BTEC APPLIED
SCIENCE
STUDY PACK
BTEC
Applied
Science
Skills
Handbook
Name: UXBRIDGE COLLEGE
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Contents Contents ...... 2 Introduction ...... 4 Understanding Assessment ...... 4 What is considered when assessing assignments? ...... 5 Time Management and Organisational Skills...... 6 Learning to prioritise ...... 6 Planning for study and work ...... 7 Writing Skills ...... 8 Technical Writing ...... 8 Chemical Formulae ...... 8 Units, Powers of Ten and Rounding ...... 8 Scientific Writing ...... 13 Structuring a Scientific Report ...... 15
1. Abstract ...... 15
2. Introduction ...... 15 3. Hypothesis ...... 16 4. Materials ...... 16
5. Methodology ...... 16
6. Results ...... 17
7. Discussion ...... 18 8. References and Bibliography ...... 18 Presenting Data ...... 19
1. Tables ...... 19
2. Titration Tables ...... 19 3. Graphs ...... 20
4. Diagrams ...... 21 2 | P a g e
5. Calculations ...... 22 Carrying out Practical Work ...... 23 Reliability, Validity and Accuracy ...... 23 Variables ...... 24 ...... 24 Risk Assessments ...... 25 Conclusions ...... 28 Evaluations ...... 29 Common and Useful Errors and Improvements ...... 30 Research ...... 32 How to Research ...... 34 Using Search Engines Effectively ...... 34 Operator AND ...... 34 10 Scholarly Search Engines to Use ...... 35 How to Reference ...... 36 What is referencing? ...... 36
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Introduction BTEC Nationals have a learner-centred approach to the national curriculum, and as such, focus on the holistic development of practical, interpersonal and thinking skills that are
required in Higher Education and employment. For all careers, you need the following skills:
• Good communication
• Effective interpersonal skills
• Ability to work as a member of the team
• Ability to lead a team
• Strong time management and organisational skills
This handbook is designed to support you throughout your course, and contains general
guidelines to help you complete your assessments successfully.
Understanding Assessment You can expect a range of assessments throughout your course, including examinations, set tasks, laboratory reports, practical work and research projects. You will have the opportunity to develop a range of transferable skills, including effective writing, analytical
skills and reading scientific and technical texts.
You need to be aware of the following:
1. Standards laid down by BTEC
2. How these standards are achieved in different assessment formats and activities
3. What will gain you credit and what will lose you credit in assignments
4. The need to adapt your learning style and approach to develop different skill sets
Important to know
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BTEC teachers are restricted by the regulations in the amount of guidance they can
give you about your assessment. This may include restricting the number of times that
you can present your work for pre-assessment comment or guidance.
What is considered when assessing assignments? Each subject and topic will be different, with varied nature and content. Three things are common to all subjects: presentation; structure; and content. These apply regardless of
whether the assignment is a written report or a presentation.
If the presentation of your work is poor, this will distract the assessor; similarly, if the structure is poor, this will distract the assessor. These two negatives will make it difficult for the assessor to evaluate the actual content you have prepared correctly, and may lose you
valuable marks.
For each assignment, it is worth asking the following key questions about your work
before submitting it:
• Is your writing laid out neatly?
Presentation • Is your writing free of spelling, grammar and mathematical flaws?
• Is the delivery of the wording clear, concise and well-considered?
• Does your writing flow from description to analysis and then to
Structure argument as needed? • Do your calculation follow an accepted format and include all the relevant steps?
• Is your answer accurate, relevant and complete as a response to the
Content task set?
• Is all source material you have used appropriate to the task?
