Many learning providers offering occupational learning and development are up in arms because the QCTO had the legacy qualifications, and their accompanying unit standards scrapped and removed from the NQF register. They feel that curriculums for occupational qualifications that can replace the legacy qualifications have not yet been developed. And they are right. However, in all fairness towards the QCTO – the CEO of the QCTO warned us more than four years ago already that the legacy qualifications and their unit standards would be terminated.
When we think about this objectively, we should admit that it is about time that the legacy qualifications and unit standards are properly reviewed and adapted to changes in the external learning and development environment or be replaced by something new. Here are some benefits that we can gain from the replacement of the old occupational curriculums with the new occupational ones.
The flaws in the already registered Occupational Qualifications can be eliminated or at least reduced.
The relevant and valuable learning content of Historically Registered Qualifications are kept while redundant learning content are done away with.
Duplication between qualifications is eliminated unless repetition is necessary for the sake of efficient learning.
Recent developments in learning and development can be included in the new qualifications and Skills Programmes.
A balance in level and content of different knowledge and practical modules in each qualification can be achieved, which is currently not the case.
Each Practical Skill Module can be aligned with a Knowledge Module. This is critically important because practical work should always be supported by relevant theory. By doing this, the learning content can be structured in such a way that the learning process is conducted systematically. All knowledge should be applied knowledge.
Knowledge topics should be relevant to the knowledge modules with which they are linked. This is currently not the case.
Associated Internal Assessment Criteria must test knowledge topics. This is currently not the case.
The Occupational Qualifications and Skills Programmes can be designed to cater for both contact learning and online learning.
All the elements of the curriculum, for example Knowledge topics, Associated Internal Assessment, etc., can be correctly formulated, and a balance can be found in the number of elements for different Modules.
The learning experience can be substantially enriched.
Introduction. On 25 October 2023 I presented suggested curriculums on NQF levels 4, 5, 6 and 7, which I developed upon advisement by Mr Thomas Lata, to stakeholders in our fields of learning. I developed the curriculums in the hope that we could capitalise on the opportunity to review and remove as many flaws and gaps in the legacy qualifications as we possibly could. The curriculums were intended to replace the four qualifications in OD ETD.
Even though 105 Stakeholders attended the TEAM meeting, few participated in the discussions that followed on my presentation. A prominent QCTO manager suggested that I provide them with copies of the gap analysis that I did prior to developing the curriculums. I, unfortunately, did not prepare a written report because I did the gap analysis for my own purposes – to develop the suggested curriculums. Besides, I would have charged a consultancy fee for the report because just analysing the existing curriculums and writing a gap analysis report would have been a massive task. It took me almost two years just to develop the suggested curriculums.
The skills programmes. At the end of June 2024, after the qualifications on NQF Levels 5, 6 and 7 were registered, stakeholders in occupational learning at last woke up to the reality that, with the legacy qualifications and their unit standards being scrapped, many were left with nothing to offer the community and their clients. In all fairness I need to admit that the QCTO warned us that this would happen four years ago already.
At least we are allowed to develop and registered skills programmes to replace the unit standards for which there is still a need. It is while developing the curriculums, alignment matrixes, and learning materials that I realised that a gap analysis is, once again, called for. This time I made notes and wrote the report. Here it is.
Generally applicable gaps
The qualifications on levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 do not form a logical system. Lower-level qualifications do not serve as a foundation for learning on higher levels.
Despite assurances to the contrary the Knowledge Modules, Practical Skill Modules and Work Experience Modules do not always support one another.
The curriculums that are registered are not the same as the comprehensive curriculums that were developed with the assistance of CEPs during scoping sessions. One gets the idea that the modules and assessment criteria were changed after the curriculums were approved by the CEPs.
Some fields of learning, which received good attention in the legacy qualifications, received only limited attention or nothing at all in the new occupational qualifications. They should have been included as separate skills programmes with Knowledge Modules, Practical Skill Modules, and Workplace Experience Modules. The following are examples of this:
Leadership in the quality assurance of learning and development.
Conducting qualitative research and preparing research reports.
Entrepreneurship.
Oral and written communication skills.
Managing assessment of learner performance.
Assisting learners to manage their learning experiences.
Differentiating between “theoretical” knowledge, captured in Knowledge Modules, and “Applied Knowledge”, Captured in Practical Skill Modules is a fallacy. There is no such thing as knowledge that cannot be applied.
