycle. It stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. Exam rehearsal strategies are also helpful. When you are in the exam, let's say you need to cover three subject areas in a relatively tight time frame. Pacing is important here. It will help if you write a short outline covering the major points of the question. Straying from the question that is being asked and providing large swatches of irrelevant information is going to slow you down. Not to mention that markers will only give you marks for answering the question. They will not give you marks if you write around the question. This is why an outline can be helpful and make you stay on target.

Effective studying should make the exam clearer. Obviously, you are wasting your time and the marker's time if you write a lot on an exam question that you don't really understand and ignore a question that you really do understand. In fact, sometimes while you are planning how to write on the question you do know, you may find that you suddenly understand the other question you didn't understand. What I mean here is don't waste you time in the exam. Plan what you are going to write, write as much as you can on subjects you really DO understand before attempting a question you are unsure of.

The next post is going to be about organizing material for the exam so that you will be able to commit it to memory.

Studying and Memory : Part 1

Over the last few posts, I have been discussing how to plan out your study time. Time management is a key to exam success. I also discussed that the exams at U of Leicester are comprehensive and that students, unless instructed otherwise specifically by the module tutor, should review all of their module materials for their upcoming exams. My posting in January of this year discussed how to read your course materials to get the most out of them - most specifically how to use Bloom's Taxonomy to ask important questions about textual materials as you learn.

I have mentioned that keeping pace with the course readings while you first study the course is a good idea. There are two reasons for this. One, you can direct questions on course materials to the module tutor via Blackboard while the course is actually taking place. Second, the more times you review course materials the better chance you have that you will actually retain these materials for the exam. The two-for-one rule, that is studying two hours for every hour of classroom time is harder for distance students to follow. It is also difficult for students to use distributed practice. Distributed practice is when, rather than studying for three hours in one block of time, a student reviews this same material over three nights for one hour each night. Research on education has shown that students who do this, rather than study in long blocks of time, retain more information.

It is tempting, especially when there is no formal classroom time, to leave the bigger job of reading and reviewing texts until exam time. It is also tempting to do this studying in large chunks of time, rather than reviewing it over the course of a number of days. This almost guarantees that a student will not remember the information they need for the exam. Remembering vital information is a problem that plagues many students working on their exams. If students, at the very least, have already reviewed their text once and asked important questions as they arose on Blackboard, they can feel more comfortable with the materials in the text before they even begin the process of studying.

However, I'd like to look at ways, over the next few postings, that students can retain more information when it comes to exam day. I'd like to leave you with a thought from Schonwetter & Walker regarding exams:

"Studying is defined as the active processing of information that involves attending, acquiring, organizing and integrating information into memory."

Schonwetter & Walker (2005) . Success Secrets of University Students. Prentice-Hall: Toronto, 156.

Planning for your Exam: Setting Goals

Hi, this is KB again. Let's discuss planning for an exam. As we discussed last time, you need to review the entire text. When you look this over, you need to develop a feasible time plan that allows to review ALL the material. Any goal you set must be realistic and achievable in your time plan. In fact, you should review your goals daily to ensure they you are moving forward with your plan.

Blackboard is a good place to post study questions on exam materials because you may find other students have many of the same questions. However, it is important that you understand the material in your texts. This should not be a problem if you have managed to do the assignments. The study skills tutor can assist you with keeping on top of your goals if you have problems in this regard. She can also phone you via Skype to keep you on top of your progress toward the exam and make suggestions if you are having problems in studying.

Take out a daytime planner and divide your text up into portions for review purposes. I strongly urge students to vary their routine to keep themselves alert. Not only should you search for themes in the texts, you should consider the kind of questions that might appear on the exam. When you run into difficulty with your goals, it is often because they are not realistic and achievable. Remember a goal is "a dream with a deadline". Your deadline is the date of the exam. Your goal is to succeed in passing them.

KB

Exams: The First Step

During the year students write me about exams. One of the most frequent questions is "What do I study?" or "How much to I study?". Often a student will say "I'm not expected to read and review the entire text am I?" Sadly, the answer to this question is yes, you must review and study the entire text. Any material from the text can and will often appear on the exam. If a student has not read through the complete text, student can fail the exam because they are unprepared.

The next question we must ask is why does this happen? Frequently, students are so busy when they are taking a module they actually never read the textbook at all. So, when they read the text for the exam this is actually a first read-through. This shouldn't happen, but it does. Students are so busy doing their assignments for all their modules, they never read the texts. Consequently, at exam time reading the text is an onorous, exasperating job. Students decide they would rather skip this task and read selected subjects, assuming that they have prior knowledge of the exam based on previous assignments.

This is a serious mistake. Exams are meant to review comprehensive knowledge of the subject - knowledge that can only be gained by reviewing the text in its entirety. If you have read through the text at least once, it will make this job easier. You can also look for themes in the text and ask yourself questions as you read through the materials. It would, however, be a serious error not to undergo a rigorous review of your text before you study for your exams. In the next posting, we will discuss planning for your exam further.

KB

Positive Self Talk : Succeeding in your programme

Success is not just a question of doing the 'do' things: studying, getting your assignments in on time, planning and managing your workload and keeping in touch with your tutor and other students through Blackboard, it is also about giving yourself positive messages. This is a facet of the programme that students often neglect. Believing in yourself and your abilities is the most important aspect of academic success. We can do this through positive self talk.

Consider this scenario:
Daphne has failed her first MBA exams. They were written in what Daphne considered difficult circumstances. That is, the classroom in which she wrote her exams had uncomfortable chairs, dirty desks and constant background traffic. What should she do? She knows the next exam will likely be in the same place. She is worried she can't pass when she rewrites the exam in several months. How will positive self talk help her and what should she do?