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Time Management and Organisational Skills Learning how to allocate your time effectively is a skill vital to your success as both a learner (current and future) and for future employment. The key to using your time efficiently is to prioritise and then organise all your anticipated commitments. It sounds easy when it is put like that, but it requires both discipline and the right mindset. You will
need to arrange your available time to ensure that you:
• Avoid having too many things going on at the same time
• Complete all your assignments by the due date
• Have enough time to do yourself justice in the work you submit
• Balance your work and social life
Some ways that can help you to manage your time efficiently include:
1. Keep a diary or planner
2. Use a timetable for lengthy or complex tasks
3. Use ‘to do’ lists
4. Keep your work organised
5. Learn to prioritise
Learning to prioritise The rule here is to do those tasks that are high priority first and leave those that are not until later. At some point, this will mean that you must complete tasks that you are not
looking forward to do first, rather than putting them off. Doing this is a key part of
successful time management. Ensure that you take a long-term approach to time planning to avoid rushing through your work Think ahead and plan your time Avoid spending so much time Prioritise tasks according to their planning that you are late to getting importance and urgency on with important work Keep your focus on the task at hand and resist the urge to procrastinate 7 | P a g e
Accept that all submissions best possible one within your time cannot be perfect – aim for the plan Planning for study and work Assessments will be given in various forms, and each will benefit from careful planning before you start the work. By breaking the task down into smaller, more manageable chunks and then creating a timetable to divide the available time for each of these chunks will help you to complete the task on time and to your best standard.
Use the following tables to help support your planning:
Step 1: Break the task down
1. Analyse what you have been asked to do
2. Identify separate states, targets or sections (as appropriate)
3. List resources to be obtained and studied
4. Consult source material and make notes
5. Plan the layout of your assignment, taking into account feedback from other work
6. Review and edit first version
7. Finalise your submission
Step 2: Create a timetable
1. Identify submission date according to course information
2. Identify due dates for any other work
3. Calculate the time you have available for the task(s)
4. Sub-divide the total time you have available to cover each element of the task
5. Create a timetable on paper or on the computer
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6. Stick to your timetable
Writing Skills
Technical Writing
Chemical Formulae 1. Any chemical which you show using a formula should have superscripts and subscripts
where appropriate:
For example, CO2 not CO2. 2. A space means a new chemical. Never put a space in the
middle of a formula:
For example, CH3CH2CH3, not CH3 CH2 CH3 3. A chemical has one capital and one small letter, or just one capital letter. A new capital
indicates a new atom/element.
For example, Cl not CL.
4. Ionic charges go at the top.
2- For example CO3 not CO32-
The keyboard shortcut for a superscript is to press the Ctrl and Shift and +/= keys together
The keyboard shortcut for a subscript is to press the Ctrl and +/= keys together.
Both of these shortcuts are toggles – doing the same thing again will turn them on and off. 2 You can also just press the X and X2 buttons at the top of the screen.
Units, Powers of Ten and Rounding
1. Units • All numbers must have units, unless they are “just a number” (for example, pi is just
a number).
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• The following table shows some commonly used units that you will see and may need
to use in your assignments and examinations.
Symbol Standard Unit Other possible Conversion measurements
a Metres per - - second per second, m s-2
n Moles, mol - -
a Square metres, Square X10,000 m2 Centimetres, cm2
C Farad, F - -
Q Coulombs, C - -
c Mols per - - decimetre cubed, mol dm-3
F Newtons, N - -
f Hertz, Hz - -
l Metres, m Centimetres, /1000 x cm 0.0025 X 3.33 Inches, “
Feet , ‘
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B Teslas, T - -
Acceleration Symbol Standard Unit Other possible Conversion measurements
m Grams, g Kilograms, kg X 1000 Amount of chemical
Area
Capacitance
Charge
Concentration
Force
Frequency
Length
Magnetic field strength
Mass
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P Watts, W - -
P Kilopascals, kPa - -
Atm, atmospheres
R Ohms, Ω - -
(omega, see Appendix: Greek Letters) s Metres per Kilometres per x 0.28 second, hour, km h-1 x 0.045
m s--1 Miles per hour, mph
T Degrees Kelvin, Degrees + 273 K Celsius/centigra
de, °C
X 1.8 – 459 Degrees Fahrenheit, F
t Seconds, s Minutes, min X 60
Hours, h X 3600 u Metres per - - second, m s-1 v Volts, V Millivolts, mV /1000
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Power V Decimetres Centimetres /1000 3 cubed, dm cubed, cm3 As cm3 Pressure Millilitres, mL No conversion Litres, L
Resistance
Speed
Temperature
Time
Velocity
Voltage
Volume
2. Powers of ten 1234.5678
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Positive Powers of Ten Negative Powers of Ten
Use the boxes below to show the movement of the decimal place using
arrows:
This is worked out really easily – the simplest way to show it is:
102 = 10 x 10 = 100
Therefore, anything multiplied by 102 is multiplied by 100.
