Hello Turnitin

Hi All,

Well, the day has finally come. I believe that most of my friends have been working very hard to work on their research proposal. It is a proposal, but that doesn't mean that you have to not take it seriously right? And I, too have been working on such sleepless nights to complete this research proposal.. and yes, it's that time--> SUBMISSION of research proposal...

I have to say that this is a truly new experience for me that for all this while, if I ever need to submit any report writing, or say research proposal during my degree programme, it's more towards handing the hard copy straight away to the lecturer's hand..

However, as the world evolves along with the world of modernisation in technology, there's a new way of submitting the research proposal. Well, yes, I am excited, but a little anxious. My classmates and I are required to submit our research proposal through an online portal called Turnintin. Have you ever heard of it? Let me share with you ya :)

Let me share something about this Turnitin --> Well, this is the correct way to say it TURN IT IN .. :) (Don't worry, I am having quite some time to pronounce this properly)

Now, this portal enables you to submit your research proposal. Such benefits are, lecturers are able to check on whether or not the person's report, or thesis, or any documents are related to any plagiarism... Can you tell how easy things are nowadays? Just a click away, isn't it?

First thing you see once you click www.turnitin.com 

You Have to First Create a Profile 

Once you're Profile is Activated, you can always log in. :) 

This is what you'll see once you log in. Oh ya, during the registration, you need to out in the Class ID and such. p/s:  Please get it from your lecturer :) 

So here's the thing that uou'll see :) they will let you know how much is your paper similar to what their data has - whether or not it is 100% plagiarized 

Well, I hope this sharing session could give you some insights on what Turnitin is :)

go google now!

Alert! Changes of Research Topic

Hi Everybody!

If you still remember my earlier post, I have posted on my research topic - or basically on the the post "Determining Research Topic".

I have sent the first task to Dr Teoh and I got a feedback from her. I went for a consultation with her - to get her opinion on my topic as well as to discuss on what she commented on my research topic.

At first, I didn't notice that the topic would be quite vague, therefore it is needed to be narrow down and to remember that this is a Qualitative Research.

Throughout the discussion, I learned that I need to be more specific on the research that is going to be carried out. As such, I need to be aware that I need to have two groups to experiment on the implementation of journal writing..

Therefore, I came out with a more specific topic, which is The Use of Journal Writing in Developing Writing Skills Among ESL Learners at Tertiary Level in Malaysia.

For the research objectives, not much changes have been made. I basically want to see the relationship on whether or not it helps learners to be motivated to write more, and perhaps there would be an addition of new words among learners who participate in journal writing. who knows? :)

Knowing What's Next after Next...

Hi!
It's been so long since I last posted here.. and yes, how time flies... we are now 1 class away to end the semester...

So, what's my progress for my research proposal? I have to say that this is not an easy process, unlike those days back in degree programme, we are more exposed towards basic things on research proposal... this time around, here in masters level, it has really open my eyes to really be mindful of the steps to be taken when conducting research.

As a practice, my lecturer has given us a task that requires us to work with a friend.. now, for this task, we are required to look for 10 journals or articles, and we need to discuss on the following items:-

1. Types of the Research
2. Research Objectives 
3. Research Questions
4. Instruments
5. Analysis 
6. Results. 

So, since we are working in pairs.. my partner and I, (Elly) have decided to divide the number of articles to two.. therefore, I need to look for 5 articles, while she will find the other 5 articles. 

To complete this task, is not the matter of just read and identify, but I find that to identify the types of research, especially - one needs to really read and go through what the articles are mainly about..  

This task is quite challenging, I assumed. However,  throughout the session, I learnt that which types of research falls under Qualitative or Quantitative, as well as how to really carry out research questions. 

I really hope that I'm a little clearer on things that I need to focus on. 

Hereby is a sample of the task that I have completed. 

Why E Journal?

Hi All. 

Sorry for not updating here for quite some time - too many things to be done at a time (well, I think I need to really work on my time management). 

Anyway, yes! For this entry, I want to share why I choose the topic "The Use of E Journal in Enchancing Writing Skills Among ESL Learners at Tertiary Level"

As the world today evolves together with the use of ICT and etc, I believe that this would be apporpriate to benefit the use of online journal for learners to develop their writing skills. 

It is said that some words are best left unspoken. True enough, perhaps some words are well expressed through writing - as personally I do think that writing is another mean of expressing and sharing, yes? 

