Referencing

As we are Staffordshire University students we have to follow the Harvard Referencing method when referring to sources. Now why we have to follow referencing? in academic writing, it is a must to state the sources of ideas and information. Such 'references’ allow readers to refer back to the sources for themselves so that they can distinguish our idea with others. According to Mr.Rehan there are five main reasons to providing reference;

1. Acknowledging the source, giving courtesy to the author of the source.
2. To avoid plagiarism.
3. If the reader wants to read the original source.
4. If you need to refer it in a later day it will be much easier to retrieve it back
5. It will be easy to prove the fact to the reader with known facts.

We can easily do this using Microsoft office word 2007 onward versions utilising the option Referencing. But first we must get the style installed to the PC. We can get the style from  http://bibword.codeplex.com/ then extract the file files to the local HDD then cop-past “HarvardExeter” .XSL file to the directory “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\Bibliography\Style” (in a 32bit operating system “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Bibliography\Style”). So using this Utility we can easily cite a reference as well as to prepare the Referencing page.  

Research Skills

Todays lecture was about the research skills. After this lecture I actually understood what we are supposed to do in our reports and research that where given as our in-course assignments. As a Level one university student we are supposed to write a literature survey/review on our research topics. With this I got to know how to get good references from authentic sources.

For a good research we must ;

• Identify  the task, this means we must identify the key element and plan on it.
• Manage the peripherals, decide what is essential vital components.
• Evaluate the source, authenticity of the source and whether the author credible.

But Mr.Rehan said for a good research, literature review there must be at least 20 to 30 authentic research papers referred. Emerald Management eJournals, ScienceDirect are some of the best research paper databases said Mr.Rehan.  

What kind of a personality are you into

On 3rd of April Mr.Rehan gave us some activities, distributed some papers and told us to fill in. The Activity one was to assess our time management skills. According to this test a person should score 10 if he/she is a perfect time managing person, but I scored 12 which is more closer to good time managing personality but still I need to improve in my time managing skills.

The next exercise was to assess our time allocation for day-today activities. An average time managing personality should maintain a percentage of 65%-75%. but according to my calculation I stand in the range of 72%. Even tough I stand in between the margin still I need to improve my skill in time management.

After the Time Management Skills session Mr.Rehan started a session about team building skills. It was a really interesting session. Mr.Rehan asked Chaltha and Shadeek to select their own group of 8 students among us the most trustful people. Fortunately or unfortunately Chaltha selected me. Then our lecturer told each of the group member to grab a chair and go out. In the corridor of L4 he asked each team to make a ladder out of chairs and each member should contribute in it. We wher doing this and that and finally made a one but before us other opposing team made a one but they didn't go much up but Mihiri our illustrator of the ladder (or we can call her as the test subject) went more higher than them. With this exercise Mr.Rehan conclude the class and asked us to complete the online questioner on Beblin's Team Roles that he sent to us.

The online Questioner is about our team role, to determine weather I'm a team leader, a doer or an individual performer. In a one test it said that:

http://www.123test.com

According to the above test my role in a group would be "Chairman". Further it describes chairman as:

The chairman has a strong coordinating role. With an emphasis on procedures, the chairman will try to bring  and keep the team together. He or she is communicative and deals with the members of the team in a respectful and open-minded way.

I think up to some extent it defines me but not totally.

In the next test it says:

learning.londonmet.ac.uk

According to the above it says a "Challenger". Even tough it says I'm challenging I'm not sure about it.

try it yourself the above two tests

http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/bssmquickstart/r_teamroles.htm#

http://www.123test.com/team-roles-test/ 

Time Managment

This weeks topic of discussion was about "Time Management". Do we really manage our time? its a serious question that we should ask-out from ourselves. From my point of view yea I may manage my time to some extent. According to Mr. Rehan the people who are punctual are likely to be more time managing. I agree with it because managing to be punctual means we should really manage our time to be punctual. Now being punctual is one part of time management.

The best way to manage time; 80:20 rule. Pareto's 80:20 rule tells us to focus on the 20 percent that matters. Of the things you do during your day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results. So that we need to identify those vital 20 per cent of our vital work and to prioritize them.

Working effectively can help in managing time. There are different kind of people in the seance who are performing well in the morning, some in the middle of the day or some in the night. So to work effectively we need to identify our potential what kind of a person.   

SQ4R

Survey

Question

Read

Recite

Relate(Write)

Review

SQ4R is a reading method, its efficient quick and time saving this is what Mr Rehan said.  

Survey	Before you read survey the chapter. The title, headings, and subheadings. Captions under pictures, charts, graphs or maps. Summary.
Question	Turn the main headings/topic sentences into questions: How Why What where when who and read the questions at the end of the chapter if there are any.
Read	Read with the definite purpose of finding the answer(s) to your question.
Recite	When you have finished reading the section, briefly recite the answer(s) to your question.  Mark the direct answer(s) to the question.
Relate (Write)	Divide your page in half – write your question in left column and the answer(s) in the left column in abbreviated form. When you have completed the section relating to your question, go back and skim and mark other relevant details as well as making marginal notations.
Review	Look over your notes and check your memory for the content by reciting the answer(s).