1.23 x 100 = 123
1.23 = 123 (move the decimal place right by the number of zeroes spaces)
We can then write that as:
1.23 x 102 = 123
(move the decimal place to the right by the power on the ten spaces)
For negative powers of ten, you just move the decimal point the other way:
-2 ퟏ ퟏ 10 = = = 0.01 ퟏퟎ 풙 ퟏퟎ ퟏퟎퟎ
Therefore, anything multiplied by 10-2 is divided by 100. 1.23 = 0.0123
1.23 / 100 = 0.0123
(move the decimal place left by the number of zeroes spaces)
We can then write that as:
1.23 x 10-2 = 0.0123
(move the decimal place to the left by the power on the ten spaces)
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3. Rounding number” then count all the digits after that. Therefore, 0.020567 to three significant
figures would be 0.0205 Significant
Figures
Decimal
Places
Significant Figures
Are figures which represent Decimal Places “real numbers” – useful values telling you there are four tens Are just digits which occur after the (the 4 in 40) or 8 tenths (the 8 decimal point, including all zeroes. in 0.8). So, 0.045 to one decimal place would They do not include be 0.0, two decimal places would be “placeholder zeros” – for 0.05 (remember to round up!) and to example, in 0.045, the 0 in the three decimal places would be as tenths column after the decimal written, 0.045 place is not a significant figure, If the question asked for four decimal in the same way as we would places, you can simply fill in any extra ignore the first zero in 0450 slots with extra zeroes – for example, (four hundred and fifty). 0.045 becomes The only difference is, for 0.0450. These are known as “trailing 0.045, we still have to write the zeroes” and show a good accuracy zero in the tenths column, level of the measurement. However, because it is telling us that the you can’t just add on zeroes unless 4 is one hundredth. It’s just a your measurement was actually to function of the way we write that many decimal places! numbers in the decimal system. With decimal places, we start counting With significant figures, we immediately after the decimal point. start counting at the first “real
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Scientific Writing 1. Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar before you hand in the report. Spellcheck should go without saying, but you really need to read what you have written, as well as make sure it makes sense. Spellcheck is sometimes actually wrong
for technical terms and phrases, and it is pretty poor at picking up on bad grammar.
2. Explain any word you do not understand. It is very likely that your teachers will know if you are blagging it. They may simply decide to give you the marks anyway if the rest
of your work shows a good understanding, but this does not happen often.
3. Style: this is not an essay or a story. Scientific writing should be to the point, concise and accurate. Opinions, first person (I, we, you) and other things which give your writing any hint of a personal note or bias must be avoided. You can think of scientific language as being like a new language – you would not go into a Sociology exam and write the answers in French, because you would not get the marks, even if your answers were right. Similarly, you should ensure that all your scientific work is written
in the appropriate scientific style. As an example, when describing an experimental error in a laboratory report, one
individual wrote the following:
“Trying to see the line perpendicular to the test tube was befuddling”
4. Following on from the previous point, be very, very sure that it is appropriate to use
the following words before you put them in:
a) However
b) Furthermore
c) Moreover
d) Whereby
e) In addition
16 | P a g e Whilst these words are extremely important for getting evaluation marks in, for a example, a history essay, they are next to useless in scientific analysis. They sometimes work in an evaluation section, but not always. It actually makes your report sound less
good if you use fancy words in the wrong context.
