Tuesday, May 31, 2011

HDR Seminar series: Critically reviewing the Literature

Second session of the series, the Prof cerita about buat literature review. Dia cakap, most of students bole buat literature review tapi yg susah nak buat adalah critically reviewing the literature.

Saya amat bersetuju because saya termasuk le golongan yg blurrrrr ni. My problem kalau just nak review je, tak dak masalah beb! dari zaman undergraduates lagi pernah buat kerja ni, yg perit to nak critically evaluate.

Meminjam words peberet my supervisor bila dia membaca my work: " where is your voice?" or "I didn't see your voice". Kekadang yg mencengkam jiwa tu bila kerja yg I rasa my "masterpiece" tu dia ckp " you failed to convince me with your arguments". Itu yg tersurat..gamaknya yg tersirat " apa ke bende budak ni melalut...hampehhh"....heeeee.


Few tips to share:

1) How do you review the literature?

- Provide commentary on each piece of literature.

-Explain succinctly key findings of the study.

-Indicate the potential or actual significance of the study within a national or international framework.

-Evaluate relevance and quality.


2) Two most important skills in reviewing literature:

- The capacity to evaluate what you read.

-The capacity to relate what you read to other information.


3) The key to a critical literature review:

- Demonstrate that you have read, understood and evaluated your material.

-Link the different ideas to form a cohesive and coherent argument.

-Make clear connections to your research objectives and the subsequent empirical material.


To conclude, critical review must:

-include key academic theories

-include empirical studies

-review and summarises state of knowledge in your topic

-synthesise ideas (convergence, divergence)

-evaluate (critique) literature for relevance and quality

-identify gaps.


Kepada yang "setongkang denganku"...selamat menulis...

Sunday, May 22, 2011

A tribute to Perokok Tegar...

Complete set



Charging process




Trying the new cigarette



En Hubby adalah perokok tegar. "Ketegaran" dia merokok makin menjadi jadi sejak dia buat PhD. Saya dah lama berhenti dari memberi apa apa nasihat about his smoking habit. Not that I agree to it, but I would prefer to save my energy for other things. Kalau baru kawin 7 hari , or 7 bulan or even 7 tahun may be still bole tolerate jumlah energy yg saya bazirkan untuk memberi talk about smoking, tapi kami dah kawin for 17 tahun. Huuuissshhh...saya dah tak mampu bazirkan any energy on that issue. Ada banyak lagi issue yg saya perlu beri perhatian such as wrinkle kat muka saya yg makin ketara, jumlah uban kat kepala saya yg makin bertambah and kenaikan berat badan saya yg dah jadi mcm harga petrol kat Msia....Ini semua issue penting nih..bole effect my reputation . Mcm issue "Julia Gillard and boat people" le...


Ari ni saya terjumpa rokok electric ni. Tak sangka betul. First time I get to know about this type of cigarette bila saya tengok film "Tourist" lakonan Angelina Jolie ngan my peberet hero Johny Depp. Haaaa....Johny Depp isap rokok cam gini la dlm film tu. By the way, yg belum nonton, film ni best...kalau ada masa tonton le...heee


Maka, ari ini saya dgn penuh semangat kesukanan telah menghadiahkan "2 btg rokok " kat my Johny Depp including 3 jenis charger lagi. Bole charge kat umah, computer or dlm keta. Very handy. Charging ambik masa 15-20 minutes and each rokok bole tahan 3 jam. Then, you just need to recharge.

Persoalannya adakah langkah ini berjaya mengurangkan tabiat merokok or at least menjimatkan "belanjawan umahtangga"? Nantilah, lepas 3 bulan, insyaAllah saya update about this issue..........

Note: Mr FF tak nak try ke???......heeeee

Thursday, May 12, 2011

What is a good abstract?

Let's share few tips on how to write a good abstract. A good abstract should have:
1) Background- 1 or 2 sentences to place your work in context.
2) Aims- 1 or 2 sentences giving the purpose of your work.
3) Method(s)- 1 or 2 sentences explaining what was done.
4) Results- 1 or 2 sentences highlighting the main findings.
5) Conclusions- 1 sentence providing the major consequences of your work.

The don'ts:
1) Do not commence with "this paper..." or "this study..." or yg sewaktu dgnnya.
2) Avoid sentences that end in "...is described" or "...is reported" or yg sewaktu dgnnya.
3) Do not begin sentences with "it is suggested that..." or yg sewaktu dgnnya.
4) Do not write in the first person in any form.


