MINERAL RESOURCES INSTITUTE (MRI)

MODULE 05: BASICS OF TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING. (TRT 05209) Number of Credits: 05 Learn n! C"n#e$#: This module will be conducted through Lectures, Presentations, and industrial training visits for data collection Learn n! Ma#er a%&: This course will be taught through using textbooks, manuals, handouts and laboratory equi ments! C"'r&e O()e*# +e& "fter #om leting this course you must be able to: $x lain re ort writing rocedures Pre are and resent technical re orts #ollect, rocess, inter ret, and discuss rocessed data #ategori%e and kee records of data &aintain data records In#e!ra#e, Me#-", ". A&&e&&/en# The student will be assigned sim le ro'ect to work on and roducing technical re ort! (uration for accom lishing this ro'ect is four ()) weeks *e ort writing and resentation will weigh +,,-! .nterim resentation will weigh /,-, 0inal resentation will weigh /,- and Technical re ort will weigh ),(uration for the resentation will be fifteen (+1) minutes and fifteen (+1) minutes for res onding to the questions!

This module will be conducted in 4 hours lecture Re.eren*e&0 +! 9! /! )! 1! @! :! , 2te hen $!L (+334) The "rt of Public 2 eaking &c5raw 6ill #om anies, 7ew 8ork! "ndrew, #!" (+3:1) Technical and ;usiness <riting 6oughton &ifflin #o! ;oston! *obert 8arber +341! <riting for #ollege = a rinci al a roach, 2cott, 0oresman and #om any .llinois London, $ngland! <illiams, and &ark L (+33/) <riters #hoice>#om osition and 5rammar, 7o! ++ &c5raw>6ill, 7ew 8ork <eisman, +34, ;asic Technical <riting #harles &errill Publishing #o! #olumous, ?hio! <ren, P!# and &artin 6! +33@ 6igh 2chool $nglish 5rammar and #om osition 2! #hand and #om any Ltd, 7ew (elhi! *e ort <riting: #om iled by a Aoint #ommittee of the <est &idlands 5rou for #ommercial and .ndustrial $ducation! 4! (erby shire, "!$, +3:, *e ort writing, the form and style of $fficient #ommunication,

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................3 2.0 THE PROCESS OF TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING.............................................3 2.1 THE LAB LOG (NOTEBOOK): ..............................................................................3 2.1.1 Chec !"#$ %&' !() *&$e)&& #................................................................................+ 2.2 THE PROCESS OF WRITING ,OUR REPORT ...................................................+ 2.2.1 P!(**"*- (*. /'"$"*- 0&1' 'e2&'$ .......................................................................+ 2.3 DE3ELOPING ,OUR 4ESSAGE THROUGH PARAGRAPHS..........................5 2.+ PRESENTING ,OUR WORK PROFESSIONALL,..............................................6 3.0 WRITING THE SECTIONS OF ,OUR REPORT.......................................................6 3.1 THE SU44AR,7ABSTRACT................................................................................6 3.1.2 CHECKLIST FOR ,OUR SU44AR,7ABSTRACT......................................8 3.2 THE INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................8 3.2.1 CHECKLIST FOR 0&1' I*$'&.1c$"&* ...............................................................8 3.3 THE 4ETHODS SECTION......................................................................................8 3.3.1 Chec !"#$ %&' $he 4e$h&.# Sec$"&*..................................................................10 3.+ THE RESULTS 9 ANAL,SIS SECTION.............................................................10 3.+.1 Chec !"#$ %&' $he Re#1!$# Sec$"&*.....................................................................10 3.: THE DISCUSSION.................................................................................................11 3.:.1 Chec !"#$ %&' $he ."#c1##"&*..............................................................................11 3.; THE CONCLUSION...............................................................................................12 3.;.1 Chec !"#$ %&' $he c&*c!1#"&*..............................................................................12 3.; THE APPENDICES.................................................................................................12 1.0 WH, GI3E A TALK<................................................................................................22 1.1 The =(!1e &% &'(! 2'e#e*$($"&*# "* (c(.e>"c !"%e.....................................................23 1.2 The =(!1e &% &'(! 2'e#e*$($"&* # "!!# $& 2'&%e##"&*#? )1#"*e##e# (*. &'-(*"@($"&*#.23 2.0 PLANNING A TALK..................................................................................................2+ 2.1 G"="*- ( 2'e#e*$($"&* (# 2('$ &% ( $e(>....................................................................2: 2.2 Whe'e $& #$('$ /he* 0&1 h(=e $& -"=e ( $(! ............................................................2: 2.3 3"#1(! (*. (1."$&'0 (".#..........................................................................................2: 2.+ PRO4PT NOTES....................................................................................................25 3.0 DELI3ERING THE TALK.........................................................................................25 3.1 T"2# %&' e%%ec$"=e .e!"=e'0........................................................................................25 3.2 Be-"**"*-# (*. e*."*-#...........................................................................................28 3.3 I*="$"*- (*. 'e#2&*."*- $& A1e#$"&*#.......................................................................28 +.0 REFLECTING ON AND LEARNING FRO4 ,OUR EBPERIENCE.....................28 S$1.e*$ 2'e#e*$($"&*#: $1$&' (##e##>e*$ #hee$ (A* eC(>2!e)........................................28 P!(**e. !e('*"*- &1$c&>e#............................................................................................28 Le=e! &% ($$("*>e*$........................................................................................................28 T1$&'D# c&>>e*$#..........................................................................................................28 P!(**e. !e('*"*- &1$c&>e#............................................................................................31 40 #$'e*-$h# "* $h"# ('e(................................................................................................31 Th"*-# $& /&' &* %&' *eC$ $">e....................................................................................31 The &'-(*"#($"&* &% 0&1' $(! .........................................................................................31 De!"=e'"*- 0&1' $(! ...................................................................................................32 3"#1(! A".#.....................................................................................................................32 C&*$(c$ /"$h (1."e*ce....................................................................................................32 2

3&"ce7!(*-1(-e..........................................................................................................32 H(*.!"*- A1e#$"&*#.....................................................................................................33 A.. 0&1' &/* $"2# he'e 9 $h"*-# 0&1 *ee. $& /&' &*.............................................33

The guide of writing technically com rises two arts: Par# A = Wr # n! #-e Re1"r# contains information and activities on collecting data from your log book, on how to get going and finally roduce a re ort with the correct sections and understand what you need to do in each of the sections! Par# B > An In#era*# +e Gra//ar G' ,e focusing on writing ob'ectively (using the assive), writing clearly (understanding the clause), being recise and accurate, linking ideas and correcting four of the main grammatical sins in writing! PART A0 WRITING THE REPORT

2.0 INTRODUCTION 2cientific and technical advances are conveyed through written documents! These can be for exam le research a ers, technical re orts and news a er articles! ;eing able to write effectively therefore is essential for the scientist or the engineer! $x erimental and ro'ect work at BniversityC .nstitute is an excellent o ortunity to roduce sim le, clear and readable re orts for a s ecific audience! .t is im ortant to be aware that you need to learn this skill, and the more you ractice the better you will become! The hallmark of good technical writing is clarity! .f you are able to resent your ideas clearly you are also training yourself to think clearly! This guide will hel you to master the rocess of writing, which can be difficult for most of us and identify the contents of each section of a re ort!

2.0

THE PROCESS OF TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING

The rocess of writing is the difficult art! .t is not only your ability to string a sentence together, but also how you manage the rocess! 5et the rocess right, and you will feel a lot more confident!

