Dissertation Planning: Workshop Reflection And Essay Strategies. (70 Characters)

Reflection on Workshop 1: DISSERTATION PLANNING

Describe Dissertation Planning.

Description – Feelings – Analysis and Evaluation – Conclusion and Action Plan

This workshop gave me the opportunity to plan my dissertation paper. It helped me to gather knowledge about research philosophy. I came to know that positivist approaches are related with quantitative research and the relativist approaches are related to qualitative research. My research should include both the approaches depending on my topic (Rudestam and Newton 2014).

The research taught me about the two fundamental physical approaches- inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning, where inductive implies specific to broader generalizations and deductive implies general to specific areas. The research may include both the theories as required (Germano 2014).

The next important element of the workshop was learning about the research aim that involved few steps:

1. Identifying a single word or phrase to describe the main theme of my research
2. Adding supplementary words for providing context for my aim
3. Rephrasing few words as statements like “the overall aim of this research”, “this is a study of” and “this research examines.”

The next important element of writing a dissertation paper is evaluating various sources to write a literature review. The author discovers, argues, claims and alleges in a literature review. The review should include relevant sources such as databases, journal articles, Google scholar and review articles. The workshop also helped me to develop my research methodology by choosing valid sources and realizing clear methods for implementation. The sources or methods must be identified as primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative (Quick and Hall 2015).

The workshop also taught me that working with a supervisor prove beneficial while writing a dissertation paper. Few strategies that can be taken into consideration are:

1. Share my plans with my supervisors in the beginning
2. Plan meetings and sketch out an agenda
3. Write down the main questions before attending the meeting
4. Be receptive to criticism and feedback
5. Take notes and record the meeting if possible

Action and Conclusion

The workshop helped me to write my dissertation paper. I found that the area of research interests me as it belongs to my discipline. The report is original and has a different perspective. I can also manage the time and the word limit and write a review of literature from the given paper. The research statement is lucid and therefore, the reader would find no difficulty in reading. The statement is also consistent and specific and it sets a new parameter to the reader. I could follow the proper dissertation structure and write accordingly without any hassle (Greetham 2014).

Description – Feelings – Analysis and Evaluation – Conclusion and Action Plan

The next workshop was about note taking. Firstly, I learnt that effective note taking could organize my thinking in written form, help me to pose questions, structure my thoughts and improve my learning by saving time. Note taking must involve active and framed listening. These can be achieved by intense hearing, paying attention and using the lecture to gain clarification or information on difficult areas (Peverly et al. 2013).

Description – Feelings – Analysis and Evaluation – Conclusion and Action Plan

I learnt about the steps that lead to effective note taking. They are:

1. Be concise- using of specific information with bullet points rather than full sentences
2. Keep it readable- handwriting should be clear with proper spacing within the materials to read it any time after a meeting.
3. Be organized- paraphrasing should be done with relevant references. The structure should be easy to follow (Gillies 2014).

I was taught what to do with my notes. I should complete the missing data, check definitions, elaborate on the key points, check the references and keep it safe for future use.

In the end, we were taught about the Cornell Note Taking System. This system follows a proper structure to write notes during a seminar, meeting or a lecture. Since I am a student, this system of note taking will be useful to me (Boyle and Forchelli 2014). The steps that the system follows are:

1. Record- a student takes notes in the right-hand column by using shorthand, symbols and bullet points during a lecture.
2. Questions- at the end of the lecture, key points are pulled out from the right-hand side and written on the left-hand side to clarify meanings and summarize information.
3. Recite- cover the column where the notes are written. Then, the questions and the answers should be said aloud in my words.
4. Reflect- reflection should be posed of the material by asking questions to ourselves. The questions should reflect my capability to learn while taking notes.
5. Review- the notes should be reviewed properly before the next seminar or lecture. This will help me to become familiar with the information and improve recall for revision.

Action and Conclusion

At the end of the seminar, I applied the Cornell Note Taking system for my lectures. It proved very effective as I could apply each step of the note taking system. Now I can take my lecture notes in the class and improve my skills of writing notes (Hagen, Braasch and Bråten 2014).

Description – Feelings – Analysis and Evaluation – Conclusion and Action Plan

Attending this workshop proved beneficial to me. Firstly, I looked at the styles or conventions that are followed in academic writing – the language style and the writing structure. The writing made me understand that the sentences written should be effective and clear with the proper use of colons, semi-colons and conjunctions and full stops. Secondly, I came to know about the layout of academic writing. The layout should be properly structured with an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Moreover, the writing should be specific and concise and avoid using repetitive words (Adler and Van Doren 2014).

I also learnt that the language styles that are used in the passages should be written according to the needs of the audience you are writing to. The most useful guideline that I have learnt from this workshop is that while writing reports, the formality level is very high as the audience evaluating the work share the same field of interest. He or she has knowledge of the subject because he or she has already done a research on that subject. Words such as fantastic, brilliant and beautiful that are used as an opinion should be avoided in academic writing. The word ‘I’ should be avoided while writing a report. Using theories and facts in writing will authenticate the information that is included and prove the sources reliable (Bailey 2014).

The next part that I have covered in the workshop is connectivity and flow. While writing a report, it should be kept in mind that the reader finds connectivity from one sentence to another or from one paragraph to another. Words like ‘firstly’ and ‘secondly’ can be used to link two paragraphs, whereas ‘furthermore’, ‘moreover’ and ‘however’ can be used to link two sentences together (Flowerdew 2014).

