Real-time work for saving our time

Hello everyone!

This week we learnt how to use Google Docs. I have never used it before and I still have to practice a little bit to learn its different functions. However, I think it can be useful for everyone. Indeed, thanks to it we'll be able to save whatever document we want (.doc, .ppt, .xls, .pdf) simply logging in our Google Docs. The only thing we need is an online computer. I think it's a very useful tool especially for those people that don't work always on the same computer. In the future when I'll work on the University computers I won't be equipped with my USB flash drive (in some places at the University it is even forbidden using it!!). What a relief!

Thanks to Google Docs we can create documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Furthermore, it allows us to create and edit these documents online while collaborating with each other in real-time. I think it is a great tool when you have to work on the same project with people living in different places. During our University career we sometimes had to prepare written group works and the professor usually chose how to divide us in groups. It was difficult to meet all together since every student had their personal commitments or their lectures to attend.

With this tool we avoid this kind of problems and work online sharing real-time work with each other. On the other hand, I think that an overuse of this tool could lead to the disappearance of an important aspect of everyone's social life. I'm talking about getting in touch with people face to face and sharing ideas without an intermediary like Google Docs. However, this is a personal choice! Often we don't even have this choice since we lack time for doing what we have to do...what's sure is that technology makes our lives easier if we know how to properly use it.

If you wish let me know what you think!

Bye bye
Chiara ;-)

Photo Source

Different style but same purpose

If you use a concept or the same words that another author used in a text you have to cite them. There are two main styles that you can use for this purpose. APA (American Psychological Association) style and MLA (Modern Language Association) style. They are two widely accepted styles for citing sources.

There are some differences between these two styles. I think the main ones are:

• Abstract. APA style requires it while MLA style does not.
  
• In-text citation between parenthesis. APA style uses: author name, year of publication and page number. MLA uses author name and page but not year of publication.
• Bibliography page. The page that lists the bibliography is called Works Cited in MLA and References in APA style. In the reference page, APA style uses the full last name of the author and only the initials of the first name. In the works cited page, MLA style uses the full last name and the entire first name.
  
• Titles. APA capitalizes only the first word and puts it in italics. MLA capitalizes every major word.
  
• Dates. In APA style the date follows the author name. In MLA style it is placed at the end of the citation.

I had my first approach with APA style last semester when preparing the report for an intercultural project dealing with the subject of recycling. My first feeling trying to use it was confusion. I didn't know how to correcly use it and I still don't. I think one learns how to cite with the time, using citations in every written work one produces. Furthermore, when I was writing my thesis my supervisor didn't really introduce me to citations. Indeed, I was given a paper where it was written how I was supposed to write the thesis but I didn't know that some rules for citing existed. And surely this was my fault too because I didn't inquired about it.

Let me know what you think about it.
Chiara

Photo Source

Good characteristics for a well written text

Hello everyone!

I had some difficulties choosing the article I'm going to discuss in this post because I found a lot of different interesting articles on the Web. I used Google Scholar to make my research and, as I said some posts ago, I found it useful for my academic purposes. The article I chose is titled: "The Association Between Television Viewing and Irregular Sleep Schedules Among Children Less Than 3 Years Of Age". There are some characteristics that are essential for a well written text. Let's discover what they are answering to some questions about the article I chose.

Who is the text assumed audience? What indications of this do you have? How does this influence how the text is written?
As you can perceive from the title, it deals with a specific subject. And it is written for a specific audience too, in my opinion. I think this because I found the article on the website Pediatrics.org,which is a specialized website. More precisely it is contained in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Its language is not too much specific with the exception of a paragraph called 'methods' where the 'data source', 'measures' and 'analysis' of the study are shown.

Does it follow the hourglass structure?
The article follows the hourglass structure. Indeed, it presents the argument more widely at the beginning and at the end while in the middle it goes deeper into the specific of the subject.

Is there a logical flow of ideas?
Being well structured, the article presents the main points with a logical flow of ideas too. This Journal article is a large scale argument where each part contains a claim supported by a data. The arguments are linked by however, first, second, third, etc.

Is the text cohesive?
The text is cohesive since the author uses conjuncts in order to present a clear flow of ideas. The main conjuncts used are: however, therefore, although and first, second, third, finally.