First, Daphne needs to consider her abilities and the time she has available to organize her studying. She has realized that she had difficulty in writing her exams, not simply because the room was a poor place locale in which to write an exam, but that she didn't know a lot of the information in her textbooks and that meant she was unsure about what to write on the assigned questions. Now, she has organized herself and knows that she will need to study more hours per week than she did during her first try at the exams. In fact, with the help of the Skills Tutor, Daphne has spoken to her boss and realized that she could get extra time off work which will allow her to study at home when no one is there. She has also asked her husband to take the children out every Saturday to allow her to work and he has agreed to do this. This time she will look at the 'whole textbook' and make no assumptions about what material might be on the exam. However, Daphne was puzzled when the Skills Tutor told that she needed to help herself every day with positive self talk.

Daphne asked the tutor what this meant and the tutor asked her what kind of 'messages' she was giving herself everyday when she finished her study. Daphne told the tutor that, everyday when she completed her studies, she looked ahead at all the work she had yet to complete. In fact, she felt pretty discouraged when she looked at all the information that she hadn't covered. This made her feel bad before she began studying at her next study session. The tutor told her this was not a good way to study.

In fact, the tutor told Daphne to make a 'to do' list every day and cross off the items that she had reviewed using the SQ3R model (survey, question, read, recite and review). The tutor also told Daphne that she should actually talk to and tell herself that she was capable, that she was working toward a goal that she had set and that she could and would accomplish this goal.

Daphne thought this was rubbish but she made this list anyway. Dutifully, she crossed off items on the list every time she studied. She put the lists together at the end of the first week and saw how much information she had covered. She saw that she was actually ahead of schedule and that when she went into the exam she would be prepared. She felt less worried about the upcoming exam. She actually told herself out loud, as the tutor had suggested, that she could succeed and that she deserved this success after all the work and organization she'd done. She thought this was a bit silly, but next week she found she'd accomplished still more.

This is, in fact, a true story of a student I knew who was experiencing difficulty in rewriting an exam. It could also be the story of any student who is stuck and believes they cannot do the work. It can be difficult sometimes when you are working online on an MBA or MSc alone. There is no classroom or other students with which to share your difficulties in a social format. You must rely on yourself. You need to believe you can succeed. It is this belief that makes success in this programme easier. All the best until next time.

KB

Planning Your Time : Studying for Exams

Time management is the key to getting difficult or long projects finished. Many students write to me to discuss how they will best manage their time leading up to an examination. I have even had a monthly check-in with students. This helps to keep students on track when they are thinking about all the material they have to cover before the exams. I will do this for any student who asks, but first I ask the all-important question "How much time do you really have available to cover all the materials before the exam?"

Students want short cuts to getting through exams. This is natural; we all want short cuts. However, I always tell students writing exams for University of Leicester that these are comprehensive exams, that is, all the material in the text books is meant to be covered in detail. Making assumptions about what material might or might not be on any exam is not a good idea. This is because any of the material in the text might very well be covered by the exam. Knowing this, how do you plan for your studying and allow enough time to cover everything in the textbook?

First, you need to know exactly how much time you have to study each week. You should also split this time into several chunks. For example, four hours studying time on a Sunday is not as useful as four hours split out over several days. This is called 'distributed practice'. You should allow two hours of studying for every in-class hour as well; this is called the 'two-for-one rule'. Good study practice allows for 15 minute breaks every hour. Moreover, it is important to study thematically - placing similar ideas together.

Other ideas that help in studying are:
Chunking - Placing similar ideas together
Mnemonics - A way to develop acronyms to aid memory
Selecting Main Ideas - Selecting out the main ideas as an aid to memory
Defining Hierarchies - Placing ideas in a hierarchy so that major ideas are broken down into groups and subgroups of ideas
Integrating - Integrating the ideas into the subject as a whole

If you don't have enough time to study, a common problem for students who are working, you will need to find the time to study. You should also choose a time of peak efficiency for you, that is, a time when you are attentive and learn well, not when you are tired and forgetful. Speaking to employers is helpful, especially if they are invested in seeing you complete your degree and use your new skills at your job. Families can also be brought in to support your work. Lastly, you must use positive self talk to help give you that needed boost when you're working.

Looking over a timetable of the week will help you understand when you have study time. You should use this to help plan out your studying over several months. Good luck and good studying until next time.

KB

Still More About the Comma

Some of you have requested more on comma use. First, I'd like to take a minute to review sentence types. Then we'll see how you can use commas to improve clarity in your writing. There are simple sentences such as "I went home for my vacation." This sentence has one independent clause. A clause is any group of words with a subject and a predicate. There are several types of clauses: noun clauses, adverb clauses, adjective clauses. Okay, why is this important?

When sentences become longer and more complex, they may contain "independent clauses." A compound sentence contains one or more independent clause.s These are clauses that are linked to the main subject by a linking words such as "and, or, but, yet, so, for, nor". They are introduced by a comma.

A penny saved is a penny earned, but the earnings don't amount to much.
Reference:
Dodds, Jack & Judi Jewinski. The Ready Reference Handbook. (1998). Canadian ed. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 89.

Notice in the sentence above that all the information in the second half of the sentence could be divided into a separate sentence by removing the word "but" and putting in a full-stop or period.

This is not the case for a dependent clause. The following sentence is a complex sentence that contains an independent clause and a dependent clause. See that the first half of the sentence could not stand on its own as a sentence by small editorial changes.

