UrgentEssays.co.uk http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:11:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 How to Write a Dissertation: Using Contextual Clues for Research Reading http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/how-to-write-a-dissertation-2 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/how-to-write-a-dissertation-2#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:11:51 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=1023 Students looking for tips on how to write dissertation for Masters or doctorate often miss the essential features of dissertation writing. They may read innumerable articles providing various kinds of dissertation help right from writing a dissertation introduction to citing sources in a dissertation, but miss out on skills that are indispensable for effective dissertation writing: reading for research and information.

The level of difficulty and complexity of texts keep increasing rapidly as one moves from writing coursework to term papers to thesis. With this increase in the intricacies of the written word, a student is required to move beyond the traditional norms of reading, which focuses on the importance of understanding every word in the given text.

It is significant to realize the importance of contextual reading which is a useful tool in decoding texts. Reading and identifying the given information with the help of clues, in contrast to in-depth references from a dictionary or any other secondary source which may prove time consuming and unproductive, is useful in extracting the central idea of the a relatively difficult text.

Some Contextual Clues for Effective Reading

When finding the meaning if an unknown word or a sentence that may seem ambiguous or complex, you can apply these contextual clues to your advantage:

  • Presumption: You can deduce the meaning of a given text by presuming its message. This may be done in context of the central idea of the given text, the word usage, or relating the given word or a sentence to its corresponding words/sentence.

 

  • The Elements of Speech: If you do not know the meaning of a given word, figure out its parts of speech, whether it is noun, a verb, adjective or a participle. Doing this gives a vague idea of the unknown word, and at times may even help in understanding the meaning of the whole sentence.

 

  • The style of writing: The tone and style in which a text is written can play an important role in determining its meaning and connotations. Find out whether the author is using sarcasm, humor or making a plain statement.

 

  • Sieve the important from the trivial: When reading a given text, find how important the information is in the given sentence. Do not waste time decoding information that does not contribute to the overall understanding of the text. This is essential when learning how to write a dissertation  as there is an overload of information that must be neatly segregated in accordance to its productivity in dissertation writing.

 

  • Presentation Clues: You can make logical guesses even before reading the text. When skimming through a resource material take a look at its presentation. Find out how the layout and design adds to the readers understanding of a given text.

 

When writing a dissertation, it is important to keep the above contextual reference tricks in mind. These contextual clues help a great deal in enhancing one’s vocabulary in its contextual reference, simultaneously increasing ones understanding of research reading tricks on how to write a dissertation

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/how-to-write-a-dissertation-2/feed 0 Learning to Identify and Develop Reading skills for Dissertation Writing http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-8 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-8#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:02:26 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=1020 To be able to do dissertation writing effectively and quickly, it is essential to learn how to identify and develop various reading skills. Learning to apply the right reading skill to a particular work to be able to make an efficient use of the resource material is an arduous task. It must therefore be a foremost task of any research scholar or dissertation writer to become acquainted with it.

Of the various reading skills namely skimming, scanning, Intensive and extensive reading; each reading strategy is applied exclusively or in combination to various texts. Before learning to apply the right reading strategy for dissertation writing, it is recommended to first identify different ways of reading as applied to documents of daily use. Doing this helps understand the peculiarities of each reading strategy and apply it in larger context.

Here are a few questions you must ask yourself to identify the right reading strategy to apply to a particular information resource.

  • Write the reading strategy you would apply when reading a newspaper, a magazine, an email, a novel or a research paper. Choose from the most common reading strategy that is applied namely, skimming, scanning, Intensive and extensive reading. Your answer can be a single reading approach or a combination of them.

 

  • Check how your choice of a particular reading strategy best corresponds to the reading resource. For example if you are reading a news paper for piece of news that you saw on TV, what kind of reading strategy would yield results in the fastest and the most effective manner.

 

  • Similarly when reading a novel or a fashion magazine, do you indulge in careful reading trying to get the connotative and the denotative meaning of the written word?

 

  • How much time you devote reading each information resource? Do you spend an equal amount of time reading a newspaper as you do reading a research paper or an academic assignment?

 

  • What kind of reading strategy you apply when reading for purpose in contrast to reading for pleasure? How your choice of a particular reading strategy does alter your understanding of a given text?

