Communication Skills and

Information Science
By Chitundu P. Chisunka-Mwila
COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND
INFORMATION SCIENCE
Academic writing
• Essay writing will be done through out your studies and a report at
the end of the fourth year.
What exactly is an essay?
• An essay is a written narrative which allows you to demonstrate your
knowledge and understanding of a subject.
Components of an essay
• Sentence: a group of words that are put together to mean something
• It represents a complete thought.
• A sentence has two parts. A subject and a main verb.
• The subject is a something, and the verb is what that something does.
Examples of sentences
• The lecturer is lecturing
• The students are taking down notes
• During a lecture, students take down notes while the lecture lectures.
What is a paragraph?
• A group of sentences.
• It contains one idea.
• The idea should be stated clearly in what is known as a topic
sentence.
• All the following sentences will support the topic sentence with
examples, statistics, relevant quotations or any other further
information.
• Each paragraph has an exclusive idea.
• Paragraphs follow each other with connecting terms like similarly, in
addition, on the other hand etc.
• The ideas will follow each other step by step in a logical sequence
through a narrative, a debate, an argument to form an essay.
• Library and Information Science is a very diverse field with a lot of
components. It includes the sourcing of information, organisation,
storage, usage, technology and human Resources among other
components.
• Paragraphs do not have to be long.
• They can be as short as two or three sentences.
• A long paragraph can be broken into shorter paragraphs, with their
own topic sentences.
• A topic sentence does not necessarily have to be the first sentence. It
can be anywhere in the sentence or at the end of the sentence.
• Write down three points that you have heard so far without referring
to your notes.
PARTS OF AN ESSAY
• Introduction: The entire essay’s main idea or theme must be
contained in the introduction.
• It must also outline the development of the essay.
• It will say what the essay will do
• Key concepts must also be defined in the introduction.
Body
• This will do what the introduction said it would do.
• The topic sentences that follow, paragraph after paragraph, should
develop or explain the main idea.
• If it is a debate or discussion, it will present arguments for and
against.
• The paragraphs are connected by connecting words such as firstly,
secondly, thirdly at the beginning of every paragraph.
• To clarify the relationships between the paragraphs connecting words
are used
• On one hand,….. On the other hand
• In contrast,….
• Accordingly…..therefore,,,,,Thus…..consequently……hence,,,,,,As a
result
• Finally……ultimately,…..in conclusion
conclusion
• The conclusion will say that what was said will be done has been
done.
• It is a summary of all the points in the essay.
• It will contain a decision based on the evidence presented.
• It concludes the logic of your essay with a now inevitable verdict.
• The connection between the introduction and the conclusion should
be seen.
Further readings
• http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/sentence
• Slade, j. (2011) How to write an Essay. Woodgate International: New
York. Available:
http://www.bookmasters.com/woodgateintl/HowtoWriteanEssay.pdf
Interpretation and Scope
• Read the question carefully.
• Include everything that is significant.
• Avoid writing about what has not been asked.
Understanding the Topic
• Read enough to know what you are talking about
• Read until you sure you have understood all the nuances and
complexities of the issue.
• Some develpoments may only appear in journal literature and
especially for IT topics where developments are rapid.
• Do not talk as if something is true now and yet the source is 10 years
old.
Using the Literature
• Most LIS essays can be thought of as a piece of desk research.
• You collect evidence from various sources which you present through
text citations and quotations to support your arguments.
• You will be expressing the views you find in literature in your own
words.
• When you are paraphrasing someone else’s work you must attribute
ideas arguments or factual statements to the original author.
• Tag verbs are used. Acknowledges, comments, expresses, speculates,
admits, considers, insists, states, affirms, criticizes, mentions, submits,
expresses, argues, declares, proposes, suggests, defends, believes,
explains, reveals, write
How to use Quotations
• Use quotations when the specific language of a quote is important or
when accuracy is essential to indicate the writer’s exact position.
• Keep quotes to a minimum
• Keep them short by looking for the most important part of the
quotation and extract it.
• e.g. As The Net Result (1997:20) suggests, ‘information skills are
fundamental coping skills’. (you should always give page numbers for
quotes)
• use the above for quotations which are less than 3 lines
• Italise or indent for longer ones
• e.g The Net Result (1997) makes this point about the need for
education very succinctly.
“ for the citizen, the information society places increasing emphasis on the use of
information for problem solving,……………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………”.
Evaluation and synthesis of Evidence
• Evaluation is about seeing what is significant and relevant.
• Synthesis is about making connections.
• In what you read, do you see corrections, relationships, anomalies,
contradictions, inconsistencies?
Critical Analysis
• This means saying what you think the evidence you have presented
means.
Structure and logical development
• Plan your essay so that present your evidence in a coherent way,
progressing from point to point.
• You may include some headings.
conclusion
• This is where you stand back from the evidence you have presented
and summarise what you think it all means.
