Studying at postgraduat

e level

Student Services

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Get Ahead 2012Angela Dierks

What do you think are the differences between UG

and PG study?

Check with your

neighbour.

Student Services

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

What will be different about postgraduate study?

• Develop your skills to a higher level

• Acquire new skills• Work more independently• Work with a supervisor

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Develop your skills to a higher level

Student Services

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

•gather appropriate material•critically evaluate your material (eg assess relevance of theories)•use it as the basis for logical argument and discussion (developing a rationale)

Anderson’s and Krathwohl’s Taxonomy of

Cognitive Domain1. Remembering: Retrieving, recalling, or recognizing knowledge from

memory.2. Understanding: Constructing meaning from different types of functions

be they written or graphic messages activities like interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

3. Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.

4. Analyzing: Breaking material or concepts into parts, determining how the parts relate or interrelate to one another or to an overall structure or purpose.

5. Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.

6. Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning or producing. www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Acquire new skills• Read more widely and beyond core

material• Demonstrate academic judgement by

gathering appropriate published material and evaluating it

• Gather and process evidence• Apply appropriate research methodologies• Present your findings in an appropriate

manner

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Read more widely and critically

• Know your way around a range of resources including electronic databases and ejournals

• Need to evaluate material in terms of relevance, provenance and research methods

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Demonstrate academic judgement

• Question what you read

• Draw your own conclusions about the value of the work

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Gather and process evidence

• Undertake literature review

• Gather data, eg through questionnaires, interviews or surveys

• Be aware of ethics

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Apply appropriate research methodology

Three types of research:

• Quantitative (eg based on surveys and numerical data)

• Qualitative (eg interviews, grounded-theory, case study)

• Mixed: quantitative and qualitative

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Present your findings

• Giving a presentation

• Dissertation writing

• Appropriate referencing

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Work more independently

Need to be good at project management including– Time management– Organisational skills – Knowledge management– Scoping

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services

Work with a supervisor

• Clarifying the scope of your work

• Finding the right supervisor

• Establishing a positive working relationship

www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck

Student Services