Invitation to Kingston University in Relation to Participation in
Know-how Fund REAP Project Ref. BEL/395/41/0001
As UK Coordinator of the above UK Know-how Fund Regional Academic Partnership project, I invite:
Olga Petrova,
Faculty of Law,
Belarus State University
to visit Kingston University within the period 21st February - 7th March 2005, and re-quest the issue of a visa to cover that period. I confirm that all of Mrs Petrova travel expenses and the cost of one week of accommodation and subsistence will be met en-tirely from Know-how Fund REAP project funds.
I also request that the visa be issued free of charge.
In the event of any enquiries about this invitation please do not hesitate to contact me directly by FAX at Kingston University, or via the International Office oа BSU.
Thank you for your assistance with this matter,
Yours faithfully,
Dr Alan G. Flowers
UK Coordinator
REAP BEL/395/41/0001
Every applicant is expected to draft a tentative programme of the visit, may be like that:
Programme of Study Visit to Kingston University
Intended Visit Outputs
Increased awareness by academic teaching staff of BSU of the business education methodologies, and syllabus content, of business courses at Kingston University, with a focus on business courses for scientists.
New developments in business education teaching methodologies at BSU which will enhance graduate-skills appropriate for SME develop-ment in Belarus.
Increased availability teaching materials to students at BSU on modules related to Business law.
Visit Objectives
Observation of teaching methods in business education classes at KU, including the transferable skills considered important for UK students.
Identification of business education teaching materials, and develop-ment of a plan for further learning material purchases according to the REAP budget.
Discussions, with Kingston Staff, on current syllabus content in busi-ness education.
Develop programme for future Business Education Seminars.
Creation of personal action plans relation to input to business education at BSU. This to include a schedule of dates on which verifiable factors of progress will be provided to BSU International Office, for incorpora-tion in REAP progress reports.
Study visits can be individual and those arranged as a partner-ship scheme.
Both partners must be fully involved in preparing the applica-tion form and send the completed application to the appropriate programme regional manager.
Pre-Project Application Form
A proposed partnership between-
"EE/CA Institution…………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Faculty/Dept..……………………………………………………………………………….. Town..............……………………………………………………………………………….
Country:.........……………………………………………………………………………….
EE/CA Co-ordinator.......................................................……………………......(M/F)....….
Contact Details………………………………………………………………………………
Tel...................................……......Fax........................................................…………………
E-mail........................................................................................……………………………..
and
UK institution…….…………………………………………………………………………. Faculty/Dept..................................................................................…………………………..
UK Co-ordinator.................................................................……………………..(M/F)……. Contact Details………………………………………………………………………………
Tel..........................................Fax.
E-mail............................................
2.
Proposed Project Title: ……………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Proposed start and finish date of activity…
Note: EE/CA – East European / Central Asian
If you intend to participate in a partnership scheme the pre-project or inception phase of the partnership is designed to enable the partners from various institutions to prepare a full partnership proposal that describes in detail what the partnership will achieve (the outputs) and the activities (the inputs) that will produce this. It is obligatory under partnership schemes for the partners to meet during the reception phase to draft and agree formally the full proposal. Partners who submit successful proposals on comple-tion of the inception phase will receive funding to progress to the full partnership phase.
Description of the project
Describe in detail the area of need and therefore focus of the project.
Why does the need exist? Tell us about the local and national context of your project and what has to be done to bring about change.
How have you established the validity of this need, what evidence has been gathered to corroborate this?
Describe the purpose of the project, outlining the transformation that the project is designed to bring about within its target group.
Please elaborate your initial thoughts on how you will ensure that the mate-rials/courses produced by the partnership will be adopted and disseminated.
Activity Plan
Outline the activities you wish to undertake with your partner institution during this pre-project phase. For each activity list who will do what, giv-ing names and designations of those who will be responsible.
Elaborate (separately) on the sorts of areas you might go on to develop in a full partnership, for example the development of new course materials, de-velopment of teaching staff, seminars or workshops for the teaching staff of your institution, purchase of teaching materials for adaptation to your in-stitution, etc.
As you have learned from the above, study visits can be ar-ranged as individual and partnership scheme and there can be collaborative research as well. What are the core principles for the collaborative Research model?
The Collaborative Research Model is a flexible method for engaging stu-dent learning teams in research.
Strategies for Development and Implementation
How you’ll set your project up depends on the particular factors of your course such as:
course content;
duration of the course; number of students;
course learning outcomes;
other crucial assignments and activities and their time allotted; developmental level and perceived prior experience of students.
A successful adaptation of the Collaborative Research Model for your
course will depend on your careful planning to predict how those variables will interact with model features. Which features will work for your course? Which will need to be modified? For instance, you'll need to make decisions about:
how to establish the problem for exploration (whether to use a single, common problem or an umbrella topic with related problems);
how learning teams will be established and maintained;
what deliverables best support your students" success—oral, written, or a combination of both;
which features of Blackboard will be most useful in supporting the project;
what kind of assessment process you will use and how you will prepare your students for it.
Further follows information supplied by a former post-graduate student who shares his experience in doing research at one of the British universities.
I did my research on the REAP scientific exchange programme. I arrived in Britain for a 3-month visit which took place in February. It was my first ex-perience in the country. I couldn’t help thinking of what my stay in Britain would be like and whether my knowledge of English would be sufficient.
At Gatwick airport I was met by Prof. Flowers, the programme’s coordina-tor from Kingston University.
From Gatwick airport the car brought us to the very center of London where we had a very pleasant walk, then we drove to the hotel where I was to stay.
The next morning Mr. Flowers arranged for me a visit to the University. He in-troduced me to the staff of the Law School. I was shown round, visited the local li-brary.
Mr. Flowers himself is an excellent man, a capable and competent researcher. We spent a lot of time discussing different problems of mutual interest.
Law School was not very large, but resourceful. I found our research topics almost identical, but we used different approaches. It was as if we were doing the same by different means. Though I was practically given a free hand in the research, I tried to maintain permanent contacts with the Law School staff.
I must say I had very busy time there. I was totally absorbed in my work. Time and efforts were necessary for writing, reports and articles getting the material ready for publication.
During the final weeks of my stay in England I worked against time trying to solve the remaining problems.
On the last day of my stay there my British colleagues gave a little farewell party for me. My supervisor made a speech. He spoke in a very flattering terms about our collaboration.
I was glad to hear about the prospects of a series of exchange visits be-tween our two Universities.
At the end I expressed my deep gratitude to all the people who had worked with me for their valuable advice and assistance.
Notes:
REAP – Regional Academic Partnership Programme;
to have (to give) a free hand – иметь (предоставить) полную свободу действий;
to speak in flattering terms – лестно отзываться о ком-либо;
to work against time – стараться завершить работу к определенному сроку.
Check your knowledge of the useful vocabulary on the topic in question.
научная стажировка программа обмена достаточные знания останавливаться в отеле организовать посещение представить коллегам компетентный исследователь работать в сотрудничестве (с)
проблемы, представляющие взаимный интерес проводить совместные исследования применить иной подход предоставить полную свободу действий быть поглощенным работой тщательно анализировать готовить материал к изданию
просматривать периодические издания работать не покладая рук прощальная вечеринка лестно отозваться выразить благодарность
Any research visit is finalized with a report on the visit’s out-comes. Here is one of them taken from the Internet. You will see that Victor is not a native speaker of English and his lan-guage skills are not perfect. Try to notice mistakes in his report. Rewrite the sentences so as to avoid his mistakes. Write down words and expressions which can be used while writing analo-gous reports.