5. You should never use the above words as part of a method – they do not make sense. Good phrases to use in a method instead are: “The mixture was then…”; “Following
this…”; “A further two drops of indicator were added…”.
6. Use “this”, “it”, and other pronouns sparingly. Make sure it is very clear what chemical or process you are referring to. It is almost always better to say the name of the chemical. Try using “species” or “chemical” or “particles” (or “acid” or “salt” or whatever it is if you know the chemical type) instead of “it” or “thing” if you really do
not want to say the name.
17 | P a g e Structuring a Scientific Report Unlike an essay, a report has a formalised structure.
The sections of a scientific report are:
1. Abstract The abstract is a precise summary of the whole report. Its function is to preview the contents of your report so that the reader can judge whether it is worth their while to read the whole report. It includes a statement of the aim or objective of the experiment, a short description of the
method used, the main results, and the conclusions or implications of the results. The abstract should normally be a single paragraph between 100 and 200 words. It should be titled with the word 'abstract'. Given the small amount of words allowed, each word and sentence included in your abstract needs to be meaningful.
2. Introduction In your introduction, you need to let the readers of your report know why the report is important and what exactly the report is about. It is essential to establish these things because it places the reader/marker in a better position to understand the significance of the material presented in the rest of the report. Although the introduction comes at the beginning of the report, it is not the first section you should write. It is easier to write the introduction after you have dealt with your method and results section because that way you are introducing the section with knowledge about what you did and what the results were. This knowledge allows you to shape your introduction so it leads up to your findings more specifically. In your introduction, you need to answer questions such as:
• What do you hope to learn from the research?
• What question is being asked?
• Why is this research important?
18 | P a g e An introduction should not start in any of An introduction is there to do the following the following ways: things:
“In this report, I will be writing about…” Introduce the context
(Not objective)
Provide background information and “We have many chemicals in our world…” define key terms (Not scientific style)
Set out aims of a report “I am going to investigate…” (Not objective)
Briefly discuss any research which “I am a scientist working for a chemical already exists company…” (Non-scientific, and plagiarised
directly from the workbook)
3. Hypothesis A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. As a starting point you should use notes from preliminary testing and explain what you are
testing. Then you must explain what outcome you think your experiment will have.
4. Materials Various apparatus you will be using and a diagram of the set-up of it. As part of this you must
conduct a risk assessment.
5. Methodology A step-by-step guideline how you conduct your experiment. The purpose of this section is to precisely describe method and materials used to conduct your experiment with enough detail so someone else could repeat the same procedure. You also need to explain and sometimes justify why you chose a particular method. Finally, it is important to add any extra information
19 | P a g e or observations, such as changes to the method generated via the results of a pilot test or changes caused by some accident. The method section should be written in paragraph form with as little repetition as possible. In the method section of the report you should use the past tense since you are describing what you did; for example, “A dilution series was performed…”. Furthermore, as the focus in this section is on what was done rather than who did it, the passive voice is used as it aims to foreground the action, rather than the doer of the action;
for example, “The beakers were removed …” as opposed to “We removed the beakers …”.
6. Results This section describes but does not explain your results; it provides the reader with a factual account of your findings. You can, however, draw attention to specific trends or data that you think are important. Your aim in your results section is to make your results as comprehensible as possible for your readers/markers. If you are presenting statistical results, place descriptive statistics first (means and standard deviations) followed by the results of any inferential statistical tests you performed. Indicate any transformations to the data you are reporting; for example, you may report percentage correct scores rather than straight scores. Raw data and lengthy whole transcripts of qualitative data should be put in the appendices, only excerpts (descriptive statistics or illustrative highlights of lengthy qualitative data) should be included in the results section. In the results section you will need to use both the past tense and the present tense. The past tense is used to describe results and analyses; for example, “The knowledge scores were analysed ...,” “The results indicated ...”. The present tense is used
with results that the reader can see such as means, tables and figures. Since you are presenting your results, not the figures which represent the results, you should ensure you refer explicitly to your results and not just to your data figures (graphs, tables). As you describe particular results in the text of your results section, make sure you refer to the corresponding figure in brackets after you have mentioned the results. The figures should be inserted into the text as soon as possible after you mention them.