The format of Associated Assessment Criteria is not consistently the same. Here is an example:
Level 5: Learning priorities are established by means of a structured and valid process within the contextual requirements. (Statement of fact. This is the format that was used in the CEP approved curriculums.)
Level 6: Apply principles of team leadership and management in learning and development context. (Starts with a verb.)
Level 7: Analyse and interpret various legislative, policy and regulatory frameworks governing skills development are in terms of their application for compliance purposes. (A mixture of the formats used on levels 5 and 6. Perhaps the same as on level 5, depending how one interprets the meaning of the sentence.)
This qualification should be replaced in its entirety. It is an eclectic mixture of thumb-suck topics that do not focus on the achievement of any particular purpose.
101321 Occupational Certificate: Training and Development Practitioner, NQF Level 5
Workplace learning and work-based learning could have been treated as one field of learning. This would have eliminated the confusion between the Knowledge Modules, Practical Skill Modules and Work Experience Modules.
It is important to remember that Knowledge Modules serve as the foundation for progression from practical competence to foundational competence while Practical Skills Modules serve as the foundation for progression from foundational competence to Work Experience Modules (reflexive competence). Therefore, and to avoid confusion, Knowledge Modules should be paired up with Practical Skill Modules. Work Experience Modules are used to gain a measure of reflexive competence, and they can sometimes be integrated. Therefore, there should be the same number of Practical Skill Modules as Knowledge Modules, but there need not be the same number of Work Experience Modules. Let’s look at the situation with the current curriculum as opposed to what would have been a better arrangement:
The arrangement in the current curriculum (wrong).
Knowledge Modules
Practical Skill Modules
Work Experience Modules
01 The statutory learning and development environment.
01 Manage and coordinate logistics, facilities and financial resources.
01 Conduct learning and development management practices.
02 Learning and development management functions.
02 Plan, conduct and report on a learning and development needs analysis.
02 Conduct skills development facilitation processes as required for mandatory grant payments.
03 Organisational Learning and development needs analysis.
03 Plan the delivery of an occupational learning intervention.
03 Conduct learning and development planning and implementation processes.
04 Facilitation of learning in an occupational context.
04 Facilitate different methodologies, training styles and techniques within an occupational learning context.
04 Facilitate an occupational learning session.
05 Assessment principles and practices.
05 Facilitate experiential work-based learning.
05 Facilitate a work-based learning and development process.
06 Workplace learning and development planning, evaluation and reporting.
06 Plan and conduct the assessment of learner competencies.
06 Conduct assessments of learner competence.
07 Work-based learning.
07 Evaluate the impact of learning within an occupational context.
07 Conduct an evaluation of the impact of learning within an occupational context.
The following arrangement would have been less confusing, even though the anomalies in the definition of the modules become clear.
Knowledge Modules
Practical Skill Modules
Work Experience Modules
01 The statutory learning and development environment.
“Statutory” refers to legislation and the impact of legislation. It is not clear where this fits in with any of the Practical skill Modules or Work Experience Modules.
02 Learning and development management functions.
01 Manage and coordinate logistics, facilities and financial resources.
01 Conduct learning and development management practices.
03 Organisational Learning and development needs analysis.
02 Plan, conduct and report on a learning and development needs analysis.
02 Conduct skills development facilitation processes as required for mandatory grant payments.
04 Facilitation of learning in an occupational context.
04 Facilitate different methodologies, training styles and techniques within an occupational learning context.
04 Facilitate an occupational learning session.
07 Work-based learning.
05 Facilitate experiential work-based learning.
05 Facilitate a work-based learning and development process.
05 Assessment principles and practices.
06 Plan and conduct the assessment of learner competencies.
06 Conduct assessments of learner competence.
06 Workplace learning and development planning, evaluation and reporting.
03 Plan the delivery of an occupational learning intervention.
03 Conduct learning and development planning and implementation processes.
A Knowledge Module dealing with quality assurance would have been relevant here.
07 Evaluate the impact of learning within an occupational context.
07 Conduct an evaluation of the impact of learning within an occupational context.
121276 Advanced Occupational Certificate: Learning and Development Professional, NQF Level 6
Eight Knowledge Modules are probably too many for one certificate. Ons gets the impression that the developers added everything that they could not fit in on levels 4, 5 and 7 here.
The differences between the comprehensive curriculum developed and approved by the CEPs and the curriculum that was registered are vast, especially in terms of content.
I could not link Practical Skill Module 02 (Implement strategy for the management of a Work-based learning programme/bursary) with any of the Knowledge Modules or Work Experience Modules.
