Using sources with confidence

Today's session focused mainly on the credibility of sources in writing. My hot tips for extra marks in Writing in the sciences are:

• Know the club. There will always be a group of well established and recognised writers who publish frequently in your topic areas. (If you are writing at postgraduate level, get to know the Gurus so well that you know exactly where the source comes from without even checking!)
• Show breadth of research. Nothing puts a lecturer off more than a superficial reference list.
• Show clusters of agreement (Duff, 2006; Johnston, 2007 and Jones, 2005) and disagreement (Jones, 2005; Johnston, 2007 and Duff in Johnston, 2005 p. 7).
• Try to keep your sources as current as possible - particularly important for writing in the sciences and in engineering where things change so quickly.

We looked at the credibility of sources. Which of these is MOST credible and which of these is LEAST credible to use in an assignment? You can post a comment if you like and I'll post up the answers next week.

(Online version, because the print is pretty small)

This week's resources are:

• Levels of Understanding
• Reporting the ideas of others
• The Harvard Referencing Guide (online modules)

We didn't get through everything this week, so next week we will do some more in this area (specifically using sources to report ideas and paraphrasing).

Have a great weekend.

Andrea

Frameworks and foundations in writing

Hi readers

If there is one thing I have learned about writing from engineering students, it is how to structure it well with logic, order and cohesion. They know how to build a good piece of writing.

This week's Writing in the Sciences examined how structure in writing provides the predictability readers come to expect from a report, thesis, or research article.

Firstly, we explored the 'typical' sections of a piece of scientific writing - the thesis, report or research paper:

Secondly, we attempted this exercise (it's a little bit like that game you used to play at school , where you had to match the animal with its home). See if you can match the section with its properties.

Match the sections

Match the sections (colour coded) answers

Thirdly, we explored the various facets of the typical piece of scientific writing. For example:

Abstracts, Introductions and Conclusions

The literature review

'Connectors' for cohesive writing (this one has a five star ***** rating from me!)

Some important points about structure in scientific writing are:

• That the predictability of the sections assists the reader


• It should make wide use of numbered sections and sub sections


• Ordering can be chronological or in groups of ideas (thanks Ivan for this one)


• Each section should introduce the next


• Each section should (where possible) mirror the next. (For example, the abstract and introduction will 'talk' to each section in order of their appearance in the report.)

Next week we will run two sessions: Using sources and Getting the most out of journal articles.

Andrea

Hi readers

The mind mapping workshop generated a lot of interest and there was a very positive response from students. The highlight of the workshop for me was the attendance of 4 students who were using the technique successfully in completing their Mathematics Clinic 1 and 2. They discussed how they used mind mapping to quickly brainstorm their project, divide tasks and come up with solutions. The highlight of mind maps for them was the ease of use and the fact that their entire project could be seen at a single glance.

Mind maps can be used in every discipline limited only by the imagination of the user. They are great at simplifying tasks and breaking down problems into their component parts. They are also a great study and planning tool.

As well as using them in your university work they are also great for solving personal goals, and objectives, planning holidays and time management.

If you have any queries about applying or using mind maps in your work please contact me. Mind mapping is my special interest and I’ll be more than happy to help.

Susanna

Mind Map Presentation

To Google or not to Google - wise words from Wynton

Wynton Heading may be an Academic Librarian who knows his onions, but he is cautious about Googling his onions.

Using databases, the perils of relying too heavily on Google for research and some rather excellent nooks and crannies of the library website were discussed with aplomb by Wynton at the inaugural Writing in the Sciences workshop for this year, held last Friday.

For more than 15 years, Wynton has been up-close-and-personal with the databases and information systems at the University of South Australia as the intrepid Academic Librarian.

Wynton and the other Academic Librarians are required to keep tabs on the 20,000 electronic journals held at Mawson Lakes for Science and Engineering. It is important to note, that the library on this campus is privileged for its vast store of electronic journals, linking student and academic alike to a vast pool of cutting edge scientific research and debate.

Firstly Wynton took yours truly and a group of 8 Science writers through some information fundamentals. The starting blocks for research include understanding the principles of sources:

• primary (research data)



• secondary (books, journals, reports etc)



• tertiary (encyclopedias and reviews).

Once these are acknowledged as legitimate sources for finding information, he focused on the second and most often used area - the secondary source. Research data can be found published in a vast array of firstly books, secondly standards and patents and thirdly Journal articles.

Google was a 'contentious issue' for Wynton, when asked if there was a trend towards greater reliance on the mega-search engine Google Scholar - a recent addition to the Library web pages.

Wynton said 'Google is fine, but don't rely on it as your only source for research'.

'The capability of Google grows with each year but you still need to carefully evaluate the source of your information to make sure that it is credible', he said. For example, while Google Scholar provides some up-to-date links to journal articles both on the World Wide Web and in the UniSA library, it is difficult to get a full spectrum of articles. The best approach is to use a combination of Google Scholar and other library databases such as IEEE Explore.

Wynton's 'best pics and tips' for Science writers include:

• To scour the bibliographies in books for relevant journal articles


• McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of Science and Technology


• The Libraries Australia indexes (a five star rating, from Wynton)


• Emerald (mostly for business students but contains the creme de la creme of journal articles.


• IEEE Explore (which is absolutely huge)

Wynton's final musing was that 'information' is an over-used term and it is appropriate that it is linked with words like 'overload' and 'glut'. He explained that science writers should never reject anything, but should avoid relying on one area of search too much.

Friday, August 13: MIND MAPPING. This WILL change your approach to writing. REGISTER NOW!

Welcome to our blog

Hi students, staff and other blog devotees


This blog is for all aspiring scientific writers to explore some of the common writing issues in science.

The blog will join companion workshops, which will run through the remainder of Study Period 5 at the Mawson Lakes Campus of UniSA.

Some of the topics covered in the face-to-face workshops will include:

• Finding and Using Information (what ARE the best databases, anyway?)


• Mind-mapping (organising your ideas)


• Frameworks (what goes into an 'introduction' anyway?)


• Sources (how to use them to your best writing advantage)


• Journal articles (reading for meaning and efficiency)


• Technical and academic language


• Critical thinking


• Editing
  

And more...REGISTER NOW

So stay posted and please contribute to our writing community. We would like to hear from you about any workshop ideas you might have.

Andrea and Helen