Academic English Workshop Engineering IT Science

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Academic English WorkshopEngineering IT Science

• Writing
• annotated bibliographies
• critical reviews

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ELSSA Centre

• What do we do?
• Provide workshops in Faculties, Intensives
• Provide one-to-one appointments
• Where are we?
• Level 18, Building 1
• www.elssa.uts.edu.au
• Phone [phone]
• Email elssa.centre_at_uts.edu.au
• Amanda.Miller_at_uts.edu.au

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Academic English for EngITSc Program
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Program

• Writing annotated bibliographies
• Writing critical reviews

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What is an annotated bibliography?

• An annotated bibliography deals with each text
  in turn, describing and evaluating the text using
  one paragraph for each text.

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Example of annotated bibliography entry

• Goldschneider, F. K., Waite, L. J., Witsberger,
  C. 1986, Nonfamily living and the erosion of
  traditional family orientations among young
  adults, American Sociological Review, Vol 51,
  pp. 541-554.
• The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation
  and Brown University, use data from the National
  Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men
  to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by
  young adults alters their attitudes, values,
  plans, and expectations, moving them away from
  their belief in traditional sex roles. They find
  their hypothesis strongly supported in young
  females, while the effects were fewer in studies
  of young males. Increasing the time away from
  parents before marrying increased individualism,
  self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about
  families. In contrast, an earlier study by
  Williams cited below shows no significant gender
  differences in sex role attitudes as a result of
  nonfamily living.
• http//www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/sk
  ill28.htm

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Example of critical annotated bibliography entry

• London, H. 1982, Five Myths of the Television
  Age, Television Quarterly, Vol. No.1 pp. 81-89.
• Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New
  York University and author of several books and
  articles, explains how television contradicts
  five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific
  examples of events seen on television, such as
  the assassination of John Kennedy, to illustrate
  his points. His examples have been selected to
  contradict such truisms as "seeing is
  believing" "a picture is worth a thousand
  words" and "satisfaction is its own reward."
  London uses logical arguments to support his
  ideas which are his personal opinion. He doesn't
  refer to any previous works on the topic
  however, for a different point of view, one
  should refer to Joseph Patterson's, "Television
  is Truth" (The Journal of Television 45 (6)
  November/December 1995 120-135). London's style
  and vocabulary would make the article of interest
  to any reader. The article clearly illustrates
  London's points, but does not explore their
  implications, leaving the reader with many
  unanswered questions.
• http//www.library.mun.ca/guides/howto/annotated_
  bibl.php

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Web sites for annotated bibliographies

• Straightforward instructions from Cornell
  University Library.
• http//www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/ski
  ll28.htm
• Basic instructions with an example.
• http//www.library.mun.ca/guides/howto/annotated_b
  ibl.php
• This is a long and detailed information sheet
  with examples.
• http//www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/AnnotatedBibl
  iography.html
• Description and examples from Purdue Universitys
  OWL site.
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_
  annotatedbib.html
• The uses of ABs and their format are covered on
  this page.
• http//users.drew.edu/sjamieso/AnnotatedBibliogra
  phies.htm

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What is a critical review?

• A writing task in which you summarise and
  evaluate an article.
• What is meant by critical?
• Questioning information and opinions in the
  article
• Presenting your evaluation or judgement of the
  article
• You should understand the topic
• from different perspectives
• in relation to the theories, approaches and
  frameworks of your course.

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Critical review introduction

• Provide
• The author
• The title of the article
• The date of publication
• A brief explanation of the topic
• The aim of the article and the key argument
• A brief statement of your overall evaluation
  (optional in introduction)

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Critical review body (1) summary

• One third of the length of the critical review
• Key points
• Limited number of examples
• Authors purpose
• Organisation of article

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Critical review body (2) critique

• Strengths and weaknesses
• Significance and contribution to field
• Methodology or approach
• Argument and use of evidence
• Writing style and text structure
• Notable features

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Critical review conclusion

• Your overall opinion of the article
• Some qualification or explanation of your
  judgement (in order to make your critique sound
  fair and reasonable).
• (adapted from http//www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/crit
  rev.html)

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Electronic searches some tips

• Use a number of data bases including Australian
  ones
• Define key concepts for searching
• Consider alternative terms
• Construct search strategy (use of and or)
• Use truncated or wildcard symbols e.g.
  organi?ation
• Determine scope of search (e.g. dates, areas,
  literature type)
• (Summarised from Doing a Literature Review
  (Economics and Commerce) University of Melbourne)

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Using UTS library for searches

• For engineering begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/subject_guid
  es/engineering
• For biological sciences begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /biomedical/biosci.html
• For biomedical sciences begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /biomedical/biomedical.html
• For biotechnology begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /biomedical/biotechnology.html

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Using the UTS library for searches

• For chemistry begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /physical_sciences/chemistry.html
• For nanotechnology begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /physical_sciences/nanotechnology.html
• For physics begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /physical_sciences/physics.html

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Using the UTS library for searches

• For computing sciences begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /information_technology/computingscience.html
• For human computer interaction begin with
• http//www.lib.uts.edu.au/information/study_guides
  /information_technology/humancomputer_interaction.
  html

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How useful are different sources?

