COURSE WORK FEBRUARY 2010
KEY ISSUES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT CRN 28176
Email Address: ki@basden.demon.co.uk
** Please note: This work is marked as as though it is an exam.
This work is the only means by which students obtain marks.
In some countries 'assignment' refers to unmarked material, but here
'assignment' refers to work that is marked and contributes to your
degree mark. **
THE TWO ASSIGNMENTS
The module 'Key Issues in Information Systems Development'
has no examination. Instead, the assessment involves two written
assignments.
Assignment 1 is meant to be undertaken in a group with others.
Assignment 1 reports on group aspectual analysis of what people say
about ISD. However, in special circumstances e.g. part-time
students, a student might elect to work on their own - that student
would have to carry out the full work by themselves.
Assignment 2 is to be undertaken invididually. Assignment 2
discusses what you have learned in the module.
Each assignment contributes 50% of the final mark.
Deadlines
» Inform me in writing (paper or email) which group you are in
(see below) by Wednesday 10th March (4.0 pm)
» Submit Assignment 1 (Group) by Wednesday 5th May (4.0 pm)
» Submit Assignment 2 (Individual) by Wednesday 19th May (4.0
pm)
The Difference About Masters Assignments
Please see Appendix 1 for an analogy that one student found useful.
Important:
Masters assignments are not like an undergraduate exam. In an
undergraduate exam you might get marks for writing down correctly
what was in the lecture notes or said during the lectures, because an
undergraduate exam is partly a test of memory and retention. But an
assignment at masters level is a test of your ability to think for
yourself.
In the assignment, especially in this module, you are expected to
write down the results of your own thinking. You will gain marks for
original thinking that is of good quality. You will NOT gain marks
for material that I find elsewhere unless that material is enclosed in
"double quotation marks" and the source of the material is given as a
reference. (See below for how to reference.)
» In the Group Assignment, evidence of thinking for yourselves is
found in the quality of passages you have selected and how well
you can identity which is the main aspect of each. It is also
found in what you write in your Individual Reflection handed in
with the Group Assignment.
» In the Individual Assignment, evident of thinking for yourselves
is found in your discussion of what you have learned, in what
you write that shows you found it valuable or interesting, and in
what you write about how you intend to apply what you have
learned. If you write down the wording in the lecture notes and
CCM book, you are likely to lose marks rather than gain them;
instead, you should think about what was in the lecture notes and
CCM book and re-express those thoughts in your own words.
ASSIGNMENT 1: GROUP ASPECTUAL ANALYSIS
This assignment contributes 50% of the marks the student will receive
for the module.
The deliverable from this assignment is a report resulting from
undertaking an aspectual analysis.
The educational aim of this assignment is to give the student
practical experience of aspectual analysis of some issue in ISD and
reporting on that analysis.
The object of the assignment is to use Dooyeweerd's aspects to
analyse the advice or expertise in a textbook on some part of
information systems development. Your group will be allocated a
book to study.
All members of your group must then read and analyse this book
according to Dooyeweerd's aspects as presented during the module,
and according to the four main ISD activities.
The Groups
Groups be any size from 1 to 6 people. Groups of 4 or 5 is the best
number. If you wish to work on your own (group size of 1) you must
have a good reason for this, such as being a part-time student or
unable to find a group.
Having formed a group, each member of the group must email
me to tell me what group they belong to before the deadline listed
above. If you wish to work alone, you must also tell me the reason
for working alone (I reserve the right not to accept the reason but to
allocate you to a group). You may designate a group name if you
wish.
After that deadline, I might allocate students who have not
contacted me to a group with low numbers. Important: If you are
not in a group and do not hear from me that you are part of any
group, you should begin to undertake this work on your own. It is
possible that you can join a group later if you wish. If you change
the members of the group, please email me again.
The Research
Each group will be allocated a book on some ISD topic.
In Feb 2010 cohort, all teams will study the same book, 'Client
Centred', but will look at different portions of it.
Each member of the group must read parts of the book (the group
must decide which parts are read by which members). For those
parts, I recommend that each member should do the following. See
Appendix 3 for an example from another book.
» Find short pieces of text, from 2-4 lines long, which give advice
about one of the activities of ISD:
» Advice about The Overall Whole Project
» Advice about Anticipating Use
» Advice about Knowledge Acquisition
» Advice about Creating the IS
and identify which of the above it refers to. Copy out the words
of the passage in quotation marks with its page number, and
identify which activity it is. (NOTE: Please be assured, this
copying out is NOT plagiarism, since I am asking you to do it
and doing so is part of the work of the assignment.)
» Each member of a group of five people should aim to find at least
12 such pieces of text. If you are working on your own, you
must find 20 pieces. Groups with two people must find 15 pieces
each.
» For each piece of text, the you should identify which ISD
activity it gives advice about. Explain why you believe it is this
activity.
» For each piece of text, you should identify aspects it is giving
advice about, and write a short discussion of what advice it gives
about functioning in these aspects. Explain why you believe it is
for these aspects.
As you do this, look at the aspects pages of The Dooyeweerd
Pages on http://www.dooy.info/aspects.html
If you wish to check your understanding of aspects with me,
then email me at the address given at the start or contact me
in class.
Try to differentiate between main and secondary aspects, and
whether each aspect is directly found in the text of is
deduced.