Work Experience Module 02 (Workplace-based learning programme implementation processes) does not fit with any of the Knowledge Modules. This Work Experience Module would have fitted in much better with the modules in the level 5 qualification.
As in the case of the level 5 qualification, Knowledge Modules and Practical Skill Modules are not arranged in an orderly sequenced manner.
118774 Advanced Occupational Diploma: Learning and Development Advisor, NQF Level 7
242401-002-00-KM-01, Learning and Development in a Knowledge Economy. This title sounds creative and current. However, it provides no indication of what the learning content of the module should be. One can, of course, obtain more detail information on the learning content by looking at the exit level outcomes. However, titles are always used in marketing materials, whereas using exit level outcomes in such materials would probably be inefficient.
Knowledge Module 01 The first knowledge module covers way too much content for one manual compared to the other knowledge modules. I, therefore, divided it into three manuals, one for each knowledge topic.
Practical Skill Modules 1 to 3 do not logically belong with any of the listed Knowledge Modules.
Knowledge Module 05 (Career Succession Planning, Recognition of Prior Learning and Talent Management) are not addressed in any of the Work Experience Modules. Work Experience Module 05 links to the recognition of prior learning. One can integrate knowledge and practical learning in Work Experience Modules, but regarding the recognition of prior learning as including career succession planning and talent management is somewhat far-fetched.
A second implication of the Practical Skill Modules not being aligned with the Knowledge modules is that it was almost impossible to structure the learning content in such a way that the learning process can be planned and executed systematically. Participants in the scoping processes sometimes suggested Associated Internal Assessment Criteria that do not belong with the Practical Modules where they were suggested; some such criteria imply as many as five or six separate and unrelated practical skills while others belong with additional skills that are not listed. Experts would, for example, suggest one step in a process consisting of six steps but not the other five steps. The facilitator will need to explain all six steps and the learners will need to do the steps that were not listed first before doing the one that was listed. Unfortunately, this cannot be supported by examples in the registered curriculum, seeing that it refers to the curriculum that was approved by the CEPs.
Close. In closing, the registered curriculums are better than the elaborate ones generated and approved by the CEPs. Unfortunately, some valuable knowledge and skills are now not addressed. Apart from rendering the learning being provided less effective, it also makes it difficult to align and registered Skills Programmes. One would, for example, have preferred to register three Skills Programmes dealing with assessment, namely Conducting assessment (the old US115753), Design and develop assessment (the old US115755) and Administration of Assessment (which was included in the old US123393 even though it justified and still justifies being a separate Skills Programme).
The most important flaw in the current curriculums is that the qualifications on levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 do not represent a smooth and progressive growth path. During the TEAM meeting on 25 October last year, the ETDP SETA, as the QDP, (Mr Maswazi Tshabalala) promised that the NQF Level 5 qualification would be reviewed this year and that the ETDP SETA would negotiate with the developer of the level 4 qualification to have it transferred to the ETDP SETA, where it belongs. It is already August, and nothing has been done about this problem yet. Furthermore, it would serve no purpose reviewing one or two curriculums only.
All four curriculums should be reviewed as one progressive learning process. I developed four such curriculums in 2022 and 2023 as suggested by Mr Thomas Lata. After the TEAM meeting of 25 October two consultants who attended the meeting asked me by email if they could have copies of the four curriculums. Do they sell the curriculums to the ETDP SETA or QCTO?
African American woman student with afro hairstyle wear yellow cardigan, sitting on windowsill, working doing remote job on laptop, learning using online course. Self-education, preparing for an exam.
Search the Mentornet online website by typing https://www.mentornetonline.co.za in the text box that your search engine uses (for example Google) and ENTER. That is the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for the Mentornet online platform.
“Welcome to Mentornet Online” and “You have been logged in successfully” will appear on your computer screen.
Click on “Register” if you did not use the platform before.
A matrix (table) will appear asking your personal details.
Complete the table. It is simple, but a short video on how to complete the table is available. You should now see the invitation to watch the video for free.
Click on “Video Courses” at the top of your screen.
A dropdown menu with options for two available video courses will appear.
Click on “Proficiency Course in Entrepreneurship in the Post-COVID 19 Era”.
You can now watch the five-minute introductory video on the course for free if you did not watch it on Facebook already.
Scroll down to the menu of videos that are available.
Click in the relevant box to add a video or videos that you would like to watch.
Your video choice(s) will now appear in the top-right of your screen.
