Entrepreneurship and Innovation Report

Gold Guide to Academic Quality 18 January 201 1 1 of 4 Prepared by Alison Dean (Please provide any feedback to [email protected] ) Gold Guide to Academic Quality 18 January 201 1 Introduction Good communication skills are critical to success . They help you to achieve good grades at university and are highly valued by employers. Th is guide provide s you with general information about academic requirements for high quality communication . However, please note that some courses have special requirements and you should always follow the instructions in the course outline . Important Note: The Learning Support group at the University offers all students free help with academic skills. They provide workshops, an excellent website with many resources, and individual and confidential help. See: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/unit/ctl/lsp This gold guide is a very brief summary of some academic skills. I t gives provides you with useful web addresses from our online teaching and library resources. The library website has a great deal of useful information and many excellent online tutorials. You can access them via : University of Newcastle>Library>Training >Online Tutorials….. 1 Criteria for grades Th e meaning of each grade (High distinction, Distinction, etc) i s outlined in University of Newcastle policy at: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/policylibrary/000649.html Some courses provide more information to explain how the criteria are specifically interpreted. 2 The basics of academic writing and critical thinking Basic skills The University of Newcastle InfoSkills modules provide an overview of all the basic activities involved in planning, researching, and writing academic work. The modules are available at www.newcastle.edu.au/services/library/tutorials/infoskills/ Th e five modules provide excellent information with respect to academic skills: 1. Planning 2. Finding information (using the Library) 3. Evaluating information (writing critiques) 4. Writing and plagiarism 5. Using information ethically Module 4 includes links on strategies for good practice in writing . These strategies include effective notetaking, paraphrasing appropriately , and summarizing correctly and efficiently. If you use Module 4 well , you will be able to save a great deal of time , and simultaneously improve your writing. Module 4 also provides important information about academic integrity and honesty, and avoiding p lagiarism. Academic writing and critical thinking To achieve highly at university, you must be able to demonstrate high levels of „effective‟ writing and „critical‟ thinking. Can you explain each of these terms? Go to t he UniLearning (University of Wollongong) site for succinct sections on each area. (This can be accessed directly or through the UoN library Services site.) http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/main.html The summary below is based on the UniLearning site: Effective writing has  A logical flow of ideas and cohesion  Links between sentences and paragraphs Effective writing is achieved by  Macro devices (organisation and structure; flow; focus in sentences; paragraphs)  Micro devices to support each of the macro Gold Guide to Academic Quality 18 January 201 1 2 of 4 Prepared by Alison Dean (Please provide any feedback to [email protected] ) Critical thinking means that you demonstrate the ability to  Assess the validity of information and its sources for your context  Distinguish between fact and opinion  Synthesise a number of factors and articulate a response  Provide a convincing argument in favour of your response Critical thinking is achieved by  Evaluating and critqueing the information in front of you (see Infoskills Module 3)  Incorporating the skills of evaluation and „hard thinking‟ into your reading and note -making prior to your writing  Using evidence to support your point of view NB: Critical thinking is continued in Essays below . You cannot demonstrate critical thinking if you cannot communicate! Note the following: Grammar, punctuation and spelling Excellent work must demonstrate clear communication and be free of errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling. The OWL (Online Writing Lab) website from Purdue University is recommended to you. This site includes exercises and feedback. You can a ccess it directly or through the UoN website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/index.h tml Another site with a wide variety of exercises on grammar can be accessed at: http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/exercises Finally, the UniLearning site referred to above has a useful section on writing sentences: http://unilearning.uo w.edu.au/writing Eliminating some common errors in language  Provide a topic sentence for each paragraph . Do not have one sentence paragraphs. A paragraph develops/argues a point.  Use short sentences (up to 20 words) wherever possible.  