Report on the Research Visit of Victor Mitrana
In the SZTAKI, Centre of Excellence in Information Technology, Com-puter Science and Control, HUN-TING project, as a visiting professor.
The visit took place in the period September 1 - October 31, 2002. The visit was in pursuit of my research into automata systems. During this period,
the following activities have been accomplished: as a direct continuation of my previous cooperation with researchers from SZTAKI (I visited several times SZTAKI since 1996 and have several papers in collaboration with re-searchers from the Research Group on Modelling Multi-Agent Systems), this visit was mainly intended for working on developments in automata systems and networks of language processors, distributed and bio-inspired models of language.
Together with the Erzsebet Csuhaj-Varju and Gyorgy Vaszil from the aforementioned research group, we have already introduced and investigated systems of pushdown automata working in parallel and communicating by means of their pushdown memories. One goal of this stay was to define and study a system of pushdown automata whose working mode is very close to that of CD grammar systems.
Another related problem is to extend systems of automata to systems of transducers which are widely used in computational linguistics.
A joint research paper with Erzsebet Csuhaj-Varju and Gyorgy Vaszil about distributed pushdown automata systems has been written. This paper ac-complished one item from the previously accepted workplan. The paper is in the submission stage. The results obtained in this direction suggest a further work in the aim of a better characterization of these systems.
Another joint research paper with Erzsebet Csuhaj-Varju has been started. An abstract of this work has been accepted for presentation in CLIN'02 (Com-putational Linguistics in the Netherlands 2002). The paper is in progress.
I also delivered a lecture with the title "Networks of Evolutionary Proces-sors" in which I presented very recent results about the generative capacity and computational power of these devices.
Again, it seems that further joint works will emerge in the near future since we identified some new and interesting research directions in this area which suggest some hints for concrete technological implementation.
It is worth mentioning that I had the opportunity to discuss with other re-searchers who visited SZTAKI during my stay and I has already started some joint work with some of them.
In conclusion, I appreciate that my research stay was scientifically success-ful and socially pleasant for both parts.
November 1,2002
Prof. Dr. Victor Mitrana
Further you will find reports on research visits supplied by in-dividual researchers in Russian. Study them and translate into English.
Отчет о научной стажировке Саенко О.В.,
стипендиата программы ТЕМР115/ТАС15 в Бизнес школу университета г. Лютон, Великобритания
Визит в Бизнес школу университета г. Лютон проходил в рамках про-екта ТЕМР115/ТАС13 «Академическая мобильность № 10723-99 с 23 сентября 2002 г. по 22 марта 2002 г. Работа проходила в соответствии с программой визита.
В целях совершенствования английского языка с 1 октября по 15 декабря 2001 г. посещала занятия со студентами-вечерниками (4 часа в неделю).
Посещала лекции по маркетингу, менеджменту в соответствии с рас-писанием занятий студентов (не менее 4-6 часов в неделю).
Занималась в библиотеке университета (не менее 15 часов в неделю):
– изучила литературу по научной тематике;
– составила библиографический список работ из каталога библиотеки.
Работала в компьютерном зале университета, изучала Интернет-ресурсы по проблемам логистики.
Подготовлены к опубликованию на русском и английском языках 2 статьи и 2 научных доклада на конференцию.
Подготовлены и обрабатываются материалы для написания научной монографии по проблемам управления материальными запасами.
В октябре 2001 г. вместе с коллегами - представителями российских ву-зов изучала организацию учебного процесса в университете (2 недели). На мой взгляд, эффективность научной стажировки повысилась бы
при следующих условиях:
– закреплении научного консультанта университета за стажером;
– выделении рабочего места стажеру.
25.03.2002г. О.В. Саенко
Отчет
научной стажировке в университете де Мино Рубановой В.В.
Коротко об Университете
– Обучается более 16 тыс. студентов по разным специальностям.
– Дислоцируется в трех регионах.
– Имеет богатую библиотеку с фондами научной. Методической, пе-риодической, и электронной литературы на разных языках мира.
– В каждом институте университета имеется компьютерный класс со свободным выходом в Интернет.
2. Методика преподавания
– Поступают студенты после единого общегосударственного экзамена и на основе собеседования по профилирующим дисциплинам.
– Имеется государственный образовательный стандарт, с указанием дисциплин, обязательных для изучения.
– Студентам предлагаются дисциплины на выбор.
– По каждой дисциплине выдается комплект раздаточного материала.
– По многим дисциплинам разработан комплект итоговых тестов, кото-рые являются основанием для успешной сдачи экзамена в целом по учебному курсу.
– Имеются разнообразные технические средства обучения.
– Для пересдачи студентам выделяется весь сентябрь (некоторые учатся 10 и более лет).
– Как таковой отсутствует институт отчисления студентов из Университета.
Научная работа
1.1. Собран материал для диссертационного исследования. 1.2. Подготовлена к печати монография "Место анализа прибыли в фи-
нансовом анализе” – объемом 8 п.л. 1.3. Участие в 2 научных конференциях. 1.4. Опубликованы 3 научные статьи:
Методическая работа
2.1. Подготовлено к печати учебное пособие «Экономический анализ: методика, хозяйственные ситуации, задания, тесты» – объе-мом 7 п.л.
2.2. Составлены 2 рабочие программы.
2.3. Ознакомилась с системой подготовки специалистов в Португалии в университетет де Мино.
2.4. Посетила занятия преподавателей.
Валентина В. Рубанова
SECTION V
RESEARCH SUPERVISION
FOCUS VOCABULARY
supervision – руководство research ~ – научное руководство dual ~ – двойное руководство
supervisor – руководитель
research ~/adviser – научный руководитель appropriate ~ – соответствующий руководитель production of a thesis – написание диссертации experienced (in) – имеющий опыт (в)
work closely – работать в тесном сотрудничестве guide – направлять
offer advice and guidance – дать совет и направление
formulate one’s research proposal – формулировать направление иссле-
дования
to define a programme of research/study – определить программу (об-
ласть) исследования
research interests – научно-исследовательские интересы throughout the period of study – во время всей учебы to complete one’s research – завершить исследование responsibility – ответственность
retain the prime ~ – нести основную ответственность to share ~ – разделить ответственность
completion of one’s studies – завершение исследования
expert in the chosen area of research – специалист в избранной области исследования
to design work on the thesis – спланировать работу по диссертации general research life – научно-исследовательская деятельность вообще to be involved in research seminars, colloquia – принимать участие в на-
учно-исследовательских семинарах, коллоквиумах to gain success – добиться успеха
academic staff – преподавательский состав expertise – специальные знания
to present one’s thesis for examination – представить диссертацию на об-
суждение
to be acquainted with – знать, быть знакомым с
procedures and regulations – процедура и правила (защиты диссертации) a stimulating research environment – благоприятные условия для иссле-
дования
to provide training in research – обеспечить обучение в области научных исследований
to monitor progress – следить за прогрессом
to provide feedback – обеспечить обратную связь
to remain aware of the student's situation and needs – быть в курсе про-
блем аспиранта approach – подход
innovative ~ – новаторский подход holistic ~ – целостный подход
Any research conducted by a postgraduate student is supervised by a competent researcher with an advanced academic degree.
