Report Styles and Referencing

During a meeting with Steph on the 16th of October, we went through as a group about how to set about writing our reports. We were shown the mark scheme once again and were given gave about the easiest way of writing our report. After the meeting, I researched the best way for me to personally write my report as well as the best style of referencing to use:

Report Writing;

I researched information about different types of report, to see which style would best suit my report. As much of my EPQ is based around research of a topic, I decided a research report would be best, however due to conducting my own primary research I would incorporate aspects of lab based reports in, like evaluations and methodology. I would put this information in the second half of my report, as I have mainly used my primary research to back up my findings rather than use my researched information to back up my study.

I also learnt that writing style in a report was as key as the style of report written. Many factors like who I’m aiming the report at, what my report is about, and how I am to put my information across can impact my style of writing. However, different parts of the report would require different styles, for example I would be more factual and descriptive when writing about the information I have learnt whereas when evaluating both my research and my sources I would need to be more analytical. 

When I write my report I will structure it in an altered IMRD style (introduction, method, results discussion.) However, before my introduction I will write and analyse the information I have found (as well as my survey) before then talking about my primary research due to the nature of my investigation. As well as this, I will include an introduction and a conclusion to my report as well as a bibliography to list my sources.

Sources; http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/report-writing.html

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/ScienceReport.html

http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/get-assistance/writing/specific-types-papers/writing-lab-reports-or-research-reports

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/s3/?id=173

 

Referencing;

In my report I will have to reference every time I use information I found from one of my sources. If it is a direct quote I will put the information in quotation marks (“ “) and use a reference system, which I will also have to use even if I don’t directly quote the information. Using information from websites without referencing is plagiarism therefore it is a vital part of my report and has to be done correctly.

After research into different types of referencing (eg Harvard, Vancouver etc) I decided the most appropriate type of referencing for my report would be APA (American Psychological Association) referencing mainly due to the fact I am doing a psychological based EPQ.

Further research into APA referencing showed me how I would reference my variety of sources, therefore making me more confident when referencing.

Sources;

http://www.coventry.ac.uk/Documents/Harvard_Guide_v3.0.1.pdf

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/plagiarism/students/referencing/conventions.html

http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/web-page-no-author.aspx

https://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/apa-referencing-guide#How_to_cite_references_within_the_text_of_an_assignment

Planning My Primary Research

My supervisor suggested it would be a good idea to do my own personal research for my EPQ. As a result, during and after the summer (when most of my research was completed) I started planning ideas of what I could do for my primary research.

After coming up with a few ideas, I planned two different experiments I could do. One of them was more focused around the affects of an audience on performance, where my second idea was more focused on self-confidence in a sport and how that can help us facilitate or inhibit our performance.

Discussing with my supervisor, we agreed that investigating how audience affects our performance would be the best idea. She also suggested that I change the sport I focused my study on to basketball, due to the fact that our college had two high standard (GB) basketball players and it would be more reliable to compare them to a novice performer. As well as this, she suggested that if I use my three settings (without an audience, with an audience of people they know and an audience of strangers) and asked the people I use to record a few weeks of average shots from the free-throw line, I would then be able to compare their performance in the situations to their average, which would able to show us more clearly if the environments helped facilitate or inhibit their performances.

As a result, we slightly changed my methodology, and started to look into buying the equipment I needed to complete my study.