Study skills
Study support
Higher Degrees by Research are bound by tradition and closely regulated, so it is essential that you familiarise yourself with the university requirements and guidelines outlined in the Guide to candidature available in hard copy from Research Services or on the Research Services HDR administration website.
Start by perusing the information about:
So that you know how your work will be judged you should also search for the information on:
The Frequently asked questions section of the Research Services HDR website steps you through a range of practical issues relating to your candidature, such as the application process and the practicalities which you may need to organise at the start of your candidature. You will also find it has further information on intellectual property and scholarship issues, and covers further queries you may have on the examination process.
Establish your support networks early. Find out where to get practical support, develop your research networks, and make sure that you are also aware of the range of personal support available.
The Deakin Guide to candidature outlines the support structure for Higher Degrees by Research. For example, your faculty and school normally look after the practicalities like lab and computing facilities, access to a room in which to work, photocopying, stationery and the like.
Your supervisor will normally be able to direct you to the appropriate contacts but it will then be up to you to establish your own research network. If you receive a faculty newsletter for research students, make sure you read it. If your faculty has a research support network or research seminars, make sure you get involved.
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You have complex human needs and this is a major project which will test your stamina – physical, spiritual as well as intellectual. Thesis writing is a lonely process.
Help yourself deal with the complexities of being a postgraduate student. You may have to balance conflicting roles as both student and lecturer, juggle family as well as professional responsibilities, or you may have to deal with financial issues while you take a break from your job. Check these resources:
Don’t forget the range of support available from Student Life and DUSA (Deakin University Student Association).
The nature of research candidacy means that your relationships will involve both collaboration and conflict. Power relationships are subtle and can be hard to handle. Examiners can be quite demanding and your thesis may not be accepted at first submission. You may be asked to make changes and resubmit. Make use of the support that’s available – it’s there for you.
Remember you are not alone.
For more good advice, look at ‘What to do when things go wrong’ and ‘Looking after yourself’ in 500 tips for research students (Brown, McDowell & Race 1995).
It’s hard to stay on track when you’re doing a research degree. The HDR seminars and workshops offer a list of strategies to help you along the way. Here are three of them:
500 tips for research students by Brown, McDowell and Race (1995) has further suggestions on ‘Organising your time’.
Remember that it’s important to set yourself deadlines and set up a project plan. Check the resource on Planning for more details.
The Guide to candidature covers a range of financial matters including:
You may need to become familiar with specialised software depending on the research methods you employ, but you will find that basic IT skills are generally presumed.
You may find it useful to become familiar with the IT facilities at Deakin even though you may be an experienced computer user. IT training courses are listed in the Deakin portal, which you can access using your student login and password, from the Deakin homepage.
The Deakin portal is one of the ways in which you can access your Deakin email account. Remember that you are required to check your Deakin email account regularly as this is one of the official means of communication used by the University.
The Deakin Learning Toolkit (DLT) is available to all Deakin students from the Deakin Central office on your campus and includes:
You can also find basic information technology training in the Learners Guide section of Deakin Studies Online (DSO). This appears under the heading Computer Drivers Licence (ICDL/ECDL) and covers everything from the concept of networking, to creating MSPowerPoint presentations, to advanced ways to use MSWord, through to the use of spreadsheets like MSExcel and databases like MSAccess. DSO can also be accessed via the portal.
Backing up your data and version control of your documents are extremely important. Look for the section on managing documents in the ICDL material. The chapter on ‘Making your word processor work for you’ in How to Write a Better Thesis by Evans and Gruba (2002) is essential reading.
If your faculty has a thesis template you will find it very helpful in setting up your chapter headings and an automatic table of contents. The Arts Faculty Higher Degree by Research website has a sample template which you might like to adapt for your own use.
The ability to effectively locate, evaluate and use information are key research skills. Regardless of your area of research, it is vital that you learn how to make the best use of the library and of the information resources that are available through the Deakin University Library website.
Seek out your liaison librarians. They can help with all aspects of library services and resources. You will find they are always happy to offer their expert assistance and are available to work with you individually.