Dean of Guildford University speaks about supervision at his University. Compare it with what you have at BSU.
When you are offered a place on any of our research degrees, you carefully match you with an appropriate supervisor who will be experienced in the field of your research interests. Your supervisor(s) will help you in formulating your research proposal and give you assistance towards successful and timely completion of your studies. Many Schools will offer dual supervision or a supervisory panel. In addition, students working in most of the Schools in the Sciences and Life Sciences will be part of a research group. We believe that this provides the opportunity for you to gain access to wider expertise and support.
Your Supervisor is usually the most important academic person-resource in your postgraduate program. He is appointed from the School's academic staff. He is also your first point of contact for a range of questions, including professional development and administrative procedures.
The main activity is, of course, independent study and the production of a thesis based on it. As a research student, you will work closely with a supervisor who will guide and advise you throughout your period of study. The supervisor will also guide you in writing your thesis, but you retain the prime responsibility for your own work. Our University has approved policies on supervisory practice which set out how the responsibilities are shared between student and supervisor. In addition to your own independent study, you will take part in the general research life of your department, and may be involved in research seminars,
colloquia and other activities with your colleagues and with academic staff. At the end of your period of study, you will present your thesis for examination and be given an oral examination on it.
We regard the support of the supervisor as crucial in assisting you to complete your programme of study successfully and within the permitted length of time. However, it is also important to remember that, whatever the discipline, a research degree is an opportunity to carry out an independent and original piece of work. Supervisors can offer advice and guidance, but they will not tell you exactly what to read or how to design and carry out work on your thesis.
Your supervisor should be acquainted with procedures and regulations of writing and defending your thesis. It is expected that supervisor and student meet at regular intervals so that the supervisor may advise and inform the development of the research project. He establishes a stimulating research environment, gives advice on the choice of project and planning, ensures that appropriate facilities are available, provides training in research, consults the postgraduate, continuously monitors progress and provides structured feedback. Usually a supervisor remains aware of the student's situation and needs.
Below you will find different opinios of postgraduate students on supervision. Is research supervisor a boss, or a colleague, or a friend? What is your idea of an ideal supervisor? What do you prefer: to have a supervisor who is the name in his field, has plenty of ideas, which he is eager to share with you, or a supervisor who knows not much about your subject, but let you make the research independently?
A. I found that my supervisor's advice on reading particularly related to geographical theory and methodologies was extremely good. While researching he gave me plenty of encouragement which really boosted my confidence. Once I started to write I found that he read what I gave him fairly promptly and his comments were very pertinent, enabling me to work through my ideas more logically. He has always made time in a busy schedule to discuss any problems. More than this, he went out of his way to be helpful when I was unwell. I have greatly appreciated the time and effort he has put into helping me and also for his encouragement and support throughout the four years I have been in the School. Although I could have felt somewhat isolated because my topic has few connections with other postgraduate research being undertaken, this has been minimised by the good working relationship which has been established with my supervisor.
(final year PhD student)
B. My experience has been that this School is a good place to do research on economic geography, because of the high level of staff expertise and their reputation and influence, which extend far beyond the U.K. Both of my supervisors have been helpful, available to answer questions, and interested in my work. I have found a joint supervision arrangement to be especially beneficial to my work, given its holistic and innovative approach, and in my opinion the School’s openness to joint supervision is a real strength.
(PhD third year student)
Discuss with your groupmates the issue of a good supervisor. You may use the expressions below.
Appropriate supervisor, experienced in the field of your research interests, to guide and advise you throughout your period of study, the responsibilities are shared between student and supervisor, crucial support of the supervisor, to design and carry out work on your thesis, procedures and regulations of writing and defending your thesis, to establishes a stimulating research environment, to provide training in research, to continuously monitor progress, to provide structured feedback, to remain aware of the student's situation and needs, to give plenty of encouragement, to boost one’s confidence, pertinent comments, to appreciate the time and effort, encouragement and support, high level of staff expertise, reputation and influence, to be especially beneficial, holistic and innovative approach.
Write an essay on:
your ideas of a good supervisor
your experience working with the supervisor
Usually your supervisor is a famous scholar and an expert in some field, he may have discovered an interesting phenomena or law. Try to find out about his scientific interests, his dissertation, and research. This will help you establish better working envi-ronment. You may use biographies of Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz, Professor Eglit, and Kermit L. Hall, the President of the University of Albany as models for describing expertise, re-search and academic career of your supervisor.
Profile: Joseph E. Stiglitz
Joseph E. Stiglitz was born in Gary, Indiana in 1943. A graduate of Amherst College, he received his PHD from MIT in 1967, became a full professor at
Yale in 1970, and in 1979 was awarded the John Bates Clark Award, given bien-nially by the American Economic Association to the economist under 40 who has made the most significant contribution to the field. He has taught at Princeton, Stanford, MIT and was the Drummond Professor and a fellow of All Souls Col-lege, Oxford. He is now University Professor at Columbia University in New York. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics.
He was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1993-95, dur-ing the Clinton administration, and served as CEA chairman from 1995-97. He then became Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 1997-2000.
Stiglitz helped create a new branch of economics, "The Economics of In-formation," exploring the consequences of information asymmetries and pio-neering such pivotal concepts as adverse selection and moral hazard, which have now become standard tools not only of theorists, but of policy analysts. He has made major contributions to macroeconomics and monetary theory, to trade theory and public and corporate finance, to the theories of industrial or-ganization and rural organization, and to the theories of welfare economics and of income and wealth distribution. In the 1980s, he helped revive interest in the economics of R&D.
His work has helped explain the circumstances in which markets do not work well, and how selective government intervention can improve their performance.
Recognized around the world as a leading economic educator, he has writ-ten textbooks that have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He founded one of the leading economics journals, The Journal of Economic Per-spectives. He has recently come out with a new book, The Roaring Nineties
(W.W. Norton). His book Globalization and Its Discontents (W.W. Norton June 2001) has been translated into 28 languages and is an international bestseller.
Profile: Howard C. Eglit, Professor of Law
Professor Eglit’s scholarly interests are in the areas of law and aging. He works in the fields of employment discrimination, constitutional law, and remedies. He has authored and co-authored numerous journal articles and several books, including a three-volume treatise entitled Age Discrimination (Florida University Press 2004).
Professor Eglit holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Chicago-Kent faculty, Professor Eglit served in several capacities, including counsel to the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and legal direc-tor of the Illinois Division of the American Civil Liberties Union.
He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Constitutional law to students from foreign legal backgrounds. Professor Eglit was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School in 2003 and at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1998. He has received fellowships from the Olin Foundation (for work on treaties and constitutional law) and the Rockefeller Foundation (for a book on the effects of globalization on American constitutional law).
Professor Eglit has served on numerous boards, including the Illinois chapter, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and the Illinois Division, American Civil Liberties Union. He also served as vice-president of Terra Nova Films and chaired the Highland Park Historic Preservation Com-mission. He is a member of the advisory committee for the Buehler Center on Aging, McGaw Medical Center, Northwestern University. He served as general Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where he advised on constitutional issues and judicial nominations.
Translate the abstract about a research supervisor summarizing your topical vocabulary.
Научный руководитель. Кто он?
Для того, чтобы не растеряться в огромном количестве информации, у каждого аспиранта есть научный руководитель – опытный педагог и ученый, который может помочь определиться с темой, выбрать методики исследования, дать советы по организации эксперимента, а возможно, порекомендовать некоторую необходимую литературу. Однако научный руководитель лишь направляет аспиранта, помогает ему сориентиро-ваться, но не делает работу за него.
