Module 1B Academic Reading and Writing

Reporting on statistics; summarising results; APA formatting; writing a critical summary

Reporting on statistics
Independent and dependent variables
What are they in this study?
i.e. what are they looking to measure? Look at the research questions

Alpha or significance value

p < .05
If statistical analyses do not meet this criteria, the researcher has found nothing.

Reporting on statistics
One-way ANOVAS
These test to see if there are significant differences between two or more groups of participants.
In the pre-test, the researchers want to know whether the participants in the OLP, PTP, and NP groups all have equal language proficiency. In subsequent analyses, the one-way ANOVAS test to see whether each of the three groups perform differently on accuracy, fluency and complexity.

Reporting on statistics
Post-hoc analyses
These are performed after a one-way ANOVA to see WHERE the differences lie.
E.g. A one-way ANOVA on three groups could be significant (i.e. p < .05) however when we do a post-hoc analysis we find out that only the highest scoring group and the lowest scoring group have a significant difference.

Reporting on statistics
In groups, read through carefully the results section.
Keep in mind the research questions. What SIGNIFICANT differences do they find? Underline them

Summarising results
In a good discussion
Link results back to background section Try to account for negative/ no results Be careful about what you say you have found.

Summarising results
In groups, read through the discussion section again. Compare what the researchers say they have found with the significant results in the previous section.

Writing a critical summary

You need to
briefly summarise what the researchers were looking for (their research questions) what they found (their results), How the results contribute to the existing field (the literature section) List one problem with the article
Look at the significant results found, and the way they are dealt with in the discussion section.

APA
What is APA?
Vahtrick (2012) states that

Best website
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

APA
You need to reference in-text, and also include a list of references (bibliography) at the end of each piece of writing. Everything you write must be in your own words, but you can (and SHOULD) reference the IDEAS of other people.

Plagiarism
Worksheet!