2.2

THE LAB LOG (NOTEBOO3)0

"s an $ngineering or 2cience student you will be carrying out work in the laboratory, and as any good rofessional scientist or engineer, you will be ex ected to kee the lab log or lab notebook! .n this log you will record, in note form, details of each lab session! 8ou should com lete your lab log during your lab session so you can record observations and any key data as it occurs! &ake sure you come to a conclusion at the end of every ex eriment! 8our lab log should be a hard>backed book that will serve as a diary for all your lab sessions! The lab log may be all that you have to write, but if you have to write a lab re ort, then you will need the information in your lab log to work from! *emember, to record all your observations accurately!

2.2.2 C-e*4% &# ."r %a( n"#e(""4& <rite with a P$7 not a encil! (ate and title your lab session! <rite sim ly and clearly so that someone else could re eat your ex eriment from your notes! Pre are data table beforehand and com lete during the ex eriment! Put a line through mistakes and make clear corrections, ex lain what changed and why! &ake drawings where necessary! *ecord your results carefully, make conclusions, offer suggestions and evaluate any errors!

2.2 THE PROCESS OF WRITING 5OUR REPORT ;efore writing your lab re ort check: <ho this re ort is for (the reader)! 6ow you are going to structure it (your tutor may have the tem late for you to use)! That you have all the information you need from your ex eriment (see your lab notebook)! *elevant references for your literature review in order to lace your work within a body of scientific knowledge! (#heck with your tutor if this is necessary for your re ort)! 8ou will robably assume that your reader will be a tutor! 6owever, since your tutor knows this to ic, you may feel you do not have to Ds ell everything outE! 2o, it may be better to write for a friend who is interested in this to ic, but does not know too much about it! This way, you need to make everything clear! 6aving a reader in mind is very im ortant! This determines how you write!

2.2.2

P%ann n! an, 6r # n! 7"'r re1"r#

"ssume you have carried out your investigations and you have a reader in mind! .t is now im ortant to: think, lan, write, revise and edit! This a lies to any iece of work you are writing! A0 THIN3 <hat does your reader want to know and what do you want to sayF Take a re ort you will be working on and think on how you are going to com lete the questions below! <hy this investigationF i!e! Pur ose, ob'ective(s) and sco e of your re ort <ho else has done work in this areaF i!e! some key references 6ow did .Cwe do itF i!e! method and equi ment used <here did .Cwe do itF i!e! *elevant if you did fieldwork <hat did .Cwe find outF i!e! *esults and conclusions <orking title

These are all questions that #-e rea,er will want answered when reading your re ort!

B0 PLAN

Plan your working with structure! 8ou will need to know the structure of the re ort you are writing! #heck with your tutor as he or she may have a articular structure for you to use! "lso, if you are lucky enough to write a a er for a 'ournal, you will need to check the structure, formatting and referencing style for each Aournal! " ty ical structure for a re ort is: 2. 2. 8. )! 1! 9. :! :. 9. 20. 22. +9! +/! A(&#ra*# T #%e S'//ar7 (a(&#ra*#) Geywords (o tional) Table of contents (advised) In#r",'*# "n Literature review Me#-", (1r"*e,'re; e<' 1/en#) Re&'%#& = Ana%7& & D &*'&& "n C"n*%'& "n an, Re*"//en,a# "n& Re.eren*e& " endices (large tables of data, illustrations etc!)

The structure of your re ort may be a lot sim ler, but those sections in bold will almost certainly be included! &ore details of the structure are rovided in section below! PLANNING TIPS0 Look at your notes from the #- n4 section above! 2tart to "'#% ne a .e6 &en#en*e& for each section in your re ort! 8ou donHt have to do this in order, but do grou sentences, try and lace them in some kind of order, even though it may be rough at this stage! Look back at your notes, your lab notebook and your results to hel you do this! 2entence outlines hel underway! you get started and before you know where you are, your re ort is

Take a iece of scientificCtechnical text = a section of a cha ter or a scientific a er would be ideal! Take the first sentence of each aragra h and write it down so you have a list of sentences! 0rom each sentence identify what the aragra h will be about 5o back to the text and see how accurate you were! 7ow do this with some iece of text you have written!

" good writer will use the first (or first two) sentences of a aragra h as a ointer to what is in that aragra h! 8ou intuitively know this as a reader as the text will be coherent! .f you write a sentence for each idea you have, this will be the outline of your work!

C0 WRITE .t was suggested above, that when you Plan you can use sentence outlining as a way of identifying what you want to say! .t also means that you have started to write and by assed the blank white age syndrome that many writers face!

7ow you have some skeleton sentences in each or most of your sections, try develo ing some sentences in a section you feel most comfortable with! Iery often writers feel that the &ethods section is the easiest lace to start as it is the most concrete! 8our sentences should be sim le and clear! 8our ideas are develo ed through your sentences, so make sure they are ut together logically! $ach aragra h then develo s an idea or conce t! 7?T$: <hen you are writing sentence outlines in the lanning hase, the sentences will robably ex ress an idea for a aragra h! .f you have several sentence outlines for a section this will robably corres ond with different aragra hs within a section! .n the writing hase, you need to develo these ideas through su orting sentences!

D0 RE>ISE 8ou revise your work to check it is making sense, ossibly adding or deleting things, and refine the way you have ex ressed yourself! 8ou should revise your work after each section, and then finally look at all the sections when reviewing the whole work! 8ou /'&# re+ &e your work! .f you leave your write u to the last minute, then you may find you have no time to do this! &ake sure your time management includes revision! &ost ex erienced writers have several revisions whereas oorer writers tend to 'ust roduce one draft! ;e re ared therefore, for several revisions! W-a# 7"' /'&# ,"?. #heck your work covers what you have to do for your assignment! *ead your work critically >check you have a strong message that is clearly argued and logically resented! .s your message coherent and logical within aragra hs and between sectionsF #heck for any re etitions or things you can delete! #heck if aragra hs are in the correct order> you can re> order them! Think of your reader = check you havenEt introduced an acronym without an ex lanation! #heck that your results clearly resented and your figures su ort what youHre saying!

RE>ISION TIPS Bse a word rocessor so that you can move text around easily during this hase! &ake sure you save each revision with a different name in case you want to go back to an earlier version! This is a very im ortant house>kee ing skill to develo ! E0 EDIT 2ometimes the revision and editing activities get done together! This is not a good idea! (uring the revision youHre looking at the content and how you have ex ressed it! (uring the editing hase youHre looking to surface errors, e!g! ty es, s elling mistakes, bad grammar, inaccurate labelling of figures and tables, and incorrect referencing! This is a much like roof reading! W-a# 7"' /'&# ,"?.. C-e*4 7"'r0 2entences are com lete and make sense! 2tyle of writing = check your use of the assiveF (o a search for D.E or D<eE and check if this needs to be converted from active to assive! 2 elling is correct! #itations (names of authors you refer to in your text) > check they a ear in your reference list! *eferences are written in the correct way

EDITING TIPS *ead your work aloud = or into a ta e recorder! This revents you from skimming over what you have written and missing things! .f your tutor is ha y with eer review (i!e! enlisting the services of a fellow student), this is an excellent way to check your work! Bse the s ellchecker and grammar checker in <ord (with caution)!

