Independent Research Skills for First-Year Undergraduates - Essay Example

 Title: Independent Research Skills for First-Year Undergraduates A student’s first year in the university could entail a couple of academic risks in terms of time management, coping with general education subjects, choice of peers, behavior toward cultural and economic adjustments, and other considerations which may readily affect and shape his perception of a university life in general. There would be stimuli to enable consciousness on one’s preparedness and correspondingly test its level during a required diagnosis or through an equivalent assessment of research capability which is ultimately vital in every stage of student progress by knowledge acquisition and development based on the matching curriculum. Stepping on new grounds with unique set of expectation likewise amounts to a sense of alienation for a college freshman who’d rather feel some degree of inadequacy with the secondary foundation prior. As a consequence, the first year of undergraduate studies may be approached in a number of ways depending on each student’s manner of coping with the transition period having this secondary background as one of its major determinants. Since the university, in its chief objective to equip tertiary learners with instructions and tools to assist endeavors necessary for future goals in shaping targeted career profession or chosen field of specialization after college, its libraries necessarily house a magnitude of assorted source items from books to technical publications to help students identify the choicest possibility of conveying knowledge and skills (Northedge, 2005). With all such undertakings, the necessity for an extensive research at any rate to accompany a study and an independent capability employed to it are inevitable. To a certain extent, it would demand investment of specific research skills from every student as obliged or called for by a range of courses especially the major ones. In my experience, browsing through the internet has placed great relief when it comes to a much-needed accessibility of resources within a short time allotment where I have been able to manage accomplishing simple essays that were more opinion-based that factual search need not be carried out thoroughly. This is proven very useful when much pressure becomes present with having to fulfill requirements with other subjects in coincidence and the need for skill to facilitate the project using computer programs or software applications to expedite completion might arise It would however, as in my case or the usual, induce urgency for a researcher to acquire the of knowing to filter the right key words out. During the early months of my first undergraduate year, I figured this to be a nearly huge task. Of course more than sufficient online resources abound for any topic but due to ambiguity of terms or names sought after, I had eventually yielded to improvisation of related words and key phrases to be able to arrive at the finest, most potent source for the intended topic. Despite such resource availability obtained through the world wide web though, much as I can take my time to exhaust the primary sources, I keep up with the ability to utilize books and relevant materials listed in the catalogues believing that these are by far most reliable and such skill is gained by habit which leads to minimal efforts of net search. I recall there was an instant when I happened to discover an electronic version of a book found in the library and upon comparison, I came across certain discrepancies as with typo error showing words either misspelled or put in improper sequence, causing the flow of thoughts to be inconsistent with the original. So whenever there arises unavoidable circumstances to quote an author directly, on a very important passage for instance, I make it a point to prefer citing with a book or a primary source material. On the other hand, when I encountered a desperate point of trying to locate a few books which were to consist the substance of my research for a project proposal, libraries within reach showed no current record or previous inventory of these books on shelf whereas the bookstores nearby expressed that they were out of stock at the time. I then resolved to go online and after strategic way with words, results with Google books popped in and displayed finds matching exactly the ones I needed. With this, one can get further inclined to develop the skill to explore alternatives without departing from the aim to take possession of the primary sources. The method of curriculum integrated research and citation skills teaching had been found to be successful by other researchers in the area of marketing course. Administered using worksheet and online quiz, students were instructed to locate a particular journal article from (1) an online database, (2) a magazine article, and (3) a TV-website that would assist students to undertake their major marketing assignment successfully (Lambert). Though various responses were presented, the goal was headed to achieve an output of learning in which the students get familiar with the concept of search terms and procedures, making them become accustomed to utilize varied sources and information through databases, magazines, websites, and other similar means without staff support and instruction. The program yielded unfavorable feedback for students who barely found convenience in the resources used, nevertheless here, I have perceived an opportunity to commence on a skill of navigating rare sources by observing typical patterns of the procedure itself and linking it to my best interest and knowledge. This way, one gains an edge, over the majority, of obtaining information from an existing study either with published outcomes of modern research or experimentation in order to expose a freshman undergraduate to diverse issues and study areas on which he may, as early as possible besides research, project future expectations to examine which field best suits him. Even if the aforementioned method is designed to dwell within the curriculum beyond my scope, I have had a great deal of getting advanced insights and discovering the worth of its application in my course since first year as it continues to effect critical thinking in a repeated but motivated process. Being able this much to patiently engage in the higher structures of research and methodology during the early undergraduate years later encourages creativity and style in the form of research one chooses to adopt. Further on, much as it mattered to attain significant independence in doing research under such mature scenario, an individual should behave accordingly without omission of social influence or external factors coming from intervention of other individuals in a research community. When I was in the period of managing my research for an international politics coursework on globalization, it became particularly interesting to join study groups. It began with an invitation to attend a seminar on addressing major concerns in globalization by former classmates who thought it would start me off with a drive to come up with a revolutionized conception of my topic rather than embark on the established tradition. Fortunately, my involvement initiated with an empowering lecture that drew attention from