Look out for my next blog posts, covering two more cognitive learning principles: cognitive bias and reader expectations. Head, Alison J. If you do this, most of your sentences will be an appropriate length. This is why conciseness is so important in academic writing. Better yet, go to the stacks with them. It creates the general idea of your research by highlighting the questions and issues you are going to address in your paper. Step 3: Research… Exact, Course Learning Outcome:  Demonstrate information literacy and be able to work with evidence, Goal:  Develop students’ critical thinking skills related to research and information. Send them to the stacks to find more relevant texts. And that is correct. Now think about academic research you may have done for an assignment in high school or college. 2. If people get confused when trying to understand your article, they will likely stop reading. Visit our main website for more information. Google Scholar Think about research you’ve done for a major purchase, life decision (like where to go to college), or personal problem. Personal & Academic Research (connects to reading). I often come across sentences that are 30, 60, or even 80 words long! Therefore, to be an effective writer, it is useful to implement effective teaching strategies in your writing. How was your process for academic research different than for personal research? If you try to give your readers too much information at one time, they will get confused. Even though the literature review is a hallmark of scholarly research, students may have difficulty even defining the term. Show them research tools to enhance information literacy skills and master report writing. Cognitive load theory was established in 1988 by John Sweller1 when he wanted to determine how much new information the human mind can process at one time. All these phrases can be deleted without affecting the meaning of the sentence. And there is a simple rule you can follow — can you delete those words without changing the meaning of the sentence? A research proposal is a concise summary of your research paper. Miller & Selfridge. Usually five or six sentences is enough. Sweller J. Cognitive Science. Unnecessary words are those that do not add value to the meaning of the sentence. No one wants to read a paragraph that is the length of a page! So, if you have to take a breath while reading a sentence, it is probably too long. Some common phrases that are not necessary, but often used in academic writing, include: ‘it is well known that’, ‘as a matter of fact’, and ‘it is worth mentioning that’. Most people cannot read a sentence with more than 20 words in one breath. As a trainer with Nature Research Academies, I run publishing workshops around the world and one thing I always tell the researchers in my workshops is ‘Writing is teaching.' Understand online research and internet skills. We are a world leading research, educational and professional publisher. The cognitive learning principles are taught as part of the Nature Research Academies workshops in ‘Getting Published’. Teaching Research And Information Literacy (TRAIL) Curriculum Resources for Writing 10, #4 Using Google for Academic Research (Alternate), #6 Developing Successful Research Questions, https://libguides.ucmerced.edu/think_like_a_researcher, Think Like a Researcher: Instruction Resources, Learning curve: How college graduates solve information problems once they join the workplace, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License, Approach research with a question and an open mind, Look for a problem that underlies a research question, TED Talk: Jack Andraka Video with pre and post questions for discussion. The second is to avoid unnecessary words. First is to communicate only one idea per sentence. This is the first draft that demonstrates your skills to conduct research. If you are interested in being a Guest Contributor, please contact us via email: thesource@springernature.com. He has strong scientific qualifications with 20 years of academic experience and numerous publications and awards. For writing it, demonstrate the uniqueness of your research paper. Academic Search Complete If so, delete them. Think about research you’ve done for a major purchase, life decision (like where to go to college), or personal problem. Dr. Jeffrey Robens, who conducts the Nature Research Academies training workshops, shares three important cognitive learning principles that can help researchers improve the quality of their writing. of writing in college (Gruenbaum, 2012), and particularly writing literature reviews, can be intimidating and confusing for students (Ridley, 2008; Feak & Swales, 2009). For example, ‘that is another reason why’ can be replaced with ‘therefore’, ‘despite the fact that’ can be changed to ‘although’, and ‘it is interesting to note that’ can be simply replaced with ‘interestingly’ or ‘notably’. 1988; 12: 257–285. "Learning curve: How college graduates solve information problems once they join the workplace." Ask them to underline any allusions that the writer makes that they don't fully understand and to do a bit of research. Step 2: Pick a Topic. Applying these two tips will help ensure your sentences are a manageable length. Contains Not surprisingly — we are not computers — our mind is limited. How do you decide what information to trust when doing any type of research. Talk with them about how this exercise might enrich their understanding of the topic. How long do you think sentences should be? You can test the length of your sentences by reading them aloud. Miller and Selfridge2 showed back in 1950 that once sentences become longer than 20 words, recall is considerably reduced, so keep your sentences short. As a trainer with Nature Research Academies, I run publishing workshops around the world and one thing I always tell the researchers in my workshops is ‘Writing is teaching.' However, in practice, this is rarely done. Not what other research libraries are, what they will be. UC Libraries Catalog (Melvyl), Starts with Writing the Research Paper. Therefore, keep your paragraphs focused on one idea and keep them short. Available at SSRN 2165031 (2012). That is exactly what teachers do. 1950; 63: 176–185. If this happens, you have lost your opportunity to have impact and influence on the field. Now think about academic research you may have done for an assignment in high school or college. Your ideas are complex; therefore, feed them to your reader one small spoon at a time. That concludes my look at cognitive load theory – I hope you find it useful for your writing. The good news is, once you reach this point in the process you’re likely to feel energized by all the ideas and thoughts you’ve uncovered in your research, and you’ll have a clear direction because you’ve taken the time to create a thesis statement and organize your presentation with an outline. Am J Psych. There are three important cognitive learning principles that can improve the quality of your writing: (1) cognitive load theory, (2) cognitive bias, and (3) reader expectations. Guest Contributors include Springer Nature staff and authors, industry experts, society partners, and many others. There are two useful tips to keep your sentences short. There are also long phrases that can be replaced by single words as well. The Process Step 1: Get Familiar with the Assignment. 1. Note any discussions that seem important to the topic, and try to find … I often ask participants in my workshops this question and most answer between 10 to 20 words. The same principle applies to paragraphs as well. They are not necessary. Furthermore, students find it challenging to synthe- Learn more about the first principle below and check back for the next installments of this 3-part series. Keeping these principles in mind when you write your paper will ensure that you are effectively communicating your ideas with your readers. Conduct preliminary research. Dr. Jeffrey Robens is an Editorial Development Manager at Nature Research and conducts Nature Research Academies training workshops worldwide. Describe the process you used to find the information you needed. If your institution is interested in hosting a ‘Getting Published’ workshop, or if you are a researcher interested in recommending the workshops to your institution, please click here for details. That is exactly what teachers do. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and then worked at premier research institutes in Singapore and Japan. When you write a paper, it is because you are trying to share your knowledge with others. Teach your students proven research strategies in the classroom. Describe the process you used to find the information you needed. When you write a paper, it is because you are trying to share your knowledge with others. Explore proven research techniques for writing essays and information reports. You delete those words without changing the meaning of the sentence Research… Teach students! Two tips will help ensure your sentences short your paragraphs focused on one how to write like a teacher research and keep them short from University... Your reader one small spoon at a time can test the length of a page and! These two tips will help ensure your sentences short communicating your ideas are complex ; therefore, them! 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