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Other titles in this series Studying Science at University Clare Rhoden and Robyn Starkey Studying Law at University Simon Chesterman and Clare Rhoden To help you make the most of your time at uni, A&U’s eStudyCentre has the most up-to-date info and handy hints on a range of topics. Best of all it’s free! @ http://www.allen-unwin.com.au/estudy.htm
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Studying Engineering at University Everything you need to know Clare Rhoden and Christine Tursky Gordon
ALLEN & UNWIN
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Copyright © Clare Rhoden and Christine Tursky Gordon, 2000 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 2000 by Allen & Unwin 9 Atchison Street St Leonards NSW 1590 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: http://www.allen-unwin.com.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Rhoden, Clare. Studying engineering at university: everything you need to know. ISBN 1 86508 203 1. 1. Engineering—Study and teaching (Higher). 2. Study skills. I. Tursky Gordon, Christine. II. Title. 620.00711 Set in 10.5/13 Garamond Book by DOCUPRO, Sydney Printed and bound by McPhersons Printing Group, Maryborough, Vic. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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FOREWORD
Engineering is not a subject studied in secondary schools and, unless students have relatives ‘in the business’, many students who undertake engineering courses are not really sure what to expect. Studying Engineering at University focuses on making the transition from school to university as painless as possible. The authors provide real life examples of how engineers go about things and give practical tips for approaching engineering study tasks such as problem-solving. This approach means that students from a wide variety of backgrounds will find helpful suggestions on all aspects of study, from preparing for tutorials to studying for exams. Clare Rhoden is co-author of two previous (very successful) titles in this series, Studying Science and Studying Law. Clare has considerable experience in working with university students to optimise their learning and is currently Manager of Learning Programs in the University of Melbourne’s Learning Skills Unit. Over the last four years Clare has run seminars with engineering students as part of the engineering faculty’s student mentoring scheme. v
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Christine Tursky Gordon has a successful engineering career with Hewlett-Packard (HP), and is responsible for the worldwide technical training strategy for test equipment designed and manufactured by HP’s Advanced Networks Division. Christine is also Assistant Dean of Engineering (Equity and Diversity) at the University of Melbourne and is responsible for the faculty’s Diversity Policy and its continued alignment with industry strategies. Christine has a proven commitment to equity, the enhancement of the engineering profession and encouraging the next generation of engineers (she is the mother of a nine-month-old future engineer). Both Christine and Clare share a personal love of study and a strong commitment to promoting excellence in learning. Patricia McLean General Manager, Equity and Learning Programs University of Melbourne
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CONTENTS CONTENTS
Foreword Tables and figures Acknowledgments Introduction—How this book works
v xi xiii xv
1 Transfer issues—from school to university Class structure Finding your place in the university community Freedom and responsibility Assessment Engineering—the profession Tips for a successful transition
1 1 5 8 14 16 17
2 Learning—the best study skills for you Personal learning styles Levels of understanding Becoming an active learner Ideas for collaborative learning
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Putting active learning to work World’s best active study tips for engineers
25 26
3 Memory—hard-wiring your knowledge Taking advantage of the way memory works Memorisation of lists Remembering procedures Learning and understanding theory Tips for maximising memory
29 30 33 35 38 42
4 Note-taking—useful hard copy The best notes are yours Strategies for note-taking in lectures Keeping on track Note-taking and preparation for pracs and labs Note-taking and active learning Tips for note-taking
44 46 47 52 53 54 56
5 Organisation—best practice in timelines Study early, study often Ideas for time management Your study timetable Making best use of study time Top time-management tips
59 60 61 63 65 70
6 Problem-solving—essential engineering brain food The qualities of a problem-solving brain Problem-solving stages Mind games Tips for problem-solving exams
71 73 77 81 82
7 Pracs, sites and labs—be there, do that Why have pracs and site visits? Getting the most from your prac work
87 87 88
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CONTENTS
Getting the most from site visits How do these classes relate to exams? Tips for site visits
90 92 92
8 Reading—the quick and the relevant Reading for different purposes Previewing Reading for preparation, research or study? Tips for reading effectively and efficiently
94 96 97 98 103
9 Technical writing—style by numbers Technical writing style Elements of good technical style A couple of common writing problems Editing tips for good technical writing
106 106 110 113 115
10 Report-writing—the nuts and bolts Organisation by headings Tips on presentation Tips on illustrations: tables and figures Essays
117 117 122 123 124
11 Exam preparation—what you don’t know CAN hurt you Multiple choice exams Problem-solving exams Short-answer and essay exams Practical examinations Revision of memory principles Exam preparation tips
130 131 132 133 135 136 136
12 Exam success—manage the day General exam advice On exam day
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How to face different types of exams After the exam
146 150
13 Professional skills—develop a killer CV Communication and presentation skills Expression skills Leadership and teamwork skills Tips for a great CV Jenny Jowett’s tips on getting the right job
153 154 156 160 163 165
14 If things go wrong—troubleshooting study problems Trouble with teaching staff? Trouble with health matters? Trouble with motivation? Trouble with boredom? Trouble with unexpected disasters? Trouble with starting? Trouble with the marking system? Trouble with other people’s expectations? Trouble with passing? The final message
167 167 168 169 169 170 171 172 173 173 174
Appendix I Some suggestions for further reading Appendix II Starting point for using web resources Appendix III Mind games
175 177 181
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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLES 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 8.1 8.2 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 10.1 10.2
Elements of remembering Techniques for learning lists of items Techniques for studying prac tasks Techniques for learning theory Some of the sources of written information Sample questions for research reading Good and bad technical writing styles Technical style guide Verbose phrases What you should avoid Elements of an introduction Editing tips
32 36 39 40 95 100 108 110 114 115 119 129
FIGURES 4.1
Notes organised under headings
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4.2 4.3 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
Notes with a column of comments made during revision Notes made in a mind map style with connecting arrows for links Daily mental energy levels A blank timetable Example timetable of classes for a first year engineering course A comprehensive weekly timetable
49 50 62 64 66 67
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank a number of people for their help with this project. First, thanks to Hewlett-Packard Australia Limited for their generous sponsorship of the position of Assistant Dean (Equity and Diversity) at the Engineering Faculty of the University of Melbourne, which enabled the successful completion of this book. Hewlett-Packard Australia’s ongoing commitment to tertiary education is part of a long tradition of contribution to the community, and their support of the position of Assistant Dean (Equity and Diversity) emphasises the importance of a diverse workforce and the benefits of innovation and flexibility that this brings to any organisation. We would also like to thank the Manager of Equity and Learning Programs at the University of Melbourne, Patricia McLean, for her useful advice and encouragement, and for giving us the time to get our ideas together and write this work; and Frank Leahy of the University of Melbourne Faculty of Engineering for his enthusiasm for everything to do with engineering education. Special xiii
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thanks must go to Dr David Shallcross, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Melbourne, for his invaluable contributions; and also to our colleagues at the Learning Skills Unit, particularly Reem Al-Mahmood for her time and verve and Aveline Perez for her excellence at reading timetables (any remaining errors are our own!). In addition, we would like to thank Christine West and Katerina Gauntlett of the University of Melbourne’s Diversity in Engineering mentoring scheme for much help and good humour (and the great food at the functions). We would also like to express our appreciation to the many Engineering students at the University of Melbourne whose experiences are the basis for much of the information in this book. A special word of thanks to professional engineers Keong Lim, Beverly Sanders and Jenny Jowett, who generously provided us with the profiles that so richly illustrate the concepts we cover and for their valuable contributions throughout, and to engineering students Joseph Chow and Zuzanna Janiak for their input on the student perspective. Finally, we would like to thank our publisher, Elizabeth Weiss, for her patience and good humour, always ready at the other end of the e-mail link; and Glenda Harvey of the University’s Solicitor’s Office for expediting the arrangements for publication.
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INTRODUCTION: HOW THIS BOOK WORKS INTRODUCTION
. . . Born to be thinkers and doers, and makers of wonderful things Henry Lawson, Australian Engineers, 1903
WELCOME TO ENGINEERING—WHY THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU Studying engineering can be like entering the world of the unknown. Even though the work of engineers touches most aspects of our lives, its concepts and operations can seem mysterious. The wider community hardly knows what engineers do. The few engineers portrayed in the popular media are shown as socially uncomfortable, obsessed with detail, and poor communicators. Engineers, it seems, are xv
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focused solely on technology and have no human side. Yet everyone who enters university to train as an engineer is a human being! (Barring visitors from alien outposts of space, of course!)
A new generation has risen under the skies Henry Lawson, Australian Engineers, 1903
You are probably interested in learning more about engineering in its many guises, and about how to succeed as an engineering student. Perhaps you have a clear idea of your career path, or perhaps you are open to new discoveries and ideas about where you will be in ten years’ time. When thinking of the engineering profession, most people think of civil engineering: buildings, bridges, tunnels and roads—the built environment. There are many other engineering disciplines, such as chemical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, petroleum engineering, aeronautical engineering. If you are investigating the idea of studying engineering, then this book will be of help to you. Many of you who choose to study engineering will find that the experience of university is quite different from your expectations. Studying at university is very different from studying at high school. You will need to learn the skills of reading, writing and thinking about engineering. You will need to develop these skills differently from the way you have used reading, writing and thinking before. Most importantly, you will learn to understand the fundamentals of modern technology and xvi
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how these apply to everyday life. You will develop your analytical and design skills. On top of that, engineering is always changing as technology advances. These all sound like problems, but if there is one thing that engineers of all sorts are good at, it’s problem-solving! To get the most out of your studies, however, you will first need to come to terms with the community’s idea of an engineer, and learn how to create the world of the new engineer. Many students who are offered a place in engineering at university are high achievers who have done very well in their previous studies. However, often they discover on arrival at university that the demands of the engineering degree are very different from anything they have done before. They may find that the study strategies they have relied on are not quite so successful at tertiary level. Other students, coming from widely varied backgrounds, may be unsure about how to approach the study tasks of the course. In this book, we will help you understand the specifics of studying at university and equip you with strategies for success. You will find that there is more to being at university than studying for exams. Studying Engineering at University, which is designed primarily for first and second year engineering students, will teach you the special skills you need to succeed in your engineering course at university.
USING THIS BOOK—HOW THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU We will talk about some of the basic skills you need to develop in order to stay focused on your studies and get the most out of your degree. We will introduce you to xvii
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some of the ways that knowledge is discussed and used at university level, and give you some advice about making the most of university life as a whole as well as succeeding in your studies. We will also consider how you achieve that success by doing well in assessment tasks. The focus of this book is on some of the different ways in which engineering subjects are assessed at university. While you will find that each institution assesses its students slightly differently, most assessment is by projects, essays and exams, often ‘problem-solving’ exams. Problem-solving strategies and how to develop them for yourself are discussed in Chapter 6. We also discuss technical writing and show you how to approach university essays. We give you tips on how to prepare for and tackle exams of all sorts. Finally, we give you some hints about what to do if things go wrong with your studies. You will also find that we have included profiles of current engineering students, recent graduates and professional engineers. Their stories, advice and experience will help broaden your views of studying at university and of the profession of engineering itself. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on providing practical and helpful advice that will help you make the most of your time and your work. One aspect of this is the profiles of working engineers we have scattered throughout the text. We have asked these engineers to provide some information about themselves and their jobs, and we have included their own words to help you see the wide variety of people who are engineers. Some of these contributors have also provided comments on sections of the text, and we thank them sincerely for their input. xviii
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You will find that the study of engineering subjects gives you plenty of interesting matter to think about. We trust that this book will help you to enjoy the experience as well.
Dreaming of great inventors—always of something new Henry Lawson, Australian Engineers, 1903
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1
TRANSFER ISSUES— FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY
FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY
CLASS STRUCTURE Classes are different at tertiary level. If your secondary school had a small year 12, you will find much larger class sizes. You’ll have lectures of about 400 students, and practical sessions with 60 in the class. So you won’t have much individual attention from the teaching staff. Most first year engineering students have about 16–25 hours of lectures, pracs (practical laboratory sessions) and tutes (tutorials) every week.
MY FIRST DAYS STUDYING ENGINEERING—KEONG LIM ‘Compared to just about any school, universities are huge! Most have 10 to 20 times the population of your school and more services than a small
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country town. As an engineering student, you are destined to spend more time on campus than just about anyone else. The best thing you can do is become comfortable with your surroundings as quickly as possible. Learn what services are available. Learn where everything is located. Learn how to get across campus as quickly as possible (believe me, it will come in handy towards exam time, when you feel you can’t waste even one minute going from the lecture theatre to the photocopy room and back again!). I recommend using Orientation Week to get lost on campus as often as possible. Each time you find your way back is a piece in the puzzle. Don’t forget to include the far reaches of the campus. I’ve had Engineering lectures in the Physics, Microbiology, Medicine, Arts, Law, Music, Maths and Zoology lecture theatres. In fact, I’ve had fewer lectures in the Engineering theatres than anywhere else!’
Lectures form the basis of your university study. They introduce the theory behind the course. In a first-year lecture, students take notes, and don’t usually ask or answer questions (though some lecturers like you to do this). If you would like to ask something, most lecturers are happy to talk to you. Try just before or just after class. Many lecturers also have consultation times, when they are available in their offices. Usually you won’t need an appointment to see lecturers during their scheduled consultation times, but you may have to wait if a number of students are there during that time. If you have a few 2
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questions, or need to have a longer discussion with a lecturer, ask if you can make an appointment at another time. However, your tutor for that subject may be a better starting point. Lecturers will talk to students and do their best to be available, but because there are so many students, it can be difficult. Getting to know your tutors, year coordinators and course coordinators will give you a network of people in the faculty to help you with different issues.
What are lectures? Unlike classes at school, lectures don’t provide all the information you need. You are expected to read from your text books and other sources (e.g. printed lecture notes, reading packs, web sites and academic journals) to cover each topic in sufficient depth. When you make the transition from school to university, the emphasis switches from ‘teaching’ to ‘learning’—which is the responsibility of you, the student.
What about tutorials? In addition to lectures there are tutorials and practical classes. In a tutorial or ‘tute’ you will be with a smaller group of students; the tutor will take you through various set problems, or perhaps just show you how to start solving the problems on your own. Often the whole sheet of problems can’t be completed in class, and you need to do these yourself out of class time. Tutes give you the chance to speak and ask questions. Get to know your tutors—they’re the first people you should go to if you are unsure about course material or assessment. You may also have practical or ‘prac’ classes, which are generally three to four hours long. In a prac class you 3
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will work in a small group on experiments or practical exercises related to the lecture material. You will do some of your pracs in classrooms, and others at outside sites, around campus or around the city. You will have about four other people in your group, but the whole prac class may have about 50 students in it. There will be three or four ‘demonstrators’ or tutors who will show you how to perform the prac, help you if you encounter problems, and monitor safety in the lab. Like tutors, demonstrators can be very helpful and they are the ones with whom you can most easily develop a good working relationship. In pracs you learn various procedures and techniques which may be assessed at the end of semester. You will also have a prac report to write either during the prac class itself or in the following week. Sometimes you may need to stay back to complete an assignment that is going slowly. You are expected to do quite a bit of work on your own. This is especially true of thinking! For example, always try to consider the prac material in the context of your lectures. How does this material fit? What concepts from your lectures are you exploring during the prac? Relating the lecture and prac topics to each other will not only make the prac more interesting, but will also make it easier to remember this material during exams. Because of the way prac schedules are put together, you might not be doing the prac work on a particular topic at the same time as the lectures on that topic. Reviewing the lecture notes relevant to the prac (or doing a bit of reading in advance if the prac is scheduled first) will also help you get the most out of your prac work. 4
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Another type of class format which may be new to you is on-line learning. Many university courses have computer-aided instruction as part of the course. Some practical classes are based on computer applications, and of course you will have access to Internet information to help you with your research and projects. Most university campuses have information technology support (ITS) for students who are unfamiliar with this type of learning or have little experience of computers. Online units can be a most fulfilling and exciting way of studying engineering, as you can access information and classes at your own pace, revisit issues of which you were at first unsure, and get a better idea of how parts of the course relate to one another.
FINDING YOUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY One consequence of large classes is that students can feel isolated. You will be pursuing your studies alone among hundreds, which can be a strange feeling. It might be difficult to get to know individual people in your classes. The teaching staff won’t know everyone in the class, and at first you won’t recognise more than a few fellow students. Many university students make friends on the very first day with the people who happen to sit next to them at the first lecture they attend. Often students feel that ‘everyone else seems to have friends/know where they are going/know what to do’, but usually this is an illusion. Most of the other first-year students are equally shy and lost in their early weeks at university. A few students have friends from their high 5
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school in the same tertiary course, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Remember that as time passes groups of friends will inevitably change. Students who mix only with their old friends will miss out on one of the important highlights of university: getting to know a range of different people in a stimulating environment.
Finding friends Many universities run special functions in Orientation Week (the week before classes start) to help students overcome these problems, and some faculties and departments run specific schemes (such as mentor or host schemes) to help incoming students adjust to their new learning environment. Another aspect to explore is the support services available on campus: student counselling, health, financial aid and housing. University student unions have many clubs and societies that you can join, and indeed many engineering faculties have their own student interest clubs. These cater for a range of interests, from singing to skiing to food. The engineering faculty clubs will give you a chance to get to know some of the students in later years of the course. They can also be a good source of advice on questions about the course, exams, or subjects you might be choosing later on. Your faculty might run a student mentoring scheme, where you can be matched with later year students (or industry contacts when you’re in later years); this is a good opportunity to initiate your networking. Engineering studies can be intense at times, so it’s also a good idea to get to know some people from outside your faculty through some of the campus clubs and events—sometimes a different perspective will be very 6
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welcome! It’s a good idea to attend some of the orientation events and join one or two schemes or groups so that you can quickly find some friendly fellow students, find your way around, and then proceed with the serious business of studying and enjoying university life. The transition to university occurs just when you are old enough to be making or developing serious relationships for the first time. You may encounter stresses which you have never experienced before. The transition may be more difficult for students coming from single sex schools and for those coming from the country to live and study in the city. If you are now living away from home or living in college, you may be ambushed by a very demanding social life and domestic responsibilities. All of these take time, so your study must be efficient and organised.
Most academics are sympathetic to students’ problems and most departments have student advisers. Don’t try to keep your problems to yourself. It’s okay to admit difficulty and to talk to someone.
AN ENGINEERING LECTURER SAYS: ‘I once had a student come to see me because he had not collected all the handouts for the last two
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weeks. When gently questioned it turned out that he was living away from home for the first time and having to manage a budget. When he didn’t have enough money for the rent he took up a full-time job for two weeks. During that time he didn’t attend uni. He didn’t seek help from anyone and was completely unaware of the support facilities the uni has.’
FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY At university, you are responsible for your own learning. The lecturers see so many students each week that they can’t be expected to remember all individual first-year students; lecturers, tutors and demonstrators are responsible for their own research (or study) as well as teaching classes. It isn’t part of their regular job to contact you to make sure you are keeping up with your studies. You need to organise your own study regime and keep up with the material. In fact, the sooner you can convince yourself to start, the better you will be. New students often find this expectation—that they take responsibility themselves for their work—a great change from school days. This can feel like complete freedom to study or not to study. However, it can cause problems, especially if you tend to procrastinate about study.
Where is the time going? Your first semester at university is probably going quite quickly. At tertiary level, topics are covered at a faster 8
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rate. Two or three lectures in one week may equal half a term’s work at school. If you don’t realise just how much material is covered in each lecture, you won’t allow enough time to prepare for the examinations at the end of semester. To get this into perspective, take into account that the university teaching year is 24–28 weeks long, and yet you will cover up to four times the amount of material that you had at school in 32–39 weeks each year. So you can’t leave all your revision until ‘swot vac’ (the week or two after classes finish and before exams begin): there just isn’t enough time in those few days to read over all the material in the semester’s curriculum, let alone study the ideas properly and practise answering questions. You need to work steadily throughout the semester to develop a good understanding of the course. You have probably been given this sort of advice before, and ignored it. However, because of the weighting of assessment in engineering courses (80–100 per cent on the end-of-semester exam), this notion of constant revision and steady work is essential to your success. We’ll talk about the assessment procedures and what they mean in later chapters. Just remember that if you don’t understand something, it’s no use waiting until the end of the course to ask someone to explain it to you—you’ll be too far behind. (If you need to ask a question, do it straight away, in your next class.) There are strategies which you can employ to help you around these difficulties, and we’ll discuss them throughout this book. Also keep in mind that a lot of the material from later years in the engineering course is based on material taught in the first year or two. If you invest some time in getting a good understanding of the material early on, it will save you time and make it easier to get good marks in later subjects. 9
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However, don’t think that your life at university needs to be one long, long slog, where you have your head down over your desk for sixteen uninterrupted weeks each semester—far from it! You can really do quite well by working steadily—not necessarily night and day, but doing some study often—over the weeks, completing a certain amount of all your tasks. The curriculum is so large that you can still do very well even though you don’t know everything perfectly.
‘These students don’t know anything!’ versus ‘They never tell us what we need to know!’ Sometimes university teaching staff feel disappointed with the knowledge level of the students admitted to their courses. You may have seen reports criticising current secondary schooling and assessment procedures. Some university staff would be happier to set their own entrance examinations to screen students. Lecturers have expressed this as: ‘They know all about dolphins and trawling, and surfing the Internet, but they don’t know their basic maths!’ The truth is that today’s successful school leaver may be a very different person from the university entrant of the 1970s. Today’s universities have a wider diversity of students than ever before. For instance, a greater proportion of students now complete six years of secondary education and so become eligible for university entrance. Australian universities welcome a wide range of students from a diversity of cultures, as well as large numbers of international students. Today’s university students have a wider range of skills and interests than the bookish ‘academically inclined’ successful matriculant of 20 years ago. Only recently is the university community beginning to appreciate how such diversity can be a positive force 10
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in tertiary pursuits. Many businesses, especially large multinationals, are also placing greater value on diversity these days, since a diverse group of employees can help them build a more creative and flexible workforce. (In fact, Australia has one of the most diverse workforces in the world.) The cultural diversity of Australia and its university communities is a strength and a great asset in facing the challenges of the twenty-first century—a time of great social and technological change.