2.8

DE>ELOPING 5OUR MESSAGE THROUGH PARAGRAPHS

8ou can develo your message by: +! Thinking about the to ics you want to include (outlining)! 9! <riting a thesis statement (a sentence or two focusing on the intent and sco e of your work)! /! <riting to ic sentences (a key sentence in each aragra h that identifies the to ic of the aragra h)! OUTLINING0 USING A THESIS STATEMENT AND A TOPIC SENTENCE ?utlining links to your thinking and lanning hase! 8ou can outline: to ics, section titles (if not using a redetermined tem late), to ics within sections, your arguments, and your results etc! ?utlining hel s you develo a framework for a coherent re ort or essay! 8ou can start to see the sha e of your work, what you already know, and what you need to find out! 8our outline can be in note form, or in com lete outline sentences! The advantage of writing sentence outlines is that you have made a start and these sentences will robably refer to the to ic of a aragra h! This is an excellent way to start writing and it will be easier in the long run! 2ometimes your coursework will include this outlining ex ected! WRITING A THESIS STATEMENT " thesis statement is a statement that lets the reader know the ur ose, sco e and direction of your re ort! <hen you re are your outline, you need to do this in a way that su orts your thesis statement! "t the beginning, you may 'ust want to 'ot down some ideas for the statement rather than write a com lete sentence! .f you answered the first question, W-7 this investigationF > Then you should have the beginnings of a thesis statement! 8our whole re ort will revolve around this and any hy othesis that you write for your ex eriment will relate to the thesis statement! " thesis statement is very s ecific and reflects the contents of your re ort! 0or technical writing, your thesis statement will com rise: 8our to ic of investigation! $lements considered in your investigation! The order you will be resenting the information! 5enerally, the thesis statement will come towards the end of the first introduction! WRITING TOPIC SENTENCES0 SENTENCE OUTLINES hase and full sentence outlines will be

aragra h in the

?utlines are usually constructed with to ic sentences! " key sentence in a aragra h that identifies the to ic of that have one!

aragra h! "ll

aragra hs should

2o, this sentence should be as s ecific as ossible! 8ou can always elaborate on this when you come to write the full aragra h! *emember, your to ic sentences will be in su ort of your thesis statement!

2.@

PRESENTING 5OUR WOR3 PROFESSIONALL5 rofessional looking documents and give your hard

.t is im ortant to get into the habit of writing work a good showcase!

#heck: 0ormat you may be ex ected to use! 0ont and oint si%e are consistent &argins are what they should be! 6eadings (choose a slightly different style across different levels of headings = but use them consistently)! #itations and referencing formats that you have to use! The document should be easy to navigate and this hel s with: #learly laid out title and your name! Table of contents (if your document is short this may not be necessary)! 7umbered sections with titles! #learly labelled tables and figures (select an a ro riate font for these)! <here necessary refer to them as figure xxx: title or table xxx: title! T.P .f you are re aring a long document, or many similar documents select your style for all the headings and body of text and create a style sheet in <ord!

8.0

WRITING THE SECTIONS OF 5OUR REPORT

2cientific and technical re orts have fairly standard sections! 2ome re orts contain the full set of sections while others a subset! 8ou will need to check with your tutor the sections heCshe wants you to include in your re orts! This guide gives you some idea of what needs to be included in a selection of the sections!

8.2

THE SUMMAR5AABSTRACT laced at the beginning of your

"lways write the abstractCsummary last, even though it is article or re ort!

SUMMAR5 This is a aragra h or two giving a clear statement of the ur ose of your re ortC a er, your main findings and conclusions! 7ote the confidence you have in your findings and any

reservations! .nformation should be in the same order as the re ort, but you should not make any cross reference to the body of the re ort! *emember you read the title and summaryCabstract of a a erCre ort in order to see if it is of interest to you! 8ou do not want to read the whole a er and then find out it was not relevant! ABSTRACT "n abstract is also the summary of an article in a ublished 'ournal! The abstract will be ublished with and se arate from the body of the article! 2o, it can be read without access to the article (e!g! on remote databases and abstract 'ournals)! Therefore, it must give you enough information to make a decision on whether you should read the whole article! "n abstract is usually about 91, words!

8.2.2

#6$#GL.2T FOR 5OUR 2B&&"*8C";2T*"#T

Pur ose of your re ort! Gey findings! &ain conclusions!

8.2

THE INTRODUCTION

This section sets the scene and contextualises your work by giving the necessary background! This is your sho window (along with the abstract if you write one) so it is im ortant to write clearly and interestingly! This should ex lain 6-7 you are carrying out this investigation and 6-" e%&e has done similar work! The writing here should be engaging, sim le, clear and relatively non>technical!

8.2.2

CHEC3LIST FOR 7"'r In#r",'*# "n

" aragra h discussing the to ic of your investigation, state any assum tions your work was built on! 2ome information on any revious work in the field relating to your to ic o Gey findings from other researchers andCor o " roaches to tackling this issue 2tate your hy othesis, if you have carried out ex eriment or a clear statement of a roblem you are trying to solve! #ite any references you use in your text and include in your reference list at the end of your re ort!

7?T$: 8ou may want to have a literature review section on its own! "sk your tutor what he or she wants!

8.8 THE METHODS SECTION This section should be written clearly enough so that the reader could re eat your ex eriment if he or she wanted to do so! This will also hel the reader understand how your data was obtained! 8our sentences should be sim le and clear! 8ou need to write in the ast tense and use the assive! <hen you use the assive, you concentrate on what you (.( and under lay <6? did it! This gives your re ort a sense of ob'ectivity, which is essential in technical writing!

7?T$: This section may be divided into: methods and materials (or equi ment) and ex erimental rocedure! "sk your tutor what he or she requires! *emember, you can save a lot of writing by including a well>labelled diagram!

8.8.2

C-e*4% &# ."r #-e Me#-",& Se*# "n

List the equi ment used (add diagram if im ortant)! 2tate any conditions of your investigation! 2tate the urity and structure of the materials used if im ortant to your investigation! 2tate exactly what you did! (escribe the techniques used! Bse standard abbreviations for names of things!

8.@

THE RESULTS = ANAL5SIS SECTION

6ere you will resent your main findings (ad'usted and analysed) and identify im ortant trends or information! This section will be full of tables and gra hs that will de ict all your significant results! 8ou will need some text so that the reader can easily inter ret your figures and identify your variables! 6owever, your comments should be short, clear and recise! 2ee below some language you could use > note the style of language! .t should be clear and recise, drawing the readerHs attention to your findings without you commenting on the results! .t is clearly evident from JJ!! that JJ! "ccording to 0igure +, it is clear that JJJ it is evident thatJJJ "s can be seen in Table /, there was an )!1- fall in JJ there was a )!1- increase inJ "s a result of JJJJ there was a /!1- rise inJJJJJ!! &ake sure your gra hs and tables are well laid out and accurately labelled (informative title, labelled axes, legend > when a ro riate, units used, and numerical values along the x>axis)! "lways refer to numbers and quantitative measures if ossible! #heck out: K is quite a lot larger than 8 L K is @- larger than 8! 8.@.2 C-e*4% &# ."r #-e Re&'%#& Se*# "n

.dentify key data that relates to your hy othesis! "nalyse and summarise this data! Present your data in clear gra hs or tables! ;riefly comment on the results to hel the reader understand your data! "dd key calculations as a ro riate! *aw data should be in an a endix > if required!

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8.5

THE DISCUSSION

;efore you start this section, get your story straight! <hat do you want to say about your findingsF 6ere you need to link your results with your introduction to form a *r # *a% view of your work! .t is im ortant that your writing here is e+a%'a# +eM this is the most im ortant section! 8ou need to convey to the reader what you results and findings mean!

;elow are some questions to start you thinking about this section of discussion! " them to a ast ex eriment or investigation > make notes below!
+! 9! *e>state your ur ose 2o, what were you trying to doF Bse the ast tense! Test a hy othesis Try to re licate someone elseHs study Test a new techniqueC rotocol $valuate the findings of others "nything elseF .nter ret your data *emember your claims have to be

ly

(o your results su ort or re'ect your hy othesisF su orted by your data! /!

;riefly re>state your method in relation to your results

<ere there any limitations in your method that could have affected your resultsF This refers to ex erimental error and tolerances! .s this acce tableF "re your results still validF #ould this be im rovedF Look critically at your work! Bse the ast tense! )! 2et your work in relation to others Bse the

6ow does your work relate to others who have undertaken similar investigationsF resent tense! 1! "nalyse the strengths and weaknesses of your ex erimental design

6ow do you feel about your ex erimental designF <hat were the strengths and weaknessesF (id it affect the reliability of your resultsF .f something didnEt work be honest and try to analyse why!