» Then add your name (or initials) at the end, as 'Contributor'.
» Once all members have their passages, get together and discuss
them. For example, you might discuss whether you have chosen
the right aspects or ISD activity. Study the Dooyeweerd Pages
http://www.dooy.info/aspects.html to help you.
» Each member should then rewrite their discussion of each aspect
if necessary. ** Remember to add your name to each one that
you have written. **
» Then all the contributions from all the group members should be
brought together, and sorted according to type of ISD activity.
See Deliverable below.
Deliverable for Group Assignment
The group should deliver to the MSc office, by the deadline, one
copy of the Report for Group Assignment. This should be printed
double-sided. Do NOT waste paper by creating a contents page.
Also an electronic version should be emailed to the email address
given at the start of this document.
The following is the sections I expect to find in the Group
Assignment Report.
Section 1. Group Details
List of members of group, which lists what each member has done in
the research (e.g. which chapters).
Name of Book studied.
Section 2. Aspectual Analysis of Whole Project Activity
This section contains all the passages the group found about Overall
Whole Project. Make sure that each entry contains the name of the
member that contributed it.
Section 3. Aspectual Analysis of Anticipating Use
This section contains all the passages the group found about
Anticipating Use (including user requirements analysis). Make sure
that each entry contains the name of the member that contributed it.
Section 4. Aspectual Analysis of Knowledge Acquisition
This section contains all the passages the group found about
Knowledge Acquisition. Make sure that each entry contains the name
of the member that contributed it.
Section 5. Aspectual Analysis of Creating the IS
This section contains all the passages the group found about Creating
the IS, both the programming and the creation of documentation etc.
Make sure that each entry contains the name of the member that
contributed it.
Section 6. Conclusion of Group Report. Add here anything else the
group wishes to say.
Groups of one (people working on their own) will also submit
each item.
The Report should be type written in 12 point font [minimum] on
A4 paper, and all sheets should be stapled at the top left-hand corner
of the document. Please use *double-sided printing*, because I
want both you and the University to be environmentally responsible
(not wasting paper or the energy that goes into making it). The
reason for this is because responsibility is a fundamental Key Issue in
ISD and students are expected to learn it not just in their minds but
also in their activity. Extra marks are awarded for double-sided
printing.
There is no word length limit for this assignment. See marking
criteria below.
Please submit, by the Deadline:
» A printed copy of Group Assignment Report
» An electronic copy of Report by email to the address given at the
start.
The printed copy should be type written in 12 point font
[minimum] on A4 paper, and all sheets should be stapled at the top
left-hand corner of the document. Please use *double-sided
printing*, because I want both you and the University to be
environmentally responsible (not wasting paper or the energy that
goes into making it). The reason for this is because responsibility is a
fundamental Key Issue in ISD and students are expected to learn it not
just in their minds but also in their activity. Extra marks are awarded
for double-sided printing.
The electronic copy should be either in plain text format (pasted
into the email) or in .doc format or in HTML format. It MUST NOT
be in .pdf or .docx (Word 2007) formats, because I cannot handle
them easily; if it is in these formats then you will lose a couple of
marks.
Working together
Students will normally work together within groups for Assignment 1
(though a few might work alone; see below). However, you must
keep a list of people with whom you have discussed aspects or the
topic, and that list must be part of your Group Report.
Email me (ki@basden.demon.co.uk) with:
» the list of students you intend to be working with in your groups
(if you intend to work along, please tell me so),
» If you are unable to find a group to belong to, and wish to belong
to a group, rather than working alone, they you must email me to
tell me this no later this same date, and tell me which topics you
would prefer to analyse. If you wish to work alone, please tell
me so, and tell me which topic you wish to analyse.
The reasons for working together are: to share the work among
yourselves if you wish, to stimulate understanding and experience of
aspectual analysis by discussion, to help one another understand
Dooyeweerd's aspects and the processes of aspectual analysis, and to
help each other understand the topic being analysed.
If you wish to undertake the assignment alone (a group with only
one person in it) then this is allowed, if you have good reasons for
doing so (for example, part-time students might find it difficult to
meet other students).
Moreover, in exceptional circumstances, you may change groups
later on as long as you inform me by email.
IMPORTANT: Every student is expected to carry out this
aspectual research and discussion and contribute to the Group
Assignment Report. If for any reason you are not part of a group,
you must nevertheless undertake aspectual analysis and write a Part 1.
That you have been unable to find a group, or have been absent too
much, or any other reason, is no excuse.
IMPORTANT: Do NOT share work with other groups. If I find
two groups seem to have shared work, I reserve the right to reduce
marks for members of both groups.
Marking Criteria for Group Assignment
Those who print double-sided will gain a couple of extra marks.
This is to indicate that what is taught on this module is not just
theory, hut is supposed to be put into practice and to add to
responsibility in our ISD and elsewhere. Being environmentally
responsible in lots of small ways (such as printing double-sided) is
one important aspect of ISD project overall (think: which one?).
Criteria that will be taken into account in marking Group
Assignment include (but are not restricted to):
» understanding of the aspects, and to what extent the aspects are
well-covered
» relevance and quality of discussion of aspects of the passage
» the number of passages
» correct identification of ISD activity
The marks given to members of the group will differ. Each
member's contributions will contribute to their mark. However, it is
the responsibility of the group as a whole to ensure that all members
have good contributions, and so good work will reflect on all
members and bad work will reflect on all members. So you should
help each other, but each passage must be identified with the name of
the person who contributed it.