Click on “Register now” even if you already registered in step 3.
The payment options will now appear on your screen.
Choose when to pay by clicking in the small circle next to two possible options (“pay now” or “pay later”). The steps for both options are the same, so the further steps are for “pay now”.
Choose “Pay now” on the right-hand side of the payment options also by clicking in the text box.
The payment options and the amount due are shown in the next screen shot.
Click on the payment option of your choice.
From here you will need to follow your bank’s instructions on your cell phone or laptop computer, whichever you use to do the payment.
It will take a while for the video or videos of your choice to become available, depending on how long it takes for the payment to take place. They will automatically show on your screen whenever you visit the online platform again.
Boston, T. 2007. Capacity Building in the New Economy: A Mandate for Minority-owned Businesses. Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council, Atlanta USA.
Businesstech. How effective risk management can help businesses grow.
MacCleod, G. 1988. Starting your own Business in South Africa. Oxford University Press. Cape Town. Fifth Edition.
Madri, S., van den Heever, A., Francis, D., Valodia, I., Veller, M. and Sachs, M. South Africa needs to end the Lockdown. This is a Blueprint for its Replacement.
Ontology, epistemology, ethnomethodology, phenomenology and all the other “gy’s” mean pretty much the same when considered in terms of grammar. Interpretivists would tell you that every culture and historical situation is different and unique. That is why research conducted in an African context will be different from research in a European, Asian or any other context. And even “European” and “Asian” are overgeneralized contexts.
Even so, research methodology remains the same all over the world because the same principles and processes can be applied to different contexts.
Hello, my name is Hannes Nel and I have developed 109 video lessons on research methodology. Initially I worked from my office and house in Pretoria. Halfway through the process my wife and I moved to Hartenbos in the Southern Cape. That is when the environment became more interesting.
One night I was visited by a small snake with a huge self-image. Although only about 15 centimeters long, the little guy would lift his head and pump up his neck pretending to be a Cape Cobra. It was a Wolf snake, and they are harmless. I grabbed the little guy by the neck and gently dropped him over the fence into the safety of the open field.
Not long after that a centipede, about 5 cm long and fifteen millimeters wide crawled through under the same door as the snake. This rascal was incredibly fast and made a dash for the safety of a couch. I looked under all three our couches but could not find him. I sometimes wake up between two and three o’clock in the morning. Once I start thinking about work, I know that I will not sleep again, so I would get up, make myself a cup of coffee and work on the script for my next video. About two weeks after the centipede invaded my house, I accidently stepped on him in the dark passage leading to my room. He left his hide during the night, probably looking for food. Fortunately, I had my sandals on because a centipede can deliver nasty bite.
My wife had a rather extensive succulent collection in Pretoria and she brought some of them with to Hartenbos. She also bought some new ones in the Northern Cape, which is almost a desert, so that one can find ones that make the most beautiful flowers there.
Sadly, the suburb where we live is developing at an incredible pace. The natural vegetation is rapidly being lost to new houses. That is why the guineafowl are peeping over our neighbour’s fence to see if there is not, perhaps, some open space and something to eat for them on the other side. And the family of partridges that used to scratch around in our garden also left when the building contractors appeared on the scene. A family of rabbits lived and bred in the open field next to our house. You can still see them from time to time, but they are also moving out.
A thick knee bird laid two eggs right next to my study. They don’t build a nest like most other birds do. Their eggs are well camouflaged, so they just lay them on the unprepared ground. We have a collection of different protea species in our garden and the thick knee bird laid her eggs under one of the smaller protea bushes.
The male and female take turns sitting on the eggs and the one sitting on the eggs will not easily leave the nest even when threatened. The other one would stay in the vicinity to protect the nest and sitting partner. If you approach them, he or she would spread their wings and their eyes, which are usually a soft yellow will turn to a fierce-looking bright orange colour to scare you away.
One night a wild cat or some other predator attacked the male sitting on the nest. The next morning, he was gone. I found only the scull on my driveway. What I found strange was that the were no feathers or bones, only the clean-stripped skull. The hen still tried to hatch the eggs, but I am not sure if they hatched because I had to return to Pretoria to finalise our move.
Nature must be angry at us. In the early hours of 29 September 2019 a huge thunder storm broke out over the suburb where we live. In less than twenty minutes the water broke a 6 meter gap in the wall between our house and the one above us, raged through our yard and crashed into the wall on the other side of our house, breaking a six meter gap in this wall.
