PhD Programme in Language Pedago

If you want to use your home computer to access databases that ELTE is subscribed to, you need to connect to the ELTE network. To do this, you must have the Stunnel programme installed on your computer. A description of this programme and instructions for the installation can be found here: http://iig.elte.hu/file/Stunnel_leiras.pdf (in Hungarian) and here:

http://iig.elte.hu/file/2014_Stunnel_eng.pdf (in English)

For general information about university IT issues go to: http://iig.elte.hu/ (mostly in Hungarian)

Databases that can be accessed through ELTE are listed here: http://seaslib.elte.hu/services/INFSERV.HTM

The main ELTE library often organises training sessions for using various databases and they also provide online information about databases. Visit http://www.konyvtar.elte.hu/ regularly to find out more.

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Citing and referencing:

Creating a perfect list of references is very laborious. Some softwares may help.

Word processing programmes usually have their own citation/reference making component, but there are other tools that can be used. Among others:

http://guides.lib.monash.edu/content.php?pid=346637&sid=3171018

http://www.bibme.org/

http://www.citefast.com/

https://www.mendeley.com/

https://www.zotero.org/

This is perhaps the most complex of all the referencing programmes. To get acquainted with it the following sites may be useful: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zotero+tutorial
This is probably the best one to start with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP5AzJHXfIA
And this one explains how to insert it into Word docs.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imSxa5MbXrc

This is a site that offers different referencing programmes for download:

http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/bibliomaker/

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Questionnaires used in research can be paper based or electronic. Electronic questionnaires can be distributed by email but in this case anonymity is difficult to ensure. Online questionnaires may be the answer to this, and they can also reach a large number of respondents. Most of these programmes collate the incoming data and also do basic analysis.

You can use Forms in Google Docs or try these:

http://freeonlinesurveys.com/

https://www.surveymonkey.com/ - This has a free (basic) and a paying version, too.

http://kwiksurveys.com/

http://www.kerdoivem.hu/

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This collection of utility programmes contains useful resources for analysing texts in different ways:

http://www.online-utility.org/

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Using files on an unknown computer may pose a problem. This is particularly embarrassing when giving a presentation with a file to be projected on a pendrive . The source of the problem is very often that the programme used to create the presentation file is different from the programme on the computer used to project it. Typically the difference is that one is an older version and the other is newer. One solution is saving the file in both old and new formats and transferring both on the pendrive. The extension in the file name of the older version of Power Point is: .ppt , while the newer one is: .pptx

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Giving presentations

The literature on giving presentations outsizes libraries... Here is just one useful link:

http://www.waier.org.au/forums/presentation-advice.html

However, it might be useful to recap a few details:

In the planning and preparation phase:
- Think of your audience and of how much prior knowledge they have of your topic when planning the talk. Make your talk relevant to them and hold their attention.
- Make sure the talk has a clear structure and is easy to follow for someone who is not as familiar with your ideas as you yourself are.
- Signposting makes it easier for the audience to follow the presentation. Give an overview of your talk and use short internal summaries of what was said and previews of what is to follow. Use the tell-tell-tell method: Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them what you want to tell them, and tell them what you have told them.
- Keep to the time limit. If you have 20 minutes to talk, make your presentations 17 minutes long when you rehearse. It will take 20 to deliver it on the spot.
- Prepare handouts so that the audience can remember the topic later. But remember that it is difficult for the audience to listen, watch the projected slides and read the handouts all at once. Help the audience by putting the text of the slides on the handouts (and your contact details), but do not use the handout function of Power Point as it usually produces handouts with minuscule letters very hard to read.
For the slides:
- Use a light background and dark letters. This arrangement is better for visibility in a classroom or lecture room than the reverse (which looks very attractive on a computer screen).
- Do not have intricate patterns on the slides. They can be very distracting and can make the text hard to read.
- Use large letters. Do not cram too much on a slide. Choose a sans serif font, i.e. Arial, Calibri, Century Gothic, Helvetica, Lucida Sans, Trebuchet, Verdana, etc.
- Tables are very difficult to transfer to slides. It is better to redesign and even break tables between slides rather than copy a ready-made table from a Word document, as it will most likely appear with very small letters.
At the presentation:
- If possible, have the screen of the computer you are using facing you so that you can see the slides there during the presentation. This way you do not need to turn your back to the audience to see the projection, which is very disconcerting for the audience.
- Make sure NOT to stand between the projector and the surface it is projecting on. In other words, do not stand in front of the slides.
- Speak freely and do not read the text of the presentation. Think of the presentation as your ideas that you want to convey to the audience and not a text that you want to deliver.

Poster presentations are not part of the course work in our Programme but are very popular at conferences. These are useful resources for poster presentations:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.html

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/

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Getting grants for various purposes

Finding money to attend conferences or conduct research is always a big problem.

The Doctoral Schools and Faculties sometimes advertise grants, so watch out for news on this.

Conferences often offer grants to cover some of the expenses of presenters.

Some other sources are:

http://www.tka.hu/

https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/

to be continued...

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