• What are the significant issues?
• Key principles
• The questions which remain unanswered
• The solutions
• Your conclusion should be long enough to do justice to the points you
have made.
Commonly used terms in Essay questions
• Apply — demonstrate how a principle works in practice.
• Account For: explain the reason for, giving an indication of all relevant
circumstances. This should not be confused with ‘Give an account of’
which asks only for a detailed description.
• Analyse: study in depth, identifying and describing in detail the main
characteristics.
• Argue: put forward a proposition, then illustrate it, discuss its
significance, and defend it against possible counter-charges.
• Assess: examine closely, with a view to ‘weighing up’ a particular
situation. Consider in a balanced way the strengths and weaknesses
or points for and against a proposition. State your judgement clearly
in the conclusion.
• Compare — indicate similarities and/or differences
• Contrast: deliberately single out and emphasise the differences and
dissimilarities between two or more things.
• Compile — draw up a list or put together a description
• Comment: state clearly and in moderate fashion your opinions on the
material in question. Support your views with reference to suitable
evidence or explanations.
• Criticise: give your judgement about a statement or a body of work;
explore its implications, discussing all the available evidence.
• Critically examine— look at the key ideas, interpret information and if
relevant explain why some of these ideas may be problematic
• Consider — to think about
• Define — precisely explain what a word or idea means
• Describe — identify key features and illustrate how they are related
• Develop — to plan, prepare and construct
Discuss — examine the topic by providing a comprehensive account of
the debate on it. You say something in response to the question.
• Draw up — to formulate or construct
• Evaluate — appraise. Place value. comment on the strengths and
limitations
• Explain — to clarify by describing constituent features in detail, paying
attention to their relationships
• How far or to what extent: make your case or present your argument,
whilst showing an awareness that alternate or even contradictory
explanations may exist. Careful assessment and weighing of evidence
are called for.
• illustrate: make clear and explicit by the discussion of concrete
examples.
• Identify — name the appropriate features
• Indicate — to show, provide reasons for
• Interpret — make sense of
• justify: show adequate grounds for decisions or conclusions. Answer
or refute the main objections likely to be made against them.
• List — mention
• Outline: give the main features or the general principles of a subject,
omitting minor details and emphasising structure or arrangement.
• Relate: show how things are connected, and how they possibly affect,
cause, or resemble each other.
• Review: make a survey of, examining the subject critically.
• State: present the main points in brief, clear form.
• Summarise: give a concise account of the main points of a matter,
omitting details and examples.
A guide to Referencing using the APA
referencing style
• At University a large percentage of your written work is based on the
ideas of other writers.
• Therefore, it is important to let the reader of your writing know
where you found your ideas.
• These can be inform of a theory, opinion, idea, example, conclusion,
findings, tables, graphs etc.
• you must say where the original can be found.
• In other words, you must acknowledge and cite your sources.
• This is important whether or not you use the author’s own words and,
importantly, to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism
• Plagiarism occurs when you use other people’s ideas, words or data
as if they were your own.
• Deliberate plagiarism is a serious act of academic misconduct.
In-text referencing
• the surname (family name) of the author/s
• the year of publication of the text
• the page number/s of the text (usually for direct quotations,
particular ideas and concepts).
References
• You will need to compile a list of all sources used in your
assignment/report.
• They appear at the end of your work.
Books
• One Author
• ‘Information prominent’ (the author’s name is within parentheses):
• The conclusion reached in a recent study (Cochrane, 2007) was that…
• Or it can appear at the end of a paragraph where the idea in the
paragraph is from that particular source. (Cochrane, 2007)
• ‘Author prominent’ (the author’s name is outside the parentheses):
• Cochrane (2007) concluded that…
Reference list
• Cochrane, A. (2007). Understanding urban policy: A critical approach.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing
Two Authours
• (Michaels & Balling, 2000)
• Michaels & Balling (2000) maintained……….
Three to Five Authours
• For the first in-text reference, list all the authors’ family names. Use et
al. for subsequent entries.
• (Duffy, Deakin, Wieniawa-Narkiewicz, & Wilson, 2001)
• Subsequent in-text reference/s:
(Duffy et al., 2001)
Reference list
• Duffy, A., Deakin, V., Wieniawa-Narkiewicz, E., & Wilson, K. (2001).
Guide to writing in biomedical sciences. Australia: University of
Canberra.
Six or more Authours
• In-text citation
• give the name of the first author and abbreviate the others to et al.
(“and others”) in the first and subsequent citations.
• This has indicated… (Gilbert et al., 2003).
• Gilbert et al. (2003) found...
• All authors should be given when there are 6 or 7 authors. If a book
has 8 or more authors, place three ellipsis points between the sixth
and final author names to indicate that some names have been
omitted e.g. Jones, P., ... Adams, N (2009).
Reference List
• Gilbert, D. G., McClernon, J. F., Rabinovich, N. E., Sugai, C., Plath,
L. C., Asgaard, G., …Botros, N. (2004). ……………
Edited book
• In-text
• The film starred actors… (Craven, 2001).
• Craven (2001) discussed the successful…

