Improving the academic literacy levels of first-year Natural Sciences students by means of an academic literacy intervention

 Summarise in a concise paragraph the purpose of the report, data presented, and major conclusions. For shorter reports, approximately 50 words are long enough. For longer reports, your abstract can be up to 200 words. Sample Abstract This experiment examined the effect of line orientation and arrowhead angle on a subject's ability to perceive line length, thereby testing the Muller-Lyer illusion. The Muller-Lyer illusion is the classic visual illustration of the effect of the surrounding on the perceived length of a line. The test was to determine the point of subjective equality by having subjects adjust line segments to equal the length of a standard line. Twenty-three subjects were tested in a repeated measures design with four different arrowhead angles and four line orientations. Each condition was tested in six randomized trials. The lines to be adjusted were tipped with outward pointing arrows of varying degrees of pointedness, whereas the standard lines had inward pointing arrows of the same degree. Results showed that line lengths were overestimated in all cases. The size of error increased with decreasing arrowhead angles. For line orientation, overestimation was greatest when the lines were horizontal. This last is contrary to expectations. Further, the two factors functioned independently in their effects on subjects' point of subjective equality. These results have important implications for human factors design applications such as graphical display interfaces. TASK 1: Working with a partner, carefully read through the above sample abstract, and answer the following questions about the experiment that was conducted. 1.1 What was the purpose of this experiment? _______________________________________ 1.2 What were the key results? _______________________________________ _______________________________________ 1.3 What is the most significant point of discussion? _______________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 1.4 What is the major conclusion? ___________________________________________________ 1.5 Is a brief method included? If yes, underline this method in the abstract. ___________________________________________________ 1.6 Is a brief theory included? ___________________________________________________ Introduction:  Defines the subject of the report: "Why was this study performed? "  Provides background information and relevant studies: "What knowledge already exists about this subject? "  Outlines scientific purpose(s) and/or objective(s): "What are the specific hypotheses and the experimental design for investigation? " Example: The purpose of this experiment was to identify the specific element in a metal powder sample by determining its crystal structure and atomic radius. These were determined using the Debye- Sherrer (powder camera) method of X-ray diffraction. Quick Abstract Reference Must have: 1. Purpose 2. Key result(s) 3. Most significant point of discussion 4. Major conclusion May include: 1. Brief method 2. Brief theory Quick Intro Reference Must Have: 1. Purpose of the experiment 2. Important background and/or theory May include: 1. Justification of experiment's importance