Итак, научный руководитель – это тот, кто должен осуществлять руководство научной деятельностью аспиранта, с высоты своего опыта помогать ему двигаться к намеченной цели. Обычно, им становится док-тор наук (причем тех же наук, ученую степень на соискание которых сбирается получить аспирант). Но в исключительных случаях (которых немало), им может быть и кандидат наук.
Научных руководителя может быть и два, особенно если диссертация защищается по двум специальностям, как сейчас модно. Помимо научно-го руководителя, у аспиранта может быть и научный консультант.
Научные руководители утверждаются Ученым Советом ВУЗа в самом начале обучения в аспирантуре вместе с темой диссертации.
Существуют два типа научных руководителей.
Первый тип наиболее удобен для аспиранта – такой научный руково-дитель во всем помогает своему подопечному: проверяет данные его эксперимента, помогает их интерпретировать, находит для него возмож-ности публиковаться, правит статьи, советует, как сформулировать цель, задачи, гипотезу исследования и т.д. Аспиранту, имеющему такого науч-ного руководителя, живется легче, но при этом от него требуется и меньше творчества. В результате такой аспирант может так и не приоб-рести навыков самостоятельных занятий научной работой.
Второй тип научных руководителей можно назвать ленивыми - они не удосуживаются даже почитать материалы диссертации, отделываются от своего ученика общими советами. Аспирантам с таким научным руководи-телем очень трудно, особенно на начальном этапе обучения, но в дальней-шем, если такому аспиранту все же удастся написать и защитить диссерта-цию, он будет являть собой тип сформированного научного работника.
Лучше, конечно, если Ваш научный руководитель представляет собой нечто среднее между двумя крайними типами, описанными выше.
***
Учеными не рождаются. Ими становятся. Путем постижения знаний и навыков, накопленным человечеством на протяжении веков и тысячелетий.
Успех работы в науке зависит от массы факторов. От базовой подго-товки коллектива, в котором предстоит работать юношам и девушкам, от темы научного исследования и многого другого. В значительной степени успех определяется и тем, кто руководит первыми шагами молодого уче-ного – академик или простой кандидат наук, проректор института или старший научный сотрудник. Успех также зависит от индивидуальных, гендерных и других характеристик научных руководителей.
Ответы участников Международной научной конференции молодых ученых «Молодежь в науке – 2005» на вопрос «Если бы у вас был выбор научного руководителя, кого бы вы предпочли: мужчину или женщину?» показали, следующее. Для более половины респондентов – 53% это «без-различно», главное – заинтересованность в результатах исследования!
В ходе опроса участникам форума предлагалось указать, на какие це-ли они ориентируются в своей научной деятельности. Поступили сле-дующие ответы: заработная плата, продвижение собственных исследова-тельских тем, генерирование новых идей, ответственное выполнение служебных обязанностей.
Социологическое исследование было подготовлено и проведено уче-ными института социологии НАН Беларуси при активной поддержке со-вета молодых ученых НАН Беларуси 14 – 17 ноября 2005 года.
SECTION VI
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS
Scientific report writing requires the use of certain techniques and conven-tions that are detailed, strict and not always easy to master. The main purpose of a scientific report is to communicate. A typical structure and style have evolved to convey essential information and ideas as concisely and effectively as possible. The main aim of the report is to state your opinion on the issue or to provide precise information about a practical investigation.
Audience. Assume that your intended reader has a background similar to yours before you started the project. That is, a general understanding of the topic but no specific knowledge of the details. The reader should be able to re-produce whatever you did by following your report.
Clarity of Writing. Good scientific reports share many of the qualities found in other kinds of writing. To write is to think, so a paper that lays out ideas in a logical order will facilitate the same kind of thinking. Make each sentence follows from the previous one, building an argument piece by piece. Group related sentences into paragraphs, and group paragraphs into sections. Create a flow from beginning to end.
Style. It is customary for reports to be written in the third person or the 'sci-entific passive', for example, instead of writing 'I saw', one writes 'it was ob-served'; rather than, 'I think that ...' one writes 'it could be stated that ...' and so on. Avoid jargon, slang, or colloquial terms. Define acronyms and any abbre-viations not used as standard measurement units. Most of the report describes what you did, and thus it should be in the past tense (e.g., "values were aver-aged"), but use present or future tense as appropriate (e.g., "x is bigger than y" or "that effect will happen"). Employ the active rather than passive voice to avoid boring writing and contorted phrases (e.g., "the software calculated av-erage values" is better than "average values were calculated by the software").
Typical Sections. There are four major sections to a scientific report, some-times known as IMRAD – Introduction, Methods, Results, And Discussion. Respectively, these sections structure your report to say "here's the problem, here's how I studied it, here's what I found, and here's what it means." There are additional minor sections that precede or follow the major sections includ-ing the title, abstract, acknowledgements, references, and appendices. All sec-tions are important, but at different stages to different readers. When flipping through a journal, a reader might read the title first, and if interested further then the abstract, then conclusions, and then if he or she is truly fascinated
perhaps the entire paper. You have to convince the reader that what you have done is interesting and important by communicating appeal and content in all sections.
Title of the report. Convey the essential point of the paper. Be precise, concise, and use key words. Avoid padding with phrases like "A study of ..." or headlines like "Global warming will fry Earth!" It is usual to write the title as one phrase or sentence. A good title is brief and informative. Titles should not exceed 10 or 12 words, and they should reveal the content of the study. Many titles take one of these two forms: a simple nominal sentence (Asymmet-ric Information, Stock Returns and Monetary Policy) or beginning with The effect of (for example, The Effects of Financial Restrictions and Technological Diversity on Innovation). Sometimes it is impossible to make word-by-word translation from Russian into English, for example, Об оценке работы фир-
мы should be translated as Assessing the Firm Performance or К проблеме хеджевых фондов is translated as Hedge Funds. Sometimes the title contains two parts, the first one is the topic, while the second is its specific details (In-ternational Financial Contagion: Evidence from the Argentine Crisis of 2001-2002). If the report is of a very problematic issue its title may be in the form of a question (Was There a Credit Crunch in Turkey?)
Introduction. This section should contain a brief history of the research problem with appropriate references to the relevant literature and the purpose of the study. Introduce the problem, moving from the broader issues to your specific problem, finishing the section with the precise aims of the paper (key questions). Craft this section carefully, setting up your argument in logical or-der. Refer to relevant ideas/theories and related research by other authors. An-swer the question "what is the problem and why is it important?" The intro-duction should also explain whether the study is an extension of a previous one, or whether a completely new hypothesis is to be tested. The final section of the introduction generally includes a list of all the hypotheses being tested in the study. The results of the current study are not to be referred to in the in-troduction.
You may use the following expressions:
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aims at |
Настоящий доклад имеет своей целью… |
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deals with |
В настоящем докладе рассматриваются… |
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considers |
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This paper |
describes |
В |
настоящем докладе делается описание… |
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examines |
В |
настоящем |
докладе |
исследуется … |
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presents |
В |
настоящем |
докладе |
представлен… |
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reports on |
В настоящем докладе сообщается о … |
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Examples of an Introduction
There has been a European Union foreign policy, confirmed in constitu-tional form in the Union Treaty, since 1993. The first decade, most commenta-tors agree, has proved to be difficult: ‘painful and problematic’ according to one. As the twenty-first century progresses, replete with an array of new chal-lenges, the need for a reassessment, and perhaps reinvigoration of Union ‘for-eign and security policy’ is widely argued. The purpose of this article is to provide both a retrospective, of the evolution of the Union’s foreign policy so far, and a prospective, of the challenges which it presently faces.