The rules for obtaining Distinction, Pass, Fail are not strictly
defined, and will depend on judgment. It is very difficult to define
what is required, but, the following guidelines may be useful to both
student and marker, but they must be read with common sense:
» A Distinction may be obtained if the student demonstrates
excellent understanding of the kernel meanings and norms of all
aspects, shows very good discussion of why each aspect is
assigned, especially where it is not immediately clear which
aspect is appropriate, shows that they have thoroughly grasped
the notion of aspects in general, and demonstrates good ability to
apply this understanding in a natural (intuitive) way to the topic
of the assignment in a diverse manner (e.g. a range of different
types of passages). In the main, this understanding will be
demonstrated by discussion of the passages, and the range of
passages selected. Understanding can also be demonstrated by
extra discussion e.g. that refers to other literature or compares
with phenomena drawn from everyday life. Of course, an
adequate number of passages must be examined, and the ISD
activities must be discussed appropriately.
» A Pass might occur if the student demonstrates industry and
reasonable understanding of aspects and aspectual analysis of ISD
activities referred to in a reasonably selection of passages. This
will be demonstrated by reasonable understanding of aspects and
ISD activities applied to the required number of passages.
» A Fail might occur if the student demonstrates a lack of industry
in understanding the aspects, how to apply them, the analysis of
passages, and understanding the activities of ISD: this may be
demonstrated by too few passages are identified, if there is
consistent wrong assignment of a majority of aspectual kernels
without convincing explanation of why they have been thus
assigned, if the discussion of aspects of each passage is too
cursory, if the ISD activities are consistently wrong.
ASSIGNMENT 2: INDIVIDUAL ESSAY
This assignment contributes 50% of the marks the student will receive
for the module.
In this assignment you must write an essay of around 2,500
words, that is a critical reflection on your learning experiences
resulting from the Key Issues module.
TITLE: My Learning Experience of the Module 'Key Issues in
Information Systems Development'.
This work is to be undertaken by yourself, individually. You must
NOT work with others on this assignment (though you are allowed to
discuss each others' assignments and offer advice to each other).
The essay should cover at least the following four themes:
1. your background and what you originally hoped to gain from the
Key Issues module
2. what you learned during the module that you found important or
interesting
3. why you found it important, interesting, valuable or useful
4. how you intend to apply what you have learned in future.
To execute this essay, the following resources should be
employed:
» The modules handouts
» The notes you made during the lectures module, and what you
remember from the lectures
» The 'Client Centred' book
» The notes you made while undertaking Assignment 1
» The discussions you had during Assignment 1
» Papers and books read during the module - you are expected to
seek other material related to your especial interests.
Deliverable for Individual Assignment
This assignment must be all your own work, and must not be shared
with others. You must not copy the work of anyone else: no part of
the assignment may be a copy from any document, whether amended
or not, except that it is a short quotation in quotation marks and a
reference is given to where it came from.
You should deliver to the Masters office on or before the
deadline, a paper copy printed double-sided. Also you should email
an electronic version to the email address given at the start.
What gains marks is your own original thinking and your good
understanding of what you have learned, and NOT material copied
from the lecture notes or others.
I suggest you write the Individual Assignment with the following
sections, for which a guideline is given for how words are
appropriate.
Section 1. My Background and Expecations
Here, briefly summarise your background and what you expected
from the Key Issues module. About 200 words.
Section 2. What Important Things I Have Learned from the Module.
Here you should describe briefly what you learned, if anything, from
each part of the module:
» the CCA book
» the lectures and lecture notes and other handouts
» the research undertaken by the group
» aspectual analysis
» anything else you believe you learned during this module.
For each thing learned discuss why it is important to ISD. To
discuss this, you should read other books and papers on ISD and give
references to these. This is one of the parts that usually gains better
marks.
DO NOT JUST GIVE THE DETAIL OF WHAT YOU HAVE
LEARNED BUT SUMMARISE IT AND DISCUSS WHY IT IS
IMPORTANT TO ISD.
EXPLAIN THINGS IN YOUR OWN WORDS AND IN YOUR
OWN WAY.
Marks are given for the quality and amount of work you do. So
» Do not copy text from another assignment (e.g. a group member
or a previous student). You will get zero marks for this.
» Do not reproduce material from another assignment (copying but
changing words). Again, you will get very few marks for this.
» Do not merely reproduce what is in the Client Centred book or
lecture notes, or papers you read. You will get few marks for
this.
This is because none of those provide evidence that you have really
learned it. It is evidence that you have learned things well that gives
marks.
To give evidence that you have learned things well, you should
seek to understand them well and explain them in your own way.
So you should ensure that you really understand topics like aspects,
the four activities of ISD, client centred, etc. well enough to be able
to explain what you have learned in your own way. You can include
text from other sources (such Client Centred book or lecture notes of
papers) but when you do, you must enclose it in "double quotes" and
give the reference.
About 800 - 1200 words.
Section 3. The Value of What I Learned
Here you should discuss in what ways you found what you learned
particularly valuable - useful, important, interesting or fascinating.