Is the writing clear or complex?
The writing of this text is clear. It is short but expresses precisely the main ideas. It is precise too since it doesn't use synonyms for the same term. Each paragraph has one main idea and doesn't contain obscure terms but some few technical terms well known in the field.

Whatever kind of written text should follow these main points. I think that a blog post too should follow all of this points. It should be clear and cohesive because reading something with these characteristics is much more enjoyable by everybody. And it should be logically structured and well organized as well since it is much more easy both writing and reading a well-written text.

That's all for now!
;-) Chiara

Photo Source

Do words have an owner?

Hello everyone!
I hope you had a good Easter break...always too short anyway!!
I started reflecting a little bit on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) today. I must admit that I never thought about it very much since nobody ever talked to me about it! Indeed, I was stricken that in Italy we don't care enough about respecting the rights of little owners. 'Little' because here I'm talking about people owning their written words and the thoughts they express through these words.
The title of my post is a provocation. Do words have an owner? Yes, of course they have. Would you be happy if someone copied your words and used them to do what he wants? No, of course you wouldn't. This is a simple question to answer but I think that in Italy this kind of things can easily happen. Italian teachers don't teach their students that copying is a mistake. Until now, I didn't even imagine that I risked sanction using somebody else's words.
Actually, there are exceptions. Indeed, last week I met a friend of mine that is going to take her MA in Psychology. She told me that her supervisor (but her professors too) was really concerned about plagiarism. My friend learned from the very beginning of her university career that she shouldn't use the work of others without citing it. She knew and I didn't. I'm still surprised! Forcing me to see the bright side I say: one never stops learning!
If you want to know a little bit more about IPR visit this website. It is the official website of the WIPO (World International Property Organization). On the Web you can find a lot of on-line journal articles and discussions about what is and what isn't right to do with Intellectual Properties. I read this article from the Los Angeles Times and I found it nice and useful for understanding that people have different opinions on this subject. Read it if you want and let me know!
Bye bye,
;-) Chiara

Photo Source

I google, you google, he/she googles...

You should ask me: "Why did you choose to title this post like this?". And my answer is: "I titled this post like this because with Google you can do really a lot of things".
In particular I think that Google Scholar is an interesting and useful tool. Both for academic purposes like researching bibliography for our dissertations as well as to find books and on-line material of interest.
Yesterday I did a test. I want to make it clear first that I still don't know which will be the subject of my dissertation. So, I decided to search with Google Scholar a subject that interests me and that could probably be the subject of my dissertation. I typed in the search box the words "television and children". I was positively stricken both by the number of results that appeared on my screen and by their 'quality'. With the latter I mean that I mainly found books written by professors and specialists of the subject and documents by university students and professors. This means that they mainly are authoritative sources (we talked about this in my last post).
The majority of results are titles of books but searching carefully you can find .pdf and .rtf documents as well as fragments of books. This means that there are a lot of free online texts on the Web. I love this thing! Free information is always a good thing!
Thanks to this computer tool to find material and to build up a bibliography for our dissertation will be less difficult. We will discover soon if this is true!

:-) Chiara

Photo Source

Authoritative or not authoritative, that is the question!

Hello!

This week we talked about authoritative resources. How to decide whether a source is authoritative or not?

It wasn't an easy question to answer for me since I seldom used the Internet for my academic researches. But now that I know all the tools I need to do it I should think a little bit about it.
In class we listed some criteria to decide whether a source is authoritative or not. I never thought about some of these criteria before. The most important that from now on I'll try to remember are: that's a good thing if in the website there is a bibliography or links to other on-line sources and even more good if the information is given by an academic or a researcher.

Using Google blogs, I found out a blog containing authoritative information applying these criteria. I came up with a blog that I saved on del.icio.us. . It is an e-learning blog called "Don't waste your time". It is written by David Hopkins who works in the Business School at Bournemouth University as a Learning Technologist. I think this is the first criteria for an authoritative source: a blog written by a well-qualified person. Then in the blog there is a section called "links/resources" where you can find a list of good websites, resources, articles for an easy access. And this is a good criteria for an authoritative blog as well. There is a bibliography of free eBooks, too. Finally, today I found out that Hopkins is a finalist for the prize EduBlogger 2009. This is a proof of his experience and competence in this field.

I hope to hear from you soon!
;-) Chiara

Photo Source