This paper examines companies incorporated under the Companies Act 1985. Its purpose is to consider the suitability of such companies for not-for-profit-organisations ('NFPOs').
Methods. Explain how you studied the problem, which should follow logi-cally from the aims. Depending on the kind of data, this section may contain subsections on experimental details, materials used, data collection/sources, analytical or statistical techniques employed, study area, etc. Provide enough detail for the reader to reproduce what you did.
Include flowcharts, maps or tables if they aid clarity or brevity. Answer the question "what steps did I follow?" but do not include results yet. Here you may use such expressions as:
A method of …is proposed |
Предлагается метод… |
Data on… are discussed |
Обсуждаются данные по … |
Present data encompass a period of … |
Настоящие данные охватывают период в |
The design of the experiments was to |
Эксперименты были направлены на выяв- |
reveal… |
ление … |
The effect of… on… is discussed |
Обсуждается влияние … на … |
The methods used for … are discussed |
Описываются методы, используемые для … |
Results. Explain your actual findings, using subheadings to divide the sec-tion into logical parts, with the text addressing the study aims. Tables are an easy and neat way of summarizing the results. An alternative or additional way of presenting data is in the form of line graphs, bar-charts, pie-charts, etc. Graphs, charts and illustrations are referred to as 'figures' (for example, Fig. 1) in the text of the report. All figures should be numbered in order of appearance in the text. For each table or graph, describe and interpret what you see (you do the thinking -- do not leave this to the reader).
Expressions to describe results obtained may be:
The most important results are as follows |
Самые важные результаты имеют сле- |
|
дующий вид… |
The results indicate the dominant role |
Результаты указывают на доминирую- |
of… |
щую роль… |
The results of … are discussed |
Обсуждаются результаты … |
The results of observations are supported |
Результаты наблюдений дополняются |
by… |
|
Discussion. This is the most difficult section of a report to write and re-quires considerable thought and care. Essentially it is a consideration of the results obtained in the study, guided by any statistical tests used, indicating whether the hypotheses tested are considered true or are to be rejected.
This is best thought of in three steps: the main results must be very briefly summarized; the procedure must be critically assessed and weaknesses noted; and a final evaluation of the results made in terms of the design, leading to a final judgment concerning the hypotheses being tested. The discussion can only refer to results, which are presented in the results section. Any detailed results which only appear in the appendixes cannot be discussed.
Evaluation of the results should include reference to other research with in-dications as to whether or not the current findings are in agreement with other findings (that is, reference is made to the introduction). The main conclusions reached should be summarized at the end of the discussion. Suggestions for follow-up research can also be given.
Discuss the importance of what you found, in light of the overall study aims. Stand backs from the details and synthesize what has (and has not) been learned about the problem, and what it all means. Say what you actually found, not what you hoped to find. Begin with specific comments and expand to more general issues. Recommend any improvements for further study. An-swer the question "what is the significance of the research?"
Important Note: this section is often combined with either the Results sec-tion or the Conclusions section. Decide whether understanding and clarity are improved if you include some discussion as you cover the results, or if discus-sion material is better as part of the broader summing up.
Conclusions. Restate the study aims or key questions and summarize your findings using clear, concise statements. Keep this section brief and to the point.
Acknowledgments. This is an optional section. Thank people who directly contributed to the paper, by providing data, assisting with some part of the analy-sis, proofreading, typing, etc. It is not a dedication; so don't thank Mom and Dad for bringing you into the world, or your roommate for making your coffee.
References. Within the text, cite references by author and year unless in-structed otherwise, for example "Comrie (1999) stated that ..." or "several studies have found that x is greater than y (Comrie 1999; Smith 1999)." For two authors, list both names, and for three or more use the abbreviation "et al." (note the pe-riod) following the first name, for example "Comrie and Smith (1999)" or "Com-rie et al. (1999)." Attribute every idea that is not your own to avoid plagiarism.
Making Oral Presentations
The material of your presentation should be concise, to the point and tell an interesting story. In addition to the obvious things like content and visual aids, the following are just as important as the audience will be subconsciously tak-ing them in:
Your voice - how you say it is as important as what you say.
Body language – a subject in its own right and something about which much has been written and said. In essence, your body movements express what your attitudes and thoughts really are.
Appearance – first impressions influence the audience's attitudes to you. Dress appropriately for the occasion.
As with most personal skills oral communication cannot be taught. Instruc-tors can only point the way. So as always, practice is essential, both to im-prove your skills generally and also to make the best of each individual pres-entation you make
Preparation. Prepare the structure of the talk carefully and logically, just as you would for a written report. What are:
the objectives of the talk?
the main points you want to make?
Make a list of these two things as your starting point.
Write out the presentation in rough, just like a first draft of a written report. Review the draft. You will find things that are irrelevant or superfluous – de-lete them. Check if the story is consistent and flows smoothly. If there are things you cannot easily express, possibly because of doubt about your under-standing, it is better to leave them unsaid.
Never read from a script. It is also unwise to have the talk written out in detail as a prompt sheet - the chances are you will not locate the thing you want to say amongst all the other text. You should know most of what you want to say – if you don't then you should not be giving the talk! So prepare cue cards which have key words and phrases (and possibly sketches) on them. Postcards are ideal for this. Don't forget to number the cards in case you drop them.
Remember to mark on your cards the visual aids that go with them so that the right OHP or slide is shown at the right time
Rehearse your presentation - to yourself at first and then in front of some colleagues. The initial rehearsal should consider how the words and the se-quence of visual aids go together. How will you make effective use of your visual aids?
Making the presentation. Greet the audience (for example, 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen'), and tell them who you are. Good presentations then follow this formula:
tell the audience what you are going to tell them, then tell them,
at the end tell them what you have told them.
Keep to the time allowed. If you can, keep it short. It's better to under-run than over-run. As a rule of thumb, allow 2 minutes for each general overhead transparency or Powerpoint slide you use, but longer for any that you want to use for developing specific points. 35mm slides are generally used more spar-ingly and stay on the screen longer. However, the audience will get bored with something on the screen for more than 5 minutes, especially if you are not ac-tively talking about it. So switch the display off, or replace the slide with some form of 'wallpaper' such as a company logo.
Stick to the plan for the presentation, don't be tempted to digress - you will eat up time and could end up in a dead-end with no escape!
Unless explicitly told not to, leave time for discussion - 5 minutes is suffi-cient to allow clarification of points. The session chairman may extend this if the questioning becomes interesting.
At the end of your presentation ask if there are any questions - avoid being terse when you do this as the audience may find it intimidating (ie it may come across as any questions? - if there are, it shows you were not paying at-tention). If questions are slow in coming, you can start things off by asking a question of the audience - so have one prepared.
Delivery. Speak clearly. Don't shout or whisper - judge the acoustics of the room.
Don't rush, or talk deliberately slowly. Be natural - although not conversa-tional.
Deliberately pause at key points - this has the effect of emphasising the im-portance of a particular point you are making.
Avoid jokes - always disastrous unless you are a natural expert
To make the presentation interesting, change your delivery, but not to ob-viously, egg:
speed;
pitch of voice.