Check the Research and Training links on the Library website for:
Researchers often find it a major chore to store references and notes on the literature they read and use. EndNote is a bibliographic software program which allows you to create your own list of bibliographic references. The primary function of EndNote is to provide a medium for systematic and accessible storage of bibliographic data, but it has other uses, such as inserting in-text citations into your articles, confererence papers or thesis, formatting correctly in the style of the publication for which you are writing, and compiling and formatting a matching bibliography. It can also be used to connect to selected library catalogues and online databases and to download references.
Where can I get EndNote? EndNote software is provided free to Deakin students on the Deakin Learning Toolkit (DLT) which is available to all students. It can also be downloaded from the ITS software library. The Library runs workshops for staff and research students and has a very good EndNote tutorial online. The DUSA postgraduate officer also organises training courses.
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EndNote allows you to store detailed information on your references. You can record bibliographic information such as the author(s), year and date of publication, title, name of publication, volume, issue and page numbers. But you can also use EndNote to store abstracts, annotations about articles, information on where the journal is kept, or cross references to other articles on a similar topic. You can even use the notes section in EndNote to write the material you will later incorporate into your literature review.
EndNote can also make it easier to locate your information. If you compile an EndNote database which contains information about hundreds or thousands of references, you can use it to locate and display all the articles by a given author and your notes on each of them. It also allows you to locate, in a matter of seconds, all the references with a given keyword in the data or within your notes or your abstracts. It can be used to search remote databases such as the Deakin Library catalogue, as well as databases such as MEDLINE, ERIC and AUSTROM, and to import data files saved from a variety of online services or CD ROMs.
Moving between EndNote and your writing is easy. EndNote has been designed to run in conjunction with Microsoft Word or WordPerfect and it becomes a plug-in tool which is located through a tool bar. Inserting an in-text citation involves just a few mouse clicks to locate and select the desired reference in your EndNote data file (called a ‘library’) and then you can switch back to your manuscript.
EndNote recognises that you will have to deal with a variety of resource types and that each of these has different kinds of data. EndNote gives you a list of reference types which include journal article, book, book section, edited book, newspaper article, personal communication, computer program, conference paper, thesis, map, report, audio visual material, electronic source, patent, artwork and a type labelled generic. This helps to identify and group your sources as primary, secondary or tertiary.
Most importantly EndNote allows you to change the format of your bibliography to suit the style of different publications. EndNote is preconfigured for most commonly recognised reference styles; these may be modified to suit your own needs, and unwanted fields may be deleted.
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An important set of functions within the EndNote program enables you to electronically transfer or import references directly from a library catalogue or database into your EndNote ‘library’ or file. Hundreds of references can be transferred or imported in a single step. The time saved in inputting data, alone makes it worthwhile. The process also has additional benefits in helping to ensure consistency and completeness of your references. All, or as much as you require, of the information in the catalogue or database record can be copied into your library. This can include library call numbers, subject headings and journal article abstracts.
Every library catalogue and database is unique, so you’ll need to use one of several different methods to transfer references. Although this process can seem complicated, advice and instructions on the best option to use for individual products is available in the EndNote support material provided by the Library.
The Connect command in EndNote enables it to also become an online search tool. It uses an information standard protocol called Z39.50 to communicate with remote databases which use the same protocol. This provides a simple way to search online bibliographic databases using the search interface.
There are over 5,000 abstracting services today, which cover the whole range of disciplines and provide abstracts of theses, conference papers, journals and other forms of publications. A subscriber can specify keywords, titles, or author details to search, and generate a list of matching references. For details check the relevant abstracting service.
Brown, S, McDowell, L & Race, P 1995, 500 tips for research students, Kogan Page, London.
Evans, DG & Gruba, P 2002, How to write a better thesis, Melbourne University Press.
Arts-Ed Faculty HDR
www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/research/programs.php
Deakin
www.deakin.edu.au
DUSA (Deakin University Student Association)
www.dusa.org.au/
ITS (Information Technology Services Division)
www.deakin.edu.au/its/
Library
www.deakin.edu.au/library/
Research Services
www.deakin.edu.au/research/admin/