Female students Studying engineering can sometimes pose difficulties for women. This is the case even in some engineering schools where female students are in the majority. Many of the issues discussed in engineering, such as caring for the environment and creating livable spaces, are often of special interest to women, and the way in which generations of men handled these issues can create an awkwardness around the corridors of the engineering school. Women continue to be under-represented in the profession, and while many people believe that women students can bring special richness to engineering, some still resist the idea of women engineers. Engineering as a profession affects many aspects of our society, so it makes sense to encourage the engineering community to become more representative of society as a whole. It can be difficult, however, in the face of negative attitudes, for women to demand better access to facilities and attention (for example, some male students may be reluctant to share equipment during pracs, or may demand more of the teacher’s time than others). Many Australian engineering faculties are implementing programs designed to build a more diverse academic 11
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community, including increasing the role of women in engineering. They aim to create and maintain an inclusive environment with equal access and support for all groups. If you feel that the way in which lectures, pracs or general discussion is conducted is inappropriate, raise the issue with other students, the lecturer/tutor concerned, another staff member you know, or consult your women’s officer, or the equal opportunity officer on campus. Things can only change if people bring attention to them and make a concerted effort to make change happen.
Keeping up Universities in general (and university teaching staff in particular) expect a great deal of their students. The possible mismatch between what lecturers expect you to know and what you actually bring with you from school can cause problems. Students who did well in Year 12 may be too complacent. The university expects you to arrive with an enquiring mind, to have the initiative and interest to follow up topics that interest you, and to go about your own work without needing to be spoon-fed.
Lecturers, tutors and demonstrators believe that successful students will want to understand the concepts and will therefore have no difficulty in doing so. If you are 12
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enthusiastic about what you learn, of course this will help to keep you motivated, and that’s important. But something that is equally important is the ability to keep an open mind and be willing to adapt. Tertiary teachers are not the same as secondary teachers; they often won’t tell students exactly what to do. Instead, they expect you to learn by following their example to find your own conclusions, or by applying a rule or theory to a new situation. Also, as graduates you will be facing a flexible, changing work environment, so it is important to practise adapting and succeeding on your own. You’ll be going through many changes. There are rapid advances being made in all fields of engineering and technology, so the gap between secondary studies and tertiary engineering courses can be huge. No matter how much you want to understand and explore the new concepts, you may find the course very difficult. Alternatively, all the new information can be a challenge which fascinates and inspires you to discover more and more yourself. You have individual assets to offer the tertiary sector which have never been seen there before—because you’ve never been there before—and it may be your contribution to engineering that changes the way we look at theories and practices, or even the way we organise our lives.
How to judge your progress In these large class sizes, with little direction on how to organise your study, how do you know how well you are going? University students are notorious for under- or over-reporting the amount of study they do, so you can’t always rely on the estimates of friends and acquaintances to compare your own performance. If there are no 13
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continuous assessment procedures, you may not know whether you are doing enough work. Students commonly have unrealistic expectations of how much material they can cover during swot vac. If you decide to spend all your time joining clubs and making friends, you won’t be the only one, but will you be a successful student? If you have a chance to get to know some students in later years of the course (for example, through a departmental or faculty mentor scheme), they can often give you a better idea of how much work you really need to do. There is certainly a place for socialisation in a wellbalanced timetable, but the important concept here is balance. Leaving all your study until the last minute may make you work very quickly at the end of the semester (when you are in a flat panic), but there is so much information throughout the semester that you can’t possibly cover everything (no matter how many cups of coffee you have). Remember that steady learning in first year will set you up not only for the exams, but for later years as well. A word from Joseph, a second-year engineering student at the University of Melbourne: ‘Regular study is probably best but also requires the most discipline. Completing a few maths problems a day is probably better than working on maths for hours on the weekends.’
ASSESSMENT Many engineering subjects at tertiary level are assessed wholly by the end-of-semester exam. For many students, 14
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these will be the first 100 per cent assessment exams they have ever sat, and perhaps the first time they have sat a three-hour exam. A long exam in a large room with hundreds of other more-or-less anxious students around you can be daunting. Some engineering exams will have shorter or longer essay-style answers, some will require you to solve problems, and some will have a multiplechoice component. In addition, many courses will also assess your practical work, either on your weekly performance and written ‘prac reports’, or in a special practical examination. Some engineering courses have very little in the way of assignments, but others will require you to submit one or two small tasks, such as problem sheets or reports. For some students, the shock of failing or doing badly on one of these small tasks is great—these are students who may never previously have failed a single assessment. At university, of course, the standards are higher because everyone in the course obtained at least the entrance level mark. In fact, you can think of it as everyone else in the room being as smart or smarter than you are. (Interesting thought!) Some students come in expecting to cope easily because they were always in the top 10 per cent at their high school, but you need to get these things into perspective. A class comprised entirely of the top students from secondary school will perform at a higher level than your old secondary school class; by comparison, you may perform at a lower level than you are accustomed to. Only when you have failed, or received a low mark in one or more assignments, do you realise that study at tertiary level requires a different approach. At the very worst, you’ll have to repeat a subject. Most universities recognise that first year is a time of adjustment. There are lots of ways to get help on campus, as we will show. 15
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Failing a subject at university can be crushing, but it isn’t like failing in Year 12, when it meant not getting into university. You’ll have many opportunities to repair your mistakes.
How this book can help you adapt Of course, prevention is better than cure, and there are good ways to prepare for tertiary assessment tasks. In this book you will find practical suggestions for keeping up with the work, for learning masses of numbers and formulae, for tackling problems, and for preparing written work. You will also find ways to read more efficiently and to make the most of your study time. There’s even a section on what to do if things go wrong.
ENGINEERING—THE PROFESSION You may have read articles recently about the desire of engineers to raise their profile as a profession within the wider community. There is a perception that engineers are ‘different’ and perhaps not approachable or very social (for example, the character in the Dilbert cartoons). Many universities are addressing these concerns of the community and the profession, and are integrating professional skills subjects into their courses. You may find that there are classes on communication skills, such as interviewing and report writing, which may be entirely new to you. Some students find studying these topics boring, but mostly you will enjoy these classes as respite from the usual round of lectures, pracs and tutorials. Remember that you are one of a new generation of engineers and that you will work in a different society, more knowledge-rich than ever before. You will need to 16
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communicate with a wide variety of people, from clients and colleagues to government officials and the media. Engineering helps form the structure of modern society and has a large role to play in the lives of ordinary people as well as informing the work of experts from different fields. So take advantage of any opportunities you get for professional skills training, and take your expertise to the world!
TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION • • • • • • • •
make friends go to all your classes do some study every week review your work and your goals regularly do some preparation before class plan your time—today, this week, this month, this semester investigate where to get help on campus reward yourself for making progress
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LEARNING—THE BEST STUDY SKILLS FOR YOU
THE BEST STUDY SKILLS FOR YOU
Success in previous study can boost your confidence. However, because you have already had good study experiences, you may have trouble adjusting to the different study requirements at university. Although you have a style that was successful at school, you will need to adapt it to university demands. You are now a ‘professional’ student, an adult who is studying (if only you were making lots of money doing it) as a full-time occupation. Even part-time students need to approach study professionally. Your undergraduate years give you the tools to build a successful career. This time is a valuable investment in your future earning potential. 18
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PERSONAL LEARNING STYLES At school, your learning was more directed than it will be at university. Your teachers made decisions about how to segment the material to be learned. They also monitored how much homework and study you were doing. These responsibilities are now yours. First, it’s probably useful to consider your own preferred learning style. One advantage of being responsible for your own learning is that you are free to consider your personal preferences. Different people learn in different ways. You may, for example: • • • • • • • • •
enjoy exploring knowledge with a group of others; like to investigate unusual topics all alone; like to gather details or examples that explain a whole theory; use theories to predict specific instances; feel you don’t understand something until you’ve written it down many times; prefer to try something hands on than read about it; be good at explaining concepts to other people; like to learn lists; enjoy hearing experts talk about their specialities.
Take these preferences into consideration, but also realise that it’s a whole new world of study, and that you’ll need to adjust to it.
Investigate your own study style There are many ways you can explore your own study strengths and weaknesses. One is to keep a journal of your study progress over the first semester, noting tasks that you found difficult, easy, rewarding, or time wasters. 19
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There are a couple of really useful printed references in Appendix I of this book. There are also lots of electronic resources (see Appendix II) which help you identify personal characteristics available: you can do on-line learning style tests and get a brief evaluation. Once you have investigated and considered your preferences, put them to work. Knowing your personal style can help if you then adapt study techniques to suit you. Work from your strengths, and understand and compensate for your weaknesses. Most assessment tasks require you to get involved with the material to be learned. You can’t imitate a sponge and hope to soak up ideas. You must become mentally active with your subject material. Lecturers expect you to be interested and willing to work on your own. Waiting for the information to come to you won’t work. Engaging actively with your study involves questioning and evaluating your tasks. Sometimes, you’ll have to make decisions about what’s important, what you need to do more work on, and what you don’t. Remember that your aim is to become a skilled and capable professional, to become well-educated in your chosen field, rather than just pass the exams and get your degree.
LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING How well do you need to know the material that you are studying? There are different levels of ‘knowing’.
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Level 1:
This is recognising that you have experienced something before: that’s a very basic level of learning and not of special use at university. You may think that multiple choice exams require only this level of knowledge—‘I’ll know the right answer when I see it’—but it won’t necessarily work. (See Chapters 11 and 12 on exams.) Build on this step by trying to remember the main points on each page just after you’ve read it. This shifts you from recognition to remembering some of the information. Level 2:
At the next level, you can remember bits of the whole idea, but you need prompting to complete it. This is a good stage to reach, because you can easily build on it. Some extra reading or another practice problem might help fill in the gaps. Level 3:
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You then develop a level of knowledge where you can remember the whole idea. You know how it works so well that you can explain it to someone else. You already have this level of knowledge for a great many things—the rules of your favourite sport, the plot of your favourite soapie, the legendary figures in the history of your hobby. If you develop this level of knowledge in your engineering subjects, you’ll do very well in assessments. Helping each other solve problems during study groups or tutorials is a great way to build on this level. Level 4:
The highest level of knowing occurs when you have made the ideas part of your own knowledge base and when you can also adapt those ideas to new situations, or even develop them further through mentally manipulating them. This could lead you into new research areas, and is a good basis for honours or postgraduate study. This is the level that working engineers use most often: adapting general rules and tailoring them to fit specific sites or applications.
BECOMING AN ACTIVE LEARNER To reach the higher knowledge levels, you must become active with the material. Reading and re-reading the same information in the very same words, or writing out your notes over and over, are passive learning techniques. You will eventually learn the material, but at university 22
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you won’t have time to study this way. Underlining (or highlighting) parts of the texts or your notes is also passive— it implies that you’ll have time to go back over that passage before the exam. It’s very hard to find any spare time at the end of the semester—swot vac just isn’t long enough! Apart from being very time-consuming, passive learning is boring. So replace it with interesting, stimulating, active learning. Here are three good reasons why you should try using active learning: •
•
•
First, active learning allows you to interact with the concepts you need to learn, even if it’s only mentally (yes, you can be mentally active), so study is much more interesting. Have you ever read over the page from top left to bottom right, and realised that nothing went further than your eyeballs and that you need to read the whole page again? Active study will prevent this because it makes your study more interesting. Second, active learning is more time-efficient. Certainly, some of the activities you do may take longer than just re-reading your notes. However, they are also more effective. You will learn more in the same time, or the same amount in a shorter time. Third, active learning encourages you to think creatively about what you are studying. At university level, there is rarely one right answer that you must know. Instead there are many theories attempting to explain the same phenomenon, different techniques to solve similar problems, multiple methods to tackle the same project. Your task is to analyse and evaluate different applications in specific instances. Active learning will help you do this because it encourages analytical and creative thinking. 23
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Three reasons to use active learning: • • •
It’s more interesting for you. It’s more time-efficient. It helps you be more analytical and creative.
Of course, there are basic facts that you need to know before you can test various approaches against them. Yet at university level, we accept that what we know now is not necessarily ‘true’, or perhaps not true in the way we thought of truth at school; current knowledge is always just one step on the endless journey of discovery. For example, new ‘facts’ may be discovered tomorrow, maybe at the university where you are studying. Certainly, there are the laws of gravity, but now there’s also chaos theory. We learn all the time; knowledge is not static. Otherwise we’d still be studying how the other planets rotate around the earth, or how dangerous it is for ships to sail over the horizon, where they could fall off the edge of the flat world. We would be building more pyramids and struggling with cobbled roadways. Knowledge grows continually: you will need to keep learning even after you graduate.
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Things that are good for your brain don’t have to be boring. Be creative about your study—the more interesting you can make it, the better you will learn. You can find some detailed practical suggestions for active study in Chapter 3.
IDEAS FOR COLLABORATIVE LEARNING This leads us to collaborative learning. Many of your fellow students will be struggling under the same demanding workload as you are. It may be that, by pooling your resources, you can be of mutual benefit to each other. Even for routine tasks such as tute sheets, working through the problems with friends helps you all solve them more quickly. Perhaps one of you is good at seeing how to approach the problem, another is especially good at working through the formulae in detail, while someone else can show the rest of you useful short-cuts for calculations. Often you all know part of what to do, or part of how something works, but mostly not one of you knows everything. By combining energies, you can all learn how to approach and complete the entire task. You will work in groups at university. Many practical classes are arranged around the same group of students, a team of about four each semester. Get the best out of everyone in the team by sharing the experience and the responsibilities. Everyone needs to learn how to use the equipment and how to interact effectively in a team situation.
PUTTING ACTIVE LEARNING TO WORK Keeping your learning active will also help with managing your time. You can get your work done efficiently if you 25
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use active learning strategies wisely (more about time management and organisation in Chapter 5).
WORLD’S BEST ACTIVE STUDY TIPS FOR ENGINEERS • •
• •
•
•
Explore different ways of getting the same information—lectures, texts, internet, friends. Explore varied experiences to see how theories work in practice—for example, visit your mentor’s worksite. Try explaining what you are learning to a range of people. Make sure you get plenty of experience with the equipment (and share with other students too!). Get some practice at the tasks you will do in the exams—write short answers, solve problems, test yourself with lists and missing words. Join (or create) a study group or problemsolving group.
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WHAT IS AN ENGINEER? Profile: Keong Lim I couldn’t choose between Science and Engineering, so I studied both! Now, as a graduate of both Science and Engineering, I still believe it was the best of all possible choices. Science and Engineering suits me well. Engineering reputation is built upon hard work, honesty and integrity. The scientific side of me likes to debunk myths, seek the facts and shun shoddy workmanship. I was always fascinated by how things work. The getting of understanding was what I hungered for and that’s what my uni course delivered to me. It was an intellectual challenge that I enjoyed immensely. I think I prefer the Engineering side of things, the robust, commercial realisation of the Science. It’s a real thrill to see all the real world applications of the technology and it’s awesome to think about how many things in our lives are affected by it. The other aspect of Engineering I like is the creative side. Creativity is more usually applied to the arts, but without it, the practice of Engineering would die a horrible death. I love the idea of starting with nothing, tossing in a handful of raw resources, mixing it up according to some scientific principle, and with some elbow grease and carefully planned synchronicities, you end up with a product. A tangible, useful thing. Something from nothing. That’s undeniable creativity!
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My chosen fields are Software Engineering and Communications Engineering. It’s a topical area, what with Y2K bugs, the Internet and deregulation of the telephone industry getting a mention in all kinds of popular media. It’s a growth industry and anyone with skills can make big money (not that I’m motivated only by money!). It means I’ll have a good career path for the foreseeable future and the pace of innovation means there’s always something to keep me interested. It’s quite a portable skill set too. I could easily get jobs in any country around the world and that’s exactly what many people do. What do I want from my working life? I want to create something that’s useful, productive and reliable; a positive legacy; something that I would be proud to attach my reputation to and be remembered for, long after I’m gone.
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3
MEMORY— HARD-WIRING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
HARD-WIRING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
The most common study problem for engineering students is dealing with the workload. You will feel you have a mountain of things to remember. You have many formulae, lists and tables to learn, but you can’t begin to study because you’re working through so many examples and tutorial sheets. There are ways around these problems. In Chapter 2, we talked about active learning. Here we’ll demonstrate how to apply active learning to specific study material. Why are we discussing study and memory at this early stage—don’t exams happen at the end of semester? Consolidating knowledge into memory takes time. The sooner you start, the better your results will be. Many first year engineering students feel overloaded with work and a little confused. Partly that’s because of the amount of material, the quick pace of delivery, the large class sizes and the lack of individual supervision. However, you will make progress as long as you are flexible about your study strategies. For example, perhaps you did well at school by putting in long hours going 29
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over and over your texts and exercises. Now there just isn’t enough time to use that study technique effectively. So what can you do?
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE WAY MEMORY WORKS
Repeating things over and over is one way to remember them, but there are other ways to make and retain permanent data stores. For example, if you are really interested in something, you have no trouble remembering all the details about it. Most people easily remember the plot complexities of a favourite book, film, or TV show. Many of us can recite copious lines from these favourites. Then there are the lyrics to songs that we remember effortlessly. You can probably also remember the detailed and complex rules of your favourite hobby, sport, or computer game. Because you are motivated to know these things—that is, you want to know them—they are easy to recall.
Another element of memory is understanding. If you know 30
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how something works, you can easily recall the details without learning them off by heart, because you can relate the different sections to one another. Understanding a concept will help you remember it. When you first learned the 12 times table it was a collection of numbers. When you began to understand multiplication, the numbers made more sense because you saw how they related to each other.
If you can appreciate how a certain system is organised, then you can more easily recall the parts of that system. It’s easier to remember items in neat categories, because we like to see (or imagine) patterns in the data. Organising the information coherently aids memory. When you made connections and saw the patterns in the times tables (12 × 5 is the same as 5 × 12), they were much easier to remember.
Similarly, linking items together helps you to remember them. If you can’t see an overall pattern, perhaps you can see a similarity to something you already know. Associating one idea with another known idea will aid recall. Associations can be simple (Italy looks like a boot) or complex (a chemical engineer associating shivering after stepping 31
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out of a pool on a windy day with the measurement of wet bulb temperature).
Much of what we learn reaches us through sight. Having the ability to visualise something enhances memory, and being able to visualise something in a three-dimensional image is even better. This can be particularly useful for understanding the phase behaviour of a substance by visualising its PVT (pressure-volume-temperature) behaviour as a three-dimensional surface. Memory principles are summarised in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Elements of remembering Element of memory
How it works
motivation
you remember items remembering you remember items you remember items you remember items other, known ideas you remember items image
understanding patterning linking visualising
you are really interested in that you comprehend that you can arrange coherently that you can associate with of which you have a clear visual
The magical memory tour? Now we’ll show you how to apply these ideas to the specific memory tasks that face engineering students. You can divide these into three main types: ‘list’ information that you feel you need to learn by rote; practical skills for 32
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performing procedures; and theoretical concepts that you need to understand. Unfortunately, all remembering techniques require mental effort. The easier a memory technique sounds, the less likely it is to be really effective, particularly for learning at tertiary level. In this section, we’ll describe some techniques for improving memorisation. None of them is magical. However, used sensibly, they will help you to improve your ability to recall information in exams.
MEMORISATION OF LISTS There are quite a few ways to tackle information that you need to know ‘by heart’. The first is to treat the material as something you need to understand; in this case, you can become active with the material so that you can appreciate how it works. Make sense of information and learn it actively. Perhaps you need to learn the names of the factors involved in the stability of sloping ground. You could re-work the list as it is presented in your textbook so that the factors are grouped according to a different principle, such as by structural type, or alphabetically. You could make yourself familiar with the Latin or Greek origins of the names of minerals or rock forms involved and use this to help you understand why each is named as it is and what part it plays in stabilising ground. You can visit the museum and see the specimens presented there so that you have a clear idea of what the structures look like and how they interact (this could help you form a 3D image as well). You could practise drawing the processes involved freehand and writing the names and actions on 33
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each image. Understanding the interplay of the factors will aid memory. Another way to tackle lists is to use some type of mnemonic. Some ‘memory experts’ use devices such as ‘loci’ or ‘peg’ words to help them remember meaningless lists of numbers or words. Using loci involves visualising a series of places, always in the same order, and mentally placing the items to be learned one by one at each of those locations. Peg words also must be used in order (you ‘peg’ a visual image to a number—one, bun; two, shoe; etc—and then attach the listed items to each visual image). Another type of mnemonic is to make ‘pretend sense’ out of otherwise seemingly-meaningless data. You can make a word, a sentence or a poem that helps you remember the information. Examples of this are ‘Roy G Biv’ for the colours of the rainbow, and ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit’ for the lines of the treble clef in music. You may have heard of ‘McHales’ for the types of energy transfer: mechanical, chemical, heat, atomic, light, electric, and solar. Most of the popular memory-enhancement books you see on the paperback shelves go into great detail about using such devices to remember information. Use your common sense and don’t believe everything the ads say without question. Often the techniques take so long to master that you could have more profitably spent the time learning the data itself. Most important to note is that using mnemonics such as peg words requires regular revision or repetition of the same items, so it can be quite a time-consuming exercise altogether. Some students like to flood their environments with reminders of the items to be learned. You can write the list out and put copies in a multitude of places such as the back of the bathroom door, on the fridge, above your desk 34
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. . . You can make a tape of the list and play it in your car or Walkman . . . You can draw diagrams and tables and hide them in your lunch . . . Just make sure that you actually ‘see’ the information and don’t just let your eyes glide over these lists as if they truly were wallpaper or lunchwrap. Frequently changing the look and content of these items may help you to take notice of them. Attention is the first step to making a memory—those effortless ‘learn-by-seeing’ or ‘subconscious’ memories can be very elusive in the pressure situation of an exam.
Hum a few bars and . . . One way to learn lists is to put the words into a (mostly) coherent form that can be sung to a melody you already know. For example, the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ tune has ample scope for listing words. You probably know tunes that you much prefer! Melodies are often easy to remember, and they can help you remember the words you have matched with them. Of course, you need to be very inventive. Table 3.2 summarises the techniques you can use to learn lists of items.