Reflection on Workshop 2: NOTE TAKING

The workshop ended with the introduction of the W.E.E.D. model. Here, W stands for What, E for Evidence, E for example and D for Do (Butler 2014). The model is used in writing paragraphs and enables us to improve our level of communication (from me to my reader). 

Action plans and conclusion

The workshop helped me to improve and nurture my writing skills. It taught me the difference between writing a report and writing poetry. The tone and the style of writing are the main difference between them. The workshop taught me new methods that I can implement in my writing (Itua et al. 2014). My action plan can be categorized into four parts:

1. Focus and Planning- providing answers to the questions with sufficient information and determine a strong understanding on the said subject.
2. Properly structured writing- the W.E.E.D. model, has helped me a lot and now I can write paragraphs in a logical and ordered manner.
3. Adopting proper styles and tone- this should be implemented while writing official letters where the tone and style should be formal.
4. Selecting precise information from references or modifying them to reduce the word count in a correct manner without changing the meaning of the sentence (Ganobcsik-Williams 2014).

Description – Feelings – Analysis and Evaluation – Conclusion and Action Plan

This workshop also proved useful to me. It provided me with the opportunity to improve my reading speed by looking at different techniques to speed up my reading speed. Using a pacer to improve my speed can triple my reading speed. This skill will prove handy while going through large reading volumes. However, increasing my reading speed will not prove effective while memorizing or understanding in depth and shallow information. Therefore, this skill will be productive to isolate phrases or information from large texts. This is not useful for me as I need to memorize texts for my field of study (Reynar et al. 2016). 

During the workshop, I had performed an experiment to experiment the use of pacer in reading. In this experiment, I determined the physical ability of my eyes to trace a circle formed in air, which was of the size of a dinner plate- first with someone’s finger and then without the finger. I noticed the difference between the two moves. When it was touched with someone’s finger, the eyes moved smoothly in the circle. However, without the finger, the movement of my eyes was not smooth. The experiment made it clear to me that my eyes move smoothly when I follow something. I have listed out few pacer techniques to improve my speed of writing (Balota 2016). They are:

1. Using a pencil, pen or your finger as a pacer to move your eyes smoothly while reading long sentences
2. Moving the pacer in a close Z or S shape movement
3. Using a ruler in the horizontal direction and moving it downwards throughout the passage. This will prevent in skipping lines when reading passages
4. Placing the pacer on side of each line to know your eyes’ position (Polmar 2013)

I have also conducted few exercises to help me choose a pacer to improve my reading speed. The following exercises helps in setting goals to read faster as well as achieving them:

1. Read for a minute.
2. Add an extra area of the given test and mark the new finishing places.
3. Read again and try to reach the desired goal. The pacer can be used.
4. Repeat it again (minimum twice).

1. Read for a minute and mark your finishing place.
2. Read the same text but in 5o seconds.
3. Repeat by reducing the time to 40 seconds, 30 seconds and 20 seconds.

Then I focused on reading the phrases. Firstly, they showed us a text where the letters of the given word were jumbled up and the task assigned was to read the paragraph. This exercise was just to test if my brain could recognize the words and enable me to read the text. They also showed us a website where the passages could be broken down to the speed I set and showed only three words at a single time. The first exercise helped me to read 437 words per minute and the next exercise helped me to read to 741 words per minute. This will boost my confidence and help to improve (Martin-Chang, Ouellette  and Madden 2014).

Description – Feelings – Analysis and Evaluation – Conclusion and Action Plan

Conclusion

Speed-reading is a good tool. However, it is not so effective for comprehensive reading. The pacer may help me to read faster, but it will comprehend my reading (Horner 2013).

Attending the workshop helped me to my degree as well as my employability. I have learned how to develop, plan and improve my skills. I can identify my priorities as well as my strengths. These workshops provide similar opportunities to every individual (Candlin and Hyland 2014).

The first workshop I attended was for writing a dissertation paper. I learnt how to write literature reviews and research methodologies. I learnt how to find research aim and write a dissertation paper. Previously, I did not know to write a properly structured dissertation paper. However, after attending the workshop, I have improved in dissertation writing with proper structures. I am using relevant references for my present dissertation paper. I can discover the arguments of my literature review and proceed accordingly (Derbyshire 2014).

The second workshop was about note taking. This workshop helped me a lot to improve my note taking skills by remaining more attentive in class. I have become an active listener in class and I frame my notes by following the Cornell note taking model. I organize my notes and keep them precise to use them for future reading. I record my notes in class in the right-hand column of the paper using shorthand and bullet points. I also pick out keywords for the left-hand column to question myself and understand things in a better manner. I am trying to improve my handwriting for proper visibility (Bloomquist 2013).

The third workshop was about academic writing. This is necessary for every university student. The workshop helped me to use proper style, technique and tone in my writing. This was the best workshop attended by me. I learnt to frame proper sentences and paragraphs and communicate my thoughts and ideas to my readers. I can use reliable academic sources to support my ideas. The workshop has enabled me to identify the problems I face and rectify them accordingly. Sending formal emails has proved difficult to me, but I am working on it and will soon be able to overcome the problem (Gebril and Plakans 2014).

The last workshop I signed up for was speed-reading. I have learnt specific skills in the workshop that can be included in my cover letters. I have started to increase the number of words read per minute. First, I set the goal for 600 words per minute and now I can read up to 750 words per minute, which is a great achievement for me. I can segregate important information from large texts and read without any hassle. I have conducted various experiments to smoothen my eye movement (Al Dahhan et al. 2014).

Reflection on Workshop 3: ACADEMIC WRITING OVERVIEW

References

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