Use your hands to emphasize points but don't indulge in to much hand
waving. People can, over time, develop irritating habits. Ask colleagues occa-sionally what they think of your style.
Look at the audience as much as possible, but don't fix on an individual - it can be intimidating. Pitch your presentation towards the back of the audience, especially in larger rooms.
Don't face the display screen behind you and talk to it.
Avoid moving about too much. Pacing up and down can unnerve the audi-ence, although some animation is desirable.
Keep an eye on the audience's body language. Know when to stop and also when to cut out a piece of the presentation.
Visual Aids. Visual aids significantly improve the interest of a presenta-tion. However, they must be relevant to what you want to say. A careless de-sign or use of a slide can simply get in the way of the presentation. What you use depends on the type of talk you are giving. Here are some possibilities:
Overhead projection transparencies (OHPs); 35mm slides;
Computer projection: PowerPoint, applications such as Excel, etc.; Video, and film;
Real objects - either handled from the speaker's bench or passed around;
Flip-chart or blackboard - possibly used as a 'scratch-pad' to expand on a point.
Keep it simple though - a complex set of hardware can result in confusion for speaker and audience. Slides and OHPs should contain the minimum in-formation necessary. To do otherwise risks making the slide unreadable or will divert your audience's attention so that they spend time reading the slide rather than listening to you.
Study the texts given below, use additional information re-sources and deliver a report on your special field of knowl-edge. (If you specialize in other subjects see Supplement.)
The Nature of Law
The law affects us all from the moment we are born. We may not like it, but for better or for worse, we live in a society that is bound by rules.
Society, by one means or another, has developed a formal system of rules which are designed to be both observed and enforced. If an individual breaks a legal rule he or she will be penalised in some way. That is what the law is about: it consists of minimum standards of conduct which all members of so-ciety are expected to follow.
The concept of justice lies deep in the conscience of all civilized peoples. What that justice is, however, a reflection of the customs and laws of that civi-lization, and derives from the morality of the people as expounded by their law makers.
All civilized societies have had their codes of law, at least from the time of Hammurabi, the founder of the Babylonian Empire in the third millenium BC. Law is the latticework of civilization and throughout history a few outstanding law makers have shone forth like stars, to illumine the course of justice, some like Solomon as judges, others such as Justinian as great codifiers.
Yet the thought that there can be a theory of law, that is a set of systemati-cally related true propositions about the nature of law, has been challenged, and from several directions. None of the challenges is entirely successful.
A theory of law in a narrow sense refers to an explanation of the nature of law. It is a sense central to philosophical reflection about the law through-out its history.
A theory of law is successful if it meets two criteria: First, it consists of propositions about the law which are necessarily true, and, second, they ex-plain what the law is.
Naturally, the essential properties of the law are universal characteristics of law. They are to be found in law wherever and whenever it exists. Moreover, these properties are universal properties of the law not accidentally, and not because of any prevailing economic or social circumstances, but because there is no law without them.
The most usual meaning of the phrase 'the law' is that of a legal rule. Legal rules influence many different aspects of life. Secondly, “the law” is the com-plete body of all those individual rules that bind society together. Thirdly, the phrase may also mean the process by which rules are made and applied. The development, the content and the application of those rules add up to a legal system, complete with judges, courts, solicitors, barristers, police and indeed politicians in their role as law-makers (legislators).
The understanding (not definition) of such concepts as responsibility, lib-erty, authority, scientific knowledge, justice, right/wrong, etc. is a necessary prerequisite for answering some crucial questions about the regulation of so-cial conduct and the conflicts derived from it:
– What are the principles and standards we should agree upon so that social life can unfold harmoniously on both local and planetary levels?
– Why are these principles and standards valid?
– What does each individual owe to the other individuals with whom he shares the social praxis?
– What is it that I, as an individual who interacts socially, can believe, or say or do?
– Which social ills could law attempt to lessen?
– How could this be achieved?
– For which social ills is each individual responsible and to what degree?
– Why am I responsible for the social consequences of my conduct?
At the end of the twentieth century we are forced to recognize:
– That law is in itself a culturally specific discursive form.
– That there is no pre-existent uniformity of values that explains a culture; there is cultural heterogeneity and multiplicity. Consequently,
– The authority of law based on a metanorm hierarchically superior to and underlying positive law, or on a social purpose legitimated by one culture
only, has become increasingly problematic.
English law divides principally into two categories - criminal or public and civil or private. Criminal law concerns matters deemed by society to be so se-rious that in the event of a person transgressing a legal rule it is society itself which must punish the wrong-doer.
Civil law is concerned with disputes between individuals or indeed groups of individuals such as public companies and corporations. Society will lay down the framework of legal rules within which such disputes must be settled. But society itself is not a party to any legal proceedings; it acts more as a refe-ree. Indeed the object of civil law is to compensate the injured party, rather than to punish the 'wrong-doer'. One individual sues another.
All that appears to imply that in terms of society's morality and values civil matters are less serious or less weighty than criminal issues.
It is possible to speak in terms of three branches of the law, the third being constitutional and administrative law. This area of legal rules covers such mat-ters as the powers of Parliament and the Government, the powers of the police and the administration of justice, personal freedoms including race relations and immigration, and the freedoms of expression and assembly. The greater part of such administrative law will fall under civil law in the broadest sense and the rest under criminal law. Other countries take a different approach, however.
Law, far from being a complete and static system, is a dynamic system continually being created and modified. This condition of dynamism is already a commonplace in legal theory.
The law does not stand still. The public's attitudes and habits do change, human nature being an odd mixture of both the rational and the irrational, of both conservatism and radicalism. The legal system - including judicial out-look - has to accommodate itself to such shifts in the climate of opinions. Nonetheless the law may move slowly: change, whether societal or legal, is not necessarily rapid.
Economics
The term economics was coined around 1870 and popularized by Alfred Marshall, as a substitute for the earlier term political economy which has been used through the 18th-19th centuries, with Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx as its main thinkers and which today is frequently referred to as the "classical" economic theory. Economic thought may be roughly divided into three phases: Premodern (Greek, Roman, Arab), Early modern (mercantilist, physiocrats) and Modern (since Adam Smith in the late 18th century). Systematic economic theory has been developed mainly since the birth of the modern era.
Economics has been recognized as a special area of study for over a century. The term Economics derived from the Greek words οίκω [okos], 'house', and νέμω [nemo], 'rules' hence it means household management. There is no unani-mous consensus upon its definition. Various definitions describe different aspects of this social science. We may mention some of them. Economics is:
the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. This involves analyzing the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services, and their management;
the study of choice and decision-making in a world of limited resources;
the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, and with the various related problems of labor, finance, taxation, etc.
research on such factors as interest rates, gross national product, inflation, unemployment, and inventories, as tools to predict the direction of the
economy.
Economics is said to be normative when it recommends one choice over another, or when a subjective value judgment is made. Conversely, economics is said to be positive when it tries objectively to predict and explain consequences of choices, given a set of assumptions and/or a set of observations.
Economics is the study of how society chooses to allocate its scarce resources to the production of goods and services in order to satisfy unlimited wants. Society makes two kinds of choices: economy-wide, or macro, choices and individual, or micro, choices. The prefixes macro and micro come from the Greek words meaning “large” and “small,” respectively. Reflecting the macro and micro perspectives, economics consists of two main branches: macroeconomics and microeconomics.