REMEMBERING PROCEDURES Learning lists of items is only one of the tasks that face engineering students. Another is remembering how to perform certain practical procedures, such as using measuring instruments. An examination of your skills in these areas may form part of your assessment. You can try to use some of the techniques listed in Table 3.2 to help remember how to perform practical tasks. Make a list or flow chart of the steps that need to 35
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Technique
How to use it
Example
Use it for
Disadvantages
Understanding
Become active with the material
Group listed items by a different principle
Parts of a system or theory
You need to be inventive
Visual mnemonics
Learn a sequence of visual images and mentally attach the list items to the images
Picture each member of your family holding one element of a formula
Lists of items with weak connections to each other
1. You need to learn the pegs 2. You have to revise the visual images often
Word game mnemonics Make a word or sentence from the first letters of list items
Roy G Biv knows all the colours of the rainbow
Lists of items that need to be remembered in order
1. You have to be inventive 2. You have to revise the mnemonic often
Environmental cues
Put reminders or copies of the data you need to know where you will see/hear them often
Photocopy the table of elements and cover your folder with it
Especially for diagrams or pictorial representations
You need to change the items often or you stop noticing them; you still need to treat information actively
Melody association
Make the words of the items you need to know fit into the lyrics of a song
Learn the order of reactivity of metals by singing them to your favourite tune
Lengthy lists where connections or functions of the items are important
1. You may run out of suitable melodies 2. You may confuse the lists with the real lyrics of the song
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Table 3.2 Techniques for learning lists of items
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be performed in order to carry out, for example, the design of a digital circuit. Or say over and over the sequence of steps needed for an electro-magnetic emissions test. The main problem with these approaches to learning practical tasks is that, essentially, you won’t be practising the competency you’ll be tested in. The examiner probably won’t ask you to say what should happen next: you’ll be expected to do it. Think about what will be tested. Keep in mind the theory behind the practical task as well. This will help make the prac more interesting and relevant, making the processes easier to remember, as well as providing you with an extra opportunity to revise your lecture material. The key to doing well in practical examinations is to make yourself as familiar and efficient as possible with the technique/s which you will need. If possible, practise actually doing your tasks. If there are certain procedures that you need to know, your best way of tackling them is to practise doing them. It’s like learning to drive: it’s fine to rehearse to yourself ‘ease off the clutch, ease down on the accelerator, release the handbrake’, but while you still need to say these words to yourself as you perform a hill start, you are not a completely competent driver. When you can perform the task without consciously thinking about it, you will appear much more confident and impressive to the examiner. Achieving the necessary amount of practice can be difficult. Often labs, equipment and prac rooms are fully booked for classes or closed at other times. In some places, there will be an overload of students and you may need to share the facilities even during your scheduled practical times. It can be difficult for you to become familiar enough with the equipment so that the procedures become second nature. 37
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However, if you are enthusiastic and inventive, you can create practice sessions for yourself. Some of the latest brain activity studies show that when you mentally imagine yourself performing an activity, you in fact stimulate most of the areas of brain tissue that would be involved in the activity itself. So instead of (or as well as) saying the steps over to yourself, strive for a mental image of yourself actually performing each of the steps in sequence. Enlist other sensory memories (such as smell in chemistry!) to help as well. Another way is to practise in the absence of the equipment while still performing the necessary movements. This is a bit like reading a dance score—but instead of just saying ‘first I have to step to the right, then there’s a twist, and then there’s a half-slide backwards’, you read or say the step and then act it out. It can be fun to do this with a friend. You can amuse your family with your mime activities. So for a practical task, you must employ your ‘physical’ or kinaesthetic memory, as well as verbal and auditory memory, to get the best results. Going through the movements may not sound useful, but it will bring very good results. Table 3.3 gives a summary of ways to study practical tasks.
LEARNING AND UNDERSTANDING THEORY You must also learn theory. Learning theoretical concepts can be very challenging, particularly when you have a great many of them thrust at you all at once, or when learning a new concept depends upon your understanding a previous concept about which you feel unsure. 38
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HARD-WIRING YOUR KNOWLEDGE Table 3.3 Techniques for studying prac tasks Technique
How to use it
Example
Use it for
Disadvantages
Listing the steps
Write the steps of a procedure in sequence and memorise it
Isolate the steps of performing site measurements and say them over to yourself
Getting the steps into the right order
1. You need to do a lot of repetition 2. You’re not practising the actual procedure
Mentally performing the activity
As you say the steps, visualise yourself doing each one
Create a mental image of your hands preparing the equipment
Times when you can’t physically practise the task
You need a bit of imagination to do it
Rehearsing the routine
As you read the steps of the procedure, mime doing them
Make the movements you would make if you really had the equipment in your hands
Getting a feel of the physical activity
You mightn’t feel comfortable doing this in the library!
Theories help engineers to organise ideas. Once you understand the principles, other things may fall into place. Why is this? Well, as we said before, the understanding of concepts and the organisation of ideas are keys to memory. For example, the organisation of the elements in the original periodic table was done on the basis of practical experience of their properties. Students had to learn the table off by heart. Now knowledge of atomic structure provides the theoretical underpinning for the organisation of the periodic table. If you learn these principles, you can figure out which element goes where without memorising every one. 39
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Technique
How to use it
Example
Use it for
Disadvantages
Mind maps
Start with writing the central theme in the middle of the page, and develop sub-ideas around it
Write ‘circuit design’ and draw lines from it to related words
Helping to visualise the components of a complex theory
1. You need to be creative 2. The ideas may look disorganised and therefore hard to remember
Summaries
Read a section or chapter and then write a summary of the main ideas
Write point form lists of the steps involved in designing a microprocessor
Helping to organise parts of a theory into a shorter form
1. You may find it hard to use your own words 2. You may end up copying and not being active
Changed format
Make the theory look different by working it into another format
Use a flow chart to describe the elements involved in the process of glycolysis
Sequencing elements in a described or proposed theoretical explanation
1. You have to be inventive to change the look 2. You have to be careful to include all elements
Populist-speak
Practise explaining the theory in different words
Imagine that your little sister asked what quarks are—see if you can write it simply
Making sure that you’ve understood how the theory works as an explanation
1. It’s hard to use your own words 2. You may need help to understand it first
Collaboration
Ask fellow students to form a study group—run it with definite aims
Work on old tute sheets and take turns starting and finishing problems
Tasks that you often ‘get stuck’ on
1. Others may not be ready to work 2. Some people may take advantage
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Table 3.4 Techniques for learning theory
Make copies of the material to be learned, white-out different elements on each copy, and then complete them from memory
Write out the formula for calculating the heat produced by dielectric heating, copy it, white-out symbols and try to recreate it
Theoretical explanations where each element contributes essential processes
1. It might be costly 2. You need to leave some time between preparing the sheets and finishing them
Examiner hat
Pretend you are the examiner and create questions from the theoretical material
Read over the section on thermal convection and create a short-answer question
Useful towards the end of the semester when you should be trying to see the material from various perspectives
Perhaps you find it hard to act like an examiner!
Dress rehearsal
Get hold of old exam papers and sit parts of them under exam conditions
‘Sit’ the first 40 minutes of the biology exam with no coffee or music
Preparing your mind and body for the exam ‘marathon’
You may find it difficult to get old papers
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Disappearing data
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For theoretical concepts, all the active study principles in Chapter 2 will be useful. The emphasis is on mental work with the ideas, not merely cramming as many words as possible into your head. As a reminder (which is a good thing to have in a chapter on remembering!), Table 3.4 provides a summary of some of the active study principles suitable for learning theories. So you see there are many ways to learn material, and memorising items ‘off by heart’ may not be the most appropriate. Use a variety of techniques, tailored to the type of material to be learned, so that you stay mentally fresh. Studying can be hard work (so can playing sport) but it is possible to employ a range of learning (training) activities that help you enjoy that work. You can find more hints about memory techniques on the WWW. Check the starting sites in Appendix II.
TIPS FOR MAXIMISING MEMORY • • • • • • •
Get active (mentally and physically) with the material. Focus your attention on what you want to learn. Become familiar with the ideas. Use links and associations to things you already know. Be inventive with mnemonics such as melodies and rhymes. Believe that you have a good memory, and you will have a better one. Use your knowledge as often as you can: think it, write it, talk it.
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•
Test your memory the way it will be tested by the examiner: for example, essay, prac, or short answer.
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4
NOTE-TAKING— USEFUL HARD COPY
USEFUL HARD COPY
In class you will take notes of the information that is given and what occurs during the class. The main reason for taking notes is to help you concentrate, and later to remember the important ideas and procedures that were used. Notes are useful study tools and can help you organise your understanding of the concepts. Most other people in the class will take notes and you won’t want to be left out.
To write, or not to write? Sometimes you won’t want to take notes. In lectures, a great deal of theory will be displayed and discussed. You may have a course outline and receive a complete set of notes for the course. Sometimes lecturers hand out copies of their overhead slides in every lecture. So you may feel that there is no need for you to take your own notes. You may feel it’s better to listen carefully, rather than writing just for the sake of it. But make sure you do not simply sleep! 44
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Some of your lectures may be delivered on-line. Beware: on-line lectures can be a bit of a trap. It is tempting to think that, just because all the words are there in front of you, there is no need for you to do anything other than sit in front of the screen and scroll through the pages. You may imagine that you can always print out the sections you want later in the semester. However, it’s a good idea to take at least a few notes from each on-line presentation. Taking notes will help you stay attentive to the material on your screen, and help you locate the information for later use. Remember to keep records of the site and the date you accessed the material: this will also help you identify and recall material.
In tutorials and pracs, you have your prac book or weekly tute sheet to refer to, and this may be sufficient information to keep as a study aid. A few jottings of changes to the day’s program may be all that you want to write. While there’s no law that says you must take notes, taking notes has important advantages: • • • • •
you are less likely to fall asleep you create a permanent record you have a basis for later study you can put the ideas into your own words (a good active learning task) you can use your notes for discussion with other students (another good active learning task) 45
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•
you can use your notes as a basis for writing reports, essays and assignments.
THE BEST NOTES ARE YOURS Good notes are brief, and designed to jog your memory. Don’t try to write every word that is said. It’s not an exercise in dictation. Notes are to help clarify the major points and to help you remember them. Focus your ideas when you are taking notes. Write the topic and date of the lecture at the top of the page, and pay attention to what the lecturer says are the main points. Listen for ‘signpost’ words and use headings, subheadings and numbering to help keep your notes organised.
AN ENGINEERING LECTURER’S VIEW I expect the students to fill the white spaces of the printed notes with annotations in which they note the important things I have said. For example, in the notes I might write the equation for the ideal gas law. During the lectures I might describe the conditions in which the equation is valid, and those conditions in which the ideal gas law does not hold. I expect the students to note down these conditions beside the equation in the printed notes. If a student shows me a set of notes in almost pristine condition, that tells me that the student has not made the most of their educational opportunities.
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Sometimes notes are questions or instructions for yourself: ‘this is not what the tutor said’, or ‘this is covered in Chapter 23’. If you review your notes regularly, these jottings can remind you of connections you need to make, or information to look up. To be truly useful, notes need to be personal. Don’t worry what other people’s notes look like; your notes are for yourself. You are the expert when it comes to deciding what you need to write. You will notice the truth of this if you ever have to borrow someone else’s notes—you will probably spend ages puzzling over them. If (as sometimes happens even to the most conscientious student) you miss a lecture, then the best way to catch up is not to photocopy someone’s notes, but to talk over the lecture with them. They can work from their notes (it will do their study good too) while you take your own, as the two of you discuss the concepts covered in the lecture.
STRATEGIES FOR NOTE-TAKING IN LECTURES You can write outlines for yourself or you can add comments to the printed notes that are provided with a lecture. Different people take notes in different ways. Some use a complex mind map strategy, where the main idea is written in the centre of the page and the related points branch away from it. Others use ruled margins, colourcoded headings and neat dot points. Some notes are scrawls that even the author can’t decipher a week later. It matters very little what shape your notes take: the important issue is what you do with them. You can take 47
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STUDYING ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY Figure 4.1 Notes organised under headings
the prettiest notes, but if they moulder at the bottom of your aerobics bag for six months, they are useless. Figures 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 are examples of different 48
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USEFUL HARD COPY Figure 4.2 Notes with a column of comments made during revision
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STUDYING ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY Figure 4.3 Notes made in a ‘mind map’ style with connecting arrows for links
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note-taking styles for different people and different circumstances. Don’t try to develop the world’s best-ever note-taking system, with add-on extras of colour-codes, bullet points, boxes, fancy margins, etc—you could get so carried away with your beautiful creation that you don’t listen to the ideas that are being discussed. Notes are only ‘beautiful’ if they are useful. In Chapters 1 and 2, we emphasised using study techniques that suit you, rather than trying to do what someone else does. Many students think that someone else’s notes are ‘perfect’—neater, more accurate, written in better handwriting, clearer—but the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Keep in mind your own preferences. There’s nothing wrong with experimenting with different note-taking techniques, but settle fairly quickly on a style that suits you, and stick to it.
Preparation Here are some ideas about how to get the most out of note-taking. It’s a good idea to do some preparation before the class. Ideally, you should do this straight before each lecture, but often that’s just not possible. If you have a very full day of classes, you can do your preparation the night before. For a lecture, preparation may mean reading some of the source material suggested the previous week. It may be reading a chapter (or section) of the main text, or looking at the subject website to check the topic for the week, or who the guest speakers are. It should at least consist of reading the title of the day’s lecture before you arrive! Even this small amount of work will help you feel 51
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more comfortable with the topic. You’ll understand the material more easily, and take better notes.
KEEPING ON TRACK Your concentration may lapse unless you have a definite task. (This is especially true of an on-line lecture. Your mind can easily stray unless you set yourself something specific to do.) Taking notes, or writing comments on your set of printed notes as you follow the lecture, helps your mind to stay actively involved. What the lecturer talks about in the lecture may be slightly different from what is in the printed notes, so you need to add points or draw connecting lines. In fact, you can take notes on your notes. Perhaps you can invent a neat diagram, which you can sketch in the margin, that connects the ideas. You must follow attentively any example that is worked through during the lecture, and recording it in written form will help you focus on it. Again, note your own comments and reactions. Not all, or even many, of your notes will be in perfect sentences—you’ll jot diagrams, formulae, graphs or calculations, not well-formed paragraphs. Your page might look a bit messy, but as long as you review the ideas quickly, your inconsistent colour-coding won’t matter!
Rewriting lecture notes: a good idea? When you review, clarify any bits of writing that are truly illegible. Reviewing early (you should be reviewing your notes within 24 hours) gives you some chance of remembering what it was you wrote. But don’t waste time writing out everything again. If your handwriting is so bad that you always type out your notes, then make the typing an 52
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active learning experience. Summarise, describe, write things in your own words and make cross-references to other materials (readings, previous lectures, pracs).
NOTE-TAKING AND PREPARATION FOR PRACS AND LABS Read ahead so that you know what the class is about. You can save yourself a lot of time in the prac room or on site by knowing what you have to do. Your time in labs is usually limited (there are never quite enough hours) and you should make the most of this limited resource— use it for the practical exercise (that’s a chance for some active learning, after all), not for reading. In labs and tutes, jot down the good (memorable) examples and any shortcuts your tutor/demonstrator tells you about. Save time by making sure you can identify each piece of apparatus. Do you need to know how to use the equipment beforehand, or will the demonstrator show you? Familiarise yourself with the method for the prac, so you are aware of any confusing points in the description of the procedure and can be one of the first to claim the demonstrator’s attention.
Note-taking in pracs Note any tips about procedures that the tutor or demonstrator gives you. If you’ve prepared by reading through the prac in the manual beforehand, you can go straight to the exercise for that day. Also, write up as much of the prac as you can while in class. Become accustomed to taking notes as you work. There will be pro forma reports or question sheets to 53
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complete as you work, so get used to working with a pen (or maybe a laptop computer) handy. Most engineers do! You will work in a small group of 4–6 students in prac classes. It’s important for everyone in the group to get as much experience with the equipment and procedures as possible in the time allowed, and for everyone to learn lab safety procedures. Don’t volunteer to take notes all the time: make sure the duties are shared fairly. One or two people in the group may want to keep all the equipment to themselves—insist as a group that everyone has fair turns. This is sometimes a problem for shy students or those who lack confidence. Remember that experience is very important, and do your best to get it. Try everything you can. You can learn a lot more by doing rather than just watching. If your group is uncooperative about sharing, speak to your demonstrator.
NOTE-TAKING AND ACTIVE LEARNING Remember that all your classes—lectures, labs, tutes, pracs, seminars—are opportunities for learning. They are not arranged just to keep you off the streets and out of the cafeteria. They are not there to fill in time. They are not there as opportunities for social interaction. They are not the best venues in which to pursue significant relationships. Do a little preparation, stay focused during the class, complete a related active learning task after each class, and you’ll be well on the way to good grades. Again, a little work often is the key to performing well.
Attending classes It’s important to be on time. Most lecturers set out their themes and begin the lecture with an overview. Then they 54
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present details and examples, and finish with a summary. If you miss the overview, the rest of the lecture may be confusing. Some lectures are continuations of the previous day (or week). You won’t realise this if you always come in five minutes late. If you’re always late for pracs, you’ll have little chance of finishing on time. This can be problematic on some larger campuses. Speak to the teaching staff if one lecturer is always keeping you late and making it difficult for you to get across campus in time for your next class. Staff sometimes need reminders about good time management too! A small point is that it is not essential to attend every lecture on your timetable every week (but make sure you attend every prac). Of course it’s great if you go to everything, but university classes are not your only source of information. You have texts and websites and course notes and staff, friends and journals and past exam papers to refer to. There’s no need to panic if you miss something; do something active to make up for it (afternoon tea with a friend to chat over the class is good for a couple of reasons). However, don’t become lazy about attendance. Assessment in engineering subjects will test your knowledge of the whole semester’s work. Much of what you learn will be built on previous classes. If you miss something, you have to catch up, the sooner the better.
Look after your notes, and they will look after you Even the best notes need care and attention to work for you. The first step is early review to consolidate material into your long-term memory. Also review your notes when you finish a particular topic. This gives you a good chance to fill in any gaps. 55
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Notes can later be turned into useful study tools, though by themselves they may have limited value. Use them to revise concepts and as the basis for some of that ‘changed format’ activity (see Chapter 2). Notes can’t leap into your head in perfect form all on their own. You need to do something with them. Make every note you take worthwhile.
TIPS FOR NOTE-TAKING • • • • • •
Focus on the reason for taking notes. Find a system that suits you. Look over your notes as soon as you can. Check every now and then for legibility. Employ useful shorthand versions. Don’t re-write notes—be active with them.
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WHAT IS AN ENGINEER? Profile: Jenny Jowett I have a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) (Hons), and a Bachelor of Science. I’m currently employed in the Orica Graduate Training Program. This is designed to give me all-round experience and on-the-job training, and I will rotate through three different businesses in the first two years. I spent my first nine months as an engineer at an explosives manufacturing plant in Queensland. I was the reliability/maintenance engineer and also provided some technical support for projects and operations. My second rotation was seven months in the Engineering Specialist group, undertaking the design of a new plant which will be completed at the end of 1999. I also had the responsibility of doing some failure analysis and modelling for customers external to Orica. My third role will be a move to an Adhesives and Resins plant in Deer Park (Victoria) where I will have a small projects/reliability role. The graduate training program is giving me a great grounding to my career as an engineer, because it also encourages participation in a wide range of courses, committees and other non-technical work. There is no ‘one way’ to be an engineer, something that is really clear after going through graduate training. Your engineering degree is a ticket to a very exciting career. Employers don’t expect you to graduate with all the appropriate skills, just the attitude and
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interest required to develop them. There’s lots of on-the-job training. Be enthusiastic in your studies and your work, so you can enjoy them both.
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ORGANISATION— BEST PRACTICE IN TIMELINES
BEST PRACTICE IN TIMELINES
Success at university depends on more than just attending classes. Lecturers say that for each hour of class time, you need at least an hour of study. (For some subjects, you may need more.) But what is ‘study’? Preparing for the end-of-semester exams? Reading in preparation for the practical class? Completing tute problems for maths? These are just some of the many activities which will keep you busy each week. Add to that assignments, essays, and mid-semester tests. You can see that you will need to be very organised. These study tasks add up to quite a number of hours. Roughly, if you are studying full-time, you should be putting in about 40 hours a week (including classes or ‘contact hours’). This means that you are truly working at your study—study is your job. Towards the end of semester, and during swot vac, you may spend even more time studying.
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STUDY EARLY, STUDY OFTEN The best way to cope is to work steadily. It’s important to keep abreast of what is happening in each subject. They all have too much for you to leave everything until swot vac. Also, irregular sessions of frantic study have poor long-term learning gains. You will do better if you organise your study time to occur often, in shorter rather than longer blocks of time, and include active learning strategies.
Do it now Get into the DIN (do it now) habit. Why take up mental space thinking for the seventeenth time ‘I must go and read Chapter 26’ when you could be using the brain cells for working on Chapter 26 itself? It’s easier to remember something you encounter more than once within a short time-frame. So review new information as soon as possible. The same day is best; the same week is essential. Otherwise you’ll be starting a new learning episode instead of building on the one that began when you first received the information. Attacking study tasks immediately also helps fight procrastination.
Do it every week Keeping up every week is a golden rule of learning at university. Even if you don’t cover all the week’s work before you get something else new, do some work in each subject every week. You don’t have to know or even understand everything the first week that you encounter it. Regular work will increase both your knowledge and your understanding. 60
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You’re not stupid if you don’t understand everything as soon as it is presented to you. The ideas and concepts are not simple: they’re challenging and therefore interesting! If you knew it all, you wouldn’t be there to find out more. Allow yourself time to grow into the new ways of thinking. Remember that you’re an apprentice, not a master. In fact, you will never be finished learning: even when you are fully qualified, you will always be upgrading knowledge and experimenting with new ideas.
IDEAS FOR TIME MANAGEMENT How are you going to fit in all this study, with your full timetable of lectures, pracs and tutorials? You probably also want to have a life that includes other things (such as a social life), and you probably have a part-time job, too. Don’t worry! As long as you keep it under control, it is very beneficial to be involved in more than just lectures and the library. There is a wide range of other activities that should be incorporated into your weekly program.