8.5.2

C-e*4% &# ."r #-e , &*'&& "n

*e>state your ur ose and hy othesis (if a ro riate)! .nter ret your data and comment on your findings! *e>state key elements of your ex erimental designCmethod in relation to results (ex erimental errorCtolerances)! #omment on your confidence regarding the validity and reliability of your findings as a result of your design! ;e quantitative whenever ossible! ;e ob'ective and avoid vague general statements, such as, N. felt it was quite successfulOP #omment on your results in relation to others = ex ected or unex ected! #ite othersE work as a ro riate 2ummarise and critically evaluate your research design and findings!

11

8.9 THE CONCLUSION 8ou may include the conclusion in your discussion! #heck with your tutor what is needed for your assignment! .f you do include this section, you may want to move your critical comments about your research design into this section and then talk about how you could im rove it in the future! <hatEs wrong with this and what do you need to do to make it acce table as a scientific textF I think this experiment was quite successful.

8.9.2

C-e*4% &# ."r #-e *"n*%'& "n

;riefly state what you found! 2u ort this statement with key findings! #omment on how future research could develo this to ic!

8.9 THE APPENDICES Ty ically these include the following = ut them in se arately labelled a endices! *aw data (as necessary)! #alculations! Pertinent detailed gra hical information such as gra hical out ut from tests etc! "ny detailed information about the a aratusCequi ment as is necessary!

PART B - AN INTERACTIVE GRAMMAR GUIDE

2.0 I/1r"+ n! 7"'r Te*-n *a% Wr # n! S#7%e The mark of good technical writing lies in being able to write with: ob'ectivity, clarity, accuracy, criticality and a ro riateness! OBBECTI>IT50 8ou make the underlying assum tions of your argument clear! 8ou have a balanced view given the data and results you have! 8ou take care not to write your o inions as though they were facts! 8ou avoid words like: obviousl ! surel ! and of course! 8ou critically reflect on your own work as well as that of others! CLARIT50 8ou write clearly with sim le sentences that are ut together logically showing evidence of clear scientific thinking! ACCURAC50 The statements you make are related to the evidence, either your evidence of that of other researchers! 8our sentences are recise and not woolly and you donHt make general swee ing statements without evidence! CRITICALIT50 8ou are able to be dis assionate and evaluate your own work (and that of others)! APPROPRIATENESs0 8ou are aware of your reader and you know what information they need to understand your work! 8ou resent your work clearly in order to facilitate this! 8ou understand the kind of re ort you are writing and you write with the a ro riate style! 2.0 Be n! O()e*# +e C T-e Pa&& +e

<hen you write your methods section, you will need to state what you did, the conditions of ex erimentCinvestigation and the equi ment you used! The reader will be interested in

12

what was done

and not

who did it!

P"22.I$

"#T.I$

"nd since you carried out your rocedure in the ast, you will use the 1a&# #en&e. "n exam le (using the ast tense for both active and assive forms) A*# +e0 0rom the moisture content, . calculated the void ratio, the s ecific volume and the unit weight of the sam le at the end of the test! . assumed that the sam le was fully saturated before doing this! Pa&& +e0 0rom the moisture content, the void ratio, the s ecific volume and the unit weight of the sam le were calculated at the end of the test! .t was assumed that the sam le was fully saturated before doing this!

7?T$: 0or a assive sentence you should have no ersonal ronouns, e!g! I! "e! 7?T$: 8our lab notebooks and rofessional diaries will not need the assive! There is also a move to encourage sim licity by writing in the active form only! 2ome web sites will say that it is bad ractice to write in the assive! 6owever, in the academic world, assive is still used! 8ou need to check with your tutor what is ex ected of you! Sen#en*e F"*'&

*emember your writing should be ob'ective, accurate and recise! The assive makes it feel more ob'ective! sub#ect: the glass tense: the ast interest: what ha ened This a ears more ob'ective!

Past Pastptense

The -!(## was #$'e*-$he*e.. The glass was strengthened

Passive Passive

Present Present ttetense

sub#ect: the glass tense: the resent or for all time interest: what ha ened This a ears more ob'ective!

The -!(## is #$'e*-$he*e.. The glass is strengthened

Passive Passive

13

Past tense

Past tense $ub#ect: tense: Interest:: This a ast what I did .

I #$'e*-$he*e. $he -!(##. . strengthened the glass

ears more sub'ective

Active "ctive

1+

7?T$: .f you get in a muddle with the assive, always choose #L"*.T8 over the assive 8.0 Wr # n! C%ear%7

#larity and accuracy are key features of technical writing! The activities below should sensitise you to this! .n order to revise your work, it is im ortant that you understand how sentences can be crafted! 8.2 Un,er&#an, n! &en#en*e (a& *&0 *%a'&e 1a*4e#&

To know how to write clearly you must understand how sentences are constructed! " sentence com rises one or more clauses! $very sentence is a *%a'&e 1a*4e# and has to have at least an inde endent (or main) clause! " com lex sentence made u of several clauses can be co>'oined to form one sentence (e!g! two inde endent clauses 'oined by DandE, DorE, DbutE)! .t can also be made u of an inde endent clause and several de endent ones! (e endent clauses cannot form a sentence on their own! (e endent clauses are recognised by words such as: D althoughE, D ifE, D des iteE, DsinceE and DJ!ing wordsE such as = DconsideringE, DrelatingE, DdefiningE etc! at the beginning of a clause! An e$1%ana# "nD S n!%e C%a'&e Sen#en*e +! 0or the last hundred years the climate Q+R has been growing Q9R much warmer! M'%# C*%a'&e Sen#en*e C"//en# " single clause sentence! Q+R sub'ect Q9R verb

9! 0or the last hundred years the climate Q+R has been growing Q9R much warmer and Q/R this Q)R has had Q1R a number of different effects!

Two inde endent clauses 'oined with DandE to form one sentence! Q+R sub'ect of this clause and the next one (re laced by DthisE) Q9R verb for that sub'ect Q/R #oordinator for next clause! Q)R DthisE re laces Dclimate much warmerE and is also the sub'ect of this clause! Q1R verb for this clause " two clause sentence: a de endent and an inde endent clause forming one sentence! Q+R link word introducing a de endent clause Q9R sub'ect of the de endent clause Q/R verb for de endent clause Q)R sub'ect of main clause Q1R verb of main clause

/! $ince Q+R the beginning of the 9,th century, scientists Q9R have observed Q/R that glaciers Q)R have been melting Q1R very ra idly!

1:

)! Tem erature increases Q+R have caused Q9R the snowline to retreat on mountains all over the world, resultin% in Q/R the agricultural cro line Q)R shifting Q1R north, which Q@R has effected changes to vegetation!

" three clause sentence com rising: inde endent clause, de endent clause and a clause de endent on the de endent clause (known as a relative clause) Q+R the sub'ect of the main clause Q9R verb for main clause Q/R introducing the de endent clause Q)R sub'ect of de endent clause Q1R verb for de endent clause Q@R .ntroducing the relative clause giving you more information about the effect of shifting the cro line!

*ememberP $very sentence /'&# -a+e an n,e1en,en# (main) *%a'&e for it to be com lete!

8.2

Re*"!n & n! S !na% W"r,&

"s roficient readers we all recognise signal words! .f you see first in a text you know there will be a list of items to follow and you ossibly scan the text to find second and third so that you can quickly obtain an overview of the list! There are many signal words that link ideas, 'oin clauses and signal meaning, e!g! cause and effect, something unex ected, com are and contrast, degrees of certainty, and rocesses! This is not a full list, but enough to give you an understanding of the im ortance of these words! These words signal to the reader how you are develo ing your argument! <ithout these words, it would be very difficult for the reader to follow your line of reasoning! Try writing some sentences with these link wordsJ! 8.2.2 DESCRIBING CAUSE ECF AND EFFECT EEF 5"'r &en#en*e

L n4 6"r, Q$R ;ecause KKK Q#R! The reason for KKK is that KKK Q#R Q#R! Therefore, Q$R! 2o, Q$R!

