GET AHEADPOSTGRADUATE SUMMER PROGRAMME 2014

Studying at postgraduate level at Birkbeck

Sara Steinke s.steinke@bbk.ac.uk

Aims of the workshop• Consider what is different about postgraduate

study

• Think about the opportunities and challenges of studying at postgraduate level

• Identify undergraduate academic skills to be used/developed in postgraduate study

• Create a list of things to do over the Summer

Think about the following

What do you think will be different aboutpostgraduate study?

What will be different about postgraduate study?

• Develop your skills to a higher level

• Acquire new skills

• Work more independently

• Work with a supervisor

Develop your critical thinking skills to a higher level

Anderson’s and Krathwohl’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain

1. Remembering: Retrieving, recalling, or recognising knowledge from memory.

2. Understanding: Constructing meaning from different types of functions be they written or graphic messages activities like interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

3. Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.

4. Analysing: Breaking material or concepts into parts, determining how the parts relate or interrelate to one another or to an overall structure or purpose.

5. Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.

6. Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganising elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning or producing.

Acquire new skills

• Read more widely and critically

• Demonstrate academic judgement

• Gather and process evidence

• Apply appropriate research methodologies

• Present your findings in an appropriate manner

• Work more independently

• Work with a supervisor

Read more widely and critically

• Know your way around a range of resources including electronic databases and e-journals

• Need to evaluate material in terms of relevance, provenance and research methods

• Essential to read beyond core material, including cited primary sources

Demonstrate academic judgement

• Question what you read

• Draw your own conclusions about the value of the work

• Gather appropriate published material and evaluate it

(more on this in workshop on Wednesday 13 August)

Gather and process evidence

• Undertake literature review

• Gather primary data, e.g. through questionnaires, interviews or surveys

• Be aware of research ethics

Apply appropriate research methodology

Three types of research:

• Quantitative (e.g. based on surveys and numerical data)

• Qualitative (e.g. interviews, focus groups, case study)

• Mixed: quantitative and qualitative

Present your findings

• Giving a presentation

• Dissertation writing

• Appropriate referencing

• Suitable formatting and style

Work more independentlyNeed to be good at project management

• Time management• Learn to prioritise• Organisational skills • Knowledge management• Start identifying free study slots throughout

the week • Identify tasks• Talk to family members and friends now

about having less time

Work with a supervisor

• Clarifying the scope of your work

• Finding the right supervisor

• Establishing a positive working relationship

Think about the following1. What are the opportunities that PG study

offer you? opportunity = favourable; appropriate; advantageous combination of circumstances; chance; prospect

2. What are the challenges that PG study offer you?

challenge = call to engage in argument; questioning of a statement/fact; to call into question; to make demands on; to stimulate

e.g. job, promotion, self- improvement, desire to

return to learning, course subject, self- confidence, support at Birkbeck

e.g. financial concerns, time constraints, self-doubt, lack of family/friends/employer support, out of education for

a long time

Turning challenges into opportunities• Recognise challenges can be positive

• Identify and seek opportunities

• Consider ways of turning your challenges into opportunities

• Key part of postgraduate academic skills and mindset

• Transferable skill to the workplace

Pay attention to what keeps you motivated

• Do not overload; reward yourself

• Deal differently with set backs – from fixed to growth mind set

• Consider your previous educational experiences – patterns, successes, failures

• Set goals – S.M.A.R.T.

Things to do over the Summer

Look at the course outline

• Check what skills you will need to complete assignments

• Familiarise yourself with the content of your course

• Speak to past and present students on your course

Get your reading list

• Enthuse yourself and get a feel for the field by starting to do some reading for your course

• Ask your tutor which books make good introductory reading

Explore the library

• Familiarise yourself with the resources available to you in Birkbeck Library- Books- Electronic databases - E-journals- Past dissertations- Subject librarian

• Check out other libraries

Read, read, read (1)(more on this in workshop on Tuesday 19 August)

Practice your critical reading skills – check your understandingWhat is the thesis trying to say? How successfully does it say it? Is the thesis graphically represented, if so how does this look? What are the key points or the component parts of the thesis? What are the relationships between these points or parts? What is the relevance of the thesis?

• Evaluate what you are reading

Read, read, read (2)Question what you read –

• Are the claims argued using reasoning and debate?

• Are they substantiated with evidence from primary or secondary sources?

Read, read, read (3)

Evaluate what you read –

• The robustness of the arguments for the thesis • The robustness of the arguments against the

thesis • The circumstances in which the thesis could be

useful • The circumstances in which the thesis would be

less useful • Any amendments to the thesis that would be

useful in the context where you would apply it

Write, write, write

Practice your critical writing skills and academic writing style

(more on this in workshop on Wednesday 27 August)

Get organised• Learn to manage your time/prioritise effectively

• Get a study planner/diary

• Establish a study timetable

• Identify a study space

• Have system in place for organising study material – set up systems for information retrieval, ie keeping lecture notes, in online or hard copy folders or on index cards

(more on this in workshop on Thursday 4 September)

Recap of the workshop• Are you clear about what is different about

postgraduate study – and what is required of you?

• Have you thought about the opportunities and challenges that studying at postgraduate level pose for you – and how to turn challenges into opportunities?

• Have you created a list of things for you to do over the Summer?

The 3 Ps

• avoid PROCRASTINATION

• no such thing as PERFECTIONISM

• learn how to PRIORITISE