I wish we could just live with nature without having to disturb the habitat of the wild animals. We really need to find a way in which to live with nature rather than to destroy and disrupt without thinking about the damage that we are causing. Fortunately, there is a game reserve less than a hundred meters from the suburb where we live so that most of the animals can move there.
In closing, allow me to share some brief notes on the videos on research methodology that I produced:
The videos are aimed at students who wish to embark on P. Hd. or master’s degree studies.
I am posting one video per week on YOUTUBE where anybody can have access to them for free.
In addition, I am posting the scripts that I used to produce the videos as articles on one of our web sites (www.intgrty.co.za). You can, therefore, also read the articles for free.
The full video menu is also posted as an article on the “intgrty” web site.
You can also gain access to the videos on our online learning platform at less than one USA Dollar per video. Once you have gained access to a video, you can revisit it as many times as you wish at no additional cost.
Prospective or studying post-graduate students need not watch all the videos. You should be able to write your thesis or dissertation if you watch only the videos that are relevant to your research level and topic. Five or six videos will probably be enough.
Lecturers can also use the videos as training aids, thereby saving their students the cost of having to pay for the videos.
Lecturers can also use the questions that I ask in my tests in theirs and they need not acknowledge the source. The electronic address of the platform is:
I also posted 3 videos with open access as a sample on our online learning platform.
I also developed a ten-question online test per video. Those who watched the videos on the online platform can do the tests online at no additional cost. They can repeat the tests as many times as they wish and, once they have successfully completed all 109 tests, will automatically be issued with a Mentornet Proficiency Certificate in Research Methodology.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: Data Analysis. Methods for Organizing and Analysing Data Part 2 of 2.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 1 of 10.
10.
Deconstruction.
Empirical generalization.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 3 of 10. Ethics in research part 1 of 3.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 4 of 10. Ethics in research part 2 of 3.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 5 of 10. Ethics in research part 3 of 3.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 6 of 10. Typing format.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 7 of 10. Quotations.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 8 of 10. Referencing sources.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 9 of 10. Essential information in references. Part 1 of 2.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: The Layout of the Thesis or Dissertation Part 10 of 10. Essential information in references. Part 2 of 2.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: Reviewing the Thesis or Dissertation Part 1 of 3.
The purpose of the review.
The relevance of sources.
Research Methods for Ph. D. and Master’s Degree Studies: Reviewing the Thesis or Dissertation Part 2 of 3.
Abraham-Hamanoiel, D.; Freedman, D.; Khiabany, G.; Nash, K. and Petley, J. (Editors), 2017. Liberalism in Neoliberal Times. Dimensions, Contradictions, Limits. Godsmiths Press. London.
Anderson, J. and Poole, M. 2001. Assignment & Thesis Writing. South African Edition. Juta. Pretoria.
Babbie, E., 2011. Introduction to Social Research. International Edition. Cengage Learning. Wadsworth, Australia.
Babbie, E. and Mouton, J. 2004. Fourth edition. The practice of Social Research. Oxford University Press. New York.
Bak, N. 2013. Completing your thesis. A practical guide. Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria.
Berg, B.L. and Lune, H. 2014. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Pearson. Harlow.
Berlin, I. 1999. The Roots of Romanticism. Princeton University Press. Princeton and Oxford.
Blaikie, N. and Priest, J. 2017. Social Research. Paradigms in Action. Clay Ltd, St. Ives PLC.
Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. and Tight, M. 2010. How to Research.Fourth Edition. Mc Graw Hill, Open University Press. New York.
Bryman, A., Bell, E., Hirschsohn, P., dos Santos, A., du Toit, J., Masenge, A., van Aard, I., Wagner, C. 2017. Research Methodology. Oxford University Press. Cape Town.
Clarke, E. 2005. Situational Analysis. Grounded Theory after the Postmodern Turn. Sage Publications Inc. London.
Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. 2010. Research Methods in Education. Routledge. London and New York.
Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. 2000. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Second edition. Sage Publications, Inc. Thousand Oaks. London, New Delhi.
Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. 2018. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Fifth edition. Sage Publications, Inc. Los Angeles.
De Vos, A.S, Strydom, H., Fouché, C.B. and Delport, C.S.L. 2006. Research at Grass roots. Third Edition. Van Schaik Publishers. Pretoria.
Du Plooy-Cilliers, F., Davis, C. and Bezuidenhout, R. 2014. Research Matters. Juta and Company Ltd. Somerset-West.