Ok kenkawan...jom tulis paper....heeeee

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Hyden

Waverock


di mana saja Nina akan tetap berposing




Depan cottage



Dah lama teringin nak ke Hyden, tapi asyik tertangguh. Maklumlah nak pegi jalan-jalan ni bukanlah mudah seperti A,B,C- tentera ramai. Hyden ni about 340km from our house.Kena masuk meeting 2,3 kali. As usual, kerja saya le membentangkan budget + arrange for the accomodation kat my Prime Minister (hubby). Angan angan asal kami (the 2 boys and I) nak sewa "motor-home" . My boys teringin benor nak travel ngan caravan . Tapi financial constraint, awal awal lagi PM dah tolak cadangan tu. Alhamdulillah, he finally agreed and kami pun ambik peluang masa cuti sekolah ari tu untuk explore Hyden. Bertambah meriah kawan kami yg baru dapat baby agreed to join us.


Apa yang best about Hyden? Susah nak cakap. Kepada yang suka bandar besar and shopping, Hyden bukan le tempat untuk anda. Kampong habih, ada 400 org penduduk je. Kat Msia pun tak pernah jumpa tempat cam gini. Kami start rasa suspen bila dah separuh perjalanan. My boys tanya kenapa tak nampak org or any cars on the road. Barula we all perasan memang tak berselisih dgn kereta pun, then bila jumpa town pun semua macam "pekan hantu"- tak ada org and sunyi amat suasana keliling.


Kitaorg sampai , hari dah mula gelap, suasana memang menyeramkan. My children semua minat cerita seram, so instead of patut rasa takut, all of them thrill le plak with the environment cam gitu. Diaorang cakap rasa macam dlm filem seram je. Masa check in tu , saya siap tanya kalau emergency nak buat cam mana. Mana tak risau, phone pun tak ada coverage. Pihak cottage tu cakap in case of emergency hanya ada 2 public phone je kat area tu, tapi diaorang ada le stanby org (cam ranger gitu) 24 hrs to help. Dalam hati asyik doa je, muga tak ada le bebudak tu sakit pening during our stay there.


Alhamdulliah cottage yg we all sewa tu amat selesa. Semua lengkap. Walaupun pada awalnya risau gak, takut nanti cottage tempat tinggal pun cam "umah hantu". That night kami menikmati suasana kat "outback"- sunyi, damai, seram, cantik coz bintang bnyk sgt kat langit. Semua org happy.


The next day, we all explore la historic places kat Hyden. Kepada yg berminat nak pegi, make sure pakai kasut yg selesa. Almost all the places tu nak kena jalan and memanjat batu batu/bukit. Yang kelakarnya bila pegi kat mana mana asyik terserempak ngan Mat salleh yg sama je. Penduduk tak ramai, jadi org yg sama incharge banyak benda kat that town. Another interesting thing yg kami perasan, bagi town sekecik and se"ulu" gitu, sekolah kat situ masih dilengkapi ngan swimming pool.


Ada kawan bertanya saya "worth ke pegi kat tempat gitu?" My answer, as for my family we all enjoy the experience especially my 3 children. Pengalaman yang mungkin tak dapat kat tempat lain. Thank you Allah.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

HDR Seminar series: writing your introduction

This morning I attended the first session of HDR seminar series on thesis writing. I decided to write the gist of each session in this blog for my own reference as well as to others who is in the same "tongkang" with me...travelling in this never ending, heart breaking,challenging and not to forget exciting journey of PhD.

Today's session is about writing the introduction / chapter 1. This is the most important chapter as most examiners will first read this chapter after reading through the abstract. This chapter should be short but catchy enough to attract examiners to read through the whole thesis.

The introductory chapter should cover:



  • why particular topic is researched

  • context and scope of the study

  • significance of the study

  • where research is being conducted and why

  • research aims and objectives

  • roadmap

-you could also include definition of terms in your introductory chapter.


A suggested outline of the introductory chapter :



  • introduction

  • the research problem

  • research objectives

  • conceptual framework

  • research approach

  • structure of the thesis.

So, good luck kepada yg sedang menulis. As for me, I think I need to revisit my Chapter 1 coz I don't think it is catchy enough to the readers/examiners. Tengok...what have I written earlier...the never ending story/journey.....