When the hurricane altered its path, emergency bulletins were posted on the Miami TV channels.

Again, we see that comma use here introduces main clauses such as:
"Emergency bulletins were posted..." .

Dodds and Jewinski (see above) suggest the following way to identify punctuation problems. First, does your writing sound choppy when you read it aloud? Second, does your punctuation cause you to stumble or misread sentences? In these cases, you need to rewrite your sentence by either removing commas to reduce choppiness or adding commas to improve clarity.
Until next time.

KB

More Uses for the Comma: Part 2, A few rules

Last blog, we began our discussion of the comma. Let's pick this up in this posting.

This week, I'd like to point out that I used Lynn Quitman Troyka's book, "Quick Access: a reference for writers" to facilitate my discussion. The full citation is at the end of this blog.

Troyka uses a helpful table to assist students in using the comma. Most of the following information is drawn from her table, Comma Pattern (1998, 127).

Commas that link coordinating conjunctions that link independent clauses require a comma. Look at the following list of words:
"and, or, but for, nor, so and yet." If you use any of these words to link an independent clause (that is a sentence containing a noun and a verb), to another independent clause then you must use a comma. For example:
This wasn't the first time that she cheated on her husband, nor would it be the last time.

Commas are used after an introductory phrase:
Example:
After returning from the prince's ball, Cinderella put on her old gown.
Or an introductory phase:
Example:
In the Prince's hand, he held one tiny crystal slipper.
On the night of the ball, Cinderella had received a beautiful gown and crystal slippers from her Fairy Godmother.
Or an introductory word:
Example:
However, the prince had not forgotten about Cinderella.

Commas with items in a series:
Pattern: item, item, item
Example:
Her stepsisters made Cinderella scrub the floor, the chimney, the door and entrance hall.

Commas with coordinate adjectives:
Pattern: Coordinate adjective, coordinate noun
Example:
The prince made a televised appearance to his subjects using appealing, dramatic language.

No commas are necessary with cumulative adjective
Examples:
The cruel wicked stepsisters were not moved by the Prince's plight.
This is why the Prince made them dance in red hot iron shoes after he finally found Cinderella.

Commas with non restrictive elements
Pattern: Non restrictive element + independent clause
Examples:
A few days after the ball, the prince came to call on Cinderella's stepmother. (Non restrictive element in red)
OR
The beginning of an independent clause + non restrictive element + end of the independent clause (the independent clause is in red here:)
The golden era of Whaling, which lasted from approximately the late 16th century until the mid 19th century, helped fuel the beginnings of industrialization in America.

No commas with restrictive elements
Example:
The fans who attend special conventions meet celebrities from their favourite television shows.

Commas with quotations:
Example
"Look," he said, "I see land ahead."

These are some of the many uses of the comma. In our next blog, we will discuss sentence construction itself and the uses of the semi-colon, the colon and quotation marks.

Reference:
Troyka, Lynn Quitman. 1998. Quick access: reference for writers. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall.

KB

The Comma in Your Writing: Grammar Rules and Artistry of Use, Part 1

This post is a response to a student's request on the use of the comma. Over the summer, this blog will post will focus on writing and grammar. If a blog reader is interested in a specific grammar topic, please post a response. This way, I know if readers want to read about a particular grammar or writing topic. This article, on the comma, should take two or three blogs to cover fully. Commas are a major problem area in English, so there is a lot to say on this topic before we move forward.

Lynne Truss, the writer of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" states that the function of the comma is as follows. Commas are used: "1. To illuminate the grammar of a sentence 2. To point up - rather the manner of musical notation - such literary qualities as rhythm, direction, pitch, tone and flow (2005: 70)." This highlights that, while there are actual rules about comma use, writing is an art as well as a science. Commas are meant to strengthen and clarify the meaning of sentences, not distract the reader with their presence in small sentences in which the meaning is already clear. Nor are they always required in longer sentences.

In George Davidson's book "How to Punctuate" he illustrates this:
"I'd been living in America for several years when I decided to pack in my job and head back home to Scotland to make this film (2005: 79)."
After reviewing this sentence, you will notice that a comma could be inserted after the word "job" but the question you need to ask is, does that comma add anything to the meaning of this sentence. Probably not. This highlights the point I made above and that Truss stresses, the use of the comma is not simply about the rules, it is also about linguistic artistry. I was brought up with the idea that a comma is a breath space. This instruction is not always clear. For that reason, we will give examples and uses of the comma in these blogs.

Let's look at some of the places where the comma should not be used. My discussion here is heavily inspired by Don LePan's amusing book, "The Broadview Book of Common Errors in English" (4th edition).

Problem Areas for Commas
1. Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices: A sentence, that is, a complete sentence containing a verb and a noun, is in LePan's words "one complete idea" (1999: 477-78). What this means is that joining two unrelated and otherwise complete ideas with the word "and" is a problem. Let's look at this. When a comma joins these two unrelated sentences with comma followed by "and", it is commonly referred to as a "comma splice". Allow me to show you how this works.

Example:
Last Tuesday evening I went for a long walk in the wood, and we stopped for tea in York. I have highlighted the subject and the verbs in red.

Okay, it is possible that both events happened on the same day but the subject of the first phrase is "I" and the subject of the second sentence is "we". They are not really good candidates for a compound sentence joined by "and". In this case, these should be two separate sentences with a period or a full stop between them. As a side issue, I would like to point out that "and" is often and inappropriately used as a joining word. Later, in the summer we will review "connecting words" that should be used to juxtapose ideas instead of "and". For now, all you need to know is that this is a comma splice. Do not join two ideas in this way.