• Reference list
• Craven, I. (Ed.). (2001). Australian cinema in the 1990s. London,
England: Frank Cass.
No Author or Editor
• …can be defined as… (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1993,
p.11).
• The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1993, p. 11) defines…
Reference list
• Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993).
Springfield, MA: Merriam Webster.
Chapter or article in an edited book
In-text
• The television episode…(Ferres, 2001).
• Ferres (2001) discussed the television episode…
Reference List
• Ferres, K. (2001). Idiot box: Television, urban myths and ethical
scenarios. In I. Craven (Ed.), Australian cinema in the 1990s (pp.
175-188). London, England: Frank Cass.
Corporate Authour when the Authour is also
the Publisher
In-text
• A recent study (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW],
2009)…
• Subsequent in-text reference/s:
• The AIHW (2009) found that…
Reference list

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2009). Indigenous

housing needs 2009: A multi-measure needs model (AIHW cat. no.
HOU 214). Canberra, Australia: Author
 Citing a source within a source
• Lilly (as cited in Maxwell, 1999, p. 25) stated that “. . . “.

• Reference list
• Maxwell, F. (1999). Phonology. San Francisco, CA: Brooks Cole.
Notes on the publishing place and
Publisher
• Give the location and name of the publisher

Location
• Give the city and country for places out side the United states
• Give the city and state for places in the united states.
For universities
• Where the name of the country or state is included in the name of the
university, do not include the state or country in the location.
• e.g Lusaka: University of Zambia
Publishers

• Always give it in brief

• Avoid words such as publishers, co and inc
• Use only surnames for publishing houses named after persons.
• e.g Wiley not John Wiley
Electronic items
• It is important to include the exact location.
• Use a Digital Object identifier (DOI) where available
• Use a URL where the DOI is not available.
What is a DOI?
• This is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency
the (the International DOI Foundation) to identify content and to
provide a persistent link to its location on the internet.
Using a URL-Retrieved from…

• Use ‘Retrieved from’ when you are giving a direct URL for the item
• Norton, R. (2006, November 4). How to train a cat to operate a
light switch [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Vja83KLQXZs
E-book
In-text
• Functional metabolism is… (Storey, 2004).
• Storey (2004) stated that…
Reference List
• Storey, K. B. (2004). Functional metabolism: Regulation and
adaptation. Retrieved from
http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?acti on=summary
&v=1&bookid=129390
Journal Articles
• Authour of journal article
• Year of publication
• Article title
• Title of journal
• Volume of journal
• Issue number of journal
• Article pages
Note
• Only display the journal issue number if the first page of the issue
begins on page one.
Print Version
In-text
• The Internet can be used to conduct a literature search (Potente,
Anderson & Karim, 2011).
• Potente, Anderson and Karim (2011) stated that the …
Reference List
• Potente, S., Anderson, C., & Karim, M. (2011). Environmental sun
protection and supportive policies and practices: An audit of
outdoor recreational settings in NSW coastal towns. Health
Promotion Journal of Australia, 22, 97-101.
Journal article (full-text from electronic
database)
• Use the URL of the journal home page if both the DOI and the Journal
URL are not available.
With a DOI
In-text
• A study examining priming (Johns & Mewhort, 2009) discovered …