Discuss *why* you found them valuable. If you want to get good
marks here, this should not be a mere list of things, but the reason
why you found each thing valuable should be discussed. In this
discussion, you are advised to make reference to (a) your own
personal experience (b) papers and other articles that you have read,
discussing how each relates to the value of the things you learned.
Note: You can also discuss some of the things that were NOT
valuable, but if you do so, you MUST discuss why this was so,
preferably with reference to papers you have read.
About 400 - 800 words.
Section 4. How I Intend to Apply What I Learned in Future
Discuss how you intend to apply some of the things you learned.
You could apply it to your previous experience or learning in ISD.
Or to your future intentions in ISD or professional life. Or to your
personal life. Or anything else you wish. Discuss in what ways you
intend to change the ways you do things. BE SPECIFIC about what
you intend to apply. If you do not intend to change the ways you do
things, nor to apply anything from the module, then discuss why not.
About 300-600 words.
Section 5. Conclusion
Anything else you wish to say, about the module or about either of
the assignments.
Section 6. References
Make a list of any references that you have used in your Individual
Report. For each reference you should provide the following
information:
» Names of authors.
» Date of article.
» Title of article.
» Source. (For a book, this is the name of the publisher. For a
journal article, this is the name of the journal, with volume
number and page numbers. For a chapter in a book, this is the
name of the book, and the names of the authors and the
publisher. For a web page, give URL and date it was accessed.)
See Appendix on Referencing.
The report should be around 2,500 words including references,
no less than 2000, no more than 3000. Please submit, by the
Deadline:
» A printed copy of Individual Assignment Report
» An electronic copy of Report by email to the address given at the
start.
The printed copy should be type written in 12 point font
[minimum] on A4 paper, *printed double-sided* and all sheets
should be stapled at the top left-hand corner of the document.
The electronic copy should be either in plain text format (pasted
into the email) or in .doc format or in HTML format. It MUST NOT
be in .pdf or .docx (Word 2007) formats, because I cannot handle
them easily; if it is in these formats then you will lose a couple of
marks.
Marking Criteria for Individual Assignment Report
Those who print double-sided will gain a couple of extra marks.
This is to indicate that what is taught on this module is not just
theory, hut is supposed to be put into practice and to add to
responsibility in our ISD and elsewhere. Being environmentally
responsible in lots of small ways (such as printing double-sided) is
one important aspect of ISD project overall (think: which one?).
Criteria that will be taken into account in marking the Individual
Assignment include (but are not restricted to):
List 1:
» Learning from all parts of module
» Understands the parts well
» Number and quality of learnings
List 2:
» That the student has internalised what they have learned
» That the student has made meaningful links that I did not make
» Excitement or appreciation
» Significance of learning: widening, deepening, undergirding (i.e.
more than learning mere facts, rules or theories)
» Openness to new approaches
» Their learning is meaningful to them (a) "I used to think xxx but
now I realise yyy" (b) "I was surprised that zzz was the case"
» Understands its place in the world (a) wider reading (b)
application in life, e.g. work life, (c) intend to adopt it
» Self-awareness, self-reflection, self-critique
The second list is more important than the first. So a mere statement
of what you learned is not impressive. In Appendix 2 you can find
some advice I sent to a student who got low marks, on what is
required at Masters level. It will help you see what is needed for
good marks, and why this is.
The rules for obtaining Distinction, Pass, Fail are not strictly
defined, and will depend on judgment. It is very difficult to define
what is required, but, the following guidelines may be useful to both
student and marker, but they must be read with common sense:
» A Distinction may be obtained if the student demonstrates
excellent learning of selected topics of the module coupled with
genuine appreciation of what has been learned, and gives a sense
that they understand how all the topics work together as
important in ISD. It is not necessary to show learning of all
topics of the module, but they will usually include excellent
understanding of aspectual analysis and of the nature and norms
of ISD activities and how they relate to each other. Appreciation
is demonstrated by showing excitement and showing good
thought of how the student will apply what has been learned in
the future. There will usually be creative thinking that goes
beyond and extends intelligently what was taught on the module.
Appropriate reference to other literature can also be taken as
evidence of understanding and appreciation, especially in linking
module topics to wider knowledge of ISD and other things.
» A Pass can be obtained as long as the student demonstrates they
have actually learned a reasonable amount of material of the
module to the extent of understanding it and being able to apply
it, and valuing at least some of what was learned.
» A Fail might be obtained if the student shows little interest in the
module's content and that little work has been done. Evidence
for this is that a lot of what was learned is text that could have
been drawn directly from the Client Centred book, the lecture
notes (copied with a few rewordings), or other sources (such as
Internet documents) without discussion, and without evidence of
understanding what was written, and without evidence that the
student valued what was taught.
CONCLUSION
These two assignments are designed not just to assess your learning
during the module, but to give you actual practice at aspectual
analysis and understanding a topic in ISD in detail, and to stimulate
your reflection on what you have learned and to get you thinking
about how you might apply it. They are designed to ensure that, as
far as you wish to, you can take away with you when you leave the
course, something that will be of value to you in the future. I wish
you every success as you undertake these assignments.
Andrew Basden.