LePan makes four more observations on comma use.
1. Comma use conveys meaning.
Example:
Because we had a good opportunity in Canada, we left our home in England.
The comma allows us to see that there is a causal relationship here. It is separated from the main clause "we left our home in England" to provide clarity.

2. LePan discusses how commas often come in pairs. He says that we should not eliminate the second comma.
Example
My brother Mark, returned from his journey to the Caribbean in May. (wrong)
My brother, Mark, returned from his journey to the Caribbean in May. (Correct)

3. Writers sometimes add extra commas in very long sentences; this is a mistake. I will use the example from LePan's book:
The snake which had been killed the day before, was already half-eaten by ants. (Wrong)
The snake which had been killed the day before was already half-eaten by ants.(Correct)
The comma does not convey any extra meaning, nor it is required.

4. Terminal commas: One important use of the comma, as you will see in my next blog, is to "separate entries in a list" (1999: 158). When you are making a list, a terminal comma can only be omitted if there is no ambiguity in meaning when you have a list of three or more items.

LePan's example:
"The firms involved were McCarthy and Walters, Harris, Jones, and Engleby, and Cassells and Wirtz." (Wrong, see page reference above)
"The firms involved were: McCarthy and Walters; Harris, Jones and Engleby; and Cassells and Wirtz." (Correct, see page reference above)

Or
"This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God." (Wrong)
"This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand, and God." (Correct)

In both these cases, the terminal comma clarifies the meaning. However, please note that:

I went to the market to buy oranges, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Here, as Truss points out (2005: 85), there is really no need for a comma because the meaning is clear. More on the uses of the comma, in my next blog.

Short Bibliography

Davidson, George. 2005. How to punctuate. London: Penguin Books.

Hacker, Diana. 1996. Rules for writers: a brief handbook. Boston: Bedford Books.

Hewings, Martin. 2005. Advanced grammar in use: a self-study reference and practice book for advanced students of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LePan, Don. 2000. The Broadview Book of Common Errors in English: a guide to righting wrongs. Peterborough: Broadview Press.



KB

Writing Outlines for an Assignment

Hi, this is KB again. I'd like to talk about outlines for assignments and how they can help you to produce better work.

Here is a long version of an outline:

Assignment Question: (fill in relevant information)
Length of Assignment suggested: (fill in relevant information)

Thesis Paragraph/Introductory Paragraph

Sentence 1/Topic Sentence/Thesis sentence: (You describe the overarching plan of the assignment & research question for the assignment & your assignment plan)
Sentence 2/Relevant quotation or supporting evidence: (Here you can just write down the quotation or supporting evidence you are going to use for the overarching plan above)
Sentence 3: (Here you explain the significance of the supporting information or documentation)
Sentence 4: (Here you summarize your argument and then introduce the next topic)

Topic Sentence/Paragraph 2: (You introduce your first argument. It should be related to to the plan above)
Sentence 2/Paragraph 2: (You use a relevant supporting evidence, see above)
Sentence 3/Paragraph 3: (Explanation)
Sentence 4/Paragraph 4: (Summary)

You can use a numbering system like this:

1.1 - Thesis paragraph
1.2 - Supporting Documentation
1.3 - Argument
1.4 - Summary

You don't need to write the entire paper out. You can use point form to guide you. This plan/outline is meant to help you make logical connections in your paper. First, topic sentences should present a coherent argument or structure when you read them in sequence, one topic sentence after another. Second, I tell students that evidence in an assignment is information that backs up your arguments. It's the data related to backing up your point in the topic sentence. It is not just information that merely agrees with your arguments. Evidence/data/quotations illustrate and strengthen your arguments. This is always followed with analysis or a discussion of why this evidence backs up your argument. Your outline is the obvious place to make these connections - probably in point form.

In terms of length, you should consider that each page of your assignment is roughly 500 words (single spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt). You need to plan your assignment out so that the length will match the tutor's expectations. It should fall within no more or no less than 10% of this suggested length.

Of course, the conclusion should come naturally from the arguments you have presented throughout the paper. When you get to the end, it is suggested you go back and examine your thesis sentence to ensure that you have presented the strongest case possible for your argument throughout your paper as well. If you know, because you have written a clear outline, what evidence you are going use in your assignment, it will help you get the work you need done. In short, an outline isn't more work at all; it allows you to make a structured critical argument in your assignments every time, thus improving your marks and letting your words fully describe your ideas.

I learned how to do this late in my academic career. I wish I'd known how to do this when I was a young undergrad struggling with making strong critical arguments. However, I do want every student to succeed. Using an outline is one way to succeed in making strong critical arguments in your assignments, ensuring that you actually do answer the 'assignment question' and that you haven't taken a wrong turn in your assignment. Until next time, all the best.

KB

Show off Your Learning With Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy, what is it? Bloom's Taxonomy is the single most important thing you can use to improve your grades and move your learning to a higher level. Recently, I used it as an illustration with a frustrated learner how apply in it in a paper (a model, not an actual assignment) on how your organization demonstrates the use of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Basically, if your answers in exams and your assignments demonstrate that you can analyse, synthesize and evaluate your assigned topic, you are in the ballpark. Let's see how this works.