many including myself and it was even customized to an activity that encouraged a two-way interaction which brought about a stimulating atmosphere for composing sound arguments. I had always known that reading journals is often the best venue to get into for this sort of learning until the study group conducting the seminar took me to understand that such form of total independence or isolation resonates dullness of objectivity as opposed to addition of real insights which may come radically subjective yet are fluid and enriching for interpersonal skills to take part in sustaining improved individual traits on research. Because I have kept contacts in the community of thinkers who are themselves participants of an ongoing research and relevant forums, there emerges higher probability of sharing intellects and meeting the right people through small or large group discussions where the capacity for relations and the ability to relate, thus, are predictably increasing. Based on the research training measures implemented for pre-service teachers in the field of education, this is essentially true looking on a perspective of frequently talking with or consulting the professor as such has proven efficient in getting students to not only explore ideas for research but reasoning skills are tapped as well since a professor may promote his resources implicitly either through a class or an informal discourse (Shaw). The independent skill toward initiative as this has rendered me to approach research treatment with positive attitude given that a sense of belonging is ever present and that there is a wide range of support ready for access. Granted that the collection of data and the design of methods for gathering them play a crucial role as ingredients of social research (Gilbert, 2008), I had even extended this awareness to seek assistance via TV documentaries, short or sometimes pertinent ‘indie’ films along with tuning in to history and politics channels for most of my undergraduate assignments during first year, finding that their presentations of actuality or of real situations concretely exemplify and which are not typically cited in a normal research work, at least not or very seldom followed by the rest of the batch. At the phase of getting to acclimatize with the academic environment and people of different cultural backgrounds to deal with, I was too self-aware as to be anxious about every move thinking through the options of how to communicate effectively and be relieved of the mere thought of survival to make the most of the intended university residence. As I had observed, most freshmen with the same sentiment handled their studies or ways of research bearing much focus on the technicalities and quantity of work rather than on the content and essence of problem solving objectives, leading to misguided techniques. Identifying the problem may even suffer to some degree within the span of formulation if the inexperienced student maintains inappropriate signals about which directions to be headed at for the succeeding steps of the research process. Connectedness within the school to be open and be affected at depth by a bulk of ideas with different sources regardless of nature helps a studying individual be increasingly acquainted with the system, discern its contribution to his personal growth as a researcher, and possibly adapt to unique skills of others as seen fit to incorporate with his for a better chance of avoiding quality loss with a tolerated notion of equivalence between independence and confinement at work. My own view of independent skill of research in this regard had gradually modified to optimizing advantages from research support integrated with a learning community (Shaw) wherein I have been able to delegate tasks after good relations, hence reducing my load of work in a way so that I can still function with higher rate of efficiency no matter how intricate the research procedure is while testing to innovate methods of laying out data or gathered information pieces by virtue of coherence. Factors, Lovitts proposed, which imparted to achieve completion took into account immediate setting in which students work, the interaction occurring within that setting, and the distribution of resources, particularly the availability of experienced supervisors (Shaw). Individual skills in any area of work as research proceeds would in turn reflect how far has a student undergone and stretched his capability to integrate knowledge from one discipline with the other, even at an apprentice level. Being broadly informed with up to beyond his scope is certain to upgrade independent research skills which may cultivate onto skill-type that flexibly meets greater domain of standards at present or at a later time. Realizing the skill to travel and spot special places that foster conducive setting to carry out empirical tasks of research or locate enough resources is another consideration one must take into account. As a first year student in a jungle-like university that appeared to have inculcated the basic idea of struggling to survive, after some real tough trying and 'been there, done that' times, I could attest to the true value of being cautious. With respect to a former momentous, sometimes excruciating experience, I felt after that event that cautiousness applies well outside academic premises but can only be injected at negligible amounts if I were to often spark the process on achieving desired results. Otherwise, a mismanaged cautious attribute could form limitations that border on potentials and interfere with a state of work progress due to resulting absence of concentration by an articulate mindset. More sensibility in creation of a quality research output may be charged with mastery of words from a rich vocabulary and the manner by which these are put in construction. With a nearly exceptional teaching of a communications instructor during the early days, I managed to have attained a full comprehension of the language proficiency course I suppose, for there had since been ease in writing every time there was an essay or research paper assigned. Later on, the fundamental independent research skills stated would, in practice, evolve to a set of new, sharper skills such as the ones enumerated for the course goal of teaching practitioners. The latter was programed to aid students in developing skills in – understanding the nature of research, conducting an extensive review of the literature of a specified topic, interpreting, evaluating published findings, as well as drawing upon them when making decisions, and further using the evaluation made to investigate other problems of interest (Shaw). References Northedge, Andy (2005). The Good Study Guide. UK: Open University Worldwide. Gilbert, Nigel (2008). Researching Social Life. London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd. Shaw, Kylie, & Holbrook, Allyson. The Response of Education Interns to a Compulsory Research Project. [PDF document]. Retrieved from http://www.aare.edu.au/06pap/sha06656.pdf. Lambert, Sarah, & Yanamandram, Venkata. Support or Spoon-Feeding? Research Skills Training for First Year Marketing Students in a Large Class.[PDF document]. Retrieved http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/pdf/lambert.pdf Bryman, Alan (2004). Social Research Methods. OUP Oxford. Read More