20 | P a g e 7. Discussion Your discussion section has two fundamental aims:
a. To explain the results of your study,
b. To explore the significance of your study’s findings.
Therefore you need to:
c. Interpret and explain your results d. Examine whether and how the questions raised in the introduction section have been
answered
e. Show how your results relate to the literature
f. Qualify and interpret the theoretical importance/significance of your results
g. Outline any new research questions or areas for future research that your results have
suggested.
8. References and Bibliography A bibliography is a list of all the reference material you consulted during your research for the report. A reference list is a list of all the references cited in the text of your report, listed in alphabetical order at the end of the report. Each reference in the reference list needs to contain all of the bibliographic information from a source. Presenting Data
1. Tables Independent Dependent Variable (unit) Variable Repeat 1 Repeat 2 Repeat 3 Mean (unit)
IV test value 1
IV test value 2
IV test value 3
IV test value 4
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2. Titration Tables
Titration readings are always to two decimal places, with the second decimal being 0 (on a graduation mark) or 5 (between two graduation marks)
1 2 3
15.60 32.45 This is the volume which was recorded Final after the colour change Volume /cm3
0.00 15.60 This is the volume which you recorded Initial before you started this repeat Volume /cm3
Titre/cm3 15.60 17.85
Mean (15.60+17.85)/2 = 16.7 This must be to 1 d.p. Titre
3 /cm This is the average of the 2-3 closest numbers – ideally they should be within 0.5 cm3 of each other, but if not just use the two closest 3. Graphs • You must have labels for: o The x-axis (independent variable) o The y-axis (dependent variable) o Title for
the graph
• Scales are linear and go up in easy-to count numbers
• The graph takes up at least half the page – use all the paper you want, but make it clear
• The graph is of an appropriate type: o If either dependent or independent variable is categoric or discrete, you should
use a bar chart to display the table.
o If you have data that is continuous, you would normally use a line graph.
• Anomalies identified, and a line of best fit drawn if appropriate
22 | P a g e 4. Diagrams
• Must be labelled completely and thoroughly
• Should not include labels you don’ t understand • Should not be stretched in funny directions. It’ s ok to have Should be clear white space on either side of the diagram • Should take up at least quarter to half a page – as with graphs, use as much space as you like but make it clear.
• Should show how the equipment is set up for that part of the reaction. • It should not just be separate pictures/diagrams of individual pieces of equipment • The diagram should match what you’ re saying in the text – if you’ ve given an example using certain chemicals, don’ t have a diagram with different Should link to chemicals in it. and support your text • This should really go without saying, but put the diagram with the text it refers to! • Giving diagrams a title, or labelling them as “ Figure 1” so that you can link them directly to the text is also very helpful
• No 3D Are not pictures • Use a “ cross -section ” style picture
Are an important • Unless you drew it yourself, you should give the source you got it part of your from as a reference work
5. Calculations
. Always show your working for calculations. Use / for “divided by” and x for “times”
. If you do the same calculation more than once (for example, Rf values for different spots in chromatography; or percentage errors) it is ok to only show the working once and then just list the answers for the rest of the experiments. However, you do need to show your working,
with each step explained, at least once.
23 | P a g e . Put your calculations in context. For example, for iron tablets – when you do this calculation:
(Actual mass of iron per tablet − My mass of iron per tablet) × 100 Actual mass of iron per tablet
You are finding the percentage difference between what the iron tablets company said and what the tablets actually contained. This is a measure of how honest they were, and is the main
point of your experiment! The bigger the number, the more the company lied.