Okay, Bloom's Taxonomy works like this:
1. Knowledge - You understand the basic facts, you can recall dates, information, principles, ideas, etc.
2. Comprehension - You are capable of interpreting these facts, extropolating data from them
3. Application - You can use examples and knowledge to solve problems
4. Analysis - You can identify the elements, relationships and organizational principles of a situation
5. Synthesis - You can put these elements into action, you can combine them with other elements from other situations to come up with unique ideas
6. Evaluation - You are capable of making critical judgments in relation to these ideas

Please note I have taken some details of this explanation of the taxonomy from:

Schonwetter, Dieter J. & Walker, Lilly J. (2003) Success Secrets of University Students. Pearson: Toronto, 50.

So, how does this work in assignments? Well, getting back to the assignment on Maslow's Hierarchy of Knowledge and your place of employment. It might work like this:

a) Using Knowledge or Information - Here you might show you know the basic facts about the subject - e.g. - details of the Maslow, details about your place of employment

b) Comprehension - You need to demonstrate that you have facility in manipulating the concepts in Maslow's Hierarchy and linking it a real work situation. Your understanding of your workplace in relation to the hierarchy becomes clear as you see the elements coming together.

c) Application - You can demonstrate application in several ways in an assignment. You use clear examples that really demonstrate the facts you are trying to outline. In other words, you find examples that do more than just say 'yes I agree with this argument', you find facts that back it up. You can do this through data in articles, quotations and descriptive example. This is often where students stop using the taxonomy.

d) Analysis - Here you analyse the facts, examples or quotations you put into your assignment. It's not enough to have them, you need to explain their relevance, tie them to the theory with clear discussions. Here, you see that putting massive amounts of information on Maslow from the web won't really do the job. The tutor has already read that stuff. What the tutor doesn't know is how you have evaluated the facts about your workplace and correlated them to the details of Maslow's hierarchy. Here, the point is not to agree or disagree with Maslow but to create a cogent argument and understanding of how this hierarchy relates to what you see in your workplace.

e) Synthesis - You correlate this knowledge, with previously learned knowledge to come up with a new understanding. You could bring other concepts into this argument but what is happening here is that your argument is becoming 'unique', guided by your thoughts on the subject.

f) Evaluation - Finally, you demonstrate that you can evaluate if the hierarchy has something to say about the way your company does business. Maybe, at your workplace they don't address the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy. Perhaps, if your organization worked harder at giving self actualization on a wider scale to the employees, it would be more successful - or not.

When we think critically, we use all of these elements in combination to create our assignments. Critical thinking is the end goal of education. Many students simply provide the bare facts on assignments when they do have ideas, good ideas, about the facts they are presenting. They fundamentally leave their marks on the table and walk away from an assignment where they could have achieved higher grades. Don't do this, pick up and earn all the grades you deserve.

Next time, we'll discuss structured arguments in assignments and one way to structure your arguments. There are many ways, but they will all use the taxonomy above to demonstrate that their command of the facts.

KB

More on Writing to Me: The time I take to provide advice

Hi, this is KB. So, I have a problem. I'm getting emails from some students who, for some reason, are on lists that ask me to click addys and boxes if I want to see the content of a given email. These emails ask me to verify my identify when I respond to their emails. Students should be aware of problems inherent in using services such as yahoo and getting involved in any kind of alleged 'layer of protection' between them and those who email them. I don't want to refuse emails from students, really I don't. However, I don't have the time to track down students who send out emails telling me that if I click on this or that box I can see the contents of a student's email.

If your current email account is a problem, please use the free University of Leicester email. If you have lost it or don't know it, send me a post through some other system (e.g. - Google) in a regular email and request that I assist you to get your U of Leicester email address. Please.

No tutor, being aware of the problem of hidden viruses in confirmation emails, is going to click on an unknown addy or a box to get through to you and assist you. Last year, I acquired a very nasty computer virus on my rather pricey PC laptop. That lappy is now being used as a doorstop. The virus problem could not be fixed by the computer department at a local university and they had it for a month! Now, I'm using my old Mac computer ...and I won't let this happen again. So, please give some thought to not using that 'Yahoo' address with all the notes requesting that I be one of your many 'friends'. Yes, I have a Yahoo account too but I don't send out anything really important this way and mine doesn't have verification notices. Actually, I have several different email addresses for different purposes. This way I keep my email tidy. If I had a problem getting through to a tutor I would get a Google email addy and request their assistance so I could use my University of Leicester ID and password. I will always try and assist you as long as I don't get emails with unknown email addresses in them. Many of these emails contain adware and/or spyware that loads into your computer the minute you click on it.

Okay, this is why this is so important. I take a lot of time to write back to each correspondent. I even have correspondents who are not students, but simply learners. I always have time for genuine learners no matter who they are or where they are. And, a word to the wise, no genuine learner has ever sent me an email that asked me to verify my identity or that contained a pop up advertisement. Not one. I want you all to pass, to get through your degrees and move ahead with your careers. However, if you have a Yahoo address with massive verification requests that come back at me, I won't click on those verification boxes. It's simple. I won't go looking for hidden emails either. And as for students who want me to respond them on a different email address, other than the email addy from where they sent the original question, please use your U of Leicester account instead. If you are at the office and decide to pop me a message on your business email account, you shouldn't expect me to be a mind reader and guess that there is another place you would like to have the return email sent. This is why University of Leicester provided you with an email address.

When I get unusual looking emails such as the ones I discuss above there isn't any way I have access to information that lets me know whether or not you are a student, without sending out copious emails to the already overloaded admin staff. Those of you who have needed help from admin staff, I'm sure you'd all agree that they should use their time ensuring that the U of Leicester postgraduate programmes are running smoothly, not trying to find out why you are emailing me. I won't burden them with these requests any longer. This will keep the system working. Thank you.

