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Shows you how to go from getting ideas, to organising them using mind maps.

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A short resource to enable you to put your ideas together

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Excellent 2 page tips about structuring an essay

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http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/AWL/id17.htm

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Group work: How to use groups effectively

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Group work: How to use groups effectively

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Academic article with a good list of advantages of group work and a short section "group dissonance" on some problems.

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This is the site from Friday's lesson

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When writing an introduction to an academic essay, it is useful to remember the main purpose of the introduction. In general, the introduction will introduce the topic to the reader by stating what the topic is and giving some general background information.

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http://www.jasabiza.ir/file/file-13846144912.pdf
Use this to look up errors you make, and help improve your accuracy.

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Useful info sheet from Nottingham University

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EAP foundation

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Below are all the main areas of the website, showing all the sections and sub-sections.

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Our university explains why we use group work.

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Groupwork is a common part of university life. You might need to do a group presentation or do a group report, for example. The ability to work in groups is also very important for getting a good job after university. It is therefore a very important ability.

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From the University of Queensland website.

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Due to the nature of working in teams, group members can sometimes find that they are not working effectively, which negatively impacts on their progress, and their ability to be successful. Some common problems identified by individuals working in teams are:

Tasks not being completed by deadline

To ensure your task is completed on time it may be beneficial to:

Discuss and establish timelines that ALL members can agree on.

Ask each member to present a progress report each meeting on what they have completed since the last meeting.

Offer to assist one another to complete tasks if necessary.

Difficult to get started

To ensure that your group gets off to a good start it may be beneficial to:

Take time for all members to introduce themselves, including name, background, specific strengths.

Develop a shared understanding of the task by brainstorming.

Ensure each member has an opportunity to speak and make suggestions.

Develop an agenda and a timeline.

Nominate someone to act as the manager or leader, either for that team meeting or for the term of the project.

Exchange names and contact details, including email addresses and phone numbers.

Decide on jobs or sub-tasks for each member.

Ideas are not thoroughly discussed as a team

To ensure that you have enough information to complete your task it could be beneficial for your group to:

Engage in more brainstorming, particularly focusing on the 'What if ...?' and 'What else ..?' type questions.

Ask each member individually for ideas.

If few ideas are generated, organise to complete some further research individually and then meet up as a team at a later date.

Members not contributing

To ensure that all members contribute to the group task it may be beneficial to:

Establish why a member is quiet or not participating.

Communicate that all opinions will be valued.

Ensure that each member gets their turn to contribute, this may mean 'going around the circle'.

Ineffective communication

To ensure effective communication between members it may be beneficial to:

Identify specific issues which seem to affect communication.

Consider how to address such issues. For example, if team members seem to be misunderstanding each other, it may be helpful to clarify what is being said.

Conflict between team members

To ensure that disagreements between members are dealt with effectively it is important to:

Respect the ideas of other group members.

Show that you have heard other member's ideas and when disagreeing do so politely and respectfully.

Understand that working in a team requires some negotiation and compromise.

Take a break to diffuse the situation and recollect thoughts at a later meeting.

Domineering personalities

To ensure that people do not dominate group discussions it may be beneficial to:

Create time limits on individual contributions or have a 'talking stick'.

Ensure that each member has a chance to speak, without interruption.

Remind all members that it is important to hear all opinions in relation to the topic and respect those opinions.

Inability to focus on task

To ensure that your group does not get off task it may be beneficial to:

Set particular tasks to be completed in each session

Meet first and then go for lunch after you have completed some work to give yourselves a reward for staying on task

Ensure that individuals prepare for meetings and talk through what they have completed since the last meeting.

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Due to the nature of working in teams, group members can sometimes find that they are not working effectively, which negatively impacts on their progress, and their ability to be successful.

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Excellent resources for you!!

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One of the key characteristics of studying at university is developing your abilities to understand and use academic language. This can take time, and can be quite difficult sometimes. It doesn't need to be impossible though!

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This whole website is really useful.

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Study, just like life, places many demands on your time. The demands are not only many but varying. Some weeks you may have little to do, while others you have far too many tasks to complete: essays to write, presentations to give, lectures to attend, a birthday party for a friend, and so on and so forth.

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This is a diagram of Tuckman's theory of  stages

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Microsoft Word - Tuckman's Team Development Model

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Booklet that could be a useful resource later in your studies, or a source for your final draft.

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MDX University info sheet to help students with group work.

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(STUDENTS) Effective groupwork using GROW