. You should put units for each number you calculate
. Explanations of how you performed calculations should be written in the present tense as you
are doing them now.
. Comment on final values – What does a high atom economy show? What does a steep
gradient show? What does a poor yield suggest?
Percentage Yield
40% or lower Extremely Poor Yield
50% Poor Yield
60% Good Yield
70 - 80% or Excellent Yield, assuming it doesn’t look wet or impure
90% or higher Ask your teacher – it depends on the experiment
100% or higher Extremely Impure/Wet product
24 | P a g e Carrying out Practical Work
Reliability, Validity and Accuracy There are three very important things you need to be able to say about scientific data:
Reliable Accurate Valid
I always get I have I have the same accurately measured to a value when I represented useful amount repeat my the real world of decimal
experiment with my test places
Equipment and Measurement Errors
Control of Variables
Thoughtful Methods Variables
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The aspect you are The aspects you are
The aspect you are
using to alter your keeping the same investigating dependent variable
These should be measured and kept This should change You should only have at the same value to ina a linear way - for one dependent make sure they don't example, time taken variable per affect your for something to dependent variable experiment happen too
Remember –
You might have to measure a different variable and do a calculation to get your dependent
variable if you can't directly measure it - e.g concentration
What properties and measurements can you think of that might be used as variables? List
them in the space below:
Risk Assessments Important: You will not be allowed to complete any practical activities without a safe, completed risk assessment.
26 | P a g e Risk assessments are mostly common sense. There are four main sections you need to complete:
Practical Information Chemical Hazards • Your name
• List any chemicals being used • Practical Date
• You must give amounts - 10g of a • Title
hazardous substance is a very different • Outline (this does mean situation to 100g of a hazardous outline - you don't need substance to copy the whole
• Likewise, a more concentrated solution method) will probably be more hazardous than a more dilute solution -give concentrations and volumes fo solutions • Use COSHH data (from the internet) to label hazards - don't just guess
Procedures • Emergency actions - what you do if one of your chemical or physical hazards occurrs (usually tell the teacher) • Standard Safety - lab coats, goggles and so on Non-Chemical Hazards
• Disposal - when you are done, how • This is things like slipping will you get rid of your extra on spills, breaing glass chemicals? Some can go down the etc sink, but some will need to be
• You should fill out the disposed of specially - ask your box next to it as well teacher or listen in class for further describing how you will instructions avoid these things happening
27 | P a g e Making Risk Assessments Easier
This is a copy of the standard risk assessment form – you might like to note down any common hazards or procedures here for future reference. The form is also available on Moodle, or you can ask your teacher to email it to you.
It is also a good idea to keep an electronic copy of the risk assessment saved in your area on the intranet – you can save it complete with typical hazards such as glassware breaking so that you don’t have to type them out every time.
Uxbridge College COSHH & Risk Assessment – Students’ Form Ref: Title: Date Completed:
1. Who could be affected by these activities (tick as appropriate) - Please Tick the box/es - (cut and paste the tick symbol) √
A Students participating in the activities √ C Staff supervising the activities √ E College visitors/guests
B Other College Students/Staff D Technicians √ F General Public
2. Risk Assessment Activities and Chemicals Hazard Information Existing Controls to Any additional controls Risk Additional to be assessed. minimise the risks required Assessment Comments P S Score
26 | P a g e 3. Using the table below, assess the probability and Severity grades for the activity, multiply one grade by the other and record the Score using the legend from the third column:
PROBABILITY SEVERITY SCORE
1. Negligible 1. Negligible impact 1-4 Low Risk – no further action required
2. Low 2. Minor Injury 5-8 Moderate Risk – caution required to ensure controls are effective
3. Medium 3. Major injury/hospitalisation 9-11 High Risk – Only proceed if all controls are guaranteed & with senior management approval. 4. High 4. Injury resulting in more than a week off college
5. Almost Certainly 5. Potentially Fatal Event 12+ Unacceptable Risk – further controls required before proceeding
All Risk Assessments must be reviewed annually or earlier if the task requires.
