class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide # Study Skills ### Jack McDonald --- # Academic Work .pull-left[ ## Image: ![Zaha Hadid](img/skills/zaha.jpg) ] .pull-right[ ## Reality: ![Construction Worker](img/skills/reality.jpg) ] --- # What's the Point? .pull-left[ > Here we will define 'tacit knowledge' as 'knowledge or abilities that can be passed between scientists by personal contact but cannot be, or have not been set out or passed on in formulae, diagrams, or verbal descriptions and instructions for action'. H.M. Collins, _Tacit Knowledge, Trust and the Q of Sapphire_ ] .pull-right[ ![Subs](img/skills/subs.jpg) ] ??? HM Collins quote from p.72 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/030631201031001004 --- # Outline .pull-left[ - Search & Acquisition - Analysis/Information Processing - Reviewing Material - Research Communication ] .pull-right[ Format: - I explain something here - You you can either do exercises solo, or form a small study group for the discussion questions - I'll run a Q&A Session in the next week or so One rule: No search engines before discussions! ] ??? HM Collins quote from p.72 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/030631201031001004 --- class: inverse # Search & Acquisition ??? --- class: inverse # Small Group Discussion: 10 Minutes .pull-left[ You are trying to find an appropriate answer to the question "To what extent do cultural norms shape the conduct of contemporary warfare?" The first thing you come across is this article: [http://www.academia.edu/download/55673134/Parameters.pdf](http://www.academia.edu/download/55673134/Parameters.pdf) ] .pull-right[ Imagine that the Parameters article was the first thing you found. Which item cited in the footnotes would you select to read next, and why? ] ??? --- # Sources & Information Integrity ![Don't cite this](img/skills/wikipedia.png) Fun fact: Wikipedia is a great resource for some disciplines The problem of trust in academic research Peer-review as an integrity marker ??? --- # Search Engines: Scopus ![A Search Engine](img/skills/scopus.png) Scopus: [https://www.scopus.com](https://www.scopus.com) ??? --- # Search Engines: Web of Science ![A Search Engine](img/skills/wos2.png) Web of Science: [https://webofknowledge.com](https://webofknowledge.com) ??? --- # Search Engines: Google Scholar ![A Search Engine](img/skills/scholar2.png) Google Scholar: [https://scholar.google.com](https://scholar.google.com) ??? --- # Search Engines: Microsoft Academic ![A Search Engine](img/skills/microsoft2.png) Microsoft Academic: [https://academic.microsoft.com/](https://academic.microsoft.com/) ??? --- # Article Sign Ups .left-66[ ![My inbox each month](img/skills/inbox.png) ] .right-66[ Monthly new article alerts are a great time-saving measure! Best to access via publisher websites (OUP, Taylor & Francis, etc) ] ??? --- class: inverse # Analysis & Information Processing ??? --- class: inverse # Book Exercise: 15 Minutes .left-column[ ![Susie Linfield's book](img/skills/linfield.jpg) ] .right-column[ 5-6 minutes - Read the book title, table of contents, and index 10 minutes - In groups, discuss and agree upon an answer to this question: > What is your best guess about the book's content and argument? Some things to consider: - What does the table of contents tell you about the book? - What appear to be the most important topics in the index? ] ??? --- # Gutting Books Popular books are designed to be read cover to cover (Most) academic monographs are designed to be gutted - Introduction - Conclusion - Relevant chapters Primary arguments of modern monographs can often be found in articles published prior to the book Read the introductions to edited volumes! ??? --- # Sandage/X Ray Method .pull-left[ "The Butler Did It" Planning (use pencil) - Title, subtitle - Table of Contents - Index - Compare index to TOC - Footnotes/Endnotes - Acknowledgements - ...then read the book ] .pull-right[ Read pdf versions of the original, clarified methods, and an example here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Bsne3Z-VSP0iCYkZK0-ZpRuPj6cMRKe4 ] ??? --- # A Simple Way to Understand an author ![Agar's works](img/skills/agartrio.png) ??? --- class: inverse # Reviewing Material ??? --- class: inverse # Article Exercise: 15 Minutes .pull-left[ You are trying to find an appropriate answer to the question "To what extent do cultural norms shape the conduct of contemporary warfare?" Try to sum up the key points of the article relevant to the question in 100 words, or 5-6 sentences ] .pull-right[ Group Exercise: 7-8 minutes: Compare and contrast your summaries. How did your work/selection differ? Why? 7-8 minutes: Discuss how useful you thought the article is for the purposes of answering the question. ] ??? --- class: inverse # Research Communication ??? --- # It's Kind of Like Inception .pull-left[ ![Yes, Inception](img/skills/inception1a.png) ![Yes, Inception](img/skills/inception2a.jpg) ![Yes, Inception](img/skills/inception3a.jpg) ] .pull-right[ You are trying to communicate your: - Answer to the question - Your understanding of why that question is important - Your understanding of how your discipline determines the importance of questions ...all at the same time. ] ??? --- # The Architecture of Research Communication .left-60[ ![Leaning tower of Pisa](img/skills/pisa.jpg) Things go wrong very quickly with poor foundations... ] .right-60[ Elevator pitch: A 1-2 sentence answer to a research question Line of argument: An expanded argument (7-12 sentences) Standard Composition: Introduction, theory, methods, body, conclusion Structure: Your line of argument within the Composition My Advice: [https://medium.com/@JackMcD/pass-notes-the-british-academic-essay-6cf9f5c03415](https://medium.com/@JackMcD/pass-notes-the-british-academic-essay-6cf9f5c03415) ] ??? --- # Sentences to Paragraphs to Sections .pull-left[ Sentences are the atomic unit of writing, paragraphs are the atomic unit of an argument Paragraphs need to flow from one paragraph to the next, but each needs to connect back to your line of argument, as articulated in the introduction In shorter work, composition relates to paragraphs, in long form work, composition relates to sections ] .pull-right[ Paragraph structure: - Point of paragraph in 1st/2nd sentence - Support the point - Move on Sentence structure: - The point of the sentence, as concise as possible - Indication of the relative importance of the point, if needed - Support, if needed ] ??? --- # Transitioning to Long-Form Research Outputs .pull-left[ ![Yes, Inception](img/skills/inception1a.png) ![Yes, Inception](img/skills/inception2a.jpg) ![Yes, Inception](img/skills/inception3a.jpg) ] .pull-right[ The key to long-form work: signposting your argument It is easy to regulate the length of paragraphs, it is harder to perceive imbalances between sections Unbalanced sections kill dissertations! - All theory, no answer - Case study 1 is twice the size of case study 2 ] --- # Reading a Dissertation Like an Academic .pull-left[ - What is their research question? - Where are they getting the question from? - Why is the question important? - Who is the question important to? - When is the question relevant? - How are they going to answer it? ] .pull-right[ - Did they miss anything big? (Bibliography) - Does it look like they put effort in? (Footnotes/citations) - Does it engage with other work? (References, editing) - Can they explain it? (Abstract/Introduction) - Do they know what they're doing? (Structure) - Does it make sense? (Logical argument) - Do they answer the question? (Content/Conclusion) ] ???