Postgraduate Student Learning

Building your review of the literature involves taking copious notes as you read vast quantities of articles, texts, books, webpages and even perhaps blogs!

What do you do with these notes that you have taken?

One technique is to use ‘Julia’s method of note analysis’:

The key point of this method is that you spend time classifying your comments and questions on the reading that you have done.

Begin with an article that you have read, and which you have possibly highlighted parts of it, summarised some of the paragraphs, perhaps written in your own words what you consider to be the key points made in the article and even written a few questions directed to the content of the article.

If when you look at the article all you have done is use a highlighter; then you need to take a pen ( or write into a word doc on the laptop) and make comments and questions. If you have lots of comments written but no questions turn those comments into a question.

The next part of the process is a fun bit called: making a list!

List all the questions you have written and put them into the following 4 categories:

Are they ‘what’ type questions?

are they “why’ type questions?

are they ‘how’ type questions?

are they ’so what does this mean and how might it be useful for my research issue’ type question?

How many questions do you have in these 4 categories ?

You may find that you have more questions in the ‘what’ category than in the ‘why’ or ’so what’ categories.

That tells you that the focus of your reading at this stage is still around building knowledge and comprehension of the material. When you begin to analyse, synthesis and evaluate the material the types of questions that you ask will change. So this method is a useful and quick way for you to keep track of the development of your own understanding. This is based on a way of thinking about cognition developed by Benjamin Bloom called Bloom’s taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy divides the way people learn into three domains. One of these is the cognitive domain which emphasizes intellectual outcomes. This domain is further divided into categories or levels. The key words used and the type of questions asked may aid in the establishment and encouragement of critical thinking, especially in the higher levels. The following prompt questions were developed by the ‘Critical thinking across the curriculum project, 1997, Longview Community College, Lee’s Summit, Missouri - U.S.A. Inquiries to: connelly@Longview.cc.mo.us. Linda G. Barton, Quick flip questions for critical thinking, based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Contributed by Barbara Fowler, Longview Community College.

Level 1: Knowledge
Key words: who, what, why, when, omit, where, which, choose, find, how, define, label, show, spell, list, match, name, relate, tell, recall, select.
Questions:
What is . . . ? How is . . . ?
Where is . . . ? When did _______ happen?
How did ______ happen? How would you explain . . . ?
Why did . . . ? How would you describe . . . ?
When did . . . ? Can you recall . . . ?
How would you show . . . ? Can you select . . . ?
Who were the main . . . ? Can you list three . . . ?
Which one . . . ? Who was . . . ?

Level 2: Comprehension
Key words: compare, contrast, demonstrate, interpret, explain, extend, illustrate, infer, outline, relate, rephrase, translate, summarise, show, classify.
Questions:
How would you classify the type of . . . ?
How would you compare . . . ? contrast . . . ?
Will you state or interpret in your own words . . . ?
How would you rephrase the meaning . . . ?
What facts or ideas show . . . ?
What is the main idea of . . . ?
Which statements support . . . ?
Can you explain what is happening . . . what is meant . . .?
What can you say about . . . ?
Which is the best answer . . . ?
How would you summarise . . . ?

Level 3: Application
Key words: apply, build, choose, construct, develop, interview, make use of, organise, experiment with, plan, select, solve, utilise, model, identify.
Questions:
How would you use . . . ?
What examples can you find to . . . ?
How would you solve _______ using what you have learned . . . ?
How would you organise _______ to show . . . ?
How would you show your understanding of . . . ?
What approach would you use to . . . ?
How would you apply what you learned to develop . . . ?
What other way would you plan to . . . ?
What would result if . . . ?
Can you make use of the facts to . . . ?
What elements would you choose to change . . . ?
What facts would you select to show . . . ?
What questions would you ask in an interview with . . . ?