Professor of Human Factors & Philosophy in Information Systems
APPENDIX 1 - ADVICE ON WRITING MASTERS
ASSIGNMENT
Writing a Masters assignment is like weaving cloth with a good
pattern. Think of a master weaver at work:
1 He designs a good pattern,
2 selects threads of just the right colour and material,
3 which he has obtained from someone else, with either money or
thanks, and for which he is willing to give credit,
4 He understands well how the different kinds of thread behave in
cloth and in the weaving process,
5 and then he weaves them with skill so that the resulting cloth is
as good as possible
6 but he is able to tell (with his expert eye) what is very good and
what is flawed (like twists, knots and foreign bodies in the
threads, and where he has woven the thread less well than he
might wish) and why they are good or flawed and what should be
done to prevent or overcome the flaws.
This is what one would expect of a master weaver of good cloth.
Writing an assignment of masters quality is like weaving good, well-
patterned cloth. The assignment must demonstrate:
1 that the majority is a product of your own thinking, not that of
somebody else's
2 that where you use pieces of other people's thinking you do so
intelligently and appropriately, selecting what is relevant and
leaving out what is not relevant
3 that where you use somebody else's thinking you reference them
explicitly, to give due credit to them
4 that you have fully understood the you are writing about
5 that you have been able to manipulate and use what you have
understood
6 that you can view what you have written about critically,
knowing what is really good and what is poor, rather than just
accepting things as they are.
If you want, you can find direct similarities between the two cases:
1 It is all your own design overall. You need to show what *you*
learned and in what ways *you* found it valuable and will use it.
2 The threads you use are the material you learned on the module
and what you have read in books and papers, and you have
selected them well. For example, in the case of 'What I
Learned', the threads would be pieces from CCM, KBS, aspects,
ISD, aspectual analysis in group, and anything else you read e.g.
about programming.
3 Stealing threads is like passing off text or ideas from others as
though they were your own. You must give due credit. For
example, each piece you refer to, you say where it came from.
4 The threads you use, which are pieces of other people's thinking
and what you learned on the module; you understand how well
they will work in the assignment you are 'weaving'. So, for
example, instead of writing down all the detail of the seven stages
of CCM, you just name the stages and, in your own words, give
one sentence about why each stage is important.
5 The way you use pieces of other people's thinking to make your
argument and support your thought is expert and appropriate.
This is the reason I asked students to tell 'How I intend to apply
what I learned'.
6 The section 'In What Ways I Found Valuable' gives scope for
discussing this kind of thing. Things or real interest or value are
like the really good bits of weaving. Things like twists, knots or
foreign bodies in threads are like logical inconsistencies or
inappropriateness in pieces from others are, and things like flaws
in weaving are things like places where you do not fully
understand the coursework is; it is 'ok' to say "I did not
understand xxx because of ...".
All of these get marks in a Masters assignment. You get marks for:
1 Overall structure of your thought and the logical flow and feel of
your argument
2 Intelligent selection of material to support that thought and
argument
3 Good referencing and givig due to people
4 Showing you understand the material that you are writing about;
this is shown when you put it in your own words, when you
apply it correctly to examples from your own experience that
were not made on the course, or express links between issues that
were not made in the course,
5 Intelligent discussion of how the ideas you learned can be
applied, and especially how you intend to apply them, and
referring them to what you wrote about your background.
6 Making appropriate critical comments on the pieces from the
course or other work. Or explaining *why* you found things
valuable or interesting.
APPENDIX 2 - HOW TO REFERENCE
Referencing means that you make very clear the source of every piece
of content that you obtain from a source other than yourself (this
includes the lecture notes and the Client Centred book). There are at
least two reasons for referencing:
» The source of ideas that you use deserves to get the credit for
those ideas. To take credit for good ideas that someone else has
given you is unjust. To do so for purposes of getting extra marks
that you do not deserve is cheating, and is called plagiarism.
» The reader might find what you write interesting, and wish to
explore some of the ideas further. The reference you give tells
the reader where to search the ideas.
With these reasons in mind, there are two parts to referencing:
» The Citations in your text, which indicating where each idea in
your text that is from somewhere else comes from; this is usually
done by giving the name of the author(s) of the ideas plus the
date they were written and possibly the page number, within your
text. It tells the reader the source of the idea.
Examples:
» "A Kleinian approach concerns itself not just with the
structure of data or communications, but with its meaning
and underlying world-view [Truex, Baskerville & Klein,
1999]." - reference tacked on to idea in brackets
» "The reason Truex, Baskerville & Klein [1999] stress self-
reference seems to be a concern to overcome conservatism
and unwarranted caution in face of external pressures." -
authors of reference used as part of text of sentence
» The Reference List, which is an organised list containing
references for of all your citations. Each reference comprises all
the details needed to let the reader locate the idea you have cited.
The reference contains: names of authors, date, title of article,
and details of where the article may be found. See below.
Example:
» TRUEX DP, BASKERVILLE R & KLEIN HK (1999)
Growing Systems in Emergent Organizations.
Communications of the ACM, 42, 117-123.
Referencing is essential to a dissertation, and to an assignment for a
Masters module, because it shows that you have done good work in
finding out other people's ideas that are relevant to yours.
Now in more detail ...
Types of Literature Appropriate To Each Part
There are at least the following types of literature which are
appropriate to different parts of dissertation.
Books:
- Academic monograph books, such as 'The Tacit Dimension'
by M. Polanyi; these are books whose purpose is to
introduce and discuss new ideas. Usually good for LR.