Get organised First, make a study timetable that will work for you. You have a lecture and tutorial timetable which indicates your contact time. This may have been allocated by the information technology system of the university, or you may have made some choices yourself. However, your study timetable should indicate other things which you will do in the spaces before and after classes. Your study is a full-time occupation, like a professional worker doing a 9–5 day. So you should break for lunch, and for coffee (if you can) at some point. It may be convenient to manage all your study work during the 61
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day—about 20 hours’ contact time and 20 hours’ study per week for many engineering students. However, you don’t have to do all your study between 9am and 5pm. You have some flexibility. Use your freedom wisely.
Organise your day to suit your habits Think about the time of day when you regularly study. When are you better at focusing on tasks (morning, late at night)? When do you have trouble staying awake (after lunch)? Schedule your priority study for your best thinking hours. Do this quick and easy exercise to evaluate your concentration patterns: Draw a horizontal line which represents the hours of the day in which you are awake. Label each end with the appropriate time (an example is shown in Figure 5.1). Now, plot your mental energy level on the vertical axis.
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Do difficult thinking tasks when you are freshest. For example, if you need to read the procedure for a prac, photocopy some notes for a lecture you missed, and do a computer programming problem, do the problem first. Save the less demanding study tasks for when you are too tired to do more complicated things. Even if you are not very enthusiastic, you will still make progress.
YOUR STUDY TIMETABLE Figure 5.2 is an example of a blank timetable (note: there are seven days!). Photocopy this chart and fill it in, or make your own. You can use different coloured pens to indicate different activities. Make a timetable that makes sense to you. Be creative! When you organise your timetable, keep these points in mind: • •
•
• •
•
Fill in all your contact hours (tutes, lectures, pracs). Put in all your other commitments (for example paid work, netball practice, household chores, favourite TV show). Evaluate the ‘spare’ time remaining and think about your personal preferences. Be realistic. Don’t block out 6:00–8:00 every morning for study if you don’t get up till 9:00. Find a couple of hours in each day to use as study time. Divide your study times into 30-minute blocks. Don’t just write ‘study’ in those blocks. Indicate for yourself exactly what you should be doing: ‘start report for communication skills’, ‘do maths problems’, ‘review thermal notes’. Don’t think of one- or two-hour gaps between classes as recess. Have a coffee for half an hour, but use the 63
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Monday 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 Evening
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
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Figure 5.2 A blank timetable
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•
rest of the time to do a little reading, review some notes or borrow library books. Include some regular study times for revision and assignment work.
Figure 5.3 is an example of the classes that might comprise a first-year engineering timetable. However, this is not all you need to do in a week. Figure 5.4 is a full timetable which includes activities, work and study times. This student does a number of extra activities, and boards with a kind family who don’t require her to do many chores. Even if you aren’t a timetable sort of person, it’s a good idea to at least try using one, and to get into the habit of using your diary so you don’t get ambushed by assignment-due dates. Timetables and diaries are part of every professional’s life. At least having a timetable makes you aware of what needs to be done. (You can also put a copy of your timetable on the fridge, so everyone knows about your study routines.) If the timetable isn’t working, then change it to suit you. Don’t stick to it no matter what, and don’t make it an excuse for not taking advantage of unexpected free time. A good timetable has room to overcome crises, and can be flexible.
MAKING BEST USE OF STUDY TIME It is better to think of your study in terms of tasks, not time. It’s better to say ‘At 11:00 I’ll make my own flow chart of the flood damage mitigation scheme’ than to say ‘I’d better do some study for water resources’. This way you can also increase your motivation: it feels good to 65
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Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
8:00 CompEng Lecture Maths 181 Lecture
9:00 CompBasicsB Practical
10:00 11:00 12:00 1:00
LUNCH
EComm Lecture
2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 Evening
Maths 181 Lecture LUNCH
EComm Practical CompBasicsB Lecture
CompBasicsB Tutorial Maths 181 Lecture LUNCH
LUNCH EComm Lecture CompEng Tutorial CompBasicsB Lecture
EComm Tutorial Maths 181 Tutorial LUNCH
Comp Eng Lecture
CompEng Practical
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Figure 5.3 Example timetable of classes for a first-year engineering course
Figure 5.4 A comprehensive weekly timetable Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Lab - check email
8:00 9:00
CompBasicsB Practical
10:00
Friday
Saturday
Lab - check email (Finish prac work if needed) CompB tute prep
CompEng Lecture
Work on EComm project
Maths 181 Lecture
Library photocopying and Coffee EComm Tutorial
Sleep in Soccer coaching U12s
11:00
EComm group project
Finish prac
CompBasicsB Tutorial
Review Maths lecture notes
12:00
Soccer competition
Maths 181 Lecture
Maths 181 Lecture
Group meeting Maths 181 mentor scheme Tutorial
1:00
Soccer competition
LUNCH
LUNCH with bridge club
LUNCH
LUNCH (and library)
2:00
Prep for EComm prac (eat lunch)
EComm Lecture
Review CompEng lecture notes
EComm Lecture
Group meeting Soccer EComm project
3:00
EComm Practical
Do maths tute Summarise CompEng work with Sam CompB reading Tutorial
4:00
CompBasicsB Lecture
Review lecture notes
EComm reading CompBasicsB Lecture
5:00
CompEng reading and Coffee
Group meeting Review lecture EComm project notes
6:00
Work on CompB assignment notes
Bridge club
CompEng Lecture
Soccer Training
read for CompEng
CompB reading
Work
Work
Family time
local competition
CompEng Practical
and do Maths tute work X Files Night
finish lecture review
Study and assignments if necessary or TV and videos
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EVENING Review lecture
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finish a task, but how do you know when you’ve done enough ‘study’? Keep in mind the proverb about ‘all work and no play’. You really need—like a fully professional worker—to create a balanced lifestyle for yourself. If you’ve truly done all the work you need to for the day, don’t keep sitting at your desk. Have a break, and enjoy it.
‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ You need regular exercise to keep healthy, so you can avoid colds and flu in the dark middle of the year. Exercise also increases your metabolic rate—if your body works more quickly, so will your brain. You also need a healthy diet and a sensible sleep pattern. If you’re doing paid work as well, make sure you don’t become too fatigued. Giving yourself permission not to study (and not to feel guilty) is important, because a rest needs to be a real rest to refresh you. The key to a successful and fulfilling time at uni is a balanced, regular pattern of mixed activities and tasks that helps sustain your interest in life and enables you to continue developing your knowledge base.
Living with procrastination All students procrastinate; some are just better at managing procrastination than others. When most of your deadlines seem a long time into the future, it’s easy to delay study to play tennis or go to the pub for the afternoon. However, if procrastination about study becomes a habit, you may be in deep trouble at the end of the semester. The best way to beat procrastination is to do a little bit of study every day; because the longer you put things off, the harder it is to get going. Remember, motivation is a key to successful study, and you can only stay motivated 68
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and interested if you are involved in your work. Newton’s first law tells us how things in motion tend to stay in motion, while things at rest tend to stay at rest. Beware! Inertia can trap you. If you find it hard to settle down to study, adjust your study environment. It may be easier to work where other people are also studying. Are there fewer distractions in the library than at home? If the atmosphere of hard work is a good influence, organise to stay at uni a bit later (or get in early) and work in the library. Procrastination sometimes involves your physical environment (wandering around, reading the newspaper, arranging your study space), but there are things you can do to attune yourself to study. A well-organised study space, organised to suit you, helps settle you into study mode. Gather everything you need before you sit down. This will prevent aimless wandering. Try specific study music to help focus your thoughts. Try aromatherapy too—some essential oils like clary sage, citrus and basil may enhance concentration. Tell other people how much (or little) nagging you need. Sometimes reminders from them will just make you more stressed! Collaborative learning may help—organise to meet a friend, and make a pact not to help one another procrastinate. Tutors, lecturers and learning skills advisers can also help you by giving you deadlines to hand in drafts of your work. This strategy not only gets the work done before time, but helps improve the final product. It is often easier to complete something you have to finish, than to begin something you have to start. Leave your reading with one or two pages to go, so you have something definite to start with next time. Once you sit down to do this little bit, you feel ready to begin the next task. 69
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At the end of every study session, note down what you were thinking or doing, and leave your books open on your desk (if possible). If you leave yourself something definite to get back to, and a pointer to the important concepts you were thinking about, it will be much easier to continue where you left off. Of course, the more quickly you return to study, the more effective this strategy will be. Active learning really helps with time management. Have specific goals and interesting ways to accomplish them. Study time will go quickly, and you’ll get lots of work done. Still looking for more ideas? Check out some on-line study skills advice in Appendix II.
TOP TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS • • • • • • • • • •
Do a little every day. Work at staying interested. Assign yourself specific tasks. Don’t think about it, do it. Break your study into smaller chunks. Always do at least one study task before dinner. Let everyone know when you are studying. Make study a habit. Do a little bit in every subject rather than 100% in just one. Get started NOW.
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PROBLEM-SOLVING— ESSENTIAL ENGINEERING BRAIN FOOD
PROBLEM-SOLVING
Engineering is a problem-solving profession. You may work at designing a new product or system; work out how to implement an industrial process; build safety improvements; or apply your knowledge to research. Your undergraduate education will give you tools and skills you will need throughout your working life. All the knowledge, skills and technology that you become familiar with during your course will eventually be used to solve real world problems. In fact, all of your study is pretty meaningless unless it can be applied to real life situations. Let’s stop a moment to consider a couple of ideas.
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This is not true. When you graduate with an engineering degree after four years of university study you are not yet an engineer. Your study has given you the necessary background and skills so that you can become an engineer. It is the first two or three years of industry experience that will make you an engineer. And the learning does not stop then. If you want to become and remain a successful engineer you must keep learning at least until you retire! You will continue to expand your knowledge base every year (or even every week). You will continually work on new projects which will stretch your knowledge and capabilities. Few engineering projects are simply repetitions of previous work, because knowledge and technology are continually growing. The demands and attitudes of society change regularly. Your engineering course is just the beginning of a lifelong learning process.
While the formulae you use and learn during classes will have many applications, they also reflect certain ‘natural laws’. The formulae are based on (what we currently understand about) the laws of nature, or the universe, if you prefer. Real life problems embody several of these natural laws
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at once. Engineers must decide which formulae to apply in which situation, and at which stage of the solution. All problems, in class and exams, as well as in the real world, revolve around the natural laws.
THE QUALITIES OF A PROBLEM-SOLVING BRAIN You cannot memorise all that you need to know to solve problems in your class or on the job. You need to develop a flexible, innovative, active mind. Flexible thinking is not something that people either have or don’t have. It is a skill that you can develop. Let’s consider the mind of an expert problem-solver, and the qualities such a person has.
Four qualities of a problem-solving brain: • • • •
the ability to change perspective the ingenuity to create and apply new ideas the dedication to practice procedures to a high skill level the perseverance to continue even when solutions don’t come easily.
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Perspective shift Many inventions are the product of looking at the world differently. For example, a 3M researcher, Art Fry, came across an adhesive invented by another 3M scientist—who had rejected it because of its weak adhesive properties. Fry, with a change of perspective, created the Post-it® note which became a major product worldwide. As a professional engineer, your work will often involve improving or changing existing situations, such as existing designs, procedures and practices. In all these cases, shifting your perspective on a problem can help immensely and give you greater creativity in your work.
Ingenuity Ingenuity is applied creativity. As you become familiar with the engineering concepts you are studying, you can mentally ‘play’ with them. What if you changed part of the environment in this problem? What if you deliberately tried to apply a different perspective to this situation? One example would be to take the perspective of all the different groups or individuals involved in a certain project: What would the Australian Conservation Society think of this solution to the sewage problem? How will it affect the local landholders? Will it make a difference to the ways in which the waterways are managed? Will the proposed solution make lifestyle changes for people living along the shoreline? How will the client react to the proposed cost? This deliberate ‘mismatch’ of perspectives, or systems of thought, is a tool sometimes used to stimulate creative thinking. There are some good instances of this in the work of Edward de Bono (see Appendix I). For example, what new ideas can you sense by considering a manu74
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facturing process from the perspective of microbiology? Can you draw analogies between pull manufacturing processes and cell growth?
Practice It’s not enough to ‘know’ intellectually how to do things. You need to practise the skills. This applies just as much to passing exams as to your professional life. For problem-solving in any subject (and of course in real life!), it helps if you get as much practice as you can in actually solving problems. Do as many of the set problems as you can, even if they are never handed in or marked—especially if some of your exams involve problem-solving.
Engineers are often asked to improve existing procedures. If you want to improve something, it helps to really understand how it works. You know this already from many procedures that you use in everyday life. We are sure you have short-cuts for many activities from cleaning the house to jump-starting the car, from using the dishwasher to scoring in your favourite computer game. However, you only developed these short-cuts once you had a good grasp of the outcome you needed (such as a clean-looking house for your landlord’s visit). The best way to ensure that you understand the current procedure (with its strengths and weaknesses) is to have experience 75
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performing it yourself. That is, practise doing it before you set about changing it. Then you can be inventive! If you want to design something from the beginning, then you will want to do it well and make a profit from your contract. If you are designing something totally new, you will be relying on past experience (practice) with similar situations. The best engineers will get it right first time; they will do it quickly, and (if they are on a fixed cost contract) earn an effectively higher hourly rate than if it takes twice as long.
Perseverance Consistent effort is a key to success in professional life as in study. We have talked about consistent work for good grades at university. Perseverance is a valuable skill for working professionals. Things won’t always happen easily. Your long-term professional success will at times depend on your continuing efforts during difficult circumstances. This will also benefit your personal reputation for integrity, reliability and hard work. It is always more impressive to be able to show what progress you have made, even when the solution or project is still incomplete, than to admit that it became so difficult that you put it aside. Sometimes you will feel like putting a difficult problem out of your mind for a while, and this is fine unless you totally forget about it. Sometimes a break will refresh you so that you can employ some more ingenuity or a new perspective, but don’t just wait for inspiration: deliberately make yourself look at the problem differently, and persevere with your own inventive, extraordinary and unique imagination. 76
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PROBLEM-SOLVING STAGES Now let’s have a look at the stages involved in solving problems, and see how you can develop the strategies and skills to handle each stage.
Stage 1: What’s the problem? To solve a problem, you first need to know exactly what the nature of the problem is. This may involve such things as understanding the information given in a maths problem, running a specific test in a computer application, or listening to the concerns of a client. To understand the nature of the particular problem, you must absorb the information presented to you and seek any additional information required. To have a better understanding of the problem, first get the specifics clear in your mind. To check whether you really understand the problem, and to increase your understanding of it, reorganise the information in your own way. What words were used to describe the problem? Can you phrase the situation differently, or change from words to another format? For example, draw a diagram that covers the important issues in a physics problem, or sequence the stages of a maths problem differently to see what insights that gives you. Make your own diagram or numbered list of facts or ‘given’ information. A particularly good way of better understanding a problem is to explain it to someone else; for example, repeating the concern back to the client in your own words, or talking over tutorial problems with classmates.
Stage 2: Identify the areas needing your attention Now that you understand the nature of the problem, can you isolate the areas that need your attention? In a physics 77
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problem, this might mean identifying the quantity you are looking for; in a maths problem, it will mean identifying the unknowns which must be calculated from the information given—and from your own knowledge base (remember that this is part of what is ‘given’). Some problems need information you already ‘have’, either in your head, or which you can easily look up in the text or in tables appended to class notes. Perhaps work out some intermediate steps before you set about the final solution. When talking to clients about their ideas, or to colleagues in a prac team or work environment, you should still be thinking about what you (collectively) know about the situation, and what you need to discover or to calculate. Gather the necessary information. This is not a trivial task. Also, set problems sometimes give you more information than you actually need to find the solution: be very clear about what is given and what is wanted. You will often find this in real life problems: it can be difficult to isolate the essentials from the irrelevant information.
Stage 3: ‘Choose your weapons’ Now that you understand the nature of the problem (what ‘type’ it is), and what sort of solution you are looking for, you must decide how to solve the problem: which formulae to use, which table of data to apply, which program to run, even which part of the problem to tackle first. ‘How to’ is essential in problem-solving: if you have good ideas but fail to apply the appropriate tool, you will not find a successful solution. Just as a doctor needs to decide which test to run to diagnose a patient’s illness, so you need to decide which method to employ to get you to the desired solution. 78
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Ask yourself some questions. Which general principle relates to the parameters you are dealing with? Which formulae do you know (or have access to) which can be applied to the material you are dealing with? Does this problem resemble others that were solved in class or that you have worked on yourself? (Be aware of the differences as well as the similarities.) Don’t forget one of the most powerful tools which is always available to everyone: imagination. Employ your imagination continually: try seeing the problem in novel ways (for example, imagine the diagram as a 3D picture; pretend you can see every atom and how it interacts with others in the chemical compound under consideration; send an imaginary miniature engineer into the computer hard disc to track down the bug). Use these insights to help you move to the next step.
Stage 4: Do it now You have gathered an armoury of attack methods to approach the problem, so now test your ingenuity and skill on the actual task. You may need to try more than one approach, so don’t get too settled on a particular solution method. Problem-solvers are flexible and ingenious, and they never give up (although they might put a problem aside for a while to await fresh developments or ideas).
Stage 5: Reality check Now take stock of where you are in the problem-solving process. You have organised everything you know about the problem and gathered all the information into a meaningful whole. You have worked at finding a solution. Now do a reality check. 79
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Check the steps you took, looking carefully for any typical errors you make, and checking calculations to make sure your answer makes sense (for example, Is that solution to the maths problem in the right scale?). Look again at the original problem. Are there any clues in the wording that you have failed to consider? Does your answer suit the way the problem was set out? Does it make sense as an isolated piece of information? (An engineer once performed a design calculation to determine the number of tubes in a shell and tube heat exchanger. It was a long calculation with a number of intermediate steps. His answer seemed about right but he did not check his calculation. If he had he would have found an important error. Shell and tube heat exchangers are usually between 0.5 and 2m in length. Our hero had designed one 1.5km in length! As was pointed out later, the land on which the equipment was to be located was not big enough, and it would take ten months for the liquid injected at one end of the unit to emerge at the other!) This is a good time to try a change of perspective. Become your own critic! Does your solution answer all facets of the problem? Is there an easier, shorter or simpler way to get to the same point? Compare your solution to available examples, and look for ways to improve your technique. Imagine you are the examiner: are your strategies impressively streamlined or clumsy-but-lucky?
Stage 6: The take-home message When you are satisfied that you have achieved a good solution to the set problem, consider it evaluatively to see what you can learn from it. Make sure that the steps you took are clearly recorded, so that you can refer to this successful solution again to give you pointers for solving 80
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other problems. Analyse your work and make decisions about future approaches and improvements (this is something professionals do to ensure their continual improvement in their field).
MIND GAMES Another good way of increasing your potential ingenuity is to practise doing mind games of many varieties and types. You should try a wide range of these, as problemsolving practice in just one area can tend to be too specific and not help you in another type of problem (like those brilliant but ‘absent-minded’ people who can do quantum physics but can’t read a bus timetable). If you only solve cryptic crosswords, you will become very good at solving cryptic crosswords, but you won’t improve your skill at 3D jigsaws. It’s a great idea to include some mind games in your weekly schedule—and it’s a good fun thing to do with friends. Appendix I lists some resources, but just to keep you on your mental toes, we have included some word puzzles here (answers in Appendix III): 6.1: A man walks into a shop and asks for a glass of water. The shopkeeper brings out a gun. Why? 6.2: Romeo and Juliet are found dead on the living room floor. There is water all around them and there is glass on the floor. The window is wide open. What happened? 6.3: There is no light in your wardrobe but you know there are 11 black and 11 blue socks in there. How many socks do you need to pull out to make sure you’ll have a pair? 81
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TIPS FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING EXAMS
Make sure you answer the correct question! This may sound obvious, but in the stress of an exam, it’s surprisingly easy to misread a question or assume at first glance that you know what’s being asked. You may see, for example, that there are three parts to the answer: you are meant to provide a problem definition, a suitable solution method, and the final result. Make sure you clearly provide an answer for each part.
Some subjects might provide you with the equations you need to use. Some might supply a separate equation sheet with all the equations from this subject (and you have to know which is the right one). Sometimes you have to remember the equations. Marking the right equation, or writing it down immediately if you remember it, lets you get on with working on the rest of the problem.
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Use whatever visualisation tools will help you make a clear picture of the problem. Think of the steps you will need to complete; a minute or two to plan before you start can save you time and make the process of answering the question easier.
If there are three parts in the answer, the marks for that question will likely be evenly allocated between these parts. This will be a reminder—have you given an answer for each part of the question? You don’t want to miss out on any marks for that problem.
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Nerves can do strange things! Having a rough idea of what sort of answer you expect can be your first clue if you have made a mistake during a calculation or used the wrong process.
If you know a different method to check your work, use it. It is too easy to get the same results using the same methods, even when the result is incorrect. It’s amazing how many times you can say ‘8 plus 6 is 15’ when you are under pressure!
Long exams are something you will need to get used to. You will have two or three hours to fill, and it’s important to plan and use this time wisely. For time practice and good revision, go through past years’ exams, sticking to the time limit.
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WHAT IS AN ENGINEER? Profile: Bev Sanders Bev’s thoughts about the profession: Develop those networks . . . The most useful tool that Engineers can use is ‘networking’. There’s a lot of hype attached to this word and some of you may not know what it exactly is but it’s one of those things that becomes invaluable in a whole range of ways. Networking is, in essence, making useful contacts. It starts as far back as you can take it: from high school to university to industry to family friends, everyone is a potential node in your network. At university level, you’ll find that there is value in working on problems in teams. It benefits everyone in the team to work together. The combined knowledge of team members is far more than [that of] any one individual. The university is full of useful contacts in the way of lecturers, older students or postgraduates, support services, faculty staff, colleges, clubs. Just keep looking and you will be surprised at how often you find that your contacts can make things easier for you. In industry, and here I speak from my experiences in construction, networks become a way of life. You very often come across the same companies, clients and suppliers in your daily work. These networks give you an invaluable resource in the form of expert advice and information. They can make winning the next job or finding obscure items that much easier. Don’t forget that being part of the network also
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involves providing the same sort of assistance to others. You can’t expect others to help you unless you’re willing to return the favour. Bev Sanders John Holland Construction & Engineering
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7
PRACS, SITES AND LABS—BE THERE, DO THAT
PRACS, SITES AND LABS
WHY HAVE PRACS, LABS AND SITE VISITS? Site visits and pracs help you see how all the information in lectures applies to the real world. Some of your pracs or site visits might seem irrelevant or boring, but go with the intention of getting the most out of them—they can enrich your studies and help you become a better engineer. Pracs (or labs) let you apply the ideas, theories and techniques you have been studying. They can reinforce your lecture work, help with your subject revision and teach some key hands-on skills. Even if you don’t do much hands-on work as a professional engineer, it is important that you understand the techniques relevant to your work. Only when you thoroughly understand a theory or technique can you apply it to new situations or use it innovatively. Site visits not only show you engineering theory in action in the real world, but they also preview different working environments and career directions. With the right 87
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preparation, you can even get some good industry contacts from your visit!
GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR PRAC WORK Prac work on a particular topic is not always scheduled in the same week as the lectures on that topic. If the prac comes first, do a little pre-reading so that you have a basic idea of the theories or principles. Otherwise you will just blindly follow the lab procedure without getting any benefit. If you’ve already covered the relevant materials in your lectures, treat the prac as revision for this topic. You will not only save time as exams get closer, but the prac will be more relevant and interesting. You will be expected to do quite a bit of work on your own. (This is especially true of thinking!) Some pracs are designed so that you will finish more quickly (and get to leave earlier) if you have done some preparation in advance. For example, if your prac involves designing and building a digital circuit, drawing up the design beforehand (and getting it right!) can mean that you will be finished and out of the lab within half an hour: all you have to do is build the circuit and show that it works. Read any material you have been given on proper use of test equipment. Some equipment (such as rotameters and thermocouples) is minutely calibrated and needs to be treated carefully. Other equipment is affected by the way you use it, which will affect the measurements you make. For example, a voltmeter generally has a ‘% of range’ component in its accuracy specification; this means that a percentage of the range you are measuring in will always be part of the possible error in your result. Being 88
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aware of these points will make you look good in your prac demonstrator’s eyes, will help you get a better mark, and will also let you benefit more from the prac.
A WORD ABOUT SAFETY FROM DR DAVID SHALLCROSS Safety in the laboratory is paramount. As engineering students you will be exposed to many hazards. You may be used to working with boiling water, but you must appreciate the special hazards of working with live steam. That rotary jaw crusher will pulp a hand faster than it will crush rock. The laboratory demonstrators are not there just to help you to complete your experiments, they are also there to keep you safe. Know the safety rules for any laboratory and your experiments before you enter the lab. In particular, follow the rules concerning appropriate clothing. Thongs, shorts and T-shirts are never safe attire in an engineering laboratory. You will normally be briefed before your first class concerning the rules. If you are ever in doubt, don’t guess, ask. Never assume something is safe if it looks harmless. Always be aware of your surroundings. Safety rules are made to be kept. At best breaking a rule may result in you being ejected from a class with ‘failed’ marked against your name for that activity. At worst a serious injury could occur to yourself or your best friend. Safety is everyone’s responsibility.
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You will do your pracs in groups. This is an opportunity to get to know more of your fellow students and build a larger network for your combined futures as engineers. It also helps your studies in practical terms, if people in your group (including you) are willing to share ideas and expertise. Your prac group might be interested in setting up a study group, or there might be someone with whom you can go over class notes. The friends you make at uni will end up in a wide range of different careers, working in different companies and organisations. You may work with some of your fellow undergraduates later on, either in the same company or in other organisations with which you will be dealing. A good network of contacts can be of immense value as your career develops.
GETTING THE MOST FROM SITE VISITS Site visits can inspire you, introduce you to new career options, let you evaluate a potential employer, or just fill in an afternoon. As with all your studies, the way you approach a site visit will determine what you get out of it.
SAFETY ON SITE BY DAVID SHALLCROSS When visiting sites you must know their safety rules. You will normally be briefed on them in advance. As with laboratory work, you must wear appropriate dress. You must always be aware of your environment and use common sense. If you
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are in a chemical processing plant and you feel something drip onto your head, don’t look up. Step away and then look up. You don’t want to make things worse by letting some unknown liquid get in your eyes.
Even if you decide to do nothing else, reading up on the company will let you benefit more from the visit than just going as a tourist. Does the company interest you enough to do some more preparation? Reading up on the company will give you an idea of the activities involved in their industry and what sort of career opportunities exist there. If the industry doesn’t interest you as a career destination, you will still pick up some valuable knowledge about how engineering principles are applied in this field. This helps your general professional education, because the work of other fields of engineering will have points of contact with yours, even if you’re not directly involved in their areas. If you find the particular industry attractive, a site visit will help you to explore possible job directions, and to investigate whether you are interested in that particular company as a place to work. Decide before you go what you’d like to find out about. Do you want to know how a particular lecture topic actually works? Do you want to ask about a subject and find out how relevant it really is on the job? Are you interested in pursuing work at that company? You may get impressions about the workplace that help you make up your mind. For example, are there specific dress standards (either explicitly stated or just the expected 91
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thing)? Do staff use each other’s first names? Is communication within the workplace informal (e.g. spoken, e-mail) or more formal (meetings, memos)? What sort of staff performance evaluation is there?
HOW DO THESE CLASSES RELATE TO EXAMS? Your prac work mark will end up in your final mark one way or another. Sometimes there are separate exams on prac techniques. Some faculties also include material from your site visits in the exams, to make sure that you absorbed something from the outing. Even if it contributes only a small proportion of your final mark, prac work is a good way to build up your practical engineering skills and to get ahead with your revision. A bit of thought and planning beforehand, and a bit of thought and revision afterwards, can enhance the contribution that pracs and site visits make to your total student experience.
TIPS FOR SITE VISITS What should you do before, during and after a site visit: • •
•
Read up on the company (remember to check their website). Get an idea beforehand of the company’s main area of work. What do you specifically want to find out about? Are you considering this company as a future
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• •
•
potential employer? If yes, try to make some contacts there! Ask intelligent questions. Try to gauge what sort of working environment the company provides. What is the company culture? Would you fit in there and like to work there? Look at some work-culture indicators such as: What’s the atmosphere like? How many people have been there a number of years? Are the working conditions flexible? When you ask about company policies, do you get a good reaction? Or are the staff suspicious or sarcastic? Is the staff profile culturally diverse? What can you observe of company safety practices? What’s the company image—modern? conservative? innovative? solid? What projects does the company promote as its major interests? Make a few notes about your impressions, and compare these with other sites that you visit. How does the actuality compare with the advertising or the website?
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8
READING—THE QUICK AND THE RELEVANT
READING
Reading will form the basis of your study. Good reading strategies will help you to do well in all of your assessment tasks. Not everything you ought to know is in your course notes. You are expected to read from many sources. Some of your reading can be done quite quickly. You need to prioritise and use the available reading time to the best advantage. Table 8.1 shows some of the sources of information. University students consult many sources because universities recognise that there may not be one right and true answer to every engineering question. In fact, we know that different circumstances affect different cases— there are exceptions, there are sets of data that are incomplete, and there are theories that are impossible to test. There are certainly situations which no-one has ever encountered before. Engineers also need to be aware of changes happening in the wider community, for what were perfectly good answers to engineering problems ten years previously may not be acceptable to current community aspirations, attitudes and values. In addition to all that, 94
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READING Table 8.1 Some of the sources of written information What does it contain?
Where can I get it?
One or more authors, usually academics
Multiple chapters organised by topics, as well as tables and diagrams
Departmental or faculty library, or buy one (they tend to be expensive)
Academic journal (a magazine published regularly)
Researchers and academics
A collection of research articles (reports on experiments) by various authors
Departmental or faculty library, or subscribe to it, some are available online, eg. Coastal Engineering Journal http://www.wsps. com/journals/cej/ cej.html
Specialist book or monograph
An academic or group of academics
Detailed information on one topic
Library
Course outline and course notes
The course co-ordinator
Titles of lectures, information on assessments, study notes
Department or faculty office, university bookstore
Prac manual
Course co-ordinator or department
Details of weekly experiments, background material
Department or faculty office, university bookstore
Newspaper
Various journalists
Information about new projects or explanations of engineering processes
Widely available; your newsagent may get specialist papers for you
Internet
Wide range of writers
Information on recent developments
You may have access at home or through the computer lab
Type of source
Who writes it?
Text book
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nothing stays the same for long. Astonishing new discoveries and advances in technology happen regularly. Of course, along with all this, we know that there are ‘facts’ which are accepted by the broadest range of the technically-trained community, and which we also need to know.
READING FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES You will read at university level for different purposes. Your curriculum is much wider than at school, and the required reading reflects this. Not all the answers to all the questions, nor all the explanations of all the concepts, can be contained within a single text book. Therefore you’ll need to read from different sources for completing different tasks. The more reading you do, the more understanding you will have of a subject. However, a deeper understanding often means you end up with more questions than you have answers! Sometimes it’s important to explore the details, at other times an overview is all you need. There are four main reasons for reading at university: • • • •
to preview a class to prepare for a laboratory, site visit or practical session to find information on topics you are researching for a report or essay to ‘study’ or learn material before exams
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you need to make priorities. Obviously, you will be more prepared and do better if you manage to read some (or even one) of the recommended readings. You can use the following skimming (previewing) techniques to help save time.
PREVIEWING Basically, previewing means finding out what’s in the reading material before you read it. This is a good way to prepare for a lecture and you can do quite effective previews by skimming the material.
The purpose of previewing is to familiarise you with the reading—to help you decide if you need to read in more detail. As we know from Chapter 3, being familiar with the material can help with understanding it. Previewing can also help you to decide whether you need to photocopy the material—it’s a good idea to preview before you hit the ‘print’ button. When you’re skimming, you read some of the material but not every word. Most academic (and technical) writing follows conventional rules, such as having the main topic sentence of each paragraph as the first sentence of that paragraph. Reading just these topic sentences gives you a good idea of what the whole piece is about, and saves you lots of time. Technical writing is full of headings, sub-headings, tables, and point-form lists. Before undertaking any reading, 97
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read the headings and subheadings through to the end of the section so that you know what to expect. Headings also give you clues about what you need to read, and what you don’t. In technical writing, the main point is usually put first. It’s not like a murder mystery, where you have to wait for the last page to find out what really happened. The usual practice is to put the main idea down first, and then to set out the supporting evidence. By reading the little summary at the beginning of an article (the ‘abstract’), or the summary at the head or end of a chapter, you can find out what the main ideas are. So another way to skim is to read the abstract, the first introductory paragraph, or the chapter summary (if provided).
READING FOR PREPARATION, RESEARCH, OR STUDY? The second type of reading you need to do is preparatory reading. You do this by reading through the relevant sections of your practical manual before a prac. There may also be references to parts of the main text or to journal articles which contain information about the practical exercise.
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Whatever the reading task, always have a goal in mind. If you’re just letting your eyes drift over the page, with nothing happening in your mind (have you ever read a page and realised at the end of it that nothing went in, that you were thinking about something else altogether?), then your so-called reading time is a waste of time. Whenever you sit down to a reading task, ask yourself these questions: • • • • •
Why am I reading this? What can I get out of this? What is it telling me that is new? What does it remind me of? What questions does it raise?
These questions should help you stay focussed on the task. You might like to write down some even more specific questions you need answered. This will help you organise and direct your notes: summaries of everything may not be useful.
Reading for research The third type of reading you will need to do is research reading, where you seek information on a writing topic for an essay or report. In some engineering courses, there is not much of this sort of writing in the first few semesters, but you will certainly need to do it in later years. One tricky part of research reading is actually getting it done, as opposed to searching for the books in the library or standing in the queue for the photocopier. You can spend such a lot of time completing these tasks that you feel somehow that you’ve finished the reading before you have even started it. Previewing can be a real time-saver here; use those skimming techniques to find the material that is most 99
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STUDYING ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY Table 8.2 Sample questions for research reading Type of source (examples)
Sample questions
Research article in a journal
What idea was tested? Was the methodology appropriate? Is there a clear conclusion? Are there any flaws in the experiment or argument?
Review article in a journal
Does the writer discuss more than one point of view? What is the writer’s conclusion from reviewing the literature? Is the evidence presented fairly? Are there any emotive words used in the argument?
Chapter in text book
What is the main message? How recent is the evidence? Why is this information important? Are contradictory theories explained clearly?
useful for you. In some cases, you might need notes on only one or two points; or to photocopy a section rather than a whole article. Remember to take full particulars of the source of the information (name of the author, name of the book, date and so on), so that you can properly acknowledge where the information came from, and can find it again. Keep your essay topic or research question with you all the time. Table 8.2 gives some more suggestions for research reading.
NOTES ABOUT UNDERLINING AND HIGHLIGHTING •
Some students say they don’t like to take notes; they prefer to underline or highlight the impor-
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•
•
•
tant points. Beware: highlighting is not the same as understanding, and it is important to be aware of its drawbacks. It isn’t always necessary to take notes when you read, especially if you are reading for context or background. However, note-taking is an active learning tool. If you are reading in order to write, taking notes in your own words is the first step towards writing a draft. When you sit down to write, these notes are far more useful than pages of highlighted text in someone else’s words. If you must highlight, be selective, and write your own comments and questions in the margin.
Reading for study The chapters on active learning and memory have shown how reading fits into your study schedule. You can review Chapter 2 and the tables in Chapter 3 (pages 32–40) to remind yourself of some good strategies. Reading is just one study tool. Although you need to read a great deal of information, it is more efficient and effective to make reading a minor part of your study routine. Certainly you need to read the material first: however, endless re-reading will not necessarily help you to remember it. It is too easy to let your eyes physically ‘read’ while your mind does something much more interesting. Therefore, reading for study purposes should be a 101
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small and early step in study. You should spend as much time as you can being active with the information—if not physically active, then certainly mentally active as you think about the topics you are studying. Some of you will be wondering whether you should take a speed reading course before you start: if you have the money to spend on that sort of program, you can receive some benefit from it. However, most of your reading will require a level of interaction and analysis (even at the ‘Is this important?’ stage) that will make speed reading impractical. Efficient reading is better than speed reading for the sophisticated texts with which you will be dealing.
New words and how to cope with them You may be worrying about the amount of new vocabulary that you are encountering in the texts. You may be tempted to stop at every new word and look it up. There are dangers in this. One is that, even when you consult a dictionary (even a dictionary of technical terms), you cannot always make sense of the sentence in front of you. The context has too great an effect on the meaning. Another problem is that when you keep stopping to look up words, you lose track of the information you are reading. So the little time you spend looking up words can cause a big delay in understanding the overall concepts of the material. A better idea is to collect a few new words (in a special notebook, on a series of cards, or at the bottom of your page) and then spend half an hour looking them up when you don’t feel motivated enough to do anything else. That means that when you’re reading the text many 102
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of the words will become clear as you read more about the topic or see the words used in a few different sentences.
Read early, read often If you use your reading time wisely, read from a wide range of sources and read often, you will find that you soon become very familiar with the ideas and vocabulary of each subject. This familiarity will lead to understanding, and that will lead to good marks!
TIPS FOR READING EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY • • • • • •
Preview before you start. Always read with a purpose. Read for short periods to maintain peak concentration. Read often so you become familiar with the material. Divide the reading into shorter sections. Use the vocabulary in your everyday life.
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WHAT IS AN ENGINEER? Profile: David Shallcross After completing my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne I decided to stay on for another four years to get my PhD. Then I moved to California where I worked for three years at two universities as a post-doctoral fellow, performing research in two very different fields: water purification and enhanced oil recovery. It was terrific to get the experience of working at places completely different to those I already knew. Stanford University, being a well-funded private university with an excellent research reputation, was an exciting place to work. In 1990 I joined the academic staff at Melbourne and since then I have combined my research interests with my teaching duties. In 1997 this led to the publication in London of my first book. I presently teach chemical engineering to first- and third-year students but I’m also interested in introd u c i n g e n g i n e e r i n g to the secondar y school community. My main research activity is focused on a process known as ion exchange. Its most important application is to the purification of water. At present I’m part of a small international research team developing a new method of applying this old process. I enjoy teaching as I love helping others expand their knowledge and understanding of chemical engineering. I also enjoy research as I get to exercise the creative and imaginative side of my brain and I get to see things no one else has seen before.
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David Shallcross Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering University of Melbourne
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9
TECHNICAL WRITING—STYLE BY NUMBERS
TECHNICAL WRITING
Writing at university level can be more demanding than writing at school. Writing may have been easy for you then, but now you need a technical style and you may find it difficult at first. However, once you master the conventions, it’s easy to write technical style—as easy as 1, 2, 3.
TECHNICAL WRITING STYLE Just as there are different ways of speaking to different people (you talk to your friends in one speech pattern, and to your employer in another), there are different writing styles. For instance, you would probably not use the same style writing to your grandmother as to your head of department (unless you have relations in the faculty). Table 9.1 shows examples of different styles and the problems in using these styles for university writing. Engineers mostly write in technical versions of academic style, and the principles covered in this chapter will apply 106
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to most of your writing. For those of you pursuing combined degrees, you may find that other departments require slightly (or very!) different styles. Check with teaching staff, the departmental style guide, or the learning skills advisers at your campus to make sure you are approaching each task in the right way.
Technical style speaks all languages Technical style reflects the aims and ideals of research and practical application. As an engineering student, you are an apprentice researcher as well as an apprentice practitioner: part of your job is to communicate like an engineer. Engineers share factual information with a wide audience of their peers and clients, so it is sensible for them to agree on certain principles of writing. Papers from all over the world are written in similar format, with headings, abstracts and reference lists, so they are easy to access and understand. If you can master the principles of academic and technical writing, you will be well on the way to excellent marks for your written work. Academic style reflects research standards. In academia, both staff and students adhere strictly to rules about the ownership of work and to the unwritten ethic of complete objectivity. Engineers (and engineering students) aim to research problems for information, solutions and explanations, without allowing their emotions or biases to interfere with the truth. The accepted technical writing style may seem cautious, dull and old-fashioned, but it is actually accurate and widely readable, once you are familiar with the ‘code’. At its best, technical writing can be assertive, energetic and enthusing. Because the message must be readily understandable, good technical writing is simple and clear. 107
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Style
Example
Problems
Colloquial (chatty)—used in speech or an informal letter.
‘A rough estimate is when you want to check how accurate you’re going to be so you put in a few round numbers and see if it’s close to what you think it might be so you know if you’re going to be right or not.’
Too long and vague; use of personal pronoun (‘you’) which is too informal; use of contractions (‘it’s’) which is also too informal
Emotive—used to convince others of point of view using feelings.
‘People are distressed about the ravages occurring daily in the way the government is cutting student funding and abandoning people to their fate on the streets.’
Use of emotive or dramatic words (‘distressed’, ‘ravages’, ‘abandoning’, ‘fate’) Vague reference to ‘people’: we don’t know who is distressed or how many ‘people’
Pretentious—used to ‘impress’ and confuse readers or listeners or to cover ignorance.
‘It seems probable that the unexpected shift in return could be indicative of perhaps a more wide-ranging phenomenon which may be due to a world-wide change in the economic conditions in countries which, it appears, may have similar contexts.’
Vague and unnecessarily wordy. Too many words which mean ‘perhaps’: ‘seems’, ‘probable’, ‘could be’, ‘perhaps’, ‘may be’, ‘appears’, ‘may have’.
Academic—used to convince readers using logic.
‘This assay is valid (Primus 1999) when used to calculate the distributed strain on foundations.’
No problems! This sentence is precise and sources its information; it has no emotion or bias—we can’t tell whether the next sentence will say something positive about the assay or show us its shortcomings
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Table 9.1 Good and bad technical writing styles
Personalised—used to make personal criticisms or comments about scientific references.
‘As for child rearing practices, Nguyen and her allies think that traditional methods are unsuccessful, while Khan feels they have importance for the child’s emotional development.’
The writer here is making assumptions about what he or she has read—in effect interpreting the sources; you don’t know what authors think or feel—you can only work with what they have stated
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STUDYING ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY Table 9.2 Technical style guide Technical writing is:
Technical writing is not: How to edit your work for this:
accurate
misleading or ambiguous
avoid equivocal statements and unsupported data; take care with pronouns in long sentences
objective
biased
check for emotive words, especially adjectives, adverbs, and ‘dramatic’ verbs
clear
vague
avoid unnecessary qualifying words such as ‘rather’, ‘seems’, ‘almost’ . . .
concise
wordy
check for unnecessary words, double negatives, passive voice, long sentences . . .
There’s no room for effusive description (leave that to the marketing experts). Technical style uses simpler, clearer, fewer and shorter words than other styles of writing. Looking at examples of technical writing is a good way to get an idea of what is required—look at some journals and company reports to check this out yourself.
ELEMENTS OF GOOD TECHNICAL STYLE In good technical style, your writing is short, clear and correct, informative and easy to read. Table 9.2 shows the main qualities of good technical writing, the dangers, and how to avoid them. Then we’ll have a look at the ‘style numbers’ 1, 2, 3 and 4. Style Rule 1: Keep it short—and remember your audience When you write, always ask yourself who is going to read what you have written. Imagine you are that reader when 110
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you check your writing: Is this interesting? Is it too long and boring? If your sentences are very long, you may confuse readers as well as make them yawn. It is difficult to control complicated information and relationships in long sentences. Break up the material into shorter sentences. Good technical writing uses a shorter, more active style than old-fashioned ‘passive’ descriptive writing. In ‘active’ sentences, we say clearly who or what performed the action. Look at this ‘passive’ example: The Brooklyn Bridge was designed and built by John and Washington Roebling.
Below is the same information in an ‘active’ sentence. It is a little shorter and a lot more direct. John and Washington Roebling designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge.
Use active voice when you can. (If you want to learn more about active and passive voice, or other grammatical terms, there are some good references in Appendix I.) Style Rule 2: Keep it clear—and remember your audience If you are writing a class paper or one for the teaching staff to read, then you can use specialist vocabulary. If you are writing for a client who knows nothing about the engineering words you need to discuss, then you will need to use more ordinary words or to explain the technical terms. Keeping your sentences shorter will also help you to write more clearly. You can see some examples of long, 111
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unclear writing in Table 9.1 (and in many other places in the real world!). You can help yourself by using precise terms to say exactly what you mean. Sometimes students feel that their language has to be complicated to be good. This is not true. Lecturers aren’t impressed by fancy language. Always try to write what you mean, not something that ‘sounds impressive’. Sometimes the best technical writing involves ‘translation’ from a formal sentence into a more readily understood everyday one. For example: We do not know which technique is most efficient
is better than: At the time of writing, there is a persistent obfuscation of the eventual preference assumed with regard to the emergence of the desired technique in relation to the maximum efficiency of outcome.