Level 4: Analysis
Key words: analyse, categorise, classify, compare, contrast, discover, dissect, divide, examine, inspect, simplify, survey, take part in, test for, distinguish, list, distinction, theme, relationships, function, motive, inference, assumption, conclusion.
Questions:
What are the parts or features of . . . ?
How is _______ related to . . . ?
Why do you think . . . ?
What is the theme . . . ?
What motive is there . . . ?
Can you list the parts . . . ?
What inference can you make . . . ?
What conclusions can you draw . . . ?
How would you classify . . . ?
How would you categorise . . . ?
Can you identify the difference parts . . . ?
What evidence can you find . . . ?
What is the relationship between . . . ?
Can you make a distinction between . . . ?
What is the function of . . . ?
What ideas justify . . . ?

Level 5: Synthesis
Key Words: build, choose, combine, compile, compose, construct, create, design, develop, estimate, formulate, imagine, invent, make up, originate, plan, predict, propose, solve, solution, suppose, discuss, modify, change, original, improve, adapt, minimise, maximise, delete, theorise, elaborate, test, improve, happen, change.
Questions:
What changes would you make to solve . . . ?
How would you improve . . . ?
What would happen if . . . ?
Can you elaborate on the reason . . . ?
Can you propose an alternative . . . ?
Can you invent . . . ?
How would you adapt ________ to create a different . . . ?
How could you change (modify) the plot (plan) . . . ?
What could be done to minimise (maximise) . . . ?
What way would you design . . . ?
What could be combined to improve (change) . . . ?
Suppose you could _______ what would you do . . . ?
How would you test . . . ?
Can you formulate a theory for . . . ?
Can you predict the outcome if . . . ?
How would you estimate the results for . . . ?
What facts can you compile . . . ?
Can you construct a model that would change . . . ?
Can you think of an original way for the . . . ?

Level 6: Evaluation

Key Words: award, choose, conclude, criticise, decide, defend, determine, dispute, evaluate, judge, justify, measure, compare, mark, rate, recommend, rule on, select, agree, interpret, explain, appraise, prioritise, opinion, ,support, importance, criteria, prove, disprove, assess, influence, perceive, value, estimate, influence, deduct.
Questions:
Do you agree with the actions . . . ? with the outcomes . . . ?
What is your opinion of . . . ?
How would you prove . . . ? disprove . . . ?
Can you assess the value or importance of . . . ?
Would it be better if . . . ?
Why did they (the character) choose . . . ?
What would you recommend . . . ?
How would you rate the . . . ?
What would you cite to defend the actions . . . ?
How would you evaluate . . . ?
How could you determine . . . ?
What choice would you have made . . . ?
What would you select . . . ?
How would you prioritise . . . ?
What judgment would you make about . . . ?
Based on what you know, how would you explain . . . ?
What information would you use to support the view . . . ?
How would you justify . . . ?
What data was used to make the conclusion . . . ?
Why was it better that . . . ?
How would you prioritise the facts . . . ?
How would you compare the ideas . . . ? people . . . ?

Possible Outcomes

Some of the outcomes of this process might be that it helps you to identify further ’search areas’. It makes you realise that you need more information about a particular point /area and therefore need to spend time searching in the data bases for relevant readings. Analysing your notes in this way also helps you to pay attention to the structure of the article and identify ways in which that structure might be similar ( or different) to the way that you want to write your research. Finally, this method can assist you to gain clarity as to what is the key focus of your research.

This is just one method of analysing your notes from your readings in the seminar that I just ran participants had other approaches which were very useful. Ida’s method was to break down each article into its sections: results /discussion etc and under those heading begin to compile information from a number of different articles. A particularly useful method when reading the synthesis and evaluation stage of your review of the literature. Maya’s method was to brainstorm a series of questions about her topic using the question prompts of what how why so what and then using that list of questions to interrogate the article she was reading and see if there were any answers or responses to the questions she had come up with.

All of these methods are useful in different ways and will generate different insights into understanding, and evaluating literature which is your focus of your research.

What methods do you currently use?

Which of the above methods would suit you at the moment?

Why would you use this particular method?

Do you have a method you could share with us?