Scientific Method: Observe Collect Sort
How to get data: (1) sampling, (2) field collection, (3) random selection, (4) questionnaires, (5) interview, (6) experimentation, (7) qualitative, (8) quantitative
Web Searching: (1) Normal, (2) Google Scholar, (3) Google books, (4) Wikipedia, (5) Statement on peer review (check 10-15 websites to validate and counter renegade science websites)
Library Methods
Library Searching: (1) ScienceDirect
(2) Cirrus
(3) Emerald
(4) JSTOR
(5) Gale (http://www.uwc.ac.za/library/electronicres/Gale.htm)
(6) Biological Abstracts
(7) Sabinet
(8) Calico
Metadata (making data shareable) value of data (*Martin) http://196.21.45.131:8080/metadata/index.html
Scientific Method: Analyse Data
BioStatistics nisl.uwc.ac.za/biostats
Using Excel, statistical software e.g. SPSS, SAS, etc
Scientific Method: Scientific Reading and Writing
Reading a scientific paper
Scientific Writing/Scientific Communication Introduction to Scientific Writing
Process of writing
Writing for primary publication
Scientific Method: Basic Tasks and Activities
How to manage information on your computer (use of ‘My Documents’)
This section will show you how to manage your information on your computer. I will do this by using the method which I have come to use since I started using computers.
Assumptions:
1. The computer you are using on a daily basis is used only by yourself (not sharing with someone else).
2. This tutorial has been designed using Windows XP.
The first thing you are going to do is to create a folder on your hard drive, called 1work.
Click on the Show Desktop icon on your QuickLaunch bar to go to your computer’s desktop .
Double-click the icon called “My Computer” on the desktop. A window looking similar to the one below will appear:
If your window does not look similar to the one above, click on the menu bar Tools|Folder Options (see below).
The following window will appear (see below).
Make sure you have the following radio buttons selected (exactly as shown above):
Task: Use Windows classic folders
Browse folders: Open each folder in the same window
Click items as follows: Double-click to open an item (single-click to select)
Next click OK, which will return you to the “My Computer” window.
Your “My Computer” window might still not look like the one shown above. If that is the case then click menu bar View|List which should give you the following “My Computer” window.
As a last resort click the menu bar View|Arrange Icons by and select Name.
The above computer has two hard drive storage areas (drives C: and D:) onto which you can create your 1work folder. I will use drive C:, labelled as “Local Disk (C:)” on the above window.
Note: Which drive you decide is not really important, as long as you know where you are going to save your documents.
Next double-click the drive of your choice, in my case it would be drive C:. A window similar to the one below will appear.
Create a folder named 1work by clicking on the menu bar File|New|Folder as shown below:
Once you have clicked the menu bar File|New|Folder, a new folder will be created at the end of the drive listing (see below).
Type in the name of the new folder, namely, 1work (see below).
Next press the function key F5 on the keyboard, or click on the menu bar View|Refresh (see below).
Once you have clicked Refresh, the 1work folder will move to the top of the drive listing.
The reason for naming your folder 1work instead of just work is to ensure that your file will be at the top of the drive listing or at least very near the top. This helps you to find your important folders quickly. Further examples will appear in this tutorial which will highlight the use of this and other naming conventions.
Scenario
Let’s assume you are the project manager for the NISL project. As project manager you have to be very organised because you are responsible for the orderly running of your project. This orderliness or organisation should reflect in the way you organise information on your computer.
I have created a folder in the 1work folder, called 1NISL. Again, the 1 precede the project name in order to ensure that it is at the top of the drive listing.
Note: The 1NISL folder contains blank documents. You will be given a copy of the folder, whilst doing this exercise.
When you double-click the 1NISL folder you will see a typical organisation of folders. This is only an example of how to manage your files and folders.
