Evaluations

1. Evaluations Research Project – Ms van Gerven

2. General issues Limited use of past tense Inappropriate language Too much self assessment and not enough assessment of your outcome

3. Summary Generally well done Remember: why you chose this topic, how you undertook your research, your key findings and why you presented your findings (outcome) this way

4. Research Process You have identified why you have used particular sources and why, but you have given very little evidence as to why they were or were not effective First evaluate the type of research process and then critically evaluate the sources you used

5. Example In order to start researching my topic, I conducted a large amount of reading of online articles and video clips to obtain a better understanding of my subject. Through this process, I refined my topic, had deeper thoughts about what Chinese students need in Australia, as well as changed my original assumptions.For example, ErlenawatiSawir in his report published in Journal of Studies in International Education titled Loneliness and International Students: An Australian Study indicated that cultural loneliness was triggered by the absence of the preferred cultural and/or linguistic environment. My original concept of loneliness, which was only caused by the absence of family and friends, was challenged. This also raised a critical question in my research as to whether cultural environment and linguistic difficulty were the only causes of loneliness for Chinese students

6. Challenges and opportunities You have generally done this well However, mentioning your time management is not relevant. You are evaluating the challenges presented BY undertaking research

7. Evaluating your research You have spent too much time evaluating how you did the research rather than how effective and important your outcome is Remember: present your key findings (don’t just repeat your sub-questions), assess the strengths and weaknesses of your COMPLETE work and how useful your outcome is in the field of research Identify who can use your research and why

8. Example of E3 I presented my outcome as a report. The key findings within my outcome are that if Chinese students want to immerse themselves into Australian culture, they have to have an open mind to accept and experience other cultures, as well as making friends from different cultural backgrounds. Students should not feel embarrassed of making mistakes when speaking English to natives and Chinese students have to listen carefully when natives are speaking English because they are the most effective ways of improving their English skills

9. Example Part 2 - Strengths There were many strengths of my outcome. My outcome covered every possible element that could cause cultural loneliness within Chinese international students. I not only analysed the reasons why speaking fluent English was hard for Chinese international students, but provided them suggestions I developed  while doing the research to help  them overcome it. I used a variety of sources to write my outcome, some of these sources were gathered from experts. I also utilized different examples to make my concept clear within paragraphs, as well as tables of data from different sources within my outcome to make my outcome look more professional and reliable.

10. Example Part 3 - Weaknesses Some aspects of my outcome were not reliable as I used some information from Wikipedia and unofficial websites. The language of my outcome was a bit confusing because I was not able to use professional language and grammar required to write my research project. Some evidence used in my research was not strong enough to support its subject concept. My conclusion of my outcome did not completely cover all the key findings I wrote in the outcome. I failed to manage my time properly for conducting different interviews with experts from the Educational department so I did not have much useful primary informational to input in my outcome.

11. Concluding your evaluation As attested through my outcome, Chinese international students who felt lonely after arriving Australia can immerse themselves into Australian culture by being open-minded about different cultures and making friends from different cultural backgrounds. They should not feel afraid or embarrassed when making mistakes while speaking English to natives and they have to listen carefully when Australians speak English because they are the most effective ways to overcome cultural barriers. Consequently, my research has become critical in how Chinese students can immerse themselves in Australian culture to overcome loneliness after arrival Australia. Due to this reason, my research is completed and effective for new Chinese students who feel lonely and want to overcome it by experiencing Australian culture over time.

12. Understanding past tense Your outcome is DONE. Complete. You must talk about it in past tense. Examples of present versus past tense: Is -> Was Now -> Then Has relevance -> was relevant

13. Evaluative terms You need to be less subjective. More neutral language. We don’t need positive and negative adjectives to describe your research You need to evaluate rather than just describe Example: instead of saying “I think” you could say “there is strong evidence to suggest” “X claimed”, “this demonstrates”, “this was stated”, “the survey I conducted” Use words to describe your research processes such as: “effective”, “appropriate”, “challenging”, “innovative” or “insignificant”, “dated”