Style Rule 3: Keep it correct—and remember your audience Your technical writing will contain facts, and those facts should be accurate and complete. There is no room for vague, ambiguous or misleading statements. If in doubt, check a reliable source. Some pointers to remember are: •
•
Only use information for which you have good evidence—not that your friend’s cousin went to Central Australia and told you about the seven different colours that can be seen in the face of Ayers Rock; if you want to discuss the strata you need to consult a geological report. Be consistent in your use of units of measurement so that the reader can make comparisons easily.
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•
•
Check the illustrations to make sure that the data contained are correct. The same goes for calculations. Small mistakes can lead to big embarrassments as well as being misleading. Your department will give you information about their preferred conventions for important details like referencing style and standard abbreviations. Don’t be tempted to make up your own!
Style Rule 4: Keep it objective—and remember your audience Professional engineers are unbiased, unemotional and truthful when they are discussing options. They use facts, or ‘evidence’, to convince the reader of the logic of their arguments or how sensible their recommendations are; not emotive language or selective information. Other writers, like politicians and advertisers, are not bound by such considerations. Their presentation of the facts conveys a biased or ‘interested’ view. In your assignments, you should be presenting a point of view (you can call this a ‘position’ or an ‘argument’), but you must also show that you are aware of other different or opposing outlooks. You must show evidence to support your point of view, and account for alternative views. Try to present a balanced discussion.
A COUPLE OF COMMON WRITING PROBLEMS Bias—how to detect it Here’s an example. You are writing a report on a simplified process of working winding gear for wells in developing countries, and you come across an article written by an 113
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STUDYING ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY Table 9.3 Examples of verbose phrases in view of the foregoing circumstances = therefore are found to be in agreement = agree afford an opportunity to investigate = allow investigation
aid worker in Madeupland—where the new gear is being trialled—who claims that in the first year of the new system, there has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of injuries to people using the well. This looks bad for your point of view, that the simplified system is good. However, when you look at the actual figures and find out that this ‘25 per cent’ is based on four cases of injury one year and five the next despite hundreds of people using the gear, and you then discover that the aid worker is employed by a firm that is producing an alternative system, the writer’s ‘facts’ no longer look so convincing. When you write, don’t try to trick people into believing what you say. It’s better to present an opinion that acknowledges some room for doubt or opposing ideas.
Verbosity Don’t waste words repeating ideas. Are you tempted to use many words when one will do? You may think it makes your paper sound better, but vague waffling will be recognised and won’t earn good marks. Use the relevant vocabulary for your area, but don’t be pompous just because you are writing a formal assignment. Keep it short and use the simplest word possible. See the examples in Table 9.3. Verbosity is usually an attempt to make a little information go a long way. Markers want clear writing. 114
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TECHNICAL WRITING Table 9.4 What you should avoid Writing type
Example
Use instead
double negatives
not unlikely, not unknown advance forward, exact duplicate, singularly unique annual precipitation statistic
likely, known
tautology (repetition of ideas) unnecessary jargon
advance, duplicate (or ‘copy’), unique mean annual rainfall
Table 9.4 summarises the pitfalls of pompous, overlyformal writing.
EDITING TIPS FOR GOOD TECHNICAL WRITING Keep it short and simple Your best guide to good technical writing is to make your message as clear as it can be. If you have the chance to draft and redraft, then do it. If you’re writing up a report in class or on site as you do the practical exercise, then keep your sentences simple and short. Keep it correct and factual You should also develop your editing skills. Identify any typical failings (for example, writing long sentences all the time), and edit for them. If you are inclined to be biased (for example, you always take a conservationist or a rural industries slant), then look to replace any emotive words and make sure you have presented alternatives fairly.
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To develop your own expertise in technical writing, you need practice. Use the style rules in order to get good marks. Practise, practise, practise.
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REPORT WRITING—THE NUTS AND BOLTS
REPORT WRITING
Professional engineers write many reports. Most articles in engineering journals and in the workplace are based on a report structure. In a consulting firm, your reports or proposals to clients will also use report structure and language. Within your corporation, you will report on new product developments or recommend research or investment. You will write up interviews and write proposals. Proposal writing is a valuable skill which your prac reports help you develop. Here are basic guidelines for report writing. If you are studying in more than one faculty and department, you may find differences in report headings or the referencing system. If your departmental guide is different, then follow it.
ORGANISATION BY HEADINGS Reports are organised around headings. Headings help the reader follow the logical course of the report. They also 117
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break up the page so that the reader won’t be bored by too much text. Include some information in dot points, as well as text, for the same reasons: to break the information into sections, and to help the reader’s concentration.
Title page Your name, student number, the date of the prac, demonstrator’s name, due date and title of the prac are all included on your title page. There may be a special form to attach to the front of your report.
Abstract or summary This can be a difficult section to write. Abstracts are short, not more than 5 per cent of the total wordage. Most are a single paragraph. An abstract must make complete sense on its own. Don’t repeat the title, but state the aims of the prac, the results, and the methods. Conclude with the principal findings. The abstract summarises the whole report. (In business, the ‘abstract’ may be a 1–2 page ‘executive summary’.) Write the abstract last, so that you know exactly what your conclusions are! References are not usually included in abstracts (more about references later).
Introduction Your introduction should be clear and concise, telling the reader what to expect in your report. Table 10.1 summarises the four important ingredients in any good introduction (this is true for essays at university too). Write your introduction in past tense, and in technical 118
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REPORT WRITING Table 10.1 Elements of an introduction Element
What it contains
Example sentence
Background
Information about the topic
‘Engineers in hardware and software development firms need constant updating on new developments in their field.’
Specific focus
The problem or gap that needs discussing
‘The Internet has been suggested as a useful way to keep professionals informed, but there are certain problems with implementing this.’
Direction
How you will discuss the topic
‘Through overviewing the current literature, interviews with working engineers, and a review of relevant web sites, this essay . . .’
Proposition
Your answer to the topic
‘. . . this essay will show that current technology can be implemented, with certain modifications, to address the need for continual professional development.’
style (see Chapter 9). Like abstracts, introductions are often written after the other sections.
Materials and methods Sometimes there are minor headings such as Apparatus and Procedure. This section should contain clear enough instructions for someone to replicate your prac exercise. Some departments want only a minimum of information here, rather than everything from the prac manual. Standard apparatus should be described in proper technical terms. Your department may have guidelines about whether to include the manufacturer of each piece of equipment, or just the type of equipment you used. If you made any of the apparatus, explain it clearly, and perhaps show its construction in a diagram. 119
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When reporting field experiments, include any environmental conditions which may have an influence on your results. For example, report recent rainfall if it will affect the soil compression characteristics you are examining for a proposed construction site. Describe your procedures and methods of measurement (use past tense). Sometimes (where standard procedures are used) you can cite a reference, e.g. ‘as in O’Toole’s (1998) paper’. However, do not simply say ‘as in the CompEng manual’ (unless your demonstrator tells you to); practise using your own words to describe methods. At the end of this section, give details of how you analysed data. Long statistical calculations can be attached in an appendix.
Results This simple section merely describes what happened. Here you report the data upon which you have based your conclusions. Accuracy and clarity are of prime importance. Simple errors here are easy to detect, so check that you have accurately reported your results. If the results look vague or sloppy, your marker imagines that is the sort of student you are (and the sort of engineer you will be!).
Discussion Many students find this section difficult, maybe because it requires the most thinking. In the discussion, you comment on the results and error estimations. Here you can really show your understanding of the work and practise your analytical skills as an engineer. The discussion has clear connections with the introduction, perhaps similar 120
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subheadings or organisation. It helps to write about the results by dividing your discussion into subsections, especially if there were logical sections in your prac. (You should use past tense in all these sections.) In the discussion, you analyse the results and link your results with information in the text, prac manual or other sources that you covered in the introduction. State whether the results supported the hypothesis or demonstrated the theory you were testing; if not, suggest reasons why not. Did any general trends become obvious? Comment on suspect methodology or reliability—that is, what you did wrong in terms of design and procedures. Then write a concluding paragraph (or sentence) stating the significance of your findings, and perhaps suggest further steps in the research process. For example, say that it would be advisable to repeat the experiment with corrections to the procedures.
References Here’s a brief word about citation—there’s more detail in the references given in Appendix I. You will consult different sources (text books, journals, prac manuals, Internet, etc.) when you need information for your introduction. At university level, you must tell the reader where you found any information that is not common knowledge and that you didn’t think of yourself. Any time you include information you collected from a source, you must cite that source. All the sources you cite are called references. At the end of your prac report, you will need to attach a list of references (we are supposing that you used some). This list contains everything you cited in the report, and nothing more. If you read it, but didn’t cite it, don’t list 121
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it. (The exception here is when you are asked to provide a bibliography, rather than a reference list. A bibliography is a list of everything you read, whether cited or not.) There are specific citation and referencing conventions used in technical disciplines and there will be a departmental guide to these, or your department might recommend a style in a specific journal.
Appendices You don’t need appendices in your report, but there might be some detailed information that you want to include. For instance, an appendix might contain the raw data for your results.
TIPS ON PRESENTATION Before submitting your report, check the spelling, grammar and layout, as well as making sure the content is correct (or as close as you can make it!). Check whether hand-drawn graphs are accepted. Your department might prefer centred headings, or 4cm margins right and left, or double spacing. It’s important to get it right. Why waste marks on simple format details? In general, engineering departments don’t like anything fancy, so don’t hand in green headings and silver underlinings, or coloured paper. Correct any errors. Then hand it in on time!
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TIPS ON ILLUSTRATIONS: TABLES AND FIGURES Results are often given in the forms of tables and figures. Figures and tables do not simply repeat information given in the text; they summarise, amplify or complement it. Tables and figures are most common in the results section. Tables usually present data in columns of numbers or values. Tables are given a caption at the top, and numbered as they appear: Table 1, and so on. It is also fine to put the reference to the table or figure in brackets at the end of a sentence (Table 2). The other type of illustration you can use in a report is a figure. Figures can be many different things: diagrams, graphs, drawings, photos—anything that’s not a table. Figures are numbered separately from tables, so you have Table 1 and also Figure 1. Figures are also captioned, but their captions appear below the figure. You should also write about each figure in the text. When you write about the illustrations, use capital letters for each Figure and Table. You can see examples of figures and tables throughout this book. Generally, you can present information in either a table or a figure, but not both. Sometimes you will be told which format to use, or you might have to decide for yourself. Choose the format that shows the relevant results the most clearly.
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Appendices are also numbered, and have a heading with a number clearly indicated. In the text, to indicate where to find more detailed information, refer the reader to the appendix by number (as for tables and figures). This reference often comes in brackets at the end of a sentence like this: (see Appendix 3).
ESSAYS Essays are rare in engineering courses. You may not write essays until second year, but you will write a thesis later to complete your degree. Because of this, essays can be frightening. Here are the basics. (Sometimes the first essay you write for the year is during the exams. See Chapters 11 and 12 on exams in engineering, because some of that advice will also be useful.) Essay writing contains a number of steps, and if you follow them through, put in a reasonable amount of time and write a couple of drafts, you’ll be fine. The basic steps are analysis, research, reading, planning your essay, writing and then editing your work. Your major tasks in writing a university essay are to: • • • •
show you understand the topic and the reading review the relevant literature, explain the different perspectives and critically examine the readings present the information accurately and objectively show why other alternatives are less acceptable than the one you are advocating
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• •
use good written expression (spelling, punctuation and grammar) accurately reference your sources
Find—and then read—the relevant literature. Use this information to form an argument. You may think at the outset that there is only one way of looking at a particular topic, but the more you read, the more you learn. There are few absolute answers. Find the most plausible argument (or combination) from your reading and thinking.
Technical essays There are sections in a technical essay, but not necessarily headings, though headings and illustrations are more common in a technical essay than in a humanities one. The basic structure of the technical essay is introduction, exposition and conclusion. The introduction tells us what you are going to ‘argue’; the exposition shows us the evidence that supports that point of view (do not simply describe the topic); the conclusion summarises the argument. Remember, you need a definite statement of your argument (thesis/proposition) in the introduction. Then prove that argument in the body of the essay. Conclude by saying that the evidence you discussed supports it. Don’t save any surprises for the conclusion. You are not writing a mystery.
Research the topic Evidence is important in university essays. However, you also need to express an opinion. You may agree or disagree with the essay question/proposition, or support a minority view in an area of research. Sometimes— 125
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because there are always so many new developments in engineering—you might be very unsure about your answer. You can say ‘in these particular instances, yes; but in these others, no’. But make it clear when the ‘yes’ and the ‘no’ apply. You can’t take the easy way out by not committing yourself: you must have a definite answer; even if it is qualified (that is, not the total solution to the problem). Writing an essay is an opportunity to find out more about something. Choose a topic you don’t know much about, and take time to analyse the topic thoroughly—by the time you have written your essay, you’ll be an expert. Use the starting list of references, and do further reading (see Chapter 6). You may first become very enthused about your topic and explain it to every hapless bystander, and later become confused about it as you read more widely and find lots of apparently valid but contrasting viewpoints. Once you have done the reading set by your lecturer, expand your research. This could be a good time to look on the web. Make sure you use appropriate sources. Information which is legitimate in one subject may be irrelevant in another. Concentrate on chemical engineering evidence for chemical process essays, and so on. Limit your research time, or you may run out of writing time. You’re not writing a novel and you have a time frame. Look at enough literature to gain a good insight into the topic and appreciate its complexities; too little reading, and your essay will show only a superficial understanding of the task. Too much and you’ll write a thesis and not submit it until the year 2050. How many references should you use? If this is not specified, then research about 10–15 times the number of words that you have to write. For a 2000-word essay, that 126
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means reading about 10–15 sources of about the same length as your essay, or fewer longer sources.
Planning your essay You need an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. You can leave the introduction until you know what you’re going to write; or write a draft introduction which forms an essay outline. Leave the conclusion until later. The focus of your plan is the body of the essay. Your ‘argument’, or best solution, or proposition, or insight, or ‘thesis’ is not ‘this reference is the correct answer’. Your essay develops inside your head as much as in any references.
Remember the audience! Think of the reader as someone in your year—intelligent and able to understand complex ideas, but not knowledgeable in this topic. Explain to this person the specific vocabulary of the area. Define your terms, but not every word. Define unusual or specific vocabulary, common words that have special meanings in this context, and terms that are disputed in the literature. Use a working definition extracted from reading the work of experts in the area (not from the dictionary). You can structure your argument in three ways: agree with the proposition in the question, disagree, or agree to a limited extent. Structure your essay with an explanation of your view, then the evidence for your view and against other interpretations. If you have been asked to research a specific topic, for example, ‘Automated closed loop control of anaesthesia’ for a biomedical engineering essay, you can discuss the main methods equally, focus on what you believe is 127
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the best method and explain why it is better than other methods, or propose a combination of the best of two or more methods.
Start writing Form the information you have gathered into sensible paragraphs, each of which performs a function. For example, you may have a paragraph explaining each of the major theories, then a paragraph defining your terms, paragraphs giving examples of how the theories apply in practice and paragraphs elaborating the occasions when something different happens. You’ll have paragraphs showing how what you’ve read doesn’t apply to specific instances.
Link the parts of the essay To make a coherent argument, you must fuse all this information into one logical, readable text. You can add ‘continuation’ sentences to your paragraphs. Another useful device is using summing-up and introductory paragraphs to sit between the different sections of the essay. Your paragraphs should be built around a topic sentence—generally the first one—and each paragraph should elaborate on a single idea. You’ll also need continuation words (such as ‘however’, ‘in addition’, ‘also’) to connect sentences and each paragraph to those around it. The conclusion should have no surprises. It should be a satisfying tying together of your points so that the main argument of the essay is unambiguously stated. Don’t introduce new material and don’t finish with a quote—all that work just so you could reach someone else’s proposition? 128
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REPORT WRITING Table 10.2 Editing tips Editing task
Who does it?
Looking for . . . Strategies
Questions to ask
Changes to structure
You
Clear argument, order of points, length, use of sources
Compare to your plan, research questions or to the essay question
Are there links? Are the connections clear? Is it balanced? Do I need more references, or fewer?
Improving expression
You, maybe with help
Structure of paragraphs, coherent sentences, active voice, no waffling, good referencing
Read it from the marker’s perspective, read it aloud, get help, read just your topic sentences to check linking
Have I said everything? Does the argument flow? Have I cut unnecessary words? Are my sentences clear?
Proofreading
Preferably someone else
Details, spelling, punctuation, grammar, references
Someone else can probably see errors you don’t, leave it for a while, read aloud, read it backwards, print it out
Is the grammar correct and clear? Are the pages numbered? Any spelling mistakes? Any problems?
Editing Once you’ve written the draft, leave it alone for a day or two. It’s difficult to edit your own work. If you leave it for a little, you see it with fresh eyes. Perhaps ask someone else to read the essay during this time. Table 10.2 presents some editing tips.
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EXAM PREPARATION—WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW CAN HURT YOU
EXAM PREPARATION
Between 80 and 100 per cent of your assessment in engineering is by examination at the end of semester. If you are used to continuous assessment, this may worry you. There are many reasons both for and against exams, but they’re an effective way to assess many students at the same time, and exam pressure mimics stresses which occur in responsible jobs (such as those aspired to by many engineering students). Whichever way you look at them, exams are here to stay, and you must learn to succeed in them. You must prepare very well for exams. To get an idea of how much exam study is appropriate, think about putting in effort in proportion to what each assessment task is worth. Unlike in Year 12, when exam study was something 130
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you did at the end of the year or semester, exam study at uni should start very early. Lots of the things you do—like reading for preparation, or doing tute sheets—are also exam preparation tasks. Start to do a little regular weekly revision after week one of semester one. In most engineering disciplines you will face a variety of examination formats: multiple choice exams, problemsolving exams, short answer exams, essay exams and practical exams.
MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAMS Multiple choice exams can be divided into question types. There are those that ask you to identify the answer that doesn’t fit; there are true/false questions; there are questions that give you a hypothetical situation and ask you to apply principles that you have studied; and there are also multiple choice questions that ask you to extend the information according to the theories that you have learned. Multiple choice is not multiple guess. Few multiple choice questions at university will require you simply to recognise the right answer. You are expected to combine pieces of information from lectures throughout the semester, to understand a new sequence based on something you saw in another format, and to apply principles to new situations. You need to prepare for exams earlier than you think, because you will do so much better with some understanding than with a mere parrot-like recognition of facts. Recognising information you’ve seen before will not be enough during your professional working life. You will be 131
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the one expected to provide solutions, not just recognise the best solution from those someone else suggests. Investigate the exam format: the question type, the weighting of the questions and the response method—will you have to fill in a card, or do you circle your answers? Sometimes you can look at old exam papers (sometimes available on-line). This will help you as long as you use them sensibly: practise all or part of the exam under exam conditions—no music, coffee, comfortable chair or textbook open at the appropriate page—so that you can really find out what you don’t know. Then use the practice exams to guide your study.
PROBLEM-SOLVING EXAMS Problem-solving exams are common in the engineering disciplines. These should be the easiest exams because you have been solving problems all semester. (At least, you should have been!) Usually you will have a weekly tutorial sheet of problems which you work through at home or with the tutor during classes. Sometimes problems are demonstrated in lectures. Stay up-to-date with these examples of problemsolving so that your own expertise increases over the semester. Regular practice at solving problems is the best study method for these exams. If you’ve been keeping up with your tute sheets, you have also been preparing for your exam. If not, start regular sessions wrestling with the tute sheets every week. Many students hate problems, often for different reasons—they can’t get started, or they get halfway and get lost, or they just can’t solve the last line. 132
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A good way to deal with this is to work regularly with a group of fellow students. Perhaps one of you is very good at seeing how to start the problem, while another is good at tying up the finish. Together you can learn from each other how to tackle the problems so that you all benefit. Even talking problems over with others, so you can compare answers and approaches, will be helpful. Revise old tutorial sheets actively, making sure you know how each problem can be solved, and proving it to yourself, perhaps by substituting different values and reworking them. Try doing the same task in a different context. Try to understand how the formulae you are using work. What is each element there for? How does each manipulate the data, and why is it necessary to include that process in the formula? Don’t forget old exam papers as preparation—working through the questions actively to benefit from them. WARNING! All courses change with time. Material is added or deleted. Sections of courses move from one semester to another. Check with your tutor (or your course outline and objectives) to make sure that the old exam questions are still relevant to your course.
SHORT-ANSWER AND ESSAY EXAMS There are often short-answer elements in both multiple choice and problem-solving exams. Essay exams are less 133
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common, but you will occasionally be asked to write explanatory essays about theories you have studied. Many engineering students are out of practice with writing. It seems a long time since school, and most of their work at university has been scribbling numbers on tute sheets or writing a few words in blank spaces in the prac report form. If they have written anything at all, they have usually had access to a word processor with a spelling checker. Then they are suddenly faced with handwriting cohesive paragraphs in an exam! There are two important aspects to writing in an exam—clarity of expression and legibility. To prepare for these tasks, you must practise what you need to perform. Do some hand-writing as often as you can. This is in addition to taking notes, writing lists to remember and so on. Focus on trying to express a concept clearly. Practise writing in sentences and paragraphs. For example, you could—and should—practise writing summaries and outlines after you have revised your lecture notes or read a text. Try writing these without looking at the source! If you have taken point form notes, test yourself to see whether you can expand these into paragraphs. You also need the ability to write quickly. There’s no point in being able to present a polished paragraph in two hours if you only have 10 minutes in the exam. Keep time in mind as you improve your writing skills. Time the writing that you do. It is surprising how fast 15 minutes can go by when you have a blank sheet of paper and a set task without the support of your notes. The more you practise, the better you will become at writing quickly. Analyse old exam papers. See if you can work out what the examiners wanted. The course outline will also 134
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give you clues. Sometimes students become so involved with the detail of each lecture that they neglect the overall concepts of the course. Try to identify the main focus. In the exam you won’t have as much time as you want. Try to write straight into the main point, without introductory sentences or repeating the question. Time is not money in exams—time is marks!