As according to Myrko Thum, in his wesbite, he claimed that writing could help a lot in language learning:-

1. He claimed that it would allow you to have Self Reflection - as you attain clarity and keep your inner space clean. 
2. Journal would be a place for you write your goals - this is to make sure that you know what should comes first - or maybe to see whether or not certain goals could be achieved in long term or even short term. 
3. Keeping journal allows you to review your goals - this, I must agree that sometimes we tend to forget things that we want to do. So having a journal perhaps might assist you in planning goals and aim higher. 
4. Be Responsbible - well, as you have a journal with you and you plan to jot down your goals, aims and all, perhaps this is indirectly having you to be more responsible towards things that you need to prioritise, as well as to know that you need to jot down the progress, say daily or maybe weekly. 
5. To have a book about yourself - now, to have a journal is basically something that you want to share and express about things that you feel. Therefore, this might be a space for people to read and get to know you better. 
6. A great place to plan would be a journal. Why? Because you need a paper and a pen to scribble, or mind map or even use any short forms that you understand to decode things that you wish to initiate. 
7. An Idea Journal - enables you to not only write your goals, but to also write about any ideas that you want to share with others. 
8. Exercise Writing Skills - to have a journal is to exercise your writing skills, and to really see the change of writing style that you tend to develop, once writing has become a habitual action for an individual. 

Above all the reasons mentioned, getting back to the objectiove of me conducting this research is to engage learners with the use of ICT, as well as to get them write and improve their writing skills. This, somehow allows learners to express more, in terms of to insert any related images, or perhaps quotations from articles.

Until then, hope to share more on my progress of this task!

Determining Research Topic

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all in the pink of health. 

This post is mainly about choosing the right research topic for the future thesis. 

To select the research topic it self, one must really make sure the types of research that they are going to conduct. There are many types of research, it could be Qualitative, Quantitative, Scientific Method, as well as Experimental Method and etc. 

By doing so, an individual is to set clearer goals or shall I say, timeline to complete their research in a certain period of time frame. 

Apart from that, to conduct a research, we therefore need to prepare our research proposal. And here, it's more towards expressing what to be done in your research. 

To come out with a proper research proposal, we need to be clear about the research topic that we are going to choose. In a way, it has to be related to the field that we're in, as well as to know what would be the outcomes, the shortages, the advantages of carrying this research. 

Not only that, we also need to be clear on what are the objectives of the research, because by having the objectives, these will lead to the research questions of our topic that somehow be relevant to the need of conducting research. 

So, coming back to the research topic, I am somehow interested to carry out a research on the use of learning journal to enhance students' writing skills. Having said that I did carry out a research on The Implementation of Group Work in ESL Classroom as my research topic during my degree programme, I finally choose something different this time around. 

I find that with the technology nowadays, learners might express more through online - such as tumblr, blogger, or even sharing status in Facebook. I, however, more interested to see whether or not by sharing their thoughts or  learning experience on a daily basis in their individual blog, perhaps we can see the change of style of wrriting, and perhaps the choice of vocabularies used, that is hoped to vary and increase. 

Therefore, as for my Task 1 submission, I hereby share with you what do I plan to do for my Research Proposal. 

Something to help with Literature Review

Hello All,

The time flies really fast that now we are reaching week 5 and week 6.

For the previous lesson, during week 3 & 4, Dr Teoh emphasized on our first task, which is to come out with a Research Topic, by considering the process that we need to go through as mentioned on the earlier post.

I have to say that when it comes to research, I am not a fast learner. However, after attending the lessons, I learnt that one should be clear on the research to be conducted, depending on the types of research, as well as the time allocated to complete the research.

Not only to know more in details about the process and step -by - step procedures, we are also introduced to a software called LiRas. Now, this software enable us to store all the articles or journals, or even books found to be referred to for our research topic, as mainly it is to store the documents for us to refer to when we are doing our Literature Review for our research.

This software will enable us to keep records of our reference for literature review, without even have to bring the articles anywhere you go as it is convenient.

In the next post, I shall share with you what have I decided for my Research Topic.


Regards,
Sarah Yasmin Azizan

Review and Reflect of First Lesson - EDU 702

Hi All,

It is time to revise and reflect things that I went through in the first lesson of EDU 702.

During our first lesson with Dr Teoh,  we are exposed to the Introduction of The Educational Research Methodology.

So, in order for us to conduct a research, we must very well know what is the topic area that we are going to study, and a number of considerations to look after such as our variables, our samples and the relationship with the study field area.

As this goes along, one needs to remember that before selecting a topic for their research, a general process needs to be undergone. The process can be seen in the diagram below:-

As for the first step is to understand the Topic Area. This is to focus on the area that we choose to conduct study. For instance, for Educational Research Methodology, perhaps the topic area could be the subject that you are teaching.

Once the topic area has been decided, we move on to the next step, which is to know the Research Problem. This is the step that one needs to measure in understanding the problem that leads us to conduct the research. For instance, to know the motivational factors in language learning.

Purpose statement is the next step. This enables us to help to accomodate the research problem. In this case, perhaps the purpose statement would be factors that affect motivation in language learning.

And the final step is to come out with Research Question. This, leads to the process of conducting the research, in a way to see whether or not the purpose statement is reliable. For example, research questions relating to motivational factors in language learning would be what is the connection of motivation and language learning?

Therefore, these are only some tiny bits that I can share with all of you.

Perhaps if there's anything to add on or to share, pease don't hesitate to do so. :)

Life is always a learning process.

Regards,
Sarah Yasmin Azizan