#onsequently, Q$R! 6ence, Q$R!

1;

Q#R, as a result of which, Q$R! Q#R, as a consequence of which, Q$R! ?ne effect of KKKK was that Q$R! ?ne result of KKKK was that Q$R! "s a consequence of KKK, KKK Q$R!

8.2.2

INDICATING SOMETHING SIMILAR OR UNEGPECTED

Tr buildin% our own sentences with these words S"/e#- n! & / %ar xxx! .n addition to xxx, xxx and QalsoR xxx "s well as xxx, xxx Kxx not only, but also xxx S"/e#- n! 'ne$1e*#e, xxx! 6owever, xxx Kxx but xxx (es ite xxx, xxx in s ite of xxx, xxx xxx! 7evertheless, xxx

8.2.8

COMPARING AND CONTRASTING

Tr buildin% our own sentences with these words S / %ar # e& Kxx is the same as xxx Kxx resembles xxxx in xxx Kxx is as xxxxx as 2imilarly, xxx .ntroducing the conce t for com arison: &s re%ards tem erature, xxx "ith re%ard to tem erature, xxx &s far as tem erature is concerned, xxx "ith respect to tem erature, xxx D ..eren*e& Kxx is different from xxx Kxx differs from xxx Kxx whereas xxxx Kxx while xxxxx is xxx Kxx is less than xxx Kxx is more than xxx ?n the other hand, xxx 6owever, xxxx

15

8.2.@ H +,,-

EGPRESSING DEGREES OF CERTAINT5 Fre<'en*7 always usually generally as a rule often robably likely resumably ossibly erha s unlikely can could may might Cer#a n#7 certainly undoubtedly >er( will must sim le resent tense should ought to

sometimes occasionally rarely seldom hardly ever

,-

never

will not cannot could not sim le resent (negative)

tense

8.2.5

BEING PRECISE recise! Look at your own work and add some of your

&ake the following vague sentences more own exam les!

Fre<'en*7 >a!'e The measurements were recorded at frequent intervals! The a aratus was stable, so it was rarely checked! Pre* &e

I'an# #7 >a!'e " substantial amount of reagent was a lied! " huge amount of 2ul hur was added! The smallest ossible amount of water was used! Pre* &e

16

8.2.9

WRITING ABOUT PROCESSES rocess, ste s or stages within a rocess ( rocedure)

8ou may refer to a :

'uttin% thin%s in order: Previously, xxx $arlier, xxx ;eforehand, xxx 0irstly, xxx 0irst of all, xxx To begin with xxx 2econdly, xxx 7ext, xxx Then, xxx 0inally, xxx ;efore this xxx Prior to this xxx The first ste Cstage is xxx

"fter this, xxx The next ste is xxx The final ste Cstage is xxx The lastJJJ

@.0 Gra//a# *a% S n& 2ome of the most common grammatical errors that eo le make are: sentence fragments, run>on sentences, and agreement roblems! These errors usually occur when you do not fully understand the basics of sentence construction and the idea of clause ackets! .nformation in this section is im ortant during your editing stage! 2o, what are these grammatical sins and do they a ly to youF Take some writing you have done in the ast and see if you can s ot any of these errors! @.2 SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

These are bits of text that fail to make a com lete sentence! Iery often this is because the writer will start his or her sentence with a de endent clause and then forget to add the inde endent (main) clause! ;ut there are other reasons as well! Sen#en*e .ra!/en# W-a# & 6r"n!J Can you repair it? <hen the system logs the activity, it sends a message to its base station, which then allocates unavailable frequency to it! ( when) si%nals a dependent clause. The independent clause was missin%. In example above the independent clause has been further modified with the relative clause *startin% with (which)+ to add more information. #alling u the local tele hone com any office at 3@,, b s will never give more bandwidth than 3@,, b s, no matter how wide the

<hen the system logs the activity!

18

#alling u the local tele hone com any office at 3@,, b s!

intermediate link is! ( Callin% up the local telephone compan office at ,-.. bps) is the sub#ect of the sentence! so the next thin% we want is the verb. In the sentence above it is there /(will never %ive ).

"nother otentially revolutionary difference between satellite and terrestrial links!

#onsidering all the roblems associated with landfills, including the time needed for finding suitable locations, obtaining ublic acce tance and constructing the landfills! Can ou find one from our own writin%0

@.2

RUN ON SENTENCES

These are inde endent clauses that have been ushed together to create a sentence! 6owever, the correct linking has not been used! "s a result the sentence turns out to be a bit of a muddle! 2entence run on <hat is wrongF Can ou repair it0 The wave res onded to the stimulus and erformed as ex ected! Two independent clause is #oined with a comma is incorrect. 1se a coordinator like ( and) to #oin the sentences. $ome other links ou can use are: but! for! nor! et! or! so. 8ou can also 'oin small inde endent clauses using a semi colon! Large im rovements in the water su ly and sanitation sector of $stonia and *omania have been achieved, therefore, from an environmental ers ective these ro'ects are considered successful! Large im rovements in the water su ly and sanitation sector of $stonia and *omania have been achieved! Therefore, from an environmental ers ective these ro'ects are considered successful! ( Therefore) should be the start of a new sentence. The same applies to (however). 2ou can also (front) (however) and (therefore) e.%. 3rom an environmental perspective therefore! 4.4.

The wave res onded to the stimulus, it erformed to within 1- of its redicted value!

20

.n general, the investment rogrammes have been successfully undertaken, we have found that 4,of the ro'ect com onents have been com leted to high engineering standards!

The results of the first ex eriment su orted the hy othesis, it was decided to continue with the second ex eriment! Can ou find one from our own writin%0

@.8

AGREEMENT PROBLEMS

2ub'ect>verb agreement refers to an alignment of the sub'ect with the verb, e!g! Sen#en*e The experiment was successful! E$1%ana# "n 5xperiment is a singular noun and the verb E to beE > was > agrees with the noun and is also singular! 6esults > a lural noun needs the verb also to be in lural form = are! Takes the singular form of the verb! Takes the lural form of the verb! 5ither and neither take singular!

The results are ositive $veryone 2omeone $ach of "ll of us 7one of us

isChas

areChave

5ither of the results is acce table! Neither of the #ournals was a ro riate! 5ver one involved in ex eriments is ex ected to carry out a risk analysis!

"lthough ex eriments is lural, the agreement is governed by ever one and always the singular form! The same a lies to: someone and each of!

21

GI>ING A TAL3 Talks or what are often calledM more formally, oral resentations are an integral art of academic and rofessional life! 2ome eo le become anxious about having to give a talk, but there is nothing mysterious about being an effective s eakerM talks involve the a lication of techniques that can be lanned and rehearsed! This resource hel s you to understand what tutors are looking for and how you might lan and deliver a talk at any stage in your academic and rofessional life! The following advice is made u of four arts: 2. WH5 GI>E A TAL3J 2 eaking about what you know is a highly effective learning activity Talks are an integral art of academic life Presentation skills are highly valued by rofessions, businesses and organi%ations

2. PLANNING 5OUR TAL3 #onsidering how your talk will be assessed *esearching your to ic, selecting ideas and su a coherent argument orting evidence, and sha ing the talk into

Thinking ahead about room layout and use of visual aids, and re aring accordingly Bsing visual aids

8. DELI>ERING 5OUR TAL3 Bsing a checklist of ti s for effective delivery $stablishing clear beginnings and endings Pre aring to invite and res ond to questions

@. REFLECTING ON 5OUR EGPERIENCE 2.0 Bse a checklist to evaluate your own erformance after you have given your talk &ake notes about what you might do differently, if anything, next time WH5 GI>E A TAL3J

;eing able to give a good and clear resentation to a ublic audience is a skill that you and your future em loyer will greatly value in a wide range of situations! ?ral skills, alongside writing and research skills, teamwork, and time management, are as ects of your degree course, or (key) transferable skills, which will have a lication to your future career in whatever field that may be! Pros ective em loyers always ask for these key skills in references, and they can be seen as more im ortant than the sub'ect of your degree, so when you are asked to give a talk think about how to develo the skills involved in doing this well = not 'ust about the to ic you will be talking about!