Economics, which focuses on measurable variables, is broadly divided into two main branches: microeconomics, and macroeconomics. Microeconomics
(literally, very small economics) is the study of the economic behaviour of
individual consumers, firms, and industries and the distribution of production and income among them. It considers individuals both as suppliers of labour and capital and as the ultimate consumers of the final product. It analyzes firms both as suppliers of products and as consumers of labour and capital. It deals with individual agents, such as households and businesses,
Microeconomics seeks to analyze the market form or other types of mechanisms that establish relative prices amongst goods and services and/or allocates society's resources amongst their many alternative uses.
Macroeconomics considers the economy as a whole, in which case it considers aggregate supply and demand for money, capital and commodities. Aspects receiving particular attention in economics are resource allocation, production, distribution, trade, and competition. Economic logic is increasingly applied to any problem that involves choice under scarcity or determining economic value.
There appear to be three methods by which economic phenomena may be investigated. The first consists mainly in deductive analysis. Proceeding from a few simple premises based upon general observation a researcher makes broad generalizations. The second is the historical method, which seeks an understanding of existing institutions by tracing their evolutions from their origins in the past. The third is statistical induction, which endeavours, by the analysis of numerical data, to develop quantitative knowledge of economic phenomena. Anyway, it is now coming to be recognized that these methods are complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
A successful theory provides insights into the physical or social relation-ships it studies. Economic theories are developed to explain such important observable quantities as the production, prices and consumption of goods and services, the employment of workers, and levels of saving and investment.
Economic variables are quantities that can have more than one value. For ex-ample, the price of an item is an economic variable representing what we must give up in exchange for each unit of that item. Price is an economic variable be-cause it can go up or down as changes occur in the economy. An economic theory of price seeks to determine the causes for changes in the price of an item.
An economic model is a simplified way of expressing how some sector of the economy functions. An economic model contains assumptions that estab-lish relationships among economic variables. We use logic, graphs, or mathe-matics to determine the consequences of the assumptions. In this way we can use the model to make predictions about how a change in economic conditions results in changes in decisions affecting economic variables. Economists often use the term “model” as a synonym for theory.
Understanding History
The study of the past is called history. When we set out to study history, we are able to draw the people and events of ancient times closer to us. Studying the past allows us to “see” the faces of the famous and the nameless people who lived thousands of years before us. It helps us understand what their lives were like. We can see how our lives are similar to theirs and also how they are different. We can see how people of the distant past had to face some of the very same problems we face today. And we can appreciate connections that bind together people and all time periods and all areas of the world.
What can the past tell us about the problems of today? By studying the past, we can see how previous cultures dealt with similar problems. We can understand the effects of their actions, and we can make judgments about how our actions might affect the future.
In our multicultural world we must understand the history of other cultures in order to solve problems together. By studying the past we can see the roots of the present and we can better understand our world neighbours. Learning about the past gives us a framework for making decisions about the issues that wee face today. It also helps us understand how our actions will affect the people of tomorrow.
History has been called a conversation between the present and the past. People of the past communicate with people of today through the writing, arti-facts and structures they leave behind.
Every generation sees the world differently. And because each generation and each individual looks at things from a new point of view, history is always open to different interpretations.
History also has been compared to a jigsaw puzzle. Some pieces of the puzzle have been lost forever. Pieces once considered lost have now been found. The available pieces can be fitted together in many ways. Each genera-tion of historians tries to put together the available pieces of the puzzle and to interpret the picture that emerges. In doing so we hope to understand not only what happened in the past, but how it happened and why it happened.
History – record of the events of human societies. The earliest surviving historical records are the inscriptions denoting the achievements of Egyptian and Babylonian Kings. As a literary form historical writing or historiography began with the Greek Herodotus in the 5th century BC, who was first to pass beyond the limits of a purely national outlook. A generation later, Thucydides brought to history a strong sense of the political and military ambitions of his native Athens. His close account of the Peloponnesian War was continued by Xenophon. Later Greek history and Roman history tended toward rhetoric.
Medieval history was dominated by a religious philosophy sustained by the
Christian church. English chroniclers of this period are Bede, William Malmesbury and Matthew Paris.
The Renaissance revived historical writing and the study of history both by restoring classical models and by creating the science of textual criticism.
A product of new secular spirit was Machiavelli’s History of Florence 1520-23. This critical approach continued into the 17th century. The 18th cen-tury Enlightenment disposed of the attempt to explain history in theological terms and an interpretive masterpiece was produced by Edward Gibbon.
An attempt to formulate historical method and a philosophy of history, that of the Italian Giovanni Vico, remained almost unknown until the 19th century Romanticism left its mark on 19th-century historical writing in the tendency to exalt the contribution of the individual “hero”, and in the introduction of a more colourful and dramatic style and treatment, variously illustrated in the works of the French historican Jules Michelet (1798-1874) and the British writers Carlyle and Macaulay.
During the 20th century the study of history has been revolutionized, partly through the contributions of other disciplines, such as the sciences and anthro-pology. The deciphering of the Egyptian and Babylonian inscriptions was of great importance. Researchers and archaeologists have traced developments in prehistory and have revealed forgotten civilizations such as that of Crete. An-thropological studies of primitive Society and religion, which began with James Frazer’s Golden Bough 1890, have attempted to analyse the bases of later forms of social organizations and belief. The changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution and the accompanying perception of economics as a science forced historians to turn their attention to economic questions.
Contemporary historians make a distinction between historical evidence or records, historical writing and historical method or approaches to the study of history. Contemporary historians make extensive use of statistics, population figures and primary records to justify historical arguments. Historians do not just collect facts, they examine the information they collect and then decide how to interpret it.
Summary Making
Summaries are often found in academic work. A summary is the shortest account of the main content and conclusions of the original text. In fact it is enumeration of the main thematic point of the original paper which is made up of the words and phrases borrowed from the text and your own wording of them into a very small number of sentences.
When writing a summary, you may adhere to the following plan: 1) the heading;
the theme of the paper;
the key problems (thematic points) discussed;
the conclusion at which the author arrives.
The manner of presenting the material is very concise and it tends to be criti-cal. The summary writer appreciates the material from his point of view and uses as a rule a wide range of clichés, which can be divided into several groups:
those introducing the heading and the author:
The article (text) is head-lined …
The head-line of the article (I have read) is … The article is entitled …
The author of the article (text) is … The article is written by …
those introducing the leading theme of the original paper:
The text deals with ...
The article is devoted to...
The chapter is about..
The article touches upon…
those drawing the reader's attention to the major points of the contents:
The author emphasizes the idea of...
The author points out that ...
Attention is drawn to the fact...
In the opinion of the author it is .
those introducing secondary information:
Further the author reports The author states…
The article goes on to say… According to the text …
those forming a conclusion to which the reader's attention is drawn:
The author comes to the conclusion that...
The author concludes by saying ...
The basic approach of the author is that, etc.
Now read the text “Science: The Endless Resource” and study its sample summary.
Science: The Endless Resource
Our future demands investment in our people, institutions and ideas. Science is an essential part of that investment, an endless and sustainable
resource with extraordinary dividends. The Government should accept new responsibilities for promoting the flow of new scientific knowledge and the development of scientific talent in the youth. These responsibilities are the proper concern of the Government, for they vitally affect health, jobs and national security
The bedrock wisdom of this statement has been demonstrated time and again in the intervening half century. The return from public investments in fundamental science has been enormous, both through the knowledge generated and through the education of an unmatched scientific and technical workforce. Discoveries in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other fundamental sciences have seeded and have been driven by important advances in engineering, technology, and medicine.