KB

What I learned in university

Last week, a student told me that she enjoyed reading about my struggles in university. I realized that I've never written anything about teaching and why I like to teach. Particularly, why I like tutoring students online or in small groups. So, this week I'd like to talk about the importance of the struggles I had at university and how they shaped me into becoming a better graduate student.

I attended university in Toronto, Canada a number of years ago. More than I'd care to admit. I'm not one of those students who like to think fondly back to High School. My family moved around; I went to two High Schools; I never seemed to get the knack of "fitting in." I like school, didn't study much and did really well in English and History.

When I was good at the subject, I was a very good student who got "A". In university, my grades were good but not excellent until the latter years. I did, however, work very hard and read a great deal. I was always interested in the information that we didn't cover on in the class. For example, when I took French Renaissance History I became intrigued by Ferdinand Braudel and his approach to history. When I took Shakespeare, I read all the materials that weren't on the syllabus.

This approach didn't help me as an undergraduate. Undergraduate education is, after all, about getting a base for the studies that follow. You need to thoroughly understand the readings that are given at this base level. I tended to deviate from the pre-arranged path and go off on my own. As a graduate student, this natural curiosity helped me greatly. It helped as well that I was older, and consequently more organized. This meant that I used to prepare my questions before, not during, my classes. Of course, I had the training of library school to teach me the right way and the wrong way of doing research by then.

Most of the problem of getting good marks is understanding where to get good information. I already knew about this. The 'net sometimes allows students to thing they are doing good work if they simply search for a few references on Google Scholar or Wikipedia. They write dissertations using Wikipedia to back up their research questions. It is so easy to think this is 'good work' and ignore the obvious, really good reference materials right under our noses in the Digital Library. Unfortunately, the 'net doesn't usually provide us with the right material unless we dig deeper.

What I learned in university, over the course of several different occasions, was that I didn't really know how to learn effectively. I resisted attempts, by the university, to go writing labs thinking that these were for other students, students who were failing. Of course, I could've spared myself some time and trouble if I'd learned about how to construct a research paper effectively in my very first year of studies. I didn't understand, when I was a new student, that my words and all my research should be earning me much higher grades. I had to wait for time and experience to get these grades, grades I could have gotten if I'd just accepted that there were things I needed to learn.

Now, when I look back, I want other students to learn from the mistakes I made so long ago. I was a good student, curious and bright. The principles of education haven't really changed. Do good research. Learn to use language effectively. Demonstrate that you have thought carefully and analysed the questions that you are attempting to answer. Answer the questions that are given by the instructor instead of something else. Ask for information if you don't understand the questions you are given.

Like the knight in Stephen Leacock's story, I have tried to ride off in all directions many times. I have had to learn to focus and think about the hard questions posed in university classes. I had to learn that taking the time to think was not a bad thing but was, rather, required by the content of the texts that I was trying to study. It took time to do this and practice. Now, it is my earnest wish that all students not do what I did during the early years of my university education. I want my students, and I mean you my readers, ask for help and try to learn more effectively without thinking it makes them weaker, but understanding that asking and accepting help makes you stronger.

KB

Writing Directly to KB/Responding Personally to KB

Hi, this is KB the tutor who writes this blog. I receive a lot of comments from different students about this blog, most of them are students in the MBA/MSc at University of Leicester. There are also correspondents from outside the programme who are looking for grammar and writing advice as well. I'm very pleased to have such a wide variety of readers. In fact, I want my all my readers wherever they come from to write me at: ulsmdltutor@le.ac.uk if they need help.

This next part is important. Students from U of Leicester should identify themselves by writing using their U of Leicester email account. This email account is private, as opposed to a work email address. If you don't want your boss reading my advice to you about studying or your assignments, you should use your U of Leicester account instead of your business email address. Privacy is an important consideration in learning. So, please try and use your U of Leicester email addresses and stay private. If I respond to you on a business email, you have no expectation of privacy on that email. The U of Leicester email address offers that privacy for all registered students. Students outside the programme must do what they need to do to help ensure their privacy & to make sure they find my emails.

For this reason, I'd like to also mention that when students use hotmail, google or yahoo accounts to write to me they can lose my response. You may have a high traffic account. If you are outside the programme and write to me, make sure you won't lose my email in an inbox folder with over 1,000 unopened emails. I take time and consideration before writing to you, please have an account where you can easily find my email and respond to me in a timely manner. If you must, open up another account for learning where there will be little or no email traffic. I respond equally to all who seek help on their educational path and give them my advice. I will continue to maintain this policy at this time. As an educator, I will not turn my back on any student in need. U of Leicester students do have the additional option of speaking with me on Skype at a future date if they need more hands on approach advice.

I've posted this blog because, although my address is posted here, some students who need help are writing in the blog space. I'm trying to monitor this traffic but this becomes difficult when students respond to old blog entries going back months or years. I don't check all my entries, all the time. This is an ongoing blog. I check the last 3 entries for responses then I move forward. I want students seeking help to find me. So, correspond with me directly at: ulsmdltutor@le.ac.uk. In the future, I'm going to be reposting this advice in shortened form at the end of every month.

KB

A Round Trip to the Library

Hi, it's KB again. This week I want to take you all on a round trip to University of Leicester Library. I've been hearing from students who are not using the library, a few of whom are not novices in the programme. So, let's talk library.

Unless you live next door to this:





The British Library



Or this:






The New York Public Library




You are going to need the University of Leicester Library.

















This is what the library's home page looks like:



The University of Leicester Digital Library is there to support your research needs. Of course, you will need to make sure you have a CFS password and ID.