22

<hen tutors ask you to give a talk as art of your rogramme of study, it may be an informal talk, which becomes one of the learning activities ex erienced by you and your fellow students, or it may be a formally assessed talk which counts as art of your overall mark for that study unit!

2.2

T-e +a%'e ". "ra% 1re&en#a# "n& n a*a,e/ * % .e

.n this section you are asked to reflect u on your attitude towards communicating orally in formal academic settings! <hich of the following statements are true for youF

2es7No " ; # . refer to write rather than to talk about my sub'ect, because . have had more ractice at writing and can do it in my own time! ;eing able to ex ress myself clearly in s eech will hel me think clearly, and vice versa! .f . know . have to talk about something, . will definitely do some re aration, because . donEt want to stand in front of others with nothing to sayP .f .Em interested in and knowledgeable about something, . find it easier to talk about it! $x laining things to other eo le hel s me understand them better myself!

( $

Peo le have different kinds of strengths when it comes to writing and s eaking! 8ou may be very ha y 'ust getting on with written assignments, or you may be glad to re are a talk because you find that you are much better at ex laining things aloud than you are at writing them down! <hatever your articular references, research shows that s eaking to others about conce ts and information hel s you learn = it hel s you chan%e and grow in familiarity with the language of your sub'ect disci line, which in turns hel s you increase your knowledge, understanding and skills in that area in the future! 5ras ing an academic disci line is a bit like learning a foreign languageM s eaking it aloud is the best way to learn! That is why, if you want to become increasingly involved in academic life, you will be asked (for exam le, as a ostgraduate student) to give a ers at conferences, where you will listen to and give talks to others with similar interests! 6aving to give a talk as art of your rogramme of study will re are you for this! 2.2 T-e +a%'e ". "r!an Ka# "n& "ra% 1re&en#a# "n &4 %%& #" 1r".e&& "n&; ('& ne&&e& an,

.t may well be, however, that you are lanning to move out into the workforce as soon as your course has finished, and you do not lan to stay involved in academic life! .f that is the case, you should take oral resentation skills 'ust as seriously, as em loyers and organi%ations everywhere ask for confidence and skills in the areas of inter ersonal communication and resentation! There are very few occu ations and rofessions that do not require these skills, and remember that being interviewed in erson in order to get a 'ob is very largely about demonstrating your ability to answer and ask questions and, increasingly, give a short resentation! 8ou are also very likely to rogress in your work lace if you have good oral

23

skillsM the ability to s eak and listen a ro riately and effectively is linked to the ability to work effectively with and to ins ire others, whether they are colleagues, clients or customers! ;oth for learning and for your future rofessional life, s eaking skills are so im ortant!

2.0

PLANNING A TAL3

"s with so many things, giving an excellent talk is largely about thinking ahead and thorough re aration! .f you have been asked to give a talk, check that you have been given the following information! 5e&AN" " ; # ( The date, time and length of the talk *oughly how many eo le will be in the audience, and where the talk will take lace (the kind of room, facilities available and so on) <hat your to ic will be, or the area from which you must choose a to ic, and how to research it effectively 6ow your talk will be assessed = which criteria will be used to assess it, and whether or how much it will contribute to your mark for that unit of study

.f you , , n"# tick D"E then make sure you get that information as soon as you can! .n articular, knowing the length of time you have to s eak (a minimum and a maximum, if ossible) will enable you to select the right amount of material for your talk! 8ou may be worrying about having enough to say, but remember that a common mistake is to select too much material and to try to cram it all in, so that the audience members are overwhelmed with too much information which they cannot follow!

.f you , , n"# tick D;E then, again, make sure you get hold of that information! (ecisions about things like visual aids and use of su orting handouts will de end in art u on knowing how many eo le will be there, and whether certain ieces of equi ment might be there, such as a whiteboard or an overhead ro'ector!

.f you , , n"# tick D#E then a& a /a##er ". 1r "r #7 find out more about what to ic you should be re aring by talking to or emailing the relevant tutor! 6owever well you ex ect to entertain the audience with your s eaking skills, the talk will not be effective if you have nothing relevant to sayP *emember that you will robably need to find su orting evidence for the things you say, 'ust as in written assignments, and that you can use the same Dsearch skillsE for a talk as you need for an essay or ro'ect! Look at the 8evelopin% an 5ffective $earch $trate% 5uide to hel with this as ect! 8ou will also need to construct an argument or a train of thought running through what you say, so that the talk hangs together with a logical sha e and a clear beginning, middle and end! .f you , , n"# tick D(E then ask your tutor to ex lain how you will be assessed! &any tutors use checklists similar to the one in 2ection )!, of this guide! 6ave a look at this now if you are unfamiliar with such checklists! The more detail you have about the assessment criteria used for your talk, the clearer you will be about what is ex ected! 0or exam le, what ro ortion of the mark will be given for the style and delivery of your talk, and what ro ortion for your research and the contentF

2+

2.2

G + n! a 1re&en#a# "n a& 1ar# ". a #ea/

8ou may be asked to work with others to give a talk or resentationM all of the advice in the other sections should be useful for you and your team as you re are, but bear in mind also the following ti s articularly aimed at grou or team resentations: PLAN THE TAL3 TOGETHER (ecide collectively how it will be structured, and who will be res onsible for which talk! SET RESPONSIBILITIES (ecide on who will be res onsible for all of the elements of lanning >ISUAL AIDS &ake sure you all know who will be re aring = and then using > each kind of visual aid, and that you can all use equi ment such as the overhead ro'ector, in case anyone has to dro out at the last minute! PH5SICAL LA5OUT ;efore you give the talk, work out exactly where each of you is going to stand, and how you will move on from one section of the talk to the next! .ntroducing each other by name is a good idea = for exam le, you may want to say something like, N.Em now going to hand over to *achel, who will tell you more about K, an as ect of the to ic which she has been researching!O PRACTISE Practise giving the talk together beforehand = even if it is to an em ty room = 'ust to make sure that you all have the same things in mind in terms of what you are collectively saying, and how you are saying them! The more familiar and relaxed you are with each other, the more relaxed and convincing your resentation is likely to be for your audience! art of the

2.2

W-ere #" &#ar# 6-en 7"' -a+e #" ! +e a #a%4

0irstly, remind yourself that giving a talk is 7?T the same as writing an essay that you then read out! *eading aloud from a scri t will result in oor marks for the Dcommunication skillsE as ect of the marking scheme! 2o, writing an essay and then reading it is not an o tionP <hat you will need is some form of notes = erha s D rom t cardsE, unless you are confident enough to rely on overhead ro'ector trans arencies with notes on, or something like PowerPoint, a software resentation ackage! 2kills in using this kind of equi ment can be gained in a variety of ways = ask your tutor for advice, if you want to learn how to use it! 0or a shorter, more informal talk, cards with D rom t notesE on are robably still easiest! " talk is about communicating with a articular audience by talking to them, 'ust as you would talk to a grou of friends, but with a little more formality and structure! 7o one wants to hear written $nglish read aloud = it always sounds stilted, and it is easier to read it than to listen to itP 0ree s eech is much more interesting!