- Textbooks: these are academic, but are intended to teach
existing ideas rather than introduce and discuss new ideas.
Most course texts are of this kind.
- Reference books (encyclopaedias, dictionaries, etc.)
- Factual stories or narrative books: For example, a book that
tells what happened in the London Ambulance System IS
disaster. These are good as literature source.
- Company reports.
- Government documents.
Articles:
- Academic journal papers, such as Int. J. Human-Computer
Studies (in library); these are articles intended to introduce
and discuss new ideas. Usually good for LR.
- Professional journals; these provide serious, reflective
material which is news, comment and opinion. Usually good
for Introduction.
- Magazines: these contain lighter articles. Usually good only
as Literature Sources for primary research.
- Newspapers:
Internet Sources:
- Web pages, sites: these can be used in Introduction and as
Literature Sources, but should hardly ever be used in LR.
- Emails: these can be used as sources for primary research.
Other Media:
- Radio, TV, Video clips (transcripts of).
Citing in Text
There are various ways to cite in text, and you can use any you wish
as long as you are consistent. But I suggest cite by Author(s) plus
Date. Here is an example:
"There is a bewildering diversity of philosophies from which to
choose and different ones are appealed to from within different
I.S. disciplines. For example, in artificial intelligence, appeals
have been made to the rationalist Leibniz (Brachman and
Levesque, 1985) and the neo-positivist Brentano (Newell, 1982),
in human factors appeals have been made to the existentialist
Heidegger (Winograd and Flores, 1986), and recently the
information systems community has appealed to the critical
theorist Habermas (Lyytinen and Klein, 1985). Klein and Myers
(1999) have examined I.S. research by reference to hermeneutic
philosophy and phenomenology. While such diversity can be
fruitful, our problem is that ISD, as the bridge between
technology and its use, must concern itself with four major areas
- usage and impact, process of development, the shape that
technologies assume, and perspectives held on information
systems in general (Basden, 2001). If the philosophies appealed
to do not cohere, then ISD is hindered, for example, when
positivistically inspired technologies are found inappropriate in
the human context of use. Burrell and Morgan (1979) have
argued for incommensurability between paradigms in research -
the very research that generates the technologies, methodologies,
theories and models that we use in I.S. While others (e.g. Lee,
1991; Willmott, 1993) have argued that this may be overcome in
the practical research arena, incommensurability remains a
problem (Falconer and Mackay, 1999)."
Notice:
- Always use surnames.
- Sometimes names are part of the sentence, as in "Klein and
Myers (1999) have examined I.S. research ..." Here I am
using the authors as people. The reference is made by the
date in brackets immediately after the name.
- Sometimes names are not part of the sentence, as in "... has
appealed to the critical theorist Habermas (Lyytinen and
Klein, 1985)" The authors are not being used as people, so
the reference in brackets must have author(s), then comma,
then date.
- Single author e.g. "(Basden, 2001)"
- Multiple authors for one paper: link by commas with 'and'
before final one, e.g. "(Lyytinen and Klein, 1985)"
- Multiple references in single brackets: separate the references
by semicolon, e.g. "(Lee, 1991; Willmott, 1993)"
In e.g. company reports, government documents and web pages it
might not be known who the author is. In that case, use the name of
the organisation as author. e.g. "(DEFRA, 2006)"
Reference Lists
Reference lists occur at the end of the document. They list every
reference you have made in the document, and no more. So every
reference in the list should be cited at least once in the document, and
every citation in the document must be included as a reference in this
list.
Books: Give the following in order: Author(s), Date, Title of book,
Country and city of publisher, Publisher. e.g.
Landauer, T. K. (1996). The trouble with computers: Usefulness,
usability and productivity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford
Books.
Winograd, T., & Flores, F. (1986). Understanding computers
and cognition: A new foundation for design. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Dumas, J. S., & Redish, J. C. (1999). A practical guide to
usability testing (2nd ed). Exeter, England: Intellect.
Theses: As book, but publisher is a University. e.g.
Kane, S. C. (2006). Multi-aspectual interview technique. PhD
Thesis, University of Salford, U.K.
Papers in journals, Magazine articles, etc.: Give the following, in
order: Author(s), Date, Title of Paper, Name of Journal, Volume
number, Part number (usually in brackets, if available), Page
Numbers. e.g.
Winograd, T. (2006). Designing a new foundation for design.
Communications of the ACM, 49(5), 71-73.
Basden, A., Brown, A. J., Tetlow, S. D. A., & Hibberd, P. R.
(1996). Design of a user interface for a knowledge refinement
tool. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 45, 157-
183.
Chapters in Edited Books (which contain collections of chapters by
different authors): Give the following in order: Author(s) of
Chapter, Date of book, Title of Chapter, Page numbers, "in",
Editor(s) of Book, "(ed.)", Country and city of publisher, Publisher.
e.g.
Mitev, N. N. (2001). The social construction of IS failure:
symmetry, the sociology of translation and politics. pp.17-34 in
A. Adam, D. Howcroft, H. Richardson, & B. Robinson (Eds.),
Re-)defining critical research in information systems. Salford,
England: University of Salford.
Papers in Conference Proceedings: As Chapter in book, but with
name of ocnference: e.g.
