Tag Archives: Print References

Collecting References from an Important Lit Review

This video is part of a series of informal tutorials related to literature reviews, proposal and dissertation formatting, etc. for the Leadership Program at Andrews University.

This tutorial covers how to use Periodicals A to Z and Article Linker to track down references from an important literature review.

Again, please comment if you have additional tips or suggestions, or even questions.

Taking an Article from ArticleFirst to Endnote

This video is the fifth in a series of informal tutorials related to literature reviews, proposal and dissertation formatting, etc. for the Leadership Program at Andrews University.

This tutorial covers getting a reference from ArticleFirst into Endnote, including the full text.

Again, please comment if you have additional tips or suggestions, or even questions.

Taking an Article from Wilson Select to Endnote

This video is the fourth in a series of informal tutorials related to literature reviews, proposal and dissertation formatting, etc. for the Leadership Program at Andrews University.

This tutorial covers getting a reference from Wilson Select into Endnote, including the full text.

Again, please comment if you have additional tips or suggestions, or even questions.

Taking a Dissertation from ProQuest to Endnote

This video is the third in a series of informal tutorials related to literature reviews, proposal and dissertation formatting, etc. for the Leadership Program at Andrews University.

This tutorial covers getting a reference from Dissertation Abstract / ProQuest Digital Dissertations into Endnote, including the full text.

Again, please comment if you have additional tips or suggestions, or even questions.

Why Use Endnote?

This video is the second in a series of informal tutorials related to literature reviews, proposal and dissertation formatting, etc. for the Leadership Program at Andrews University.

This tutorial sets the context for the next clips and gives you some reasons why you should be organizing your references with a tool like Endnote.

Again, please comment if you have additional tips or suggestions, or even questions.

Book Review: Writing Your Dissertation With Microsoft Word

Just finishing skimming through Writing Your Dissertation with Microsoft Word. This handy little reference book covers several important topics. Each section includes screen shots and step by step what to click.

Templates
Chapter 1 covers how to set up a template for your chapters, front matter and back matter. The templates cover not only the margins and page numbers, but also the style of headers, fonts, indents, block quotations, footnotes, endnotes, and even fixes widows & orphans. Need that for sure! Kiernan highly recommends starting with the template your university provides, if they do. Here’s the AU Word template, although the caveat mentions that it doesn’t include the front matter required for dissertations.

Formatting Chapters
Chapter 2 covers formatting chapters. It includes how to bring in existing text and not lose important formatting, lists, block quotations, auto text and more. The gem from this chapter is creating cross-reference. I.e. if you plan to reference Table 1, it may not still be Table 1 when you’re done editing. So instead you cross-reference Table 1, and Word keeps track of the latest title. Cool!

Tables & Figures
Chapters three and four include important tips for creating tables and figures. Important tips are – plan your table before you start making it in Word. It’s a pain to add columns later! Word can deal with “column spanners” which are important for some types of statistical tables as I learned in the last class. How to deal with page breaks is another important section.

Equations
A critical tip from the equation chapter is for dealing with subscript and superscript. Most universities don’t want the smaller typeface due to it being unclear in microfilmed versions of the text. So, instead you use Raised Position or Lowered Position. Cool tip! Wouldn’t have found that on my own!

Back and front matter
Chapters six and seven deal with the beginning and ending pages. Setting the paragraph style for the bibliography is a key section in these pages. Getting Word to automatically create your table of contents and figure/table lists is another critical section. This requires following the instructions about headings and chapter titles in section one. Clearly it’s critical to start off on the right foot!

Final documents
Chapter seven suggests two options for putting it all together – merging into one file, or keeping a master document. Instructions for both methods are included. The author also highly recommends saving each chapter separately until the very end for backup and sharing reasons.

Finally, the book ends with tips to avoid a total loss: antivirus software, backups, multiple copies, etc. I’m sure I’ll be referencing this resource again in the future!

Zotero for your bibliography

Here’s an interesting announcement from the online journal, Innovate. (Free registration required to view the article.)

We open the December/January issue with an exciting new development in bibliographic technology. My interview with Trevor Owens explores Zotero, an open-source bibliographic tool that runs as a Firefox plug-in and has the potential to reshape the way research is done and how it is shared.
[See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=540&action=article]
This webcast is scheduled for January 10, 2008 at 2:00 PM EST.

I think their tag says it all: “Research, not re-search”. Check it out if you haven’t settled into a bibliography tool yet.

How to Lie with Statistics

Huff, D. & Geis, I. (1954). How to lie with statistics. New York: Norton.

Time for another book review! I’m almost done Applied Statistics for Education and Psychology I that I’ve been taking this fall. One more week, one more unit, one final paper, then I’m done!

My dad gave me the musty old bright orange book called How to lie with statistics to supplement my reading for the course.  Sounds kind of unethical, doesn’t it? But this is a really funny book that puts the principles and concepts in Stats into real-life situations where you can see the consequences of getting it wrong! It’s an easy read, written in layman’s language. Certainly very old, and you’ll notice the numbers on salaries etc. in the examples are amusingly low. Still, it’s a great way to “take a break” from stats while still working on drilling the concepts into your brain.

The book addresses sampling issues, the different types of averages and how they can be used incorrectly (remember mean, mode, and median?), the acceptable way to create charts (makes you examine carefully charts you see in the news), probable errors and standard errors, and more.

And of course, what has been drilled into my head this past fall: causation is NOT correlation! Ah, bummer. I thought I’d be able to do some research on factors that influence how much my districts use videoconferencing, but even if I find a significant correlation, it still doesn’t necessarily mean those factors caused their high use of VC. Stats is a good reality check for what you can and can’t say with authority.

So, if you’re taking a stats class and it’s driving you crazy, I recommend this little gem. Dig it out from the recesses of your nearest library and enjoy a musty smell and an amusing read. All the while you’ll be learning stats a little better!

Oh, look! Amazon.com is selling a 1993 edition. I’m sure it won’t have quite the same aura of a 1954 edition. But probably still a great read.

Strengths Theory

Today we’re focusing on the Strengths Finder book and learning how to apply this in our lives.  Here’s an interesting thought about applying strengths in teams (from Go Put Your Strengths to Work).

Myth: A good team member does whatever it takes to help the team.
Truth: A good team member deliberately volunteers his  strengths to the team most of the time.
A great team member is not well rounded. The great team is well rounded, precisely because each great team member is not.

The concept of Flow is fascinating. Read Flow and Finding Flow.

“Flow” a theory of optimal experience – the state in which a person is so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. (Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, 1990, p. 4).

Some of you reading my blog(s) wonder why I get so much done. I’ve written about that before, but I think this is another piece of it. I’m blessed in that I am working where I can function within my strengths most of them.