2.8

> &'a% an, a', #"r7 a ,&

(e ending on the kind of talk you are asked to give, there are numerous ossibilities for visual or auditory aids! " selection is listed below, so that you can consider their feasibility for your

2:

situation! "longside the selections is some brief advice about how to use = and not to use = these! > &'a% A , <hiteboard or blackboard A,+ *e Practise using these before the day, to check the legibility of your handwriting and the si%e of writing needed! (o not write too much = 'ust key hrases or short bullet oints! 8ou can use boards to stick u ictures or osters! (o not stand between the board and the audience, and do not talk to the board! These can be very effective but will need to be well lanned beforehand! (o not cram too much into a oster = s ace between the text and ictures is very im ortant if the oster is to have im act, and if it is to communicate clearly! Gee these short (no more than 9 sides of ")) and use bullet oints or other short sections of text, illustrated where a ro riate! (o not write an essay on a handoutM use it to summarise and note key elements of information such as technical terms, quotations and references! " few questions to facilitate audience artici ation and to reinforce key oints can be useful as a warm u or concluding activity (if time ermits)! &ake sure the questions are relevant and interestingP Pre are these beforehand! 8ou can rint onto them from a com uter, but if you do this ask a technician for advice about using the right kind of acetate trans arency! To hotoco y onto acetate it is essential that you use the correct kind, or you will cause great damage to the hotoco ier! ;e sure to ask for advice! *emember that Dless is moreE on trans arencies = make sure that writing is large enough when ro'ected, and that you do not cram too much onto one slide! Bsing real ob'ects as visual aids can be very effectiveM for exam le, a garment on a textile conservation course, or an artefact on an archaeology course! Bsing ob'ects can be connected with demonstration of a rocess, for exam le the use of a articular iece of equi ment "gain, where a ro riate the use of auditory material can be very interesting! &ake sure that you have checked and ractised on any equi ment used, well before you start! "s above, check all equi ment beforehand! (o not overuse kee them short and strictly relevant to your argument! ictures or video =

Posters

6andouts

Sui% sheets

?verhead ro'ector trans arencies

?b'ects of interest (sometimes referred to as DregaliaE) "udio>ta e recorder or musical instruments and so on Iideo,(I(,film, trans arency slides or similar &ulti>media ro'ector

These can be used to ro'ect com uter screens, and therefore to show the internet or software ackages such as PowerPoint! "sk for advice about the suitability of using these, or about o ortunities for learning how to use them!

The most im ortant thing about all of these aids is that they need to be tied in with your resentation: Iisual aids are used to illustrate a oint that you have made (or are about to make) in your resentation! "void using them as a kind of visual wall a er, for exam le by ending your talk by showing a trans arency without commenting on it! #hoose trans arencies to dis lay items such as key illustrations and hotos! oints, gra hs, grids, statistics,

2;

.f you use video cli s, use them economically: do not show about ten extract! .f you have a limited time for your resentation, use erha s only one to three cli s! 6ave your visual aids ready to use and in the right order! .ntroduce visual aids and s eak to them! 0or exam le, you could say:

. am now going to show you

<hat . want to show you here is!!!

2.@

PROMPT NOTES

The trick with writing effective rom t notes for a talk is to write notes! not full sentences that you have to read out word for word! (ividing these notes onto a sequence of cards is more hel ful that using large sheets of a erM your eyes will get confused looking at a wide ex anse of notes, whereas on a small card they will quickly s ot the next heading on which to elaborate! 2o, for exam le, if you were giving a talk on how to give an effective talk, one of your rom t cards might look something like this:

En!a!e 6 #- 7"'r A', en*e .ntroduce yourself 2mile and sound interested (evelo eye contact Tell audience the structure of your talk Bse the right language for your audience &aintain right ace Bse your voice and auses to move between oints Bse notes to move you from one oint to next

8.0

DELI>ERING THE TAL3

The effectiveness of your talk will de end u on two main factors: +! 9! The extent to which you have researched and understand the to ic you are talking about The extent to which you engage with and interest the audience in that to ic!

?ver>concentration on the first factor at the ex ense of the second will seriously undermine the quality of your resentation! <hile the adage D.tEs not what you say, itEs the way that you say itE should not be taken to extremes it does contain an element of truth!

8.2

T 1& ."r e..e*# +e ,e% +er7

.t takes time and ractice to become an effective and confident resenter! ?ne suggestion is to think of resenters who have im ressed you when you have been in the audience and seek to emulate them! "lternatively, you may have had ex erience of oor resenters and as ects of delivery you would seek to avoidP

25

?ne tutor has given the following advice to his students about how to Dget it rightE! *ead each ti or ointer and tick the box alongside it if you are already confident that you can do this well! Tick + 2 eak in a lively and engaged way, so that you avoid monotonous delivery! 2 eak loudly enough, and with a voice that has a ro riate variety of tone, and with a choice of language a ro riate for that audience in that context = not too slangy, but not too formal either! (o not s eak too quickly, but kee a steady ace and allow your material to Dsink inE! &ake frequent eye contact with your fellow students! "ddress them as your audience > not 'ust the lecturer! 2mile a ro riately! .f at all ossible, stand u while giving your resentation! .f you refer to sit down, try not to look down too much, or hide behind your notes! #hoose a seat where you face your audience, rather than blend into it!

9 / )

"t the beginning of your resentation, outline in a few words the aims of your resentation! <hen doing a 'oint resentation, the first s eaker should ex lain how the different arts will fit together! .t is essential that you co>ordinate your art of the resentation with your co> resenters in advance, so that you avoid overla s, or a resentation that a ears dis'ointed! (istribute a re ared handout where a ro riate! This handout should give a run down of your resentation, referably numbered or in bullet oints and it should have a title! .n any case it should be structured, and easy to read and follow! " handout is 7?T identical with your notes, nor do essays, but a condensation of your resentation, so not have more than one to two ") ages! Bse illustrations only if they relate to your argument or if you refer to them! .f you use ( articularly lengthy) quotations from secondary sources, rint them in full on your handout, as your audience can then follow them easily! <hen you come to these quotations in your resentation, tell your audience they can find them on their handout! "lso list on your handout all names and s ecific terms you mention in your resentation, articularly those that your audience may find difficult to note down without seeing them s elt out (for exam le, foreign names and technical terms)! #oncentrate on arguments or develo ments, rather than sim le facts! <hat is your an%le on the to icF To facilitate a subsequent discussion, you can end your resentation with a number of conclusions, or even better with a set of questions that emerge from your research! This is articularly im ortant when you are dealing, for exam le, with theoretical arguments or texts, which you may not agree with, or which you do not fully understand! (o not try to gloss over this, but use it instead as a way into the discussion with your audience! 0or exam le: . donEt think . fully understand what K means when sChe argues!!! 6ow did you inter ret this!!!F <hat do you make of!!!F This will hel clarify matters both for you and your fellow students who may indeed have similar roblems!

3 +,

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8.2

Be! nn n!& an, en, n!&

.t is worth dwelling for a moment on the im ortance of the beginning and ending of your talk! 2ome ublic s eakers say that you should structure your talk by: D2aying what you are going to sayE, then Dsaying itE, then Dsaying what you saidE <hile you do not want to fall into the tra of saying everything three times (P), it can be very hel ful to start by describing your aims for the talk, and giving the main headings to be covered! Then you work through the talk, and finish off by very briefly reminding everyone of the key headings you have covered!