Castell, A. C., Basden, A., Erdos, G., Barrows, P., & Brandon,
P. S. (1992). Knowledge based systems in use: A case study. In
British Computer Society Specialist Group for Knowledge Based
Systems, Proceedings from Expert Systems 92 (Applications
Stream). Swindon, England: British Computer Society.
Jones, G. O., & Basden, A. (2004). Using Dooyeweerd's
philosophy to guide the process of stakeholder engagement in
ISD. pp. 1-19 in M. J. de Vries, B. Bergvall-KÃ¥reborn, & S.
Strijbos (Eds.), Interdisciplinarity and the integration of
knowledge: Proceedings of the 10th annual working conference
of CPTS, 19-24 April 2004 . Amersfoort, Netherlands: Centre
for Philosophy, Technology and Social Systems.
Web pages: Give the following, in order: Author(s) of web page,
Date written, Title of web page, Full URL, Date Accessed.
National Cancer Institute. (2005). Evidence-based guidelines on
web design and usability issues. Retrieved October 19, 2005,
from http://usability.gov/guidelines/
APPENDIX 3 - EXAMPLE GROUP ASSIGNMENT
This text below is supplied only and merely as an example of what I
expect. It shows you the type of format I expect and the type of
format. It shows only a few passage discussions. After the end,
some notes are made to point out things.
*** WARNING:
NONE OF THIS TEXT BELOW IS TO BE COPIED.
THE BOOK BELOW IS NOT TO BE USED FOR ANY
ASSIGNMENT.
***
1. Group Details
NAMES: Andrew Basden, ...
BOOK: Jan L. Harrington. Relational Database Design Clearly
Explained. Second Edition.
2. Aspectual Analysis of Whole Project Activity
Passage 1.
Page 4: "Good database design means that you take time to plan your
database before you put it into use. It means that you focus on the
way your business works and tailor that database to your own
organization's applications."
This is mainly about the whole project, because it is telling us how to
plan the major tasks of the project (focus, plan, put into use, etc.).
But it also mentions other ISD activities as part of this overall plan,
including creating the IS ("design") anticipating use ("focus on the
way your business works").
Aspects:
» The main message of this passage is that we should plan. This is
formative aspect.
» "Focus" is analytic aspect because it is distinguishing between
what is important and what is not.
» 'Business' refers to economic aspect, but this is only secondary.
» Likewise 'organization' refers to social aspect but again this is
only secondary.
Contributor: AB.
Passage 2.
...
3. Aspectual Analysis of Anticipating Use of the IS
Passage 101.
Page 5: "... the store began its mail order business. Watkins created
a 'database' to handle the orders and sales. Customers were (and still
are) enticed to order titles before the official release date by offering a
15 to 20 percent discount on preorders. ... The mail order database
therefore needed to include a way to handle backorders so that
preordered items could be shipped as soon as they came into the
store."
This passage is to do with anticipating use of the IS, in that the
database will be used for backorders too.
Aspects:
» The main message of the passage is about what the database had
to be able to do ("handle orders and sales ... handle
backorders"). The concept of 'able to do' is mainly formative
aspect.
» Enticing customers is of several aspects, including economic
(they give money early), aesthetic (enticement is to do with
interest and fun), and juridical (there must be trust if customers
will give their money up front).
Contributor AB.
Passage 102.
Page 6: "The Lasers Only database has a considerable amount of
duplicated data ... customer's name and address and phone number
are duplicated for every item the customer orders ... When you have
duplicated data in this way the data should be the same throughout the
database. In order words, every order for a given customer should
have the same name, address, and phone number, typed exactly the
same way ... We want the duplicated data to be consistent throughout
the database. As the database grows larger, this type of consistency is
very hard to maintain."
ISD activity here is anticipating use, because we are anticipating the
growth of the database and difficulties with duplicated data.
Aspects:
» The main aspect of this passage is analytic. This is argued as
follows. The main problem this passage is talking about is
correct identification of customers ("consistency". Where data
is duplicated errors can be made in identification. Identification
is of the analytic aspect.
» "very hard to maintain" is formative aspect, because both 'very
hard' and 'maintain' are formative concepts.
» Database growth is an analogy with growth in plants, i.e. biotic
aspect. But really it is not biotic; what makes growth meaningful
to us is the difficulty to maintain, which is formative.
Contributor: AB.
Passage 103.
...
4. Aspectual Analysis of Knowledge Acquisition
Passage 201.
Page 334: "When looking at the data that are to be stored about
people, a database designer is immediately faced with a major
decision before drawing a single entity: Should there be separate
entities for IIA employees and informants, or should they be a single
entity? When faced with a choice of this type of, you need to look
carefully at the data that describe the entities."
The main advice here is about acquiring knowledge. But it also
relates to designing, and hence creating the IS.
Aspects:
» The main message is that the knowledge acquirer must "look
carefully". This is the analytic aspect.
» "major decision" is also analytic aspect.
» Separation of entities is also analytic aspect.
» So this passage is heavily analytic.
Contributor: AB
Passage 202.
...
5. Aspectual Analysis of Creating the IS
Passage 301.
Page 17: "When you first begin to work with entities, the nature of
an entity can be somewhat confusing. ... Is 'inventory' an entity?