4. Approval
Risk Assessment completed by Date Total Number of Sheets
Risk Assessment Approved by Date Review Date
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Conclusions
. Again, don’t write “me”, “you”, “I” and so on.
. This should be written in the past tense as it comes after the practical. .
If part of the practical is answering set questions, your answers should be in full sentences – they should make sense if someone read them without the question. You can also write up the answers as a paragraph if
you like.
. For independent practicals, you should explain why you got the results you did. If they are not the results you were expecting, you will need to consult both your evaluation and further references to find out and
explain why.
. You should link the conclusion back to the expected results and research sections you did at the start of the practical - this is why method sections are so important, as you are totally unable to analyse your results with any
degree of depth if you don’t know what they should have been.
Calculations Checklist Conclusions Checklist
I have shown each step in my I have answered the questions set working clearly at least once out in my aims I have annotated my working with I have stated if my results met the purpose of each step expectations I have given the equations I used I have explained the scientific I have commented on what my reasons why I got the results I got numbers mean I have explained how my results I have included correct units support my conclusions My significant figures are I have quoted values from my appropriate results in my conclusions Someone else could follow my I have suggested further research working which could be carried out to support my findings
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Evaluations You cannot possibly have a perfect experiment. Nobody can. Evaluations are not about you saying how bad a student you are, they are about acknowledging the flaws in our scientific
method so we can see how reliable our results actually are.
In fact, mistakes that you made through carelessness or messing up should not be listed in
your evaluation, as they aren’t a problem with the method.
Even if you made no mistakes, you are still limited by things like fluctuations in temperature, the accuracy of your equipment, reading the meniscus and so on. Again, all
scientists are – it’s not just you!
Human Errors Procedural Errors Percentage Errors
• These errors identify • This includes things • You should use your and acknowledge the like independent % errors to say which mistakes inherent to variables (did the bit of equipment being human temperature of the caused the biggest • This includes things lab change during errors in your results. like reading the your experiment?) • Suggest a more meniscus • It also includes things accurate piece of • This also includes like dodgy equipment equipment for each things like adding too • They describe things error much of one chemical which are outside • A bigger number by a small amount your control means the equipment because of the limits is less accurate. of your dexterity
Once you have identified your errors (you should have two of each) you should suggest
how to avoid/minimise the impact of the problems you had next time, or explain how you
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overcame them this time. It is not enough to just say what went wrong; you must explain
how to fix it so that the next person can get better results
You should also link your improvements to your results – will they make your results more reliable? More accurate? More valid? See the section on Reliability and Accuracy for more
help with this.
Common and Useful Errors and Improvements Error Type of Error How to minimise
Misreading the meniscus of a liquid Contamination from a dirty burette
Using a different set of scales for two readings
Adding too much of one chemical
A gas tap stops working half way through your experiment
Results show very little concordance
Was extremely difficult to take readings because of how the practical was arranged
Running out of time
Percentage errors are slightly different
Remember that a larger reading can have a larger tolerance without being affected as
much
o For example, a tolerance of +0.5cm3 on a reading of 100cm3 is an error of 0.5% o The same tolerance of +0.5cm3 on a reading of 1cm3 is an error of 50% o So it would be ok to measure out 100 cm3 of liquid with that piece of equipment, but if you
wanted to measure 1cm3, you would need something more accurate
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When you calculate percentage error for your readings, you should look at the table below to decide about the accuracy of the measurement
Percentage Error
Less than 0.1% Very accurate readings, results will also be accurate
0.1-0.5% This is a good level of accuracy
1-3% Reasonable accuracy, but better equipment should still be used next time
5% or bigger This is poor accuracy – it means that a measurement of
10cm3 could actually be a measurement of 10.5 cm3
10% or bigger You must not use this piece of equipment for this measurement
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Research
For Reports For Practicals
• Explain key Science ideas in topic • Find methods
• Back up infromation learned in class • Find equations
• Research points in the specification • Support risk assessments
• Gather data and information • Define key terms
• Short Reports: 5-10 References • Check your tables are appropriate
• Long Reports:15-20 references • Find data, e.g. masses of chemicals
• You should aim for at least one • Explain Results reference for every mark the report is • Support Conclusions worth • Suggest further research
If you want to get a good mark, you must also be critical of your information, rephrasing it in your own words and using more than one reference to confirm each idea. You need to compare several sources and decide what the best, most reliable and accurate information is. See the Referencing Section for more help with this.