8.8

In+ # n! an, re&1"n, n! #" <'e&# "n&

Pre are beforehand for the moment when you have finished and you want to invite questions! 6ow will you actually conclude your talk, and how will you then ask the audience if they have any questionsF " common DawkwardE moment in talks is when the s eaker has finished, and eo le do not know whether they can then ask something! 6ow will you avoid thisF Likewise, if you receive no questions from your audience, what will you doF 8ou could ask one or two yourself! 0or exam le, were you clear aboutJF "nd so on! ?r, if you are brave, you could ask the audience s ecific questions with a view to determining how much they have taken in = in other words, assess the effectiveness of your resentation! Think ahead about how you will handle this! 8ou can even write down what you want to say at these tricky oints on your rom t cards!

@.0

REFLECTING ON AND LEARNING FROM 5OUR EGPERIENCE

?nce you have com leted your talk you may 'ust want to heave a sigh of relief and forget all about it, but you will really benefit from evaluating your own erformance, as well as reflecting on any feedback received from your tutor or assessor and your audience members! "lso remember that there is no such thing as a erfect resentation and there is always room for im rovement! This a lies as much to lecturers as to studentsP The following checklist gives an exam le of the criteria your tutor may use to assess oral resentations! (o not forget that the criteria used in relation to your talk may be rather different, and the weighting given to the different elements can varyM use your own tutorEs assessment sheet if you can! 6owever, the checklist below gives you a feel for the kinds of assessment criteria used!

S#',en# 1re&en#a# "n&0 #'#"r a&&e&&/en# &-ee# (An e$a/1%e) 8ou need to check the assessment sheet your tutors will be using!

P%anne, %earn n! "'#*"/e& Academic content Gnowledge and understanding of core material

Le+e% ". a##a n/en# 6igh average low

T'#"rL& *"//en#&

+,

$xtent, quality and a ro riateness of research

+,

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#once tual gras of issues, quality of argument and ability to answer questions

+,

Quality of management Pacing of resentation $ffective use of visual material >whiteboard, visual aids, handouts (as a ro riate) ?rganisation and structure of material (introM main bodyM conclusion) Quality of communication "udibility, liveliness and clarity of resentation

+,

3 4 :

+,

4 :

+,

4 :

+,

4 :

#onfidence and fluency in use of $nglish " ro riate use of body language (inc! eye contact) Listening skills: res onsiveness to audience

+,

4 :

+, +,

3 3

4 : 4 :

@ @

1 1

) )

/ /

9 9

+ +

#hecklists of this kind can be used very effectively for self>evaluation ur oses! Bse the self>evaluation form below, which is very similar to the one above, to kee a check of how you are develo ing your skills! 8ou may want to use this for ractice with your friends = you could fill in the sheet for each other! .t is advisable to do this when ractising for your team resentation! 0inally there is a handy checklist of all the things you should think about when giving a resentation!

?ral Presentation: student self>evaluation 7ame: Bnit: Presentation to ic: (ate:

30

Planned learning outcomes Academic content Gnowledge and understanding of core material $xtent, quality and a ro riateness of research #once tual gras of issues, quality of argument and ability to answer questions Quality of management Pacing of resentation $ffective use of visual material >whiteboard, visual aids, handouts (as a ro riate) ?rganisation and structure of material (introM main bodyM conclusion) Quality of communication "udibility, liveliness and clarity of resentation #onfidence and fluency in use of $nglish " ro riate use of body language (inc! eye contact) *es onsiveness to audience and ability to answer questions ?verall comment:

My strengths in this area

Things to work on for next time

@.2

Han,7 *-e*4 % &# The organisation of your talk

Pre1ar n! #-e *"n#en# ". 7"'r #a%4

<ho is your audienceF <hat are the ob'ectivesCaims of this talkF 0ind the sources, read, cut down and trim for talk (evelo a DlineE, DargumentE , DthreadE "rgue your thread tightly! *eference well (es ecially if academic talk)

.m ose a structure: beginning, middle and end $x lain structure audience and aims of talk to

Bse the DbeginningE to gain audience attention, but make sure it is ertinent to your argument

31

a quote a startling factCo inion a question a ictureCvideo sequenceCsound

&ake oints within the DmiddleE clear, well defined and neatly linked! The DendE section is your Dtake>home> messageE! <hat do you want your audience to rememberF <hatEs your main messageF

De% +er n! 7"'r #a%4 ;e as natural as ossible as this will relax you and allow you to be more s ontaneous! Visual Aids 'ace

<hen nervous you can s eak too fast! (ee breathing should slow you down! Try s eeding u if you have a tendency to s eak very slowly! (onEt read from a sheet: you will be monotonous, talk too fast and have little eye contact with the audience! (onEt adlib, it could go wrong (unless you are very confident)! Bse rom ts from: cards or visual aids to talk from (or large rint in text to slow you down)! (onEt be afraid to sto seconds! and think for a few

Iisual aids: ?6P or com uter aided delivery (!e!g! PowerPoint) Iisual rom ts hel to audience! you and show structure allows for

#om uter aided delivery multimedia resentations!

Bnderstand the equi ment you will need (from ?6Ps to com uter leads) &ake sure you have the correct equi ment (T it works)! #heck si%e of room, otential audience and select correct font si%e (use a rox /1>),) for slides! 6ave clear uncluttered visual aids! Put gra hs etc on to a handout! (onEt use rose unless really ertinent, and then give them time to read it! (onEt use too much colour, it is distracting! 5ive out handouts necessary for talk ;$0?*$, give out additional material "0T$*!

;uild in questions to the audience (even if you 'ust ask them to think) to slow ace! #heck for EGO ($ye 5la%ing ?ver) of audienceJ makes changes when you detect itP

Contact with audience

>" *eA%an!'a!e

Look at your audience when you come in! "void a hostile osture: hunched shoulders, arms across chest, standing on one legP (evelo a ra ort through your o ening and talk T? rather than "T your audience! 2kim the whole audience, donEt 'ust look at the same section! Try and find some friendly faces at the back (in several areas) to give the a earance of looking at the whole grou ! ;e relaxed and this will relax your audience!

<ith nervousness the itch of the voice rises! (ee breathing should control this! Iary you tone! " monotonous tone gives an $5? audience! Iary tone according to content:

louder to em hasise im ortant oints use ause to indicate a change direction, or D ause for thoughtE of

#lear diction > donEt allow sentences to tail off > kee volume till end of sentence! Bse language markers (N"nd nowJ!O, NThe next ointJ!O) etc lus voice tone to indicate a changeCnew oint! (onEt use hrases! cliches, em ty worn out

32

Han,% n! <'e&# "n&

Suestions during your talk! &ake sure you get back on track! (onEt let such questions go on too longJ use to clarify oints rather discussion (unless talk designed that way)! Suestions after talk are more discursiveJ be re ared to talk on theme beyond your talk, e!g im lications of things you said, other views, where to get more information! ;e honest if you donEt know an answer! ;e olite if someone tries to donEt enter into a row! ut you down >

A,, 7"'r "6n # 1& -ere = #- n!& 7"' nee, #" 6"r4 "n.

&ake sure questions are not controlled by one erson! 2tay in control of question time and know when to finish (check for $5?)! (onEt let your talk question time! eter out through a long

T5PES OF DATA 2. Ha'%a!e ,a#a

No. Of trucks 6 ! ( % # & 6 ! ( %

Utilization (%) !."6% %.% % ##.!&% #$.$(% ' .#(% '&. % '%.!%% &$.&!% &$.((% &$.(%% &$.(%%

Av.Queue (min) ".""# ".""# ".""' ".""& ".""$ ".""6 ".""% "." "." # "." ' "." &

Total Ore hauled (tons) $!".%&! '" $&.%&' &(!"$.&$$ 6!#(%.&$ #"&&%".%#( ##'"!&.%#$ #6"#&#.% ! #%!'!!.&#$ '""$$(.&6% '""$% .%$& '""6#$.&'%

33

Graph of No. of trucks Vs Total Ore hauled

'$"""" '""""" Total ore hauled #$"""" #""""" $"""" """"" $"""" " " $ " No. of trucks $ #"

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