If you don't, you can go here to find one:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/itservices/resources/cs/sd/registration/it-accounts







This password will allow you to have access to the library when you are working off campus.

The University of Leicester has Leicester e-link:













If you search for, for example, the Academy of Management Journal, the library database will tell you that:


Once you do the search and click on the results, you will find that the Academy of Management Journal is available through EBSCO fulltext or JSTOR.






These are part of the library's collection of digital databases. Digital databases that you may want to explore include:

Business Source Premiere
EBSCO
Emerald Online
JSTOR
Sage Journals Online
Wiley Interscience

Using the Digital Library at University of Leicester is going to help you write better assignments and dissertations. Yes, Google Scholar should be included in the places you search as well but you should not rely on it as one stop shopping. Next blog, we're going to look at using Google Scholar and how it can help you as well and how the two resources are complementary.

Until then, happy researching.

KB

Post-reading activities: Reinforcing course module readings

Hi! In the last blog we talked about getting the most out of your postgraduate readings. We discussed the early steps of reading. This involved highlighting points in your module text and making marginal notes to guide you through a re-reading for assignment and exams.

At this time, you need to get involved in post-reading activities. These post-reading strategies should include: (a) thinking about the subject as a whole and (b) making notes notes on your readings. Let's look at the first point, thinking about the subject as a whole.

Followers of this blog will know that I believe that you need to take time to think. Reading is not an exception to this rule. When you think about your module text as a whole, you should start to to form the building blocks of what is known as a hierarchy of critical thinking. This hierarchy works something like this in terms of information in your readings.

First: you gather
1. Knowledge. You gather the details that make up the bits of information in a particular module text, for example a module text/booklet on "Management, People and Organizations".

Next, you begin to build:
2.Comprehension. You build an understanding of the pieces of knowledge in your module text on "Management, People and Organizations." You start to see how these pieces of information relate to one another.

Now, you can use your understanding to create:
3. Application. You can use the information in your module text to create a new understanding of real-life examples. In fact, these examples can be drawn from your own practical experience, can be gleaned from reading journal articles on other organizations, can be seen in case studies or can be simulated from a combination of all three.

At this step, you need show that you can analyse or explain these relationships:
4. Analysis. After you see how the information applies to real-life situations, you must be able to explain or analyse how the information from the text explains what we see happening in real-life, journal articles or case studies. It is not enough to merely apply an idea, an explanation is a required step in forming understanding from either a module text.

It is not enough to read a text in isolation from other ideas from the same subject. In your course module in "Management, People and Organizations", you see the inter-related nature of other subjects in the both the Social Sciences and Business Theory. So, at this step you fit together concepts:
5. Synthesis. As you fit together ideas, they form a new understanding of the course module. This allows you to see the ideas within the module in a larger context, a context which relates to the Social Sciences as a whole and strengthens your idea of the place of any theory in this context.

At the end of a reading, you should be able to form:
6. An Evaluation. When you form an evaluation of the ideas you have learned in your module text in "Management, People and Organizations", you can see the strengthens and weaknesses of different theories, how they interplay with other ideas, their relevance to the subject as a whole, their importance to the field and their continuing place in studying this subject.

This critical method of approaching reading forces the reader to make links. Links between:
1. Basic knowledge and concepts. (Comprehension)
2. Concepts or theory and real life situations or simulations. (Application)
3. Applications and explanations of how theories explain real-life situations or simulations. (Analysis)
4. New ideas and older ideas. (Synthesis)
5. How synthesis leads us to evaluate the new information (Evaluation)

This hierarchy of knowledge that I have used to explain thinking within the reading process is also known as "Bloom's Taxonomy". The important thing the reader must understand is how they will use all of these steps in thinking about their module texts. Once you understand your module texts in this way it will be easier to apply the same hierarchy of knowledge to any other learning process such as a course assignment, an exam or even your dissertation.

You can also write notes about your course materials. I would suggest the Cornell note-taking approach. For now, I'm going to refer you to "The Learning Box", an online resource, to describe this approach to note-taking here. I plan to do a blog on writing course notes in the next few months, but the graphic representation of how to write notes at Toolbox will help you for now:
http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html

Remember that reading is an active process, a process that forces you to make connections within your subject and with other previous knowledge. Testing has shown that students recall information better if they can relate it to previous learning and don't see their subject/course material in isolation to other learned materials. Reading, as I have shown it, is hard work. It takes time and should not be postponed for a brief review before an exam or an assignment. This is particularly true of long and complex texts. If you have taken the time to organize and understand the course module materials ahead of time, you will have fewer nasty surprises later on in the programme. This is the challenge of your graduate programme. Good reading.
KB

Getting the Most Out of Reading for Classes: Part 1

Students ask me frequently about reading. The first question is, how do I get through all this material when my time is limited?

There is no easy answer to this question. As I mentioned in my last blog, when I was in graduate school there was one particular course/module which took 1-2 days of preparation every week, and most of that time was spent reading. That is a common experience for graduate students. It is important to remember that the MBA or MSc at University of Leicester is a graduate degree; for a graduate degree students are expected to read complex theoretical materials in their field. These types of readings take time. Moreover, the comprehensive exams require that all students have a breadth of knowledge that is only possible if you read the module texts more than once.

However, it is possible to see that module texts can be easier if the student considers a few of the following pointers:
1. Read actively using your mind to see the organization of the chapters
2. Engage with any and all visual aids and charts in the module texts
3. Read thematically. Try to see the module materials/texts as an interlocking whole guided by the consciousness of the writer.
4. Use coloured highlighter markers to distinguish a major idea from its component parts. For example, mark all the major concepts in blue and the the steps or sub-categories in pink.
5. Do not hesitate to annotate or summarize in the margins of your module texts or use sticky notes as a guide when you return to the text a second time.

