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Project Information

Project Information. BA Applied Languages November 2010. Important Contacts. Helen Kelly-Holmes, Course Director, Applied Languages, MC1009: helen.kelly.holmes@ul.ie +353 61 202112 Consultation hours (Sem 1): Tuesdays 10-11 and 12-1.

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Project Information

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  1. Project Information BA Applied Languages November 2010

  2. Important Contacts • Helen Kelly-Holmes, Course Director, Applied Languages, MC1009: helen.kelly.holmes@ul.ie +353 61 202112Consultation hours (Sem 1): Tuesdays 10-11 and 12-1. • Jess Beeley, School of LLCC Administrator, MC1002: Jess.beeley@ul.ie +353 61 202424

  3. What is the Applied Languages Project? • Extensive piece of research and writing (9-13,000 words) • Credits and weighting: HP4316 = 6 credits in Spring Semester Year 3 • Substantially autonomous • Student-driven • Learning experience – what goes wrong also! • Opportunity for in-depth study • Skills: information gathering and management; critical analysis; collation of information, ideas, concepts; formulating and communicating an argument etc. • Students spending one academic year on Erasmus complete a shorter AL project (5-6,000 words)

  4. How do I pick a topic? • Your own interest – (hobby, module you enjoyed, preferred language, club/society, elective, own life experience, what do you like to spend your time doing) • Where you will be spending your coop and Erasmus (resources, language, type of data) • What you can reasonably achieve (time, money, access, focus, equipment) • Availability of supervisors and expertise (some flexibility required) • Use www.llcc/fyps/ to look at topic areas and supervisors; make selection; and be assigned supervisor • To make sure EVERYONE has a supervisor, please use this system, even if you have already spoken to a supervisor

  5. Timeline and important dates • From November on: Choosing project topic; Assigning of supervisor • Before you go abroad: First meeting with supervisor or by email contact • During Coop and Erasmus – emphasis on gathering data in the culture/language and/or accessing sources in the language/culture • Week 6, Spring Semester – submit 500 word research brief agreed with supervisor to Course Director helen.kelly.holmes@ul.ie cc’ed to jess.beeley@ul.ie • End of April 2011 – submit progress report to supervisor/CD if focussing on language/culture of Coop placement* • End of October 2011 - submit progress report to supervisor/CD if focussing on language/culture of Erasmus placement* • *Flexibility here in terms of this requirement – whatever works for you and your supervisor and demonstrates that you are making progress and working on the FYP • Spring Semester 2012 - emphasis on writing up of project • Week 2, Spring Semester (2012) - Obligatory meeting with supervisor • Week 9, Spring Semester (2012) - Obligatory meeting with supervisor • Week 13 (Thursday 16.00) – Submission of projects (in hard copy) to LLCC School Office.

  6. Generic Outline This is just a suggestion – specific structure should be agreed with supervisor • Preliminary Pages: See guidelines • Introduction: Set the scene, engage reader; why is this interesting/relevant; what is focus of the project/ question / argument; brief outline and signposting of what is going to happen. • Literature review: could be one or two chapters; brings together other studies of this topic; brings together relevant theories and concepts • Methodology: description of your study and how you carried it out; ethical considerations etc.; variety of methodologies possible – choice in consultation with supervisor, depending on what you want to find out. • Results and analysis: presenting context and results of your own study; linking it back to Literature Review (previous studies and relevant theories and concepts) – may be one or two chapters • Conclusion: Drawing all the sections together; summary of main findings; revisiting focus/questions/arguments in light of results; recommendations for future projects and lessons learned. • Bibliography: Containing all cited material • Appendices: Any additional material that might be interesting or useful for the reader, but is not essential to reading the project.

  7. Some tips • Don’t be an ostrich!! Keep in contact with your supervisor/Course Director even if only to say that you have not made any progress • Use the time abroad to gather useful, valuable data (e.g. to interview people) that you won’t have access to when you come back. • If you are planning to carry out research with people, then you will need ethical approval. If the people you are working with are over 18 and not considered vulnerable, this is usually straightforward: http://www.artsoc.ul.ie/Userfiles/ethics-guidelinesform-march-2010.pdf • http://www.artsoc.ul.ie/Userfiles/ethics-form-march-2010.pdf

  8. Some tips • Leave plenty of time for the ‘technical’ aspect of the project (formatting, table of contents, bibliography and referencing, appendices, graphics etc.) • Send drafts to your supervisor as you go along in Spring Semester 2012; don’t leave all the writing to the last month • Compile the bibliography as you write; do the referencing etc. correctly from the start rather than trying to fill in later • Use bibliographic software if useful (e.g. citeulike; endnote etc.)

  9. Some tips • Keep a diary from the start – this will help you to write up the methodology of the project (how you did what you did and what you learned; what you would have done differently etc.; what problems you had and how you found solutions) – this will show your ownership of the project • It is a learning experience – don’t expect to know everything and get everything perfect from the start; your project brief and approach will change and this is good; not everything will work out – this is real life!

  10. Some tips • Even if you are a good writer, a project involves a special approach – use all the available help and resources • Be open to criticism and advice • Use your supervisor and any other faculty who can help you (in UL and on Coop and Erasmus) • Read some good examples of previous FYPs – your supervisor should have some • Anyone should be able to read and understand your project – don’t take anything for granted; get friends/family to read it also

  11. Some resources • Ebest, S.B., Alred, G., Brusaw, C.T. and Oliu, W.E. (2005) Writing from A to Z: The Easy-to-use Reference Handbook, 5th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. • Oshima, A. and Hogue, A. (2006) Writing Academic English, 4th edition. New York: Pearson Education. • Leedy, P.D. and Ormond, J.E. (2005) Practical Research: Planning and Design (8th edition). New Jersey: Pearson Education.  • Strunk, W. and White, E.B. (2000) The Elements of Style, 4th ed. New York: Longman.

  12. Some resources • 1.     University of Limerick Library Referencing Guide [online], http://www.ul.ie/~library/referencing/ • 2.     Regional Writing Centre at UL: www.ul.ie/rwc • 3.     Andy Gillet’s Using English for Academic Purposes: Writing (University of Hertforshire, Hatfield UK), http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm • 4.     Purdue Online Writing Lab, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ • 5. Writing a Literature Review http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review • 6. Writing a Literature Review http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/litreviews/whatis.html

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