The principal sponsors and beneficiaries of scientific enterprise are people. Their continued support, rooted in the recognition of science as the foundation of a modern knowledge-based technological society, is essential. This investment has yielded a scientific enterprise without peer, whether measured in term of discoveries, citations, awards and prizes, advanced education, or contributions to industrial and informational innovation. Scientific strength is a treasure which we must sustain and build on for the future.
To fulfill our responsibility to future generations by ensuring that our children can compete in the global economy, we must invest in the scientific enterprise at a rate commensurate with its growing importance to society. That means we must provide physical infrastructure that facilitates world class research, including access to cutting-edge scientific instrumentation and to world-class information and communication systems. We must provide the necessary educational opportunities for each of our citizens. Failure to exercise our responsibility will place our children's future at risk.
Science does indeed provide an endless frontier. Advancing that frontier and exploring the cosmos we live in helps to feed our sense of adventure and our passion for discovery. Science is also an endless resource: in advancing the frontier, our knowledge of the physical and living world constantly expands. The unfolding secrets of nature provide new knowledge to address crucial challenges, often in unpredictable ways. These include improving human health, creating breakthrough technologies that lead to new industries and high quality jobs, enhancing productivity with information technologies and improved understanding of human interactions, meeting our national security needs, protecting and restoring the global environment, and feeding and providing energy for a growing population.
The challenges of the twenty-first century will place a high premium on sustained excellence in scientific research and education. We approach the
future with a strong foundation, built by the wise and successful stewardship of this enterprise over many decades, and with an investment strategy that was framed as three interconnected strategic goals:
Long term economic growth that creates jobs and protects the environment; A government that is more productive and more responsive to the needs of
its citizens;
World leadership in basic science, mathematics, and engineering. Our policies in these areas should be working to prepare the future.
Our future demands investment in our people, institutions and ideas.
Science is an essential part of that investment. The Government should accept new responsibilities for promoting the flow of new scientific knowledge. The bedrock wisdom of this statement has been demonstrated time and again in the intervening half century. The principal sponsors and beneficiaries of scientific enterprise are people. Scientific strength is a treasure which we must sustain and build on for the future. To fulfill our responsibility to future generations, we must invest in the scientific enterprise at a rate commensurate with its growing importance to society. Science does indeed provide an endless frontier. We approach the future with an investment strategy that was framed as interconnected strategic goals: long term economic growth; a more productive government and world leadership in basic science, mathematics, and engineering. The challenges of the twenty-first century will place a high premium on sustained excellence in scientific research and education. Our policies in these areas should be working to prepare the future.
Summary
The text under discussion is entitled Science: The Endless Resource. It deals with the role of science in modern life. First, it is stressed the Government should accept new responsibilities for promoting the flow of new scientific knowledge. Attention is drawn to the fact that fundamental science discoveries have seeded important advances in the society, scientific knowledge being an endless resource affecting health, jobs and national security. It is reported that unfolding secrets of nature provides new knowledge to address crucial challenges. The text goes on to say that we must provide physical infrastructure and educational opportunities that facilitate world class research. The author concludes that challenges of the twenty-first century will place a high premium on excellence in scientific research and education. To my mind, the main idea of the text is to show that science is the foundation of a modern knowledge-based technological society.
Try to produce the summary of the text “Science” making use of the instructions given above.
Science
Science [from Latin scientia from scire to know] is systemized knowledge derived through experimentation, observation, and study. In its widest sense it is formulated knowledge, a knowledge of structure, laws, and operations. The unity of human knowledge may be artificially divided into religion, philoso-phy, and science. Sometimes it is considered as a method of reaming about the world by applying the principles of the scientific method, which includes mak-ing empirical observations, proposing hypotheses to explain those observa-tions, and testing those hypotheses in valid and reliable ways; also refers to the organized body of knowledge that results from scientific study.
Science and philosophy, as presently understood, have in common the quality of being speculative, as opposed to religion, which in the West is sup-posed to be founded merely on faith and moral sentiments. The present dis-tinction between science and philosophy lies largely in their respective fields of speculation. What is known as modern science investigates the phenomena of physical nature and by inferential reasoning formulates general laws there from. Its method is called inductive and its data are so-called facts -- i.e., sen-sory observations; whereas deductive philosophy starts from axioms. Yet a scientist, in order to reason from his data at all, must necessarily use both in-duction and deduction.
Fundamental science is the part of science that describes the most basic ob-jects, forces, relations between them and laws governing them, such that all other phenomena may be in principle derived from them, following the logic of scientific reductionism. Fundamental science includes biology, chemistry, earth science and geology, physics, resource sciences, space and astronomy, biotechnology, engineering, computer and information technology.
The humanities are a group of academic subjects united by a commitment to studying aspects of the human condition and a qualitative approach that generally prevents a single paradigm from coming to define any discipline. Art, Communi-cations, Counseling, Education, English, Foreign Languages (Italian, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, others), Literature, Philosophy, Reli-gious Studies, Speech, Theatre. Subjects such as English, philosophy, language, and literature as distinguished from fundamental sciences.
Scientific theories simplify reality to allow us to understand basic forces and laws of the nature and society. We can observe actions and their conse-quences. Observation and description are not sufficient for understanding and ultimately predicting actions. Theory establishes relationships between cause
and effect. We use it to interpret actions and outcomes so we can explain the process by which the actions were undertaken and the outcomes achieved. The purpose of theory in all scientific analyses is to explain the causes of phenom-ena we observe. To conduct analyses we frequently need to engage in abstrac-tion. This involves making assumptions about the environment that simplify the real world enough to allow us to isolate forces of cause and effect. Any theory is a simplification of actual relationships.
Now try to translate a summary of a scientific paper from Rus-sian into English.
Данное издание является первой попыткой систематизации и обобще-ния всего опыта белорусской философской, религиозной и культурной мысли XX столетия. Его контекст и критерий отбора фактографического материала определила проблема Беларуси как эпицентра культурно-цивилизационного взаимодействия Востока и Запада.
В антологии представлены концепции, точки зрения и суждения вид-ных белорусских мыслителей, православных и католических деятелей, писателей, ученых, публицистов и политиков, затрагивающие комплекс проблем и вопросов геокультурологического характера.
Особое внимание в публикации отведено проблеме определения куль-турно-цивилизационных основ белорусского этноса и народа, рассмот-рению ключевых факторов формирования и этапов развития националь-ного самосознания.
Книга знакомит с белорусским видением и глубиной понимания сущ-ности, форм и последствий влияния и взаимодействия исторических, ре-лигиозных и культурных традиций Востока и Запада в белорусском прошлом и настоящем.
SECTION VII
RESEARCH PAPER
The final aim of post-graduates studies is submission of the dissertation for hearing at the session of the Academic Council. On the eve of the defense procedure abstract of the thesis is to be issued, it being a digest of the research made. In the abstract a researcher is to present certain scientific points since ab-stracts are designed in accordance with the established pattern. Thus, you should be able to state the purpose of your investiga-tion, define its subject, object, describe the methods applied, to ground its topicality and novelty, underline the results ob-tained, state your personal findings, the practical value and possibilities for further research and application.