Using these strategies to read your module texts will, in the long run, make the time you spend engaging with the text more effective. This is the secret to many steps of learning. If you spend the time up front learning and organizing materials, the time spent later is less burdensome and more effective. Reading thematically assists the reader to look for main ideas and distinguish them from minor points. This is a crucial aid to better understanding when one approaches thick and complex module texts that must be digested wholesale to complete the module.

Next week, we will discuss post-reading strategies and how they can enhance learning to help create greater understanding of the module and improve exam grades.

KB

Getting Down to Basics in the New Year: You are not alone

Hi, this the first blog of the New Year. This year I'm going to try to make shorter, more frequent blog posts. (Not counting this one.) We covered a lot of the basics in the first year of this blog in a lot of long blogs. Yes, I know, but it was necessary! This year I want to keep you, my readers, working on your MBA/MSc programmes at the University of Leicester and get you through your programmes and to your intended goal - the MBA/MSc in your waiting hands. In fact, I want to say here and now that I'm trying to get participation from any student reading this blog. Not simply your stories of struggle with this programme but your accounts of final success as well.

In the past year, I have encountered several students who felt that they were alone in their struggles with this programme. These students were sure that all the other students could do their assignments, exams and dissertation better, faster and more easily than they could. A few older students, say those of you in your mid-40's, were convinced the bulk of the students were all younger and not facing difficulties with the online nature of the programme or keeping up with their readings. Most of these students were surprised when I told them the students in Leicester's MBA and MSc programmes covered the complete spectrum of ages from their 20's to their 50's and that struggling with readings, assignments and/or the final dissertation was common problem. However, it was not a insurmountable one! After all, lots of students have jobs, personal lives and other commitments on top of the programme. No matter what their age or background, students still succeed in making it through the assignments, the exams and the dissertation and they graduate. Struggling with a deadline, a mark, a hidden meaning in an assignment or a dissertation is supposed to be part of a process that leads to a degree at the end of the road. It was certainly part of my experience in getting my last degree in English Literature & Creative Writing.

I finished my MA in English Literature & Creative Writing only 5 years ago when I turned 50. It was my second graduate degree. There were several times when I felt like quitting. It took me 7 years to complete this degree while working part-time teaching at a university, doing the occasional stint of research. I already had BA's in Education & English. Practically, I'd done a Master of Library Science many years earlier but never faced the challenge of a dissertation. I'd dreamt of having a graduate degree in English Literature or better yet in Creative Writing from the time I was twenty years old. I had no idea how long a road it would be to get this degree.

To be truthful, the course work was more or less doable. Sometimes, I had to write papers or take modules (courses) I didn't like because I had a heavy teaching load from September to January when all the best modules (courses) seemed to be offered. So, sometimes I was less than thrilled with the second term "electives". Other modules were just hard work. I had to prep for one module (course) assignment for two days and I prepared all my questions ahead of time so I would get the most out of every seminar. I had to re-learn the process of essay writing. I had successes and some partial successes, but I got through the work with good grades and passed an additional module in French (which was very difficult) that was a department requirement.

I could've worked with a very willing professor on a dissertation on modern literature but I decided to make my life hard. I decided to write about Henry James and was sent to work with a retired "senior scholar". This experience was mixed. The senior scholar was a nice man and very skilled in academic writing. I got through the dissertation proposal and the first part of the dissertation in two grueling years. Then, not being one to take the easy road, I decided that I wanted to write a creative dissertation instead of the usual MA in English Literature. This meant I had to throw out all of hard work I'd done on my dissertation and shop around for a new dissertation tutor, one who could work in Creative Writing. My best friend's husband, who was a retired university professor, assured me that I was crazy.

I had written a number of fictional stories but I really didn't have an extensive background in creative writing, at least not through the traditional route of "school courses". When and where I first went to university, there were no courses in Creative Writing. After several false starts, I found an advisor who agreed to supervise my dissertation but who had doubts about a forty-something student with no recognizable background in Creative Writing getting through the process.

There were a lot of bumps on this road. After many tries, my dissertation proposal was finally done and accepted at the last possible month. It was my second proposal. I also moved to England with my partner for the year I wrote the dissertation. As I worked, my advisor cut huge swathes of material out of my creative dissertation, which was supposed to be a novella not a novel. Att the end she gave me two weeks to revise the dissertation before hitting a final deadline. There were no extensions. With great difficulty, I did revise the whole thing in two weeks and submitted it. She finally booked my defense - which I passed with three small revisions.

I am now the proud possessor of an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing. It means more to me than any other piece of paper I possess. Now, I'm struggling as I write my first novel. (I'll let you know how that goes.) That, of course, isn't the point. The point is that I wouldn't be here at all if I hadn't decided that my dream was more important than the opinion of others or if I wasn't willing to work past huge obstacles and figure out how I was going to make it to the next stage of the process. A dream is worth it, isn't it?

In the next year, I want MBA/MSc distance students to reach out more. Sometimes, complex questions are posted here. I want students with complex problems to write me at:
ulsmdltutor@le.ac.uk

I want also to hear about stories of success on this blog. Success stories are a way we can reinforce learning. Even if you think you are struggling alone, I want to assure you that this isn't true. Learning sometimes means struggle but it doesn't mean defeat. I learned more from the process of my MA than I thought possible in terms of my thinking, my writing and my persistance. So can you. Let's have a great year together.

KB