PRACTICAL EXAMINATIONS You may have a portion of your marks for a subject allocated for a practical exam in the techniques and methodologies associated with your discipline. Usually this is a minor part, but it is one area where it is comparatively easy to obtain full marks. To prepare for practical exams, you must practise! This sounds self-evident, but many students think that they can excel in the pracs by learning a list of what to do. That is not nearly so effective as actually practising the items on the list. As we explained earlier (in Chapter 3), physical practice as an active learning technique is effective because it involves more of our senses than passive learning—so doing practical work will also help your grasp of the theory. Don’t forget, if you aren’t able to get to the facilities as often as you’d like, there are still active tasks you can complete. Go through the motions in one of the ways described in Table 3.3. WARNING! There is a greater element of plagiarism in practical work than anywhere else. This includes copying from another student or from a past year’s student (possibly at a price). In these days of large classes and heavy 135
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demonstrator workloads you may get away with this for a while. But when the practical examinations come around, the consequences can be dire. Do your own work.
REVISION OF MEMORY PRINCIPLES Here’s an opportunity to revise some of the ideas we talked about earlier, and to apply them specifically to exam preparation.You might like to make your own list or table of techniques. You will feel (like most engineering students, especially in early years) that you want to learn great chunks of information by rote. This can be useful for lists, for items in order, for some formulae, for some vocabulary and for some structural models. For rote learning, you can use mnemonics, melodies, the method of loci, multiple repetition, peg words—and whatever else works for you. Visual memory is the strongest—especially a 3D image. Remember that rote learning needs constant revision. That will work for some of your exam preparation. The bulk of it, however, will require understanding of concepts. You need this for systems, for some tabulated material, for argumentative or complex issues, and for explaining theoretical models.
EXAM PREPARATION TIPS Here’s a reminder of the principles for remembering (through understanding) information you need in an exam. We remember:
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• • • • • • •
what we want to remember what we are familiar with what we agree with what we can explain to others more when we have more associations material we can fit into patterns better what we have been active with.
So: stay motivated; look for meaning; organise the material; visualise material; make associations; become very familiar with the information.
Start early in your exam preparation. It’s the best advice of all.
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WHAT IS AN ENGINEER? Profile: Christine Tursky Gordon Engineering: a wealth of career choices I graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic) Honours degree, and started work at Hewlett-Packard Australia as a Staff Engineer for the Test & Measurement Organisation. Here I gained experience in the use and application of H-P’s test equipment, and technical support for the T&M sales representatives, including preparation of configurations, quotations and proposals. This gave me a mixture of technical and business experience, as the supply of test equipment for something like a new production line also involves an understanding of contract terms and conditions involving payment, delivery obligations, support and any negotiated liability. During this time I also completed a Bachelor of Arts on a part-time basis. Later on I moved into a Field Engineer role, which involved responsibility for business development, test equipment orders, account management and strategic planning for a group of telecommunications manufacturing accounts, largely multinationals. During this time I developed major account strategies and senior level business relationships, as well as providing appropriate levels of technical support and commitment. I was Hewlett-Packard’s Test & Measurement representative for several major projects, including a number of high-tech manufacturing lines.
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After a few years, I became the Product Marketing Manager for H-P’s Test & Measurement Organisation in Australia and New Zealand, and also started a part time Master of Marketing degree. H-P’s Test & Measurement products range from leading-edge R&D applications to high technology manufacturing tests, in industries such as photonics, telecommunications, defence and the automotive industry. I was responsible for marketing strategies for each industry segment and for managing the resulting market plans throughout the year. I also undertook specific market research projects, such as the deregulation of the Australian telecommunications industry, or services marketing for Hewlett-Packard’s engineering consulting organisation. From there I moved to Hewlett-Packard Australia’s Advanced Networks Division as their Outbound Marketing Manager. I managed a team responsible for external marketing strategy and materials for leadingedge telecommunications test equipment. The Advanced Networks Division is an Australian R&D and manufacturing arm of Hewlett-Packard, and exports over $100 million of equipment annually. This role included applying techniques such as one-to-one marketing and relationship marketing to high technology segments in the USA, Japan and Europe. After having my first child, I returned to work in two flexible roles. I currently work in an industry secondment position at the University of Melbourne, in conjunction with work at Hewlett-Packard Australia. As Technology Training Manager I am responsible for the worldwide training strategy for Hewlett-Packard
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sales and technical support staff for the products designed in Australia by the Advanced Networks Division. This involves building and maintaining this team’s expertise in a high technology market segment worldwide. As Assistant Dean, Equity and Diversity, for the University of Melbourne I am responsible for the Engineering faculty’s Diversity Policy and its continued alignment with industry strategies. My work at the University of Melbourne is sponsored by HewlettPackard Australia as part of their ongoing commitment to excellence in tertiary education, and their support of diversity in the workforce and the benefits of innovation and flexibility that this brings to any organisation. Christine’s advice: Keep learning! Building new skills is the best way to be able to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. Be flexible! Technology and business both change so quickly these days that it’s difficult to predict where you’ll be in five years; be ready to move your career in unexpected directions. Have fun! If you enjoy your job, you’re going to put more energy in and find it easier to be successful—which will lead to promotion opportunities and more fun jobs!
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12
EXAM SUCCESS— MANAGE THE DAY
EXAM SUCCESS
Most of what you need to know about sitting exams successfully has been covered in the previous chapters. The importance of early preparation, of steady work throughout the teaching period, however, cannot be overstated. Do it early, do it often. Here we give a few useful hints on managing the exam day. You have already sat many exams quite successfully to reach university, and you can use those skills or adapt them. However, you may not have sat such long exams and ones which count for so much of your overall mark. This may add to your exam anxiety. Try to be calm in your approach. The following suggestions will help you handle the whole experience better.
GENERAL EXAM ADVICE Don’t neglect your general health during the lead up to exam period. A physically fatigued body will drain your 141
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energies so that you won’t be mentally alert either. Preparing for exams is like preparing for marathons—mind and body need to work together to complete the course. Remember too that special exam arrangements can be made if you have a chronic or temporary disability (such as a broken arm). See your disability liaison advisor on campus.
The night before the exam, include some relaxation activity. Physical activity can help relax your mind, which will allow it to bypass the anxiety and get at all that stored knowledge. Consider taking the family dog for a long walk or doing some yoga, or having a hit with a bat and ball in the driveway. Don’t just slump in front of the television—you will get no physical relief and will be too tempted to worry. You already know as much as you’re going to know about this subject by now, so there’s no need for, or any point in, all-night cramming.
ON EXAM DAY Double check the exam venue personally so there will be no confusion. You should have prepared for the journey and location well before: you know where the exam is held, how you’re going to get there, and how long the trip will take. Arrive in good time—not so early that you stand around with friends getting cold or hot and making 142
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each other more nervous, and not so late that you’re rushing to find your seat when the others are well into reading time. Good timing is important in other ways. In addition to timing your work, and doing practice exams in the set time, you can attune your mental rhythms. During swot vac (the study time before exams) you should have been trying to make your routine suit the exam timetable as much as you can. Are any of your exams scheduled for 3:00am? Then why are you accustoming your brain to be doing its best, most active, work then? Get yourself into a routine where you are mentally active at the usual morning and afternoon sessions. Most of us suffer from exam nerves; for some people, the nerves actually improve performance, while for a few unlucky others, nerves are bad news. Here are some ideas for beating the butterflies: •
•
• • • •
Knowing your work well is the best cure for nerves. The more confident you are about knowing the answers, the less you will be inclined to panic. Do lots of exam practice in exam-like conditions. Get a friend or family member to act as the exam supervisor, making you keep to time, and so on. If possible, become familiar with the place you will take your exam. Try meditation or visualisation techniques to help you calm yourself. Practice breathing deeply to help you focus. Remind yourself that your examiners want you all to pass—treat exams as opportunities to show what you know.
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Some practical considerations Make sure you have everything you need in the way of pens, pencils, calculators and so on. Those of you who have been practising aromatherapy will have drops of their favourite focusing oils on their hankies. If it’s a long exam on a cold day, take some barley-sugar or chocolate to keep your energy up. A couple of technical notes—small points, but anything that prevents you from wasting time and getting flustered is important. Don’t use white-out in an exam. It takes too long to dry. Just draw a line through what you want to erase and keep going. A healthy supply of sharpened pencils is more time efficient than sharpening the same one throughout the exam. Choose B-type pencils rather than a very hard H—these can be hard for examiners to read.
Reading time Read the paper carefully, especially the instructions. Even very bright students sometimes mess up their exams because they answer all the questions instead of just the three they were supposed to, or they miss a section. Reading time is difficult if you are nervous and jumpy. However, that 15 minutes is too precious to waste. Be proactive in reading time. If you are allowed to mark the question paper during this time, you can write plans and outlines, decide which questions to do, and underline important words. Look for hints and tips, and questions which may be related to one another. Decide what order you will answer the questions in. If you aren’t allowed to write, use your fingernail to underline the correct answers in a multiple choice exam; 144
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underline those important words, and mark the questions you want to do. Other important activities for reading time include: • • • •
reading all instructions choosing questions in an essay exam working out what to start with locating information and quotes in an open book exam.
Starting to write Collect your thoughts a little before you put pen to paper. Stay focused, make sure you know the response format, take a deep breath, and do a relaxation routine such as isometrics. Then begin! Make sure you know what the questions ask, and not what you want them to ask. If you have to choose between questions, decide quickly so that you can concentrate on the chosen topics. Some students like to begin with the easiest one first, which helps them get going. Others like to work methodically through the paper in the sequence it is presented. You may like to start with the question that is worth the most (or the least) marks. All of these strategies are successful if you keep in mind your time limit for each question. Stick to your time plan. Exams are by their very essence timed assays of your ability or knowledge. You can translate the paper into so many marks per minute (or so many minutes per mark) to give you a guide as to how much time to spend on each question. It’s easier to get the first half of the marks for any question than to get the latter half. Therefore you may score more marks 145
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in total if you attempt two questions instead of spending all the time on one question. If you run out of time, make sure you scribble a note to the examiner saying what you would have done next. It may help! Remember that exams are a chance to show your knowledge, and examiners are looking for ways to give you marks.
Double checking Make regular checks not only of the time, but of your calculations. Look for little errors that wouldn’t normally be a problem, because exam stress does funny things. Have you answered all the questions? Have you turned over two pages at once? Is your name on the paper? Use all the time. Never leave an exam early—you’re bound to remember something useful as soon as you leave the room, and then it’s too late. Finishing extra early is a warning signal. Maybe you are brilliant, but it is more likely that you missed something.
HOW TO FACE DIFFERENT TYPES OF EXAMS Myths and legends of multiple choice exams Rumours and ‘truths’ tend to circulate just before multiple choice exams and add to the general stress. For example, you will probably hear that it is bad to change an answer because your first instinct is bound to be right. Or you may hear that it is always good to change an answer because your brain has no doubt used the intervening time to process the material properly. Which is true? The answer is that you need to look for the best choice 146
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in every case. The exact answer you learned may not be there! So your strategy is not to get confused and change your answer because you think it’s not exactly right: look for the closest appropriate response. Keep your eyes open. Pay attention to the information in each question, rather than forgetting it as soon as you choose an answer. Sometimes lecturers put clues to the answer of a later question in a set of multiple choice answers. In addition, some questions may be cumulative, or interlinked in some way. Another common saying is that ‘the answer is usually c’. Of course, this may happen, but many exam alternatives are sequenced randomly by computer, so there is no guarantee that c is the examiner’s favourite. A similar belief is that ‘d is always a filler’ and therefore never right; for the same reason, treat this advice cautiously. If the stem (the statement at the top that you have to match with an option) of a question looks completely unfamiliar, try putting the ideas into everyday terms. Sometimes it is the wording, not the concept, that has you confused. Read all the alternatives rather than leaping onto what looks like the obvious answer. Watch out for qualifying words (such as ‘always’, ‘almost’, ‘never’) which can alter the meaning of the sentence; and remember to look for the ‘best’ answer (which may not be exactly the same as the one in your notes).
Problem-solving exams You already know the general rules for these. Write down the formulae you will need for each question, and note what you have been told and what 147
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you need to work out. If you can, it’s a good idea to make a rough estimate of the order of your answer so that you can tell whether or not you’re close. Other strategies are to draw a diagram of the process to help you see what is missing and what you need to supply. If you can’t immediately see how to tackle the problem, DON’T PANIC! Use a relaxation strategy such as counting to ten; visualise yourself doing a similar problem during the year; mentally review those collaborative problem-solving sessions; try another question and come back to that one later. If you get lost during a calculation, and can’t solve one value, then make a note substituting a likely value for the one that is missing, and proceed. You may score marks for good method, although the final answer will be wrong. Reviewing your answers is important. Check your workings and calculations as you go, and make time at the end of the exam for another check. This will allow you to change your mental perspective and perhaps pick up any careless errors.
Short-answer or essay exams Be aware of the weighting of these questions, and allocate your time accordingly. Of course, you will read the question carefully before you start writing, but you should also refer back to it during your writing, in case you go off-track. Balance your time budget. Use all the time you have for each question, even if you leave the question and return to it later. You can’t earn more marks for any question than have been allocated by the examiner, so don’t spend extra time on something you know really well and fudge the rest. It won’t work! 148
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A point form plan can help you organise your ideas. In addition, sketching a quick plan on your first page can also help to squeeze an extra mark or two. If you don’t finish, but your examiner can see where you were heading, he/she might give you some credit for your effort. Also, leave some space in your answer for revision. Try to write on every second line, or leave room between paragraphs (it’s okay to ask for another answer booklet). That way, if you re-read the essay and need to put in more information, you can. As a last resort, number your paragraphs and put the extra points at the end, with an indication of where they belong in the body of your essay. As long as you clearly indicate the number of the question, you needn’t repeat the question or even some of the words. In an exam you can jump straight in to the essentials of the answer. Make every sentence and every point worth marks. Imagine the examiner: will she put a tick next to that sentence? Or will she know it was a waffly bit of filling because you are a bit vague about the topic? Don’t waste words, be concise. You don’t need a full-blown introduction in a shortanswer question (for a longish essay answer—40 minutes to an hour—you can be more particular), but you must conclude with a really relevant point. This will remind the marker that you know what you’re talking about. Don’t finish with a lame, vague sentence that could be used for anything. Make sure you leave the reader with an impression of your ability to expound at length on the topic.
Practical exams There are different types of practical exams. These are often conducted during teaching time rather than in the 149
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true examination period. Sometimes they consist of an overall mark for your performance in practicals throughout the year, in which case you need to make sure you attend every prac and pay attention. At other times you will be asked individually or in small groups to show what you know about methodology, or you will be presented with ‘fresh’ results and asked to analyse them immediately. When this happens, you may find that you become very nervous before and during the assessment. The general rules about exams are applicable here as well. Employ some of those relaxation exercises at appropriate times. Try the sports psychology approach of mentally convincing yourself that you can do it, and visualising yourself succeeding at the task. In practical exams there is no substitute for familiarity with the routine. Frequent practice is your best preparation, either in actual or pretend situations, so that you are confident enough to perform well in front of examiners. It’s like going for your driver’s licence: you may be nervous on the day but if you really know what you’re about, it will be obvious despite a couple of shaky starts. This is one time when it is extremely counter-productive to gather with a group of friends beforehand, talking frantically about how scared you are. You will only raise your own and everyone else’s anxiety levels. Do something positive instead, like taking a brisk walk around campus to work off some of that nervous energy.
AFTER THE EXAM Don’t agonise over it! You can’t change anything now, and relating how horrible it was may make you feel worse 150
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instead of better, and deflect you from your next chore— you probably have another exam in a day or so, and you need to marshal all your mental and physical energies for that. (Of course you can celebrate the relief when everything is finished.) Leave the last exam behind you. One exception to this advice is if you were feeling sick or had some other problem on the exam day. If you did, it’s important to let your marker know. Apply for special consideration straight away—it’ll be too late if you wait. (Of course, if you have had problems during semester, you will already have applied for special consideration.)
The horrible exam Sometimes disasters happen on the way to the exam. If you sleep in, get sick, have a car breakdown, or your bus is stuck in traffic, then go straight to your department (or phone them) and tell them so. You may qualify for special consideration or be able to sit the exam later. Sometimes, exams themselves are just awful—everyone finds them difficult, and you come out feeling drained. If you’ve prepared well, and answered to the best of your ability, all you can do is hope for the best. You should be fine. You can also console yourself with the thought that people who are confident about their performance may be disappointed by their results: if you’re sure you’ve failed, you might be pleasantly surprised. Don’t believe everything you hear, and don’t worry too much. Remember that students are just as notoriously unrealistic about telling each other how they went on the exam as they are at saying how much time they spend studying. If your friend is in tears and bewailing her efforts, you 151
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feel you can’t say that you liked the questions, so you agree. Lots of exam post-mortems are extremely unrealistic. Just show appropriate sympathy and get on with your next event.
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PROFESSIONAL SKILLS—DEVELOP A KILLER CV
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Your success as an Engineer will lie mostly with your reputation. You'll need hard work, honesty, integrity and a professional approach to your work. Keong Lim
The technical skills of engineering aren’t all you can learn at uni. You can build other skills to improve your employment chances at the end of your degree. Many engineering courses now have ‘professional skills’ or ‘communication’ classes. Alternatively, you may find that such classes are available from the careers unit or the learning skills centre on campus. Take advantage of these, because: •
You will learn and develop new skills and have guided practice in your current skills 153
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• • • •
Completion certificates from such courses are great in your CV Similar courses are available outside uni but they are very expensive You need good communication skills to enhance your interview skills for employment You will have the skills for successful client liaison, and become a skilled team member.
Professional skills include communication, presentation, teamwork, negotiation, problem-solving and leadership skills. Your activities both at uni and outside uni can also help you target your CV. Through experience and training in professional skills, you can show something of your personal values and character, to help you impress in the interview process. You need good professional skills when you are qualified and looking for a job, and also during your studies when you apply for engineering work-experience positions. Even in the workforce, you will sit through interviews: for promotion, for regular performance reviews or for a new position. The professional skills you learn now will be useful in all these situations.
COMMUNICATION AND PRESENTATION SKILLS Good professional communication consists of two parts: good listening skills and clear expression skills. To succeed in projects, engineers need to listen to their clients, superiors, colleagues and fellow team members. Rarely will you work entirely on your own (and even if you do, you will need to tell people about your successes, so you still need communication skills!). 154
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Listening skills Developing good listening skills requires practice. You have plenty of opportunities: lectures, media, conversations with partners, friends, family, and the customers at your part-time workplace. Spend a few minutes in all these situations concentrating on listening. Try to do some focused listening every day. A good listener has a purpose, excellent attention skills, and a commitment to accurate feedback.
Purpose As in reading, ask yourself what you want to get out of the listening situation. Do you want ideas from a colleague, tips from a supervisor, information from a lecturer, or a clear notion of the client’s requirements? A definite sense of purpose will help focus your listening.
Attention Commit yourself to pay attention to the person you are listening to. Don’t let your mind stray to what’s for lunch or what you’re wearing on Saturday. Keep eye contact with the person, minimise distractions (such as your mobile phone or Walkman), and encourage the person to tell you more by nodding, smiling, or asking appropriate questions. Don’t interrupt or jump to conclusions: good listeners are willing to hear everything the other person has to say on the topic (try this when your best friend wants to talk about a problem, or when your room-mate has a complaint!).
Feedback Good listeners keep listening until they are sure they have the message correct and complete. They may ask simple or probing questions to clarify some points. They do not 155
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finish the other person’s sentences for them. What they do really well is give the person feedback (e.g. repeat the main ideas back) to show that they understand what they’ve been told.
EXPRESSION SKILLS When they think of clear expression, most people think of presentations. Presentations are part of good expression skills, but you should also be developing your expression skills in one-to-one or small group situations. You will need to talk well to clients to explain your solutions, to colleagues to share ideas and delegate work, to supervisors to account for yourself and to make representation about improvements you have thought of—and to interview panels to convince them you’re the right person for the job! These skills are always useful, but are especially so if you want to go into consulting, where being able to communicate with clients is essential. We will look briefly at four main areas of professional expression: writing, email, interviewing, and presentations.
Writing Many of the tips we gave you in Chapters 9 and 10 will be useful when you are writing professional reports, business documents, and your CV. What about engineering essay competitions? This is basically the same skill that you’re developing in writing reports and your final year thesis. You can get some practise on the way, and possibly end up with an award which will look great on your CV. You may also have to present the results of a project as part of your assessment. This is an opportunity for you 156
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to practise your skills as well as becoming familiar with some presentation tools such as software packages, overheads and so on, which you will also use in your professional life.
KEONG’S TIPS FOR GREAT WRITING •
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Technical writing naturally uses the industry jargon. However, make sure that the jargon is properly introduced with some plain English explanation. Sometimes you assume prior knowledge of the jargon and skip the explanations. Be aware that this makes your writing inaccessible to everyone else. Be kind to others (for example, clients) who may need some help with jargon. Provide an executive summary. This places all the jargon into a broad context that can be used as a map to the rest. It establishes the relationships between the various pieces of jargon, and makes the jargon less of a surprise. You may need to collect all the jargon into a glossary. Technical discussions can be very long and detailed. It may be difficult to properly express the ideas. Try not to make your sentences too long. Long sentences make your work harder to understand than necessary. Technical reports are not the same as marketing brochures. You can’t disguise lack of information with dazzling colours and graphics. Most
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engineers won’t believe it because it simply won’t stand up to any critical analysis. Use an elegant, functional style. Don’t crowd the page with text. Remember to use short sentences. Make use of white space for borders and framing. Use relevant diagrams to illustrate the ideas. Produce draft reports with double spacing. It makes reading and writing annotations easier.
Email Although the paperless society is still a dream, workplaces (and universities) make extended use of electronic communication. Email messages are often less formal than their hard copy equivalents, but you must be careful and courteous. Email text can read like a telegram and it can be difficult to ensure that the receiver understands your message in the way you intended to send it. Be very careful with jokes, and take notice of regulations about e-mail—think of yourself as a professional, accountable professionally for what you write. (See Appendix II for ‘netiquette’.) One more thing: remember that cyberspace is not confidential—and it has a long, recoverable memory. Think before you hit the ‘send’ button.