 

Asking the above questions help identify the peculiarities of each reading skill and makes the writer aware of the best reading strategy that suits a particular work. Students often insist on taking up intensive reading to everything they read. This exercise eats way a lot of precious time as most of the information in the given document may be of no use for the given dissertation assignment.

The choice of a particular reading strategy may differ widely in accordance to the dissertation writer’s interest and purpose. However, using these approaches ensure time productivity and management, which are the essential elements of dissertation writing.

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-8/feed 0 Identifying Reading Skills for Dissertation Writing http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-7 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-7#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:50:47 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=1018 Dissertation writing at any level, masters or doctoral requires extensive research and reading. The process of extracting and absorbing information that is later developed and analyzed to be assimilated into a dissertation or a research paper takes a very long time for a dissertation to get completed.

For this reason it is essential for a dissertation writer to develop reading skills that best suits a resource material. Doing this helps students save time and make their dissertation writing process quicker than it usually takes.

Students tend to apply similar reading strategy to all texts and resources. In most cases it is the reading tactic that they have developed during the course of their academic studies. In classroom learning and exam preparation, students have to apply intensive reading strategy to absorb information and remember it for a longer period of time. However, when they move beyond the classroom learning, they continue to use the similar reading strategy.

For higher academic purposes like dissertation writing, it is important for the dissertation writer to become aware of the different types of reading strategies that can be applied for effective and quick reading. Some of the important reading tactics have been discussed below:

Skimming: When browsing through the resource material for research, you will have to sieve the productive and useful books from the non productive ones. You cannot read every book to know whether a book is useful for you or not. For this it is recommended to skim through the book to find out its main idea and see if it is relevant to your research or not. Skimming therefore is running your eyes through the text to get the gist of it.

Scanning: When you begin writing your dissertation  you have the topic at hand. You will then have to look for research resources that deal with your research topic.  Here you have the purpose behind reading a particular text. When you look for a particular piece of information in a given text, you are scanning the text.

Extensive Reading: This type of reading is common when reading lengthy texts for pleasure. This reading strategy is uncommon in academic writing as it does not have a particular aim or objective.

Intensive Reading: Reading with a purpose to get the accurate detail of the given text, along with delving into its implications and metaphorical connotations is called intensive reading. This is the most common form of reading in academics. Whether you are reading a poem for its critical analysis, or a research paper for a reference and review, you will have read beyond the objective of overall understanding of the written word. It requires the reader to read slowly by applying attention to minute details. When you have the resource that you are likely to use in your dissertation writing, you must apply intensive reading to it.

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-7/feed 0 Personal Essay Writing and Research Paper Writing: Know the Difference http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-13 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-13#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:36:15 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=1016 We learn to express our ideas in writing very early in our academic career. During our school lessons and assignments, we have probably written a number of articles that require us to communicate our ideas, opinions, beliefs and thoughts. Such form of essay writing does not require the essay writer to explore the outer sources of information, however when we move beyond our prescribed syllabi, it becomes mandatory to move beyond our personal knowledge, experience and classroom learning towards exploring the outside horizons.

Exploring an idea, solving a problem or probing into an issue requires the writer to undertake research, seek out, investigate and use material beyond the personal resources. The findings of such a research take form of a research paper.

There are many features that make essay writing very different from writing a research paper. Some of theses are discussed below:

Types of Research involved: While a personal essay is solely based on primary research that requires recollection, firsthand observation, and investigation of a text, film or personal experience; a Research paper makes use of both primary and secondary sources in a combination.

Writing Process: As the resources vary from one form of writing to the other, so do their writing processes. While a personal essay writing requires the essay writer to delve into his/her experiences, observation and opinions and bring to use one’s experience, Research paper writing requires the writer to productively investigate the available resources, ideas, information before bringing them to his/her aid. 

Approach: Both forms of writing require different approach. While writing a personal essay is more about presenting one’s ideas on a chosen subject or topic, a research paper requires an academic approach that takes into account an extensive knowledge and understanding of the subject and the resources available on it.

Methodology: The research and writing methodology differ considerably in both forms of writing. Research paper writing starts fro choosing a suitable topic that has a wider and larger scope, conducting in depth research, taking notes, finding the research methodology that best suits the chosen topic, outlining and preparing the paper. In contrast, essay writing can be done on narrow topics without much research.