Minimise the use of “this, these, those”. When you do use them, state the subject afterwards, for example, “This result..”, “These studies..”  Do not use “ etc ”, “ various ” or “ so on ”. They are imprecise. If there are other cases, refer to them .  Do not use contractions such as “don‟t, didn‟t, can‟t”. You should write out the words in full.  Never use “ it’s ”; use “its” or “it is‟.  Learn when apostrophes are used to show ownership and if in doubt, do not use them. Never use an apostrophe to show a plural.  Learn the difference between affect/effect and their/there and use them correctly. It is important to understand t he meaning of instruction words . For example, can you distinguish between terms such as: analyse, compare, contrast, debate, discuss, evaluate, interpret, and justify? 3 Essays – structure and style You may access help via Blackboard on http://www.newcastle.edu.au/unit/centre -for -teaching -and - learning/learning -development/online -resources.html . The Study Help website from Murdoch University (no longer available) is the source of the information summarized below. The nature of university essays – this highlights the need for your essay to be  Focused and relevant to the topic  The result of wide reading and critical thinking  A logical argument o Shows points that are relevant to the argument (omitting the others) o Demonstrates a logical and coherent structure (including links) o Provides evidence (citations, quotes, examples) to support the argument  Presented in the conventional format o Has an introduction, body and conclusion o Uses appropriate language o Uses citations correctly and has the corresponding r eference list o Is error -free in terms of language skills The functional stages of an essay (shown as a diagram on the website)  Introduction – orientate/respond to topic; state pu rpose; outline what you will do  Body – write the main part here using sections that address the purpose of the essay. Each section will be a series of paragraphs, in logical order, that state your argument and provide evidence for it; and link to the next paragraph Gold Guide to Academic Quality 18 January 201 1 3 of 4 Prepared by Alison Dean (Please provide any feedback to [email protected] )  Conclusion – summarise and draw out any implications of the discussi on 4 Referencing – according to discipline conventions Newcastle Business School requires you to use the APA ( 6th ed.) style of referencing. This style uses the author/date system of „in -text‟ citations in which you place the author‟s family name and year of publication in parentheses immediately following the use of, or reference to, their work. At the end of your document you generate a „Reference List‟ which provides full bibliographic details of the citations. (Full bibliographic details include element s such as journal or publisher, edition or volume, place of publication, page numbers of journals and date accessed for web sources). Details of the APA style are available in the book: American Psychological Association (20 10 ), Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington DC, USA : American Psychological Association. Below, you are provided with a brief summary covering the most basic requirements. Summary of rules for referencing using APA style : Rules for in -text citations Examples Paraphrasing or using ideas : include the author and year in brackets or as appropriate Two or more citations are placed in alphabetical order , separated by a semi -colon (Use „and‟ in text, „&‟ within brackets) In a study of ethnic marketing , Pires and Stanton E20M R) found that loyalty differences exist between groups . A recent ethnic marketing study showed … EPires & Stanton, 20M RF. Various authors have found a link between … Ee.g., Carlson I 1999 ; Rosenberger , 2003 a, 2003b F. Direct quotations : copy exactly I use quotation marks and include the page number Dean E2002 F found that “Service quality of the call centre affects customer loyalty to the organization” (p. 420) . Secondary sources : name the original author and cite the secondary source. Include the secondary source in your Reference List (that is, the one you have read must be in the List) The results of a study by Baxter (cited in Griffiths, 2005) indicate … Online material W use author, year (or n.d. if no date is given), page n umber, paragraph number or the heading of the appropriate section. Kriz E2006 ) found …. ptudy ing sense making , Cowley (n.d., para 4) suggests … Ngo and O‟Cass (2003) debate the… Rules for the Reference List Examples Book Solomon , M. R. , Marshall, G. W. , & Stuart , E. W . (2006 ). Marke ting (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson Education. Chapter in an edited book Dean, A . M., & Rainnie, A . (2004 ). Symbolic analysts in the new economy: Call centres in less favoured regions . In A . Rainnie & M . Grobbelaar ( Eds.), The new regionalism in Australia (pp. 103 -122). Sydney, Australia: Palgrave Press. Journal article (Include all authors in Ref List; in text, use Rust et al. , 2004 ) Rust, R . T., Lemon, K . N., & Zeithaml, V . A. (2004 ). Ret urn on marketing: Using customer equity to focus marketing strategy . Journal of Marketing , 68(1), 109-12 7. Websites Author (if available) and/or t itle of document , date of publication (if available, otherwise use n.d.), date accessed (only necessary if the source material may change over time) , URL Australian Bureau of Statistics (200 7). 