The folders with names starting with 1 are the more important folders. Those that are named normally are lesser folders. The folders can be linked to some of the components of project management:
Integration Management e.g. 1tender
Scope Management e.g. 1tor & business plan
Cost Management e.g. 1invoice
Communication s Management e.g. 1minutes, 1reports
When we look inside the individual folders, we find for the 1invoice folder:
Look at the file naming convention. Files are named firstly by the date which they were created, then a general description. This naming of files is a personal choice, as we all store information differently. This file naming convention is shown because it eases the retrieval of information. This is especially helpful when a report deadline looms.
For 1minutes:
The last thing that you need to do in this section is to link your 1work folder to your “My Documents” icon on your desktop. This means that you must change the default location of your “My Documents” folder.
The reason for changing it to your 1work folder is to make it easy for you to find your Work folder. You will see when we change it that the Windows XP operating system “buries” your work folder if you uses the default “My Documents” setting.
When you right-click the “My Documents” icon on the desktop, the following options appear:
Select Properties. The following window appears”
As you can see the default setting, would have buried your 1NISL folder four levels down the directory structure, namely, C:\Documents and Settings\Fagrie\My Documents\1NISL.
Try to remember this path, and then repeat it after 20 minutes.
As you can see the C:\1work\1NISL only goes two levels into the directory structure. The path is also much easier to remember.
So, if you agree with the above reasoning, change the above window, by clicking on Find Target...
And then typing in C:\1work.
Whenever you click on “My Documents” from now on, you will be taken to the C:\1work folder.
How to cut, copy and paste files
I will now show how to cut, copy and paste files within and between folders.
Click on the Show Desktop icon on your QuickLaunch bar to go to your computer’s desktop .
Double-click the icon called “My Computer” on the desktop. A window looking similar to the one below will appear:
If your window does not look similar to the one above, click on the menu bar Tools|Folder Options (see below).
The following window will appear (see below).
Make sure you have the following radio buttons selected (exactly as shown above):
Task: Use Windows classic folders
Browse folders: Open each folder in the same window
Click items as follows: Double-click to open an item (single-click to select)
Next click OK, which will return you to the “My Computer” window.
Your “My Computer” window might still not look like the one shown above. If that is the case then click menu bar View|List which should give you the following “My Computer” window.
As a last resort click the menu bar View|Arrange Icons by and select Name.
Double-click on the Local Disk (C:).
Double-click on the 1work folder.
Double-click on the 1NISL folder.
Double-click on the 1tender folder.
Select the file named 2005-06-20 Tender Bulletin.pdf. You will see in the status bar at the bottom of the window that this file has a file size of 168KB. It is important to note the file size of the files to be copied to ensure that all the files were indeed copied.
There are two ways in which you can select more than one files. The first way is what I would call block selecting. Select the file named 2005-06-20 Tender Bulletin.pdf. Hereafter, hold down the Shift key; keep holding down the Shift key; select with the mouse the file, named 2005-08-12 Tender Submission – Proposal.doc. You will see that all three files have been selected. The Shift key allows you to select a block of files, by selecting the first file and then Shift-selecting the last file.
You can also select specific files from the above folder. Select the first file named 2005-06-20 Tender Bulletin.pdf as shown below:
Now select the file in the folder named 2005-06-20 Tender Bulletin.pdf. Hold down the Ctrl key; keep holding down the Ctrl key; select with the mouse the named 2005-08-12 Tender Submission – Proposal.doc. You will see that only two files have been selected. The Ctrl key allows you to select specific files, individually.
Now that you know how to block select (Shift key) and specific select (Ctrl key) files, you can cut or copy them to another folder on your computer. The Cut function removes files from their original location and places the files in memory. You must then select the target location, where you will paste the files that are in memory.
That concludes the section called “How to manage information on your computer (use of ‘My Documents’)”.
How to zip files
How to create a Word document (Notepad and WordPad documents)
How to use an Excel spreadsheet
How to use email
How to create webpages (HTML and CSS)
How to record sound (sound recording for ppt’s using sndrec32.exe)
Audacity sound editor (upload to podcast), mp3s, AVIs, MPEGs.
How to optimize images (freeware image editor)