No: Inventory is a collection of the merchandise items handled by the
store. The entity is actually the merchandise item. Viewing all of the
instances of the merchandise item entity as a whole provides the
inventory."
This is mainly to do with creating the IS (a database), but might
also have some knowledge acquisition.
Aspects:
» The main aspect is analytic because the whole passage is about
distinguishing entities.
» There is also an economic aspect because the passage is talking
about 'inventory' and 'merchandise'; this is the example
application.
» "Viewing all of the ... as a whole" seems to be aesthetic aspect
because it is about harmony. (Note 'Viewing' might be thought
of as psychic but it is not psychic here because it does not use the
sensory organs, the eyes.)
Contributor: AB
Passage 302.
Page 17: "consider a person's medical history maintained by a
doctor: Like an inventory, a medical history is a collection of more
than one entity. A medical history is made up of appointments and
the events that occur during those appointments. Therefore, the
history is really a collection of instances of appointment entities and
medical treatment entities. The 'history' is an output that a database
application can obtain by gathering the data stored in the underlying
entity instances."
This is mainly to do with creating the IS (a database), but might
also have some knowledge acquisition.
Aspects:
» The application is medical, which is mainly of the biotic aspect.
But this is not what the main message of the passage is about,
because it is only an example.
» The main message this passage is giving is about structure of the
database. Structure is formative aspect.
» Also, history is formative aspect, but in a different way. History
is about the application.
» There is also an analytic aspect in that the passage is talking
about keeping entities clearly identified.
» The quantitative aspect is mentioned in "collection of more than
one", but this is only mentioned in support of the main message
about formative structure.
» The concept of "output of a database application" is lingual
because it is about giving information to the user.
Contributor: AB.
Passage 303.
...
6. Conclusion of Group Report.
In this book, 'Relational Database Design Clearly Explained', we
found:
5 passages about Overall Project
21 passages about Anticipating Use
3 passages about Knowledge Acquisition
36 passages about Creating the IS
This means that the book does not give much guidance about Overall
Project, nor about knowledge acquisition. This suggests that if we
use this book, then we cannot use it alone, but must also have other
books to help us with overall project and knowledge acquisition. So
is this book worth using, or should we find another book that is more
complete?
A lot of aspects were discovered, both main and secondary. Of the
main aspects we found [these figures are completely fictitious]:
Psychic as main aspect: 3 passages
Analytic as main aspect: 22 passages
Formative as man aspect: 27 passages
Lingual as main aspect: 2 passages
Social as main aspect: 3 passages
Economic as main aspect: 5 passages
Aesthetic as main aspect: 0 passages
Juridical as main aspect: 1 passage
Ethical as main aspect: 0 passages
Faith as main aspect: 1 passage
This means that the passages of the book gives direct advice mainly
about clarity and about constructing the database.
The secondary aspects we found were:
Psychic as other aspect: 13 passages
Analytic as other aspect: 35 passages
Formative as man aspect: 40 passages
Lingual as other aspect: 12 passages
Social as other aspect: 24 passages
Economic as other aspect: 32 passages
Aesthetic as other aspect: 23 passages
Juridical as other aspect: 12 passage
Ethical as other aspect: 10 passages
Faith as other aspect: 5 passage
This means that although the book is mainly about analytic and
formative, it is sensitive to a wide range of aspects of things that link
with these. This means it is sensitive the realities of everyday life of
ISD and IS use.
What this means is that this book is certainly worth using, because it
covers a lot of everyday aspects.
----------- end of example
To Note About Example
# At the start, remember to enter names of all students, and also the
book details.
# Each passage discussion has the following information:
Page number.
The passage itself.
The ISD activities.
Aspects.
Contributor.
# Notice how I sometimes shorten the passage by omitting portions
of it in the original text that are irrelevant to this exercise; I indicate
where I have done this by "..." (ellipsis). You should do the same if
you omit parts of a passage.
# Try to get your passages down to three lines or even less. But
sometimes I have made the passage longer than 6 lines, because the
text in the book contained sentences about examples. This should
only done when the text contains examples. Examples usually make
text longer.
# Notice how a lot of the passages are of more than one ISD activity.
Also notice how I discuss and explain why I think it is each activity.
# Notice how I always identify which ISD activity is the main one.
# In discussing aspects I have used bullet points, one bullet for each
aspect.
# Notice how I always identify which is the main aspect. It is best if
the main aspect comes first, but occasionally it can come second. To
identify the main aspect, ask yourself: What is the message that this
passage is trying to give me? What is the main aspect of this
message.
# Notice how for each aspect I have a little explanation or discussion;
I do not just name the aspect, but discuss *why* I think it is of that
aspect.
# Notice how, in the discussion of the aspect, I cite little phrases of
the passage to make clear to the reader what part of the passage is of
that aspect.
# Notice how, occasionally, one aspect appears in the passage in two
or more different ways.
# Notice the two types of passage in 'Anticipating Use'. The first
one tells us about the specific application, and what the IS must do.
The second one tells us about more general issues, such as the
problems of data duplication. If you have a choice, choose general
issues.
# Notice how, very occasionally, I include an analogical aspect, such
as growth.
Copyright (c) Andrew Basden.
17 February 2009, 12 March 2009, 22 July 2009, 12 October 2009,
26 October 2009, 30 October 2009, 18 November 2009, 18 February
2010.