Interviewing At different times in your course and during your career, you will be both interviewer and interviewee. Try to get experience on both sides of the table as early as you can, 158
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to understand the different perspectives. Your professional skills program may include practice interviews (you could ask the department to provide these if they don’t already do it). The university careers unit probably organises mock interviews, or employer interviews with panels from the big companies. Book in for as much experience as you can. Ask for feedback on your performance. If you have a part-time job, ask if you could sit in on an interview for new staff. Offer to be part of the panel. The perspective is totally different, and you can see what different behaviours look like to the interview panel: what impresses them, what discourages them. Many interview panels these days ask questions about ‘a time when you had an experience that showed . . . initiative, decisionmaking, flexibility, problem-solving . . .’ Think about how you would answer such a question. Review your experiences to come up with something suitable. As an engineer, you will interview clients about their needs and concerns. Practise this with family and friends. Your engineering student society may run mock interviews—if not, suggest it to them.
Presentations Presentation experience is the greatest teacher. You will be required to make tutorial presentations at uni—don’t avoid them, welcome them. The more presentations you do, the better you will become. Everyone feels nervous when speaking before an audience. Experience helps you develop strategies for performing well despite nerves. Your professional skills program or communications tute will give you experience in speaking, and these chances are priceless, because you also get valuable feedback about improvements. (See Appendices I and II for guides to public speaking.) 159
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It’s a great myth that engineers have poor communication skills. There are many ways to develop and practise yours. For example, visit your old school on careers night and give a presentation on your engineering studies and future plans. This not only shows your presentation and communication experience, but it also shows that you are willing to ‘add a bit extra’ by contributing to your old school environment and the engineering profession in your own time.
LEADERSHIP AND TEAMWORK SKILLS This is an intangible area. Formerly, people believed that leadership was an innate skill, which you either had or didn’t have. However, modern thinking on leadership, especially leadership in organisations, is that leadership is based on skills and values, and that these can be developed and learned. Your faculty’s engineering student society (or similar group) can help you develop your leadership skills. Can you get involved to organise events? Can you represent your fellow students on staff/student committees? Doing more than is required is a great ‘leadership’ message for potential employers. Also, you gain a sense of personal satisfaction from contributing your time and skills. Teamwork is essential in today’s workforce. Much work is performed by contract, so that even if you have a permanent position, you must be flexible enough to work with outsiders on a particular project—and do it well enough to get the best out of everyone for the life of the project. If you are from the outside team, you need to fit in quickly and make your contribution count. 160
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Your professional skills or communication course, or the careers unit at your uni, will have classes on teamwork skills. Your pracs will be performed in groups—make the most of group experiences to reflect on how well you perform in teams, and how well you encourage others to contribute. You can explore your personality and get a picture of how you would fit into a group through the web (Appendix II). What are your strengths and weaknesses as a team member? Are you shy and diffident, or bossy and controlling? Also check the printed references (Appendix I) for more ideas.
HOW TO GET LEADERSHIP AND TEAMWORK EXPERIENCE •
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Try sport! Sporting leaders are revered in Australia, and there are important social leaders from the sporting field in many other countries. You don’t have to be the best player to be the best leader. Often the best captain is the worst player. But you don’t even have to play to get leadership experience. Try a support position: volunteer to be scorer or stats person, to organise the trainers, to be practice captain or in charge of refreshments. Don’t forget committee jobs. The military model has always been popular for developing leaders and still has relevance. Scouts, Army Reserve and cadets give you experience of discipline, self-reliance and organisation, and can teach you lots about inspiring followers.
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Try local clubs: the dog-training club or ‘the save us from toxic waste movement’ or the local ‘clean up Australia’ team. Get involved and take some responsibility. Many of our political and social leaders today had a grounding in student political bodies: for example, Michael Kroger, Gareth Evans, Peter Costello, Jennie George. Many schemes around the uni help you get leadership experience with less time commitment than committees: host schemes, mentor schemes, open day hosts. Look at all levels in uni clubs. You don’t have to be good at anything in particular to be valuable. Ask at your student union for a list of clubs, or try at the Sports and Recreation service. Faculties and departments are often looking for student representatives. Get involved on behalf of other students. Be proactive at faculty and departmental level. Make sure staff know who you are and that you can help them out. You might start by doing photocopying, but if you prove your efficiency you will be offered more responsibility. Try contacting your old school (we will assume that you left there in good odour) and offer to talk to students about the transition to uni, to show interested students around campus, to talk to parents of Year 12 students, to help out at special functions. Investigate the old scholars’ club. Capitalise on work experience. Large organisations
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such as McDonalds and Safeways have lots of leadership training, and other situations can give you experience leading work teams. Look for varied experience to help you become flexible in varied job environments. Charities such as CARE and World Vision are always looking for people to help. You could organise your own team of highway collectors or run a mail-out project. You can join community volunteer schemes. Ask your local council about helping families with special needs, or helping elderly citizens in their homes or in facilities where you can help run activities or outings. Go to local council meetings and observe the interactions. Much experience lies in seeing things that work or don’t work, as well as trying them yourself. BUT remember: building experience and then expertise takes time—lots of it.
TIPS FOR A GREAT CV Before you send off a CV responding to any job advertisement, spend time composing a great cover letter. Make this cover letter short, simple, and attractive. State your interest in the position and show that you meet the key criteria. Leave longer details to the CV itself—in fact, be short and to the point in your CV as well. You want to interest the selection panel, not bore them with detail. The 163
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cover letter and CV have only one aim: to get you an interview. Showing you are the right applicant is then up to you in person. Some bigger employers now use a computer program to shortlist applicants through scanning and sorting CVs. Using the words of the key criteria can help your CV join the right pile! Use strong verbs in describing your skills and achievements. For example, say ‘I managed this program or event’ (not ‘helped with’); ‘I negotiated with this group’ (not ‘talked to’); ‘I handled customer complaints’ (not ‘heard’); ‘I organised a departmental function’ (not ‘was involved in’); ‘I represented the student society’ (not ‘I was dobbed in to go to the faculty’). Be concise. When describing a work experience job, list the most relevant and important tasks. Don’t say that you also sorted the mail or took the rubbish out or fed the cat, unless those skills can be seen as important to the position for which you are applying (in which case, you’d probably mention these in an interview rather than in your CV). For example, for some positions, your reliability (in feeding the cat), or your attention to occupational health and safety matters (in undertaking waste disposal), may be relevant. Find relevance! You may not think that your afterschool job at the supermarket checkout is relevant to your application for an engineering position, but it shows that you are reliable, were trusted to handle large amounts of money, and have experience in communicating with customers.
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JENNY JOWETT’S TIPS ON GETTING THE RIGHT JOB Your engineering degree is a ticket to a very exciting career, provided you get the right job. Sounds a little familiar and corny so far? Here are a few thoughts on how to go about it. Contrary to popular belief, strong academic results do not guarantee you a good job. They help get you to the interview stage, but fortunately (or unfortunately as the case may be) this is about the limit of their influence. An interview indicates that the employer is satisfied with your technical training. Interest now focuses on exploring your personality and ability in non-academic skills. While the phrase ‘all rounder’ is without doubt overused, it is the most succinct and accurate way to describe what most companies are looking for. You cannot enrol in a subject called ‘Life Experiences 101’, nor can you suddenly fit in a plethora of experiences in final year. Don’t panic. It’s unlikely any of the other candidates will have earned a Nobel Peace Prize in the last four or five years. Remember you are competing against other students, mostly with similar backgrounds. Think about what makes you a little different. Use examples from as many of these areas as possible during the interview to subtly remind the interviewer of the extent of your experience. Show people your qualities through examples. For example, saying ‘assistant coach of the U15 football side’ displays
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a far greater breadth of leadership qualities than stating ‘leadership experience’. Mostly, employers hire graduates based on their potential. This may be the potential to become a technical expert, to develop excellent leadership skills, to negotiate winning deals . . . Relax— employers don’t expect you to graduate with all the appropriate skills, just the attitude and interest required to develop them. Be enthusiastic. Ask lots of relevant questions. It is just as important for you to choose the right company as it is for the interviewer to choose the right employee. Finally, remember that any job is not for life. You won’t know if you’ve made the right choice until you begin employment. If you’re happy, well done. If not, there are lots of opportunities for engineering graduates, so look around—there is nothing wrong with changing.
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14
IF THINGS GO WRONG— TROUBLESHOOTING STUDY PROBLEMS
TROUBLESHOOTING STUDY PROBLEMS
If you encounter problems, it is your responsibility to tackle them. There is help available at most campuses for all sorts of situations (health, finance, study problems), but help won’t come to you. You need to identify the problem and look for solutions. Here we’ll outline some common study problems and help you start dealing with them.
TROUBLE WITH TEACHING STAFF? Many university level lecturers are top-line researchers who are very enthusiastic about their own special topic, but they may not necessarily be the world’s best teachers. They may not understand why students are not wildly keen on their special subject. They’ve given their hearts to research and don’t have much left for teaching. Many have little training in teaching. In addition, most demonstrators and tutors are postgraduate students who do some teaching as part of their research duties or to earn a little money. Unlike your school teachers, these people have not 167
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dedicated their lives to teaching, and they often have very little experience. However, they do have a good knowledge of their subject and recent experience of being a university student, and they can share these with you. So give your teaching staff a chance. If you think there are problems with teaching staff, take positive action. If a personality clash is causing real difficulties, ask to change tutes, or wait a bit and see whether demonstrators change with the topics you are studying. You could also see it as character-building, remembering that you won’t always get to work with people you like. If the person is really hopeless, go and see the lecturer or first year coordinator (phrasing your complaints in a polite and rational manner). Seek out a student welfare/academic rights officer at your campus who can help you. You are now responsible for your own progress, so take action about problems that affect your learning and results.
TROUBLE WITH HEALTH MATTERS? Student lifestyles are somehow conducive to the flu. Make sure you pay attention to diet, exercise and sleep. Although study is mainly a mental activity, you need a healthy body to let your mind work at its best. If you have been sick and missed classes, try these strategies: • •
Don’t get further behind—do THIS week’s work before revising the bits you missed. Catch up backwards—don’t worry if you don’t understand it all. You can fill in the gaps later and just take it on trust until all the pieces fit together.
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Talk to someone—30 minutes’ chat can be more useful than trying to decipher someone else’s notes. If you’re not feeling really well, don’t force yourself to endlessly re-read long boring chapters. Do a little active work, small bits at a time.
TROUBLE WITH MOTIVATION? You may feel bored and lose motivation at some stage during your studies. Everybody gets bored with study and with putting the rest of their lives on hold while they complete their degree. For some people, a walk on the beach or some chocolate will help, but for others it is not that easy. We’ve talked a lot about study habits. Many of the strategies we mentioned before can actually help to improve your motivation if you use them regularly. Try some of the following: • • • • • • • •
set some clear short-term goals set yourself a time-frame reward yourself for completing tasks break your tasks into manageable pieces stop procrastinating—deal with the hard bits first refocus on the long view do some study with some friends don’t make excuses—make progress
TROUBLE WITH BOREDOM? We know you will find that some of this really is boring. Don’t fight it. Some courses make you take subjects you never would have thought of otherwise. There must be a 169
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very good reason for this! If you’re not clear how this subject can benefit you, ask the teaching staff. It’s common for early-year engineering students to worry about the practical application of what they’re being taught. Ask a later-year student (or your mentor) what they think, and whether things get better. They will have some coping tips too. Treat the boring subject as something rather uninteresting that just needs to be done—like brushing your teeth. Changing your toothpaste might make it more stimulating for a while—what about making something special for the hated subject? Using a special coloured pen or paper, or rewarding yourself with a marshmallow cocoa every time you complete a tute sheet?
TROUBLE WITH UNEXPECTED DISASTERS? Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. Put your problems in perspective—it’s awful to have the flu three times in one winter, but is that the same as being in hospital and rehab for six months? Tailor your reactions to the severity of the problem. Of course it seems bad to you, but how will other people view it? You will get sympathy and support, but if you drop out of subjects every time something bad happens, you won’t finish your course. Don’t make any hasty decisions without advice from people such as those we mentioned above, and remember there is specific help available for many of the crises that occur in everyone’s life. Maybe you need to drop some subjects, or go part-time, or take a year off, but these are last resorts. The active study strategies suggested in this book will make your study time more efficient, so even if you are 170
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having other problems in your life, you can still continue. If you’re too upset to study, remember that all the qualities that made you a good student in the past still belong to you, and that you can access them. Don’t let the feeling overwhelm all of you, but acknowledge that it’s part of your life at the moment. Make a list of strategies for yourself that you know have been valuable in the past. Concentrate on small achievable goals and reward yourself for reaching them.
TROUBLE WITH STARTING? Leaving everything until too late can be a problem, especially in early years. The university year goes by very quickly. If you know you’re in trouble, you can do something about it. If there were serious reasons which prevented you from studying earlier in the year, you must identify and follow up the procedures for special consideration. Most universities (and most faculties) have people who can help you with these sorts of problems, e.g. course advisers, mentors, peer tutors, learning skills advisers, student welfare officers, counsellors. Get in touch with these people and ask for help. Don’t waste time mentally berating yourself for all the things you haven’t done. Maximise your return from the limited time you have. Make use of the active learning strategies we talked of earlier, in a more concentrated way. Here are some other things you can do: • •
Make a study timetable for the remaining time so you can cover all you need to cover. Focus on the level of knowledge you need to pass each subject—this is no time to indulge your perfectionism. 171
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•
•
•
‘Slash and burn’: if there are things that you know you’re never going to understand, don’t waste time on them. Concentrate on improving your knowledge in areas where you’ve got a good basic grasp of what is happening (full marks on half the questions is a better return than 30 per cent on everything). Don’t stay up all night—the extra pages covered aren’t worth the decrease in performance next day.
TROUBLE WITH THE MARKING SYSTEM? Perhaps you didn’t get the good results you expected. It is disappointing; vow to learn from your mistakes. Remember you are now studying at a higher level than you have done in the past. You are also surrounded by lots of similarly brainy students, so you may be shocked at getting average marks when you’re used to being top of the class. However, you can probably do better if you adjust your approach and study techniques to match the task more closely. Ask yourself some hard questions and answer them honestly: • • • • •
Are you Are you Are you Are you time’)? Are you
doing regular study every day? reviewing frequently? allowing adequate time for preparation? studying actively (as opposed to doing ‘desk making your study a priority?
If you are saying ‘yes’ to all of these, but still not achieving as well as you wish, then consider these ideas. First, if you persist, you will soon begin to consolidate your efforts. Second, what about your motivation—are you in the right 172
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course? Maybe you’re having problems because you’re just not as interested in your subjects as you thought you would be.
TROUBLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS? This can be really hard, but the truth is that it’s your life and it’s up to you to decide your priorities. Some students find themselves in courses that don’t really suit them. You may have chosen your course because of family pressure, or because of a course description that doesn’t match the reality of the daily grind. Maybe you’re just finding out about how to function successfully at uni; maybe you had other issues to deal with; maybe the other people don’t understand exactly how hard university study is. You have some options. Try explaining to your family or friends what the situation is really like. Ask them to help you re-evaluate your goals. Talk to someone who is totally neutral. If things are really bad, you may want to move out of home to try to establish yourself as an independent adult. If you really feel that you should live up to other people’s expectations and you haven’t been doing so, seek extra help (from a learning skills adviser, or maybe a private tutor) to ensure better results next semester.
TROUBLE WITH PASSING? So you’ve failed a subject? You may not believe this now, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s not even necessarily the end of your course, or even that subject. Many successful graduates failed their first assignment; mostly 173
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that’s because they were adjusting to university. If you know you could have worked harder, then the solution to your problem is fairly clear. When it was totally unexpected, and you can’t see what to improve, seek outside help. Be honest about your true situation. Even if you know deep down that you didn’t put enough study into the subject, ask to look at your exam paper or for detailed feedback on your written assignments. Maybe you were not as hopeless as you believed—there are positive aspects to any assessment. Perhaps you just had a bad day for simple addition; perhaps you misread the assignment topic but your work was otherwise sound. Just as it’s important to know what you don’t know, it’s also useful to see how much you’ve absorbed.
THE FINAL MESSAGE Nobody’s study life is perfect. You can’t plan for accidents, but if you make an effort to keep up throughout the year, you will minimise the damage. Build in some prevention and you won’t have so much troubleshooting to do.
Scientists explore what is but engineers create what has never been Theodore van Karman We wish you great enjoyment in your engineering studies and career. Good luck!
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APPENDIX 1 APPENDIX 1
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING Writing Guides AGPS (Australian Government Printing Service). 1995. Style Manual for Authors and Printers. 5th edition. AGPS, Canberra, ACT Eunson, B. 1994a. Writing and Presenting Reports. John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane, Qld Eunson, B. 1994b. Writing Skills. John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane, Qld Eunson, B. 1996a. Writing in Plain English. John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane, Qld Eunson, B. 1996b. Writing at Work. John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane Murray-Smith, S. 1989. Right Words: A Guide to English Usage in Australia. 2nd edition. Penguin, Ringwood, Vic.
Study Guides Carter, C., Bishop, J. and Lyman Kravits, S. 1998. Keys to Success: How to Achieve Your Goals. 2nd edition. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA de Bono, E. 1994. de Bono’s Thinking Course. BBC Books, London, UK de Bono, E. 1990. Six Thinking Hats. Penguin, Ringwood, Vic. 175
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STUDYING ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY Edwards, P. 1989. Seven Keys to Successful Study. ACER, Camberwell, Vic. Sargeant, D. and Unkenstein, A. 1998. Remembering Well. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, NSW Winsborough, D. and Allen, K. 1997. The Less Stress Book. Choice Books, Marrickville, NSW
Professional Skills Guides Berry, S. 1997. Write a Perfect CV in a Weekend. Ward Lock, London, UK Brem, C. 1995, Are We on the Same Team Here? Essential Communication Skills to Make Groups Work. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, NSW Ewart, J., Sedorkin, G. and Schirato, T. 1998. Get Your Message Across: The Professional Communication Skills that Everyone Needs. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, NSW Petelin, R. and Durham, M. 1992. The Professional Writing Guide. Longman Professional, Melbourne, Vic.
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APPENDIX II STARTING POINT FOR USING WEB RESOURCES APPENDIX II
ENGINEERING SITES Start first at your university’s homepage to find the Faculty of Engineering, and look for information on its departments. Then explore the links to other Australian Engineering schools. Another strategy for information searching is to check out the home pages of Australian engineering companies. They include information on projects, staff profiles, recruitment opportunities and more. Here we’ve listed some other sites that may interest you. Georgia Tech School of Civil and Environmental Engineering World-Wide Web Virtual Library: The purpose of this site is to provide a comprehensive list of WWW servers containing information about Civil Engineering, including Gopher servers and FTP archives.
Explore life in Victoria, Australia with an engineering 177
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student. Find Blue Blocker, sunglasses and links. Women in Engineering and Mathematical Sciences in Australia Welcome to WEMS—the database of Australian women academics National Library of Australia—Australian Science and Technology on the Internet Institution of Engineering and Mining Surveyors Australia Inc, which represents engineering and mining surveyors who perform the surveying and mapping activities for the development of Australia’s natural resources.
PERSONALITY AND LEARNING STYLES INFORMATION AND TESTS A version of the Myers Briggs (Personality) Type Indicator (MBTI) is available online at You’ll find more on learning styles at Look for personality and IQ tests on the web (links) at You can find some information on Personality, Learning Style and Stress at http://28/7/99/www.dougdean.com> 178
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ON-LINE HELP WITH WRITING AND STUDY The Learning Skills Unit at the University of Melbourne The Learning Development Centre at the University of Western Sydney (Macarthur) A good starting web site for general referencing guidelines is: A site with a lot more detail and links to other resources: Louisiana State University ‘How to Cite the Internet’
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND ETIQUETTE SITES Introduction to NETIQUETTE excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea What is Netiquette? Network etiquette, the etiquette of cyberspace. Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly on-line. When you enter any new culture—and cyberspace has its own culture—you’re liable to commit a few social blunders. You might offend people without meaning to. Or you might misunderstand what others say and take offence when it’s not intended. To make matters worse, something about cyberspace makes you forget that you’re interacting with other real people—not just ASCII characters on a screen, but live humans. Well-meaning 179
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cybernauts, especially new ones, make all kinds of mistakes. Most people would rather make friends than enemies, and if you follow a few basic rules, you’re less likely to make the kind of mistakes that will prevent you from making friends. The list of core rules below are a set of general guidelines for cyberspace behaviour. They won’t answer all your Netiquette questions. But they should give you some basic principles to use in solving your own Netiquette dilemmas: The core rules of Netiquette • • • • • • • • • •
Rule 1: Remember the Human Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behaviour on-line that you follow in real life. Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace Rule 4: Respect other people’s time and bandwidth Rule 5: Make yourself look good on-line Rule 6: Share expert knowledge Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control Rule 8: Respect other people’s privacy Rule 9: Don’t abuse your power Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes
Other Netiquette Sites: THE NET: USER GUIDELINES AND NETIQUETTE © A. H. Rinaldi & Florida Atlantic University. TEST YOUR NETIQUETTE Virtual presentations assistant
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6.1: A man walks into a shop and asks for a glass of water. The shopkeeper brings out a gun. Why? Answer: The man had hiccups and the shopkeeper wanted to scare him into stopping. 6.2: Romeo and Juliet are found dead on the living room floor. There is water all around them and there is glass on the floor. The window is wide open. What happened? Answer: Romeo and Juliet are goldfish. A cat came through the window and knocked over their bowl. 6.3: There is no light in your wardrobe but you know there are 11 black and 11 blue socks in there. How many socks do you need to pull out to make sure you’ll have a pair? Answer: Three. You will have at least two of the same colour. (Mind you, if you don’t care about colour—and many people would say that engineers don’t—then you only need to pull out two!) 181
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You can find some more of these interesting mind exercises in: Sloane, P. and MacHale, D. 1996. Intriguing Lateral Thinking Puzzles. Sterling Publishing, New York
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