Framework: An essay has a basic five paragraph division, with introduction, analysis and conclusion. It does not require work cited list or parenthetical references. This makes essay writing less an academic exercise and more of a personal mode of communicating ideas. On the other hand, a research paper has some important components that make it stand apart from other forms of writing. It has proper parenthetical references, list of works cited, written and presented as per the standard style formats namely APA, MLA, and Chicago et al

 

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-13/feed 0 English Coursework: Tips to Writing a Book Review http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/coursework/english-coursework-9 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/coursework/english-coursework-9#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:02:33 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/coursework/english-coursework-tips-to-writing-a-book-review Discussing, analyzing and interpreting texts are the focus of any form of English coursework. Writing a book review is the best way of sharing one’s reading experience and interpretation to the book recently read. When we read a book, it is obvious that we would like to analyze and interpret it to reach a better understanding of a written word.

However many students spoil their book reviews and lose their chances of scoring well in an English coursework as they do not realize the main elements of writing a book review assignment. A review is personal in nature and aims to bring to light the reader’s response to the book. It subtly presents the merits and demerits of the book recommending or warning the reader for or against it.

Here are a few tips that will help you write an outstanding book review.

 Do not make it a Spoiler: A book review does not reveal the plot of a book. If you provide details of the events and characters, you defeat the aim of writing a review. A good review evaluates a book without revealing the vital elements of the story.

Let it be your personal Record: Make sure you read the book you are reviewing for your English coursework. This is the least you can do. However if you have ample time, you must look for similar works, and explore the oeuvre of the author you are reviewing. This will make your book review personal and remarkable.

Write an analysis rather than a rehash: The best written book reviews provide an insight into the texts key features by bringing to light the essential aspects that make the book worth reading. Choose to write an analysis or interpretation to the novel, and make it personal.

Pay attention to citation and quotations: Use quotations and cite them for reader’s reference in your review. Quotes should affirm your argument in the review. Use proper format when using quotations. Indent the quote half an inch from the text margin if it runs more than a line, without using the quotation marks. If the quotation is a line long, embed it in the text with quotation mark. Mention the page number at the end of the quotation.

Know your audience: The key to successful writing is to have an audience in mind when writing. This helps you make your text specific, targeted and clear. When writing a book review for your English coursework, you have two choices of framing a book review: one where it is resumed that the book has been read by the audience. If you choose to review a book that is part of your curriculum, you rather go for evaluative and analytical book reviews. The other is when you assume that the audience has not read the book, and your review has to convince them or warn them against it. In such cases, bring the key features of the book and present it to the audience.

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/coursework/english-coursework-9/feed 0 Improving Reading Comprehension for Effective Essay Writing http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-11 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-11#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:58:21 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=1005 No form of writing, personal, academic or official can be complete without referring to external sources of information. Reading and comprehension is the primary source of obtaining information, which is later processed into various forms of writing exercises. Essay writing requires the writer to read and absorb information that is scattered all over the information resource and use it as a meaningful whole.

In this context efficient reading and comprehension becomes a key skill in dissertation or essay writing. If a student can read within the context of the given word, semantically and metaphorically understanding the hidden meaning in a given frame of time, he/she can write essays with much ease.

This article brings to light the ways of processing information which in turn helps a student in absorbing information for better understanding, comprehension and writing.

The aim of a good reading exercise is to effectively comprehend the author’s message within its context, simultaneously forming an unbiased opinion of it. According to psychologists, there are two ways of processing meaning from a written material. One is Bottom p approach and the other is called Top down or result based approach.

The bottom up approach is the one where the reader moves from particular to general by decoding the words and their meaning. It takes into account the units of language like parts of speech, intonation, modulation and their impact on the message. Since it makes little use of the reader’s prior knowledge or understanding of the topic, the reader has to solely rely on the juxtaposition of words and the meaning that come from it. These units come together to make a comprehensive meaning of the text. However this approach does not help in interpreting the message completely.

The other approach, called the top down or the result based approach, works on a wider level. It takes into account the external information to be able to understand the text. The meaning generated from this form of reading is mainly result oriented as the reader uses his/her knowledge in interpreting the written word.

Neither of the two approaches, used individually is sufficient to process information.An effective reading exercise makes use of both the reading strategies to deduce meaning form the text. This combination of reading helps essay writer absorb information in a new perspective and generate ideas for essay writing.