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Multiple Sources Used Critically
Key Terms Defined
Well Written in Scientific Style
Good
Research Understanding Demonstrated
Research Checklist
Use pencil so you can re-use this page
I have answered all points in the report guidelines
All points are addressed in their own section or paragraph
I have defined or explained all the key terms I used
I have put everything into my own words
I have expanded on points I took from sources and explained them
I have drawn my own conclusions for the research
I have backed up scientific statements with at least one source
I have cited all my sources in my text
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I have used around one source per mark the report is worth How to Research Being an active participant when researching a topic means that you are developing independence of thought which is crucial for further study and employment. When you research, you are doing more than just reading one article online. By reading a variety of sources, you can build a rich foundation of knowledge which is difficult to do when you read only one source.
All BTEC Nationals units provide the development of transferable knowledge and skills, including:
• Ability to learn independently
• Research methodically and actively
• Reading scientific and technical texts
• Effective writing and analytical skills
Using Search Engines Effectively When you research online for particular information, you usually use a search engine. The results will be based on the search term and key words you used (enquiry).
Searching online can often lead to a huge number of results; you may have to scan through many pages before finding any relevant information, which can be very time-consuming. There are a number of techniques (known as operators) that you can use which will help you to narrow your search results which provide you with relevant information quickly.
Operator AND AND will reduce the number of results you retrieve, and is usually used when you need to search for more than one topic. Using the word AND between your key words/terms will only return sources which contain both subjects.
Example
One of your assignments has asked for you to research the difference between ionic bonding and covalent bonding in chemistry. 37 | P a g e
If you were to type “difference between ionic and covalent bonding in chemistry” in the search bar, you would end up with 8,500,000 results!
You can narrow the number of relevant results by typing “covalent bonding” AND “ionic bonding” AND “differences”.
This will save you a significant amount of time when trying to find relevant sources to use in your assignment.
Important: you must put speech marks (“) around your key words, i.e. “key word”. This is the simplest way to search for something specific.
9 Scholarly Search Engines to Use 1. Google Scholar
2. Google Books
3. Microsoft Academic (create a free account first)
4. WorldWide Science
5. Science.gov
6. Refseek (like Google, but returns .org and .edu sites)
7. Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC)
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8. Virtual Learning Resources Centre
9. iSeek How to Reference In your written work, you need to show that you have read about the topic, understood and analysed key words. You will need to integrate what you have read by putting it into
your own words (i.e. paraphrasing). This technique is called ‘citation’.
You will also need to give details of these published sources within your text, and in a listing
at the end of the text. This technique is called ‘referencing’.
For BTEC Nationals, you will have to follow the academic conventions of citing and referencing correctly. At later stages in your education, you may have to follow these
conventions again. Use this opportunity now to learn how to do it properly.
By citing and referencing sources correctly, you will need to show that you can:
1. Explain your ideas honestly by giving credit to the authors whose work you have used
2. Evaluate material and recognise different views on a topic used by others.
What is referencing? Referencing involves two stages:
1. Giving ‘short’ publication details of sources you want to cite in your text (for
example, author and date).
2. Listing the full publication information in a reference list at the end of your work.
There are a variety of referencing systems, including Chicago, Harvard, APA and Vancouver styles. They use different layout styles for references in the text and in the reference list at
the end of your document.
For this course, you will need to use Harvard referencing. Harvard Referencing Guide
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