• Research reports
• Can be informational or analytical
• Analytical reports especially useful
• Theoretical Discussions
• In journal articles, conference proceedings and
  books (NOT textbooks)
• Books are less up-to-date than articles
• Essential for a literature review
• Prescriptive discussions
• Usually in popular magazines/newspapers
• Can alert you to new policies/practices/trends
• But insufficient without further academic
  references

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Can Internet sources be used?

• Remember ANYONE can post information on the
  Internet so the quality is not reliable.
• E-journals can be used if they have an editorial
  board that evaluates the work before it is put on
  the web (peer-reviewed).
• Note that you can tick peer-reviewed only when
  doing data searches.

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How do you summarise?

• Read the original several times
• Locate all main points and all supporting points
• Make an outline using synonyms
• Write summary using complete sentences but with
  syntax changed. Put the main idea at the
  beginning.
• Check that there is no repetition or unimportant
  details or examples.
• Check that you have acknowledged the source.
• (from www.jaxter.com.au/winner.html - accessed
  29/003/04)

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Reporting verb tense use the present for

• generalisations (in overviews etc.)OR accepted
  facts
• e.g This thesis investigates the second approach.
• a statement made by you as a writer
• e.g Non-standard applications such as CASE,
  CAD/CAM are now emerging.
• a statement reporting the position of a writer
  and your support or lack of support for this
  position.
• e.g. Therefore, this sequential approach is
  impractical in the real world where projects are
  typically large (Radice 1988) and the activities
  from one stage may be carried out in parallel
  with the activities of another stage.
• (from Searcy, H. 1999, Writing the literature
  review, School of Computer Science and Software
  Engineering, Monash University.)

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Reporting verb tense use the past to

• report/describe the findings or conclusions of
  past research.
• e.g. This model was not popular in the software
  industry until it was later refined by Boehm
  (1976).
• (from Searcy, H. 1999, Writing the literature
  review, School of Computer Science and Software
  Engineering, Monash University.)

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Reporting verb tense use the present perfect to

• indicate that research in the area is still
  continuing, or that the research has immediate
  relevance today.
• e.g. Several researchers (Xu 1991, Small 1993,
  Calvinao 1960 have studied distributed database
  design.
• Generalise about past literature.
• e.g. Software has been tested manually for most
  of the last four decades.
• Present a view using an information prominent
  citation.
• e.g. The services that have been identified for
  the future B-ISDN include
• (from Searcy, H. 1999, Writing the literature
  review, School of Computer Science and Software
  Engineering, Monash University.)

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Which is correct?

• Smith (discusses/discusses about/discusses that)
  the causes of the 1997 financial crisis.
• Lee (emphasises/emphasises on) the importance of
  good communication.
• Tran (describes/argues/mentions) that good
  communication is essential.
• Brown (presents/claims) that previous
  explanations of the crisis have been incorrect.
• Jones (describes/presents/compares) economic
  development in Korea with that in Japan.

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Answers

• Smith discusses the causes of the 1997 financial
  crisis.
• Lee emphasises the importance of good
  communication.
• Tran argues that good communication is essential.
• Brown claims that previous explanations of the
  crisis have been incorrect.
• Jones compares economic development in Korea with
  that in Japan.

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Useful links

• http//aps.eu.rmit.edu.au/lsu/resources/projects/l
  it_review/writing.html
• http//www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/Litrev.html
• http//dydo.infodiv.unimelb.edu.au/index.php?view
  pdfdocid2679
• http//www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/postgrad/litreview/h
  ome.html
• http//wwwdocs.fce.unsw.edu.au/fce/EDU/eduwritingl
  itreview.pdf
• http//ec.hku.hk/acadgrammar/litrev/section2/two1.
  htm (has sample literature reviews)
• http//www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html
• http//tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/lit_review.pdf
  
• http//vlc.polyu.edu.hk/academicwriter/argument/re
  viewingotherswork.htm (useful phrases)
• www.nrf.ac.za/yenza/research/proposal.htm

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Acknowledgement

• Materials for this workshop compiled by Kate Pyke
  and Liz Craven, and adapted by Amanda Miller