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-11/feed 0 A Step by Step Guide to Essay Writing http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-12 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-12#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:29:45 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=1008 Students find essay writing as one of the most difficult assignments. Most of them dread essay writing assignments as it demands meticulous research, intensive reading and absorption of information. Also, many students are ignorant of the essay writing steps and process, that makes the task all the more repulsive.

If essay writing is dealt with the right approach, it becomes an entertaining experience. This article aims to bring to light the essential steps to essay writing and how to carry them forward in writing an essay on any topic or subject of choice.

The first and foremost step to any form of writing is finding the right topic to write an essay on. The choice of your topic decides the fate of your essay. It is thus very important to choose a relevant topic. The other aspects that must be considered when choosing a relevant and productive essay topics are: essay writer’s interest in the given topic, availability of the information resources on the given topic, the audience and of course, if it a college assignment, your instructor’s requirements.

Once you have decided on an essay topic, it is time to do some research. Look for various forms of information resources. Make sure you look for the right kind of information resources relevant to the essay topic. If your topic is current, you are more likely to find research material from newspapers, internet, discussion forums and magazines. However, if you are writing on an academic topic, you must look for scholarly journals, books and academic magazines for an insight into the topic.

Just finding the information resources may not necessarily make essay writing easy. You must make use of note making strategy while reading. Making notes help keep a record of ideas that occur at the time of reading.

Once you have done reading and have a fair idea of the essay topic, prepare an essay outline keeping in note your perspective to the essay topic. An essay outline incorporates all the essential points gathered at the time of reading. It must be then chronologically assembled keeping the essay components in consideration.

When writing an essay, it is essential to understand the various components and their significance in essay writing. The way you frame your essay introduction depends on your approach to the essay, if you move from general to particular, make use of observation, statistics and data to introduce the topic, moving on to the thesis statement.

The next three paragraphs should be a detailed analysis, ending in a conclusion that restates thesis statement and affirms it.

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/essay-writing-12/feed 0 Write Essay: Tips to Writing an Outstanding Essay http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/write-essay-5 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/write-essay-5#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:50:40 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=994 Have you ever got stuck deciding the right topic to write essay on? You must have. In such situation, every next topic seems mundane and over discussed and the articles a rehash of what has already been said before, a hundred times.

In the quest of writing an outstanding essay students often look for fresh and unexplored essay topics. Essay writing on a recent phenomenon may seem exciting, there is very little resource to refer when one has to write essay on them and fetching reliable resources can be challenging if you are working under a strict deadline.

Does that mean there is no way to say something extraordinary in your essay and make it stand out? There sure is. The best way is to look for fresh perspectives and interpretations to an event, situation, and texts rather than look for unexplored essay topics. Here are a few tips to write essay that is refreshing, unique and outstanding.

Research and Read

To trigger thinking and generate innovative writing ideas, it is essential to first take in all the resources available on the chosen topic. Read varied perspectives of the chosen topic so that you have wide and exhaustive understanding of the different approaches and interpretations to the subject.

Read critically, evaluating the missing elements in an article, book, journal or a newspaper column. Take notes of the thoughts that trigger you while reading. Make sure you keep a record of your reading as it will be helpful in picking up the missing features in works, which in turn will become the primary feature of your essay.

Finding a New Perspective

Once you have taken notes of all your readings,  you will discover aspects that are either completely ignored by most of the articles, books, magazines; or a personal understanding and interpretation that you have developed with your reading that has not been discussed elsewhere.

The concept of a ‘readers text’ stands true here. Every written word takes a different meaning to different readers, as there are many factors that contribute to the reader’s understanding, and perception of it. It is the skill of discovering and harnessing one’s perception of a given situation that makes every article unique and refreshing.

Find fresh perspectives to a topic by focusing on your thoughts developed while exploring the topic. You may choose to make a hypothesis, an interpretation of a primary or a secondary text, or re state your perception of the whole subject.

Writing

Choose an essay genre and structure that best suits your subject, essay topic and perspective. If there hasn’t been enough critical evaluative study of the topic, you may choose to write a an analytical or polemical essay that states and analysis various trends in the development and understanding of the issue; Similarly, if there is plethora of biased literature available on the topic which has led to myths and stereotypes, you may choose to write a critical essay giving an unbiased perspective to the whole issue. Whatever essay structure or genre you choose for your essay, you must write essay that reflects your opinion and understanding of the subject.