8624.0 - Retail and Wholesale Industries, Australia: Commodities, 2005 -06. Retrieved from http://0 - www.abs.gov.au.library.newcastle.edu.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/DetailsP age/8624.02005 -06?OpenDocument Newspaper article Lee , J. (200 5, August 6). Retail revolution . Sydney Morning Herald , p. 1 7. Please n ote : 1. All references are listed in alphabetical order by surname of first author 2. Citations and references are for published materials, not lecture notes. Do not quote lecture notes: instead you should access and cite the original sources . 3. As a UoN student, you a re entitled to download a copy of EndNote from the library. EndNote is a database (a „bibliography manager‟) whereby you can input and manage all your references. It will generate a selected Reference List very rapidly in any predetermined or customized style. If you obtain EndNote early in your course and file all your references in it, you will save many, many hours over your degree program. The library has resources and online training available for EndNote. See http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/endnote/index.html Gold Guide to Academic Quality 18 January 201 1 4 of 4 Prepared by Alison Dean (Please provide any feedback to [email protected] ) 4. While APA style is the general style used at Newcastle Business School , different disciplines and courses may require different referencing styles . Check your Course Outline and, if in doubt, speak with your Course Coordinator. You can easily change the output style from EndNote. Gold Guide to Academic Quality 18 January 201 1 5 of 4 Prepared by Alison Dean (Please provide any feedback to [email protected] ) 5 Business reports The UniLearning (University of Wollongong) website is an excellent resource for bu siness reports. It describes the ir structure, and has embedded links that provide detail on the purpose and contents of each section in a report . You can access it directly: http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/report/rep_business.html Note that a business report should include the following sections Title page - Report title, your name, course, date Executive summary - A snapshot of the whole report including key findings and recommendations Table of contents - List of sections and page numbers Introduction - Background and outline of structure Body - The main part with sections and sub -sections that address the purpose of the report and are distinguished by appropriate headings and sub -headings Conclusion - States main inferences/implications of findings Recommendations - Numbered, clearly stated, specific and actionable suggestions Reference list - Essential for an academic report Appendices - If appropriate, supp orting data/information It describes the structure of business reports, and has embedded links that provide detail on of each section in a report. Note: A ‘briefing paper’ is often a modified report on a specific topic or area. 6 Presentations http://www.newcastle.edu.au/unit/centre -for -teaching -and -learning/learning -development/online - resources.html (enter Blackboard and select „M aking great presentations‟) When preparing the content of your presentation , make sure that you:  Have clear objectives , and signposts to help the audience follow you  Choose the content carefully (you cannot cover everything)  Provide some background or introduction  Build in a logical structure and flow (this helps you when you are speaking)  Use c onvincing (show evidence) and interesting argument s/comments  Have a n a ppropriate conclusion (do not „whimper‟ out) Basic pointers for your delivery :  Communication must be clear and polished  Engage the audience, and use body language that shows enthusiasm  Facilitat e questions that include as many members of the audience as possible  Provide relaxed, but serious, responses to questions  Use a suitable pace and manage your t ime  Prepare thoroughly and practice before the event! 7 Team work Enter Blackboard as in 6 above and select „Working well in teams‟ Suggestions to help you work successfully in groups :  Meet regularly for specific purposes  Develop a timeline of meetings and outcomes  Discuss and agree members‟ roles in the group  Discuss and agree the expectations and study output of each group  Ensure everyone understands the contribution that each member will make  Use disagreements as an opportunity t o discuss and improve overall outcomes  Be prepared to communicate, co -operate and compromise.