Why Research Skills Are Important Skills to Develop

Doing assignments is something that makes most students anxious and this following article may help if you are learning something new or re-training for a new line of work.





Read the Question Carefully



Each subject has its own language and in order to gain the most marks, focus on the most important words in the statement or question. These important words are known as keywords and keywords are broken up into two main groups: process words and content words.

Keywords

Keywords are the nouns in the assignment question or statement and process words tell you what to do.

Before you tackle your assignment, make sure to research each of these words and take notes so that you understand them fully. These words are important and you must focus on them to gain the most marks.

You cannot understand a subject if you do not understand the language of the subject. Create definitions and notes on the important words for each subject you are studying. Learn your definitions and keep a record of words that you discover as you study.

Each content word should be the start of your research into the topic and the way to produce meaningful research notes on specific points for the assignment.

Process Words

Process words explain what the reader should do. For example you may be asked to, “discuss”, “explain” or “compare”.

What do they mean? Record each word and it’s meaning by looking them up in the dictionary to get a clear concise explanation.

Contrast is an interesting process word. When this word pops up in your assignment you are meant to say how one thing is the SAME or DIFFERENT to the other. We are basically comparing things.


Read the Question Carefully


Your Preparation

If you are interested in winning the intellectual game of writing then make sure you prepare well. All games require preparation and an understanding of the rules.

Collecting Data

Next, prepare by researching your keywords. You are not going to create your introduction. You are not going to create the body of your essay or your conclusion.

You are going to prepare your notes! Become an expert on the topic. Read as many on-topic resources as you can find, dealing with your topic and record your most important observations, understandings and examples. This is how you prepare to write something meaningful.


Organizing Data

Now that you have created your notes make sure to label everything and organize these notes according to your important keywords or key ideas. This way you can locate information for your essay quickly.


Presentation

Creating your presentation is the next task and the assignment should give you a clear idea of how to present your answer. Let’s just assume you are writing an essay that will have three major parts: firstly the introduction and a possible thesis(what you think the answer should be), a body(containing the arguments – major essay points) and lastly the conclusion.

Your preparation is the most important step in getting the best assignment mark, so put a lot of effort into completing this step well.


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Resources

Research tools for business