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/essay/write-essay-5/feed 0 Key Features of a Book Report: English Coursework http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/coursework/english-coursework-8 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/coursework/english-coursework-8#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:32:15 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=992 When you have read books prescribed in your syllabus, you will be asked to write a book report. A book report is the most common form of English coursework, assessment assignment and lesson plans. A Book report critically analyses all the components of the book, fiction or non-fiction, by evaluating its key features: plot, characterization, theme, narration and the writing style.

Unlike a book review, which is personal and opinion oriented, a book report is factual and takes into account the text as it is, rather than the reader’s perception of it. Here are the key features of a book report, explained in comparison to writing a review.

Book Details:  Mention all the details of the book. Include the Name of the Book, Author, Publisher, Year of Publication, Place of Publication, Binding, number of pages, Price, ISBN, Translation and editions if any. These specifications can be taken from the book cover or the first few pages of the book you have chosen for your English coursework writing assignment.

Extended Summary of the Book:  A book report includes a detailed summary of the book. It includes the plot, the conflict, and the climax. While a book review is a sneak peak into the story, a book report states the whole plot, its development, conflict and the denouement. The presentation of the plot is has to be factual. Any interpretations is discussed and analysed at the end of a report.

Historical, Sociological and Chronological Details: It is important to provide these details along with the plot. If the action in the book takes place in the seventeenth century, it should be mentioned in the report. Similarly, the sociological and geographical details also play a great role in critically evaluating a work.

Characterization: “There can be a play without plot, but not with characters.” Aristotle has given utmost importance to the role of characters in a work of literature. A book report should analyse the introduction and growth of characters in a book, along with their peculiarities.

Narration: Discuss the narrative style employed by the author, is it a first person, second or third person narration; also, keep a note of the technique used. Is the story narrated in flash back, fragments, cinematographic technique and how the author’s choice of technique complements the theme of the book. Mention relevant quotations form the text to correspond to your observation.

Writing Style: Every author has a style peculiar to him/her.  There are themes,  motifs, language common to the writer’s oeuvre. Bring the writer’s peculiarity to the note in the text’s context and discuss it.

Personal Observation and Interpretations: While a book review is entirely personal and opinion oriented, a book report has a limited space for the writer to share his/her opinions of the book. State your interpretations to the book if you are chosen a fiction for your English coursework, If your coursework topic is a non fiction, mention how or how not is the writer successful in arguing his/her thesis.

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]]> http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/coursework/english-coursework-8/feed 0 Research Reading for Dissertation Writing: Tips http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-6 http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/dissertation/dissertation-writing-6#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:58:17 +0000 Tina http://urgentessays.co.uk/blog/?p=1013 Reading literature for research based writing or academic writing like term papers, dissertation writing, thesis writing, is different from reading for pleasure or information. The way we read a given text determines its meaning to a large extent, and thus it is essential to develop good reading skills for effective research reading and dissertation writing.

We adopt different reading strategies in accordance to the genre of the text and its use. When reading for pleasure, we seek to skim through the text to take pleasure in the plot and its development. Similarly if we concentrate on extracting information from a given text, it is advisable to skim through the text. However if one is reading for research writing, every word is to be clearly interpreted and understood in its connotation and denotation.

A written sentence can have many inherent meanings, literal, metaphorical, syntactical, and contextual. The use and placement of words change the meaning of the sentence and message conveyed. When reading for academic purposes, it is essential to clearly understand the word usage, its meaning and the context in which it is used by the writer. This ensures an unbiased and clear understanding of the research material.

The first and foremost question to ask yourself when reading anything is “why you are reading it.” To be aware of the aim of reading anything makes the reading exercise more productive. If you have a set of questions that you want the text to answer, first check whether the resource material can help you reach the goal. Check the content of the book, its title and the book blurb.

Once the text seems promising, move on to finding the right reading strategy that must be applied for the extraction of information and details you want for your dissertation writing. This is the most important step in reading. Since dissertation writing requires an extensive reading, it is essential to read in accordance to the reading strategy that best suits a text. Before getting on to read, check whether the book requires scanning, skimming or extensive reading.

When reading for academic purposes like dissertation writing, it is important to understand the difference of words that share similar spelling, pronunciation or are synonymous. The choice of words changes the form of a sentence from a statement to an assertion, thereby making the message clear.

A clear and good understanding of the text is essential when reading for research purpose as thesis is built on the previous researches. If you happen to misinterpret information it is likely that you will commit a fallacy in your dissertation writing.

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