Reference List
• Johns, E., & Mewhort, D. (2009). Test sequence priming in recognition
memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and
Cognition, 35, 1162-1174. doi: 10.1037/a0016372
Without a DOI
In-text
• The effects of climate change on agriculture are studied by Ramalho,
Da Silva and Dias (2009)…
Reference List
• Ramalho, M., Da Silva, G., & Dias, L. (2009). Genetic plant
improvement and climate changes. Crop Breeding and Applied
Biotechnology, 9(2), 189-195. Retrieved from
http://www.sbmp.org.br/cbab
Newspaper articles
With an Authour
In-text
• The notion of a Bill of Rights may be inappropriate in the Australian
context (Waterford, 2007).
Reference list
• Waterford, J. (2007, May 30). Bill of Rights gets it wrong. The
Canberra Times, p. 11
without an author
In-text
• The redesign of the internet (“Internet pioneer”, 2007)…

Reference List
Internet pioneer to oversee network redesign. (2007, May 28).The
Canberra Times, p. 15.
Newspaper article retrieved from a
database
In-text
• In an attempt to save the tiger, Darby (2002) provided…

Reference List
• Darby, A. (2002, August 20). Rarest tiger skin a rugged survivor.
Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au
Thesis
• In-text
• Gale (2000) showed that…
Or
• ...that this can empower employess (Gale, 2000)
• Gale, L. (2000). The relationship between leadership and employee
empowerment for successful total quality management. Unpublished
PhD thesis, University of Western Sydney. Retrieved from
http://handle.uws.edu.au:808/1959.7/28037
lectures
• Lecture notes on power point on-line
• In-text
• In examining the genre of fiction …(St. Vincent Welch, 2009)…
Reference list
• St. Vincent Welch, S. (2009). Unit 8147 Writing short narratives,
lecture 1, week 1: What is fiction? [Lecture PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from http://learnonline.canberra.edu.au
Lecture (unpublished) / personal
communication
• In-text citation
• H. Dwyer discussed the .... (personal communication, January 10,
2009).
or
• … found that in these cases “neutrons are dangerous” (H. Dwyer,
personal communication, January 10, 2009).
Reference list
• Note: When you cite information spoken about in a lecture that has
gone unpublished it is treated as a personal communication and you
do not need to provide a reference list entry because there is no
recoverable data. All details are provided in the text.
• It is advisable to consider using published primary sources before
using class/ lecture notes as references in your paper.
DVD /
Video recording
• In-text
• Jane Austen’s world came alive in Sense and sensibility (Lee, 1995).
Reference List
• Lee, A. (Director). (1995). Sense and sensibility [DVD]. Australia:
Columbia TriStar Home Video.
Figure, Table, Graph, Map or Chart
• In-text
• The internal processes were well described (Kaplan & Norton, 2004),
which led to…
Reference List
• Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D.P. (2004). Internal processes deliver value
over different time . [Graph]. In Strategy maps: Converting
intangible assets into tangible outcomes (p. 48). Boston, MA:
Harvard Business School.
Image - online
• In-text
• The effective use of light in Monet’s Haystacks’ (Monet, 1890)…
Reference List
• Monet, C. (1890). Haystacks, midday [Painting]. National Gallery of
Australia, Canberra. Retrieved from
http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-
• LRG.cfm?IRN=29073&View=LRG
Web page / document on the Internet
Note: Web pages and documents on the web include the following elements
• Authour/editor/date of document
• Date of page
• Title of document
• Name of sponser
• Date retrieved (needed when the source may change over time e.g
webpages, WIKIs)
• URL
Document on the Internet
• In-text citation
Este et al. (2008) suggest that…

• Reference List

Este, J., Warren, C., Connor, L., Brown, M., Pollard, R., & O’Connor, T. (2008). Life in the
clickstream: The Future of journalism. Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. Retreived
from
http://www.alliance.org.au/documents/foj_report_final.pdf
Document on the Internet, no authour, no
date:
• In-text
• …it is necessary to develop the argument…(Developing an Argument,
n.d.)
Reference List
Developing an argument. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2009, from

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/writing/Writing_Center/WCWritingRe
sources.htm

Note: (n.d) = no date. Always include details of authorship or

publication date when available. Carefully consider the reliability and
authority of websites with no authour and/ or no date before
including it as a reference.
Concept of Information
• Data: consists of raw facts such as an employee’s name and numbers
worked, A library users name and number of books borrowed in a
week.
• It is obtained from occurrences or events observed.
Types of Data
1. Alphanumeric data: numbers, letters and other characters
2. Image data: graphic images and pictures
3. Audio data: sound, noise, or tones
4. Video data: moving images or pictures