English reviewer

• Primary sources


  Original records of the political, economic, artistic, scientific, social, and intellectual thoughts and achievements of specific historical periods
• Secondary sources


  Second-hand, published accounts created after primary sources, often using or talking about primary sources. They can give additional opinions (sometimes called bias) on a past event or on a primary source.
• Research


  • Inquiry-based activity that allows the researcher to read existing literature, look for relevant data, interpret and analyze information then formulate questions and recommendations
  • Accurate - takes careful analysis of the instruments used in gathering data to provide relevant and accurate information
  • Systematic - there are specific steps that relate to a particular part of the research report that one needs to remember and follow
  • Careful investigation of a phenomenon, observing specific procedures and following certain procedures
  • Language activity that requires excellent oral and written communication skills combined with critical thinking and problem-solving skills
  • Ethical - the conduct of research involves ethical considerations that must be observed and followed
• Basic research


  Aims to provide additional information to the existing body of knowledge in one's discipline
• Applied research


  Aims to improve a product or a process to validate existing theories
• Qualitative research


  Deals with the description of a certain phenomenon, focuses on process
• Documentation through in-text citations

  Alerts readers to the sources of information and gives credit to the writers from whom words and ideas have been borrowed
• MLA (Modern Language Association of America) in-text citation


  Includes the author's last name and the page number for reference
• APA (American Psychological Association) in-text citation


  Includes the last name of the author and the year of publication
• Paraphrase


  Repeats the information using different words and phrases, putting the author's sentences into your own words
• Quote/Quotation


  Taking information exactly as found in a source and placing it into your paper, using quotation marks to identify the quotation
• Summary


  Condenses information and restates only its main ideas, distinct from both quotation and paraphrase
• Plagiarism


  The use of someone else's words or ideas without being acknowledged
• Technical definition


  Used to introduce the vocabulary which makes communication in a particular field succinct and unambiguous
• Parenthetical definition


  Defines a term by using a more familiar synonym in the parenthesis
• Sentence definition


  More complex terms may need a sentence definition (which may be more than one sentence)
• Operational definition


  The specific meaning of a word or phrase given to it by the group of people who use the word in their specific context
• Defining characteristics


  • Name
  • Class
  • Defining characteristics
• Abstract - a brief overview of a research study
• Control group - in experiments, the one that doesn't get the treatment
• Correlational study - a type of research design that depicts a relationship between variables, but not necessarily one of cause-effect
• Data - information, can be numbers or words, plural form of datum, the "data show" not "shows"
• Dependent variable - the quality you are observing
• Descriptive study - research design that describes "what is" (e.g., a survey)
• Experiment - a research design used to find cause-effect relationships, the effect of one variable on another, lots of variations, top shelf in research
• Experimental group - the one that gets the treatment
• Independent variable - the variable the researcher manipulates, such as training method, can affect the dependent variable
• Median - the middle value where half the scores fall above, half below, eliminates the influence of outliers
• Mode - the most frequently occurring value
• Population - all of a group of interest
• Random - by chance
• Random sample - everybody had the same chance of being assigned to any group
• Research - a systematic, objective way to generate new knowledge
• Research design - the plan for finding out what you want to know, includes descriptive studies
• Sample - a smaller group that represents the population
• Significance - why it is important
• Statistics - mathematical tools used by researchers to analyze data
• 1. score - a standardized score where the mean is assigned a value of 50 and the standard deviation is 10
• Work sample - a sample of actual work done by an individual
• Extended definition


  • Uses a paragraph or more to expand on a word that may be difficult to comprehend, often starting with a sentence definition and then expanding on the word by providing additional sentences about the function, location, physical traits, causes and effects of the term