Assessing and Assisting Arab Undergraduates Skills in Producing Research Papers in English

  • 30 May 2021
  • Published Resarch - Other

Researchers

Ranwa Khorsheed

Published in

Theory and Practice in Language Studies (TPLS), Volume 11, No. 5, pages 481-488, May 2021.


Abstract

This paper discusses the results of a study conducted on a group of undergraduates at the Arab International University. The study has assessed the students’ research skills via a qualitative analysis of their earlier research papers submissions and a questionnaire that determined the weaknesses and difficulties they face while writing a paper. Results showed that undergraduates find it most difficult to use and understand English references, paraphrase paragraphs and use in-text citations. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results, the researcher devised a new course that aimed to enhance students’ practice of the main research skills. This course was based on developing student’s information literacy and assigning multiple focused tasks to practice the main research skills. The post course evaluation of students’ achievement showed a notable improvement in their research practices that aided the production of above average quality English research papers.

Keywords: research skills, information literacy, paraphrase, in-text citation.

Link to read full paper

https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1105.04