Killam, L. 2013. Research Terminology Simplified. Paradigms, Axiology, Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology. E-Book.
Maxwell, J.A. 2013. Qualitative Research Design. An Interactive Approach. Sage. Los Angeles.
McMillan, J.H., and Schumacher, S. 2001. Research in Education. R.R. Donneley & Sons, Inc. Harrisonburg.
Muijs, D. 2011. Doing Quantitative Research in Education with SPSS. Second edition. Sage Publications Inc. California.
Silverman, D. (editor). 2016. Qualitative Research. Fourth edition. Sage Publications, Inc. Los Angeles.
TerréBlanche, M. & Durrheim, K. 1999. Research in Practice. Applied Methods for the Social Science.University of Cape Town Press. Cape Town.
Yin, R.K., 2016. Qualitative Research. The Guilford Press. New York.
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As a last snippet of information on writing and reviewing a thesis or dissertation, I briefly discuss the following salient issue in this article:
The title page for thesis or dissertation.
Proofreading the manuscript.
Adding appendices to a thesis or dissertation.
Using a review checklist.
Presentation of the thesis or dissertation.
The title page
The title should convey clearly and succinctly the topic being researched. Avoid obscure and unnecessarily lengthy titles. Some universities recommend that titles should not exceed 15 words. Start off with a working title and revisit and reformulate as you read for greater focus.
Proofreading
Proofreading is primarily about searching for errors, both grammatical and typographical, before submitting your manuscript to a study leader. You need to take note of the technical and editorial requirements for a thesis or dissertation as prescribed by the university.
Do not underestimate the importance of proofreading. It does not matter how good your langue proficiency is, you should still have your thesis or dissertation language-edited. Language editors can also make mistakes and miss errors, therefore you should still personally read the final draft of your thesis with utmost care, correcting all typing errors before you present the completed thesis to your study leader.
It helps to determine in advance what to look for when proofreading your manuscript. This process of individualisation can be done by preparing a checklist of criteria against which you can test your work.
Experienced researchers will know what common errors and flaws to look out for and they can often search for these by computer, thereby rendering the proofreading process more efficient and effective than if they were to blindly read the entire manuscript. Even so, it is always a good idea to read everything as many times as you possibly can. It also helps to ask somebody else to critically read the manuscript because we tend to miss our own mistakes. You should find out what your typical problem areas are and look for each type of error individually. There is no single right way in which to do proofreading, so the following are just guidelines:
Find out what errors you typically make. This is something that comes with experience and writing even just one thesis or dissertation will already give you a good idea of the kind of errors that you tend to make repeatedly. Your study leader can point out such bad habits and help you understand why you make the errors so that you can learn to be on the lookout for them and to avoid them.
Learn how to fix your common errors. Use a structured proofreading process. Some students prefer to read the assignment or thesis from the back to the front, others read chapters or sections in a specific sequence, others read word-by word (which is very time-consuming, but effective). Review your study leader’s comments about your writing and/or have your thesis or dissertation reviewed by a language editor. Learn what facilities your computer and software offer you with which you can correct errors more quickly.
Take a break. Allow yourself time between writing and proofreading. It is not healthy to sit behind your desk all day, especially if you work on computer. Besides, taking a short break every hour or so will help you get some distance from, and allow you time to think about what you have written. Any researcher can testify that taking a break and sleeping on a challenge can do wonders to findings solutions to challenges, and seeing what you have written more clearly in your mind.
Leave yourself enough time to review what you have written. Working against time seldom, if ever, works when writing and proofreading. Deep thinking is necessary, and it requires thinking about what you have written and the message that you wish to convey. Reading what you have written critically will help you to see a multitude of possible errors, such as cognitive dissonance, spelling errors, typing errors, subjectivity and many more. Always read through your writing slowly and think about what you have written. If you read at normal speed, you will not give your eyes and mind sufficient time to spot errors.
Read aloud when you are alone. Reading aloud encourages you to read word by word. This is rather strenuous and almost impossible for most people who need to read hundreds of pages. However, it is effective when you find a sentence, paragraph or argument difficult to understand. Besides, any statement that you find difficult to understand will most certainly also confuse and frustrate those who read it but did not write it. It might even be an indication of plagiarism. Therefore, such sentences, paragraphs or arguments should be reformulated, motivated, explained or omitted.
Role-play and “predict”. Especially procedures can be tested by simulating them. You should also try to foresee how your study leader will react to what you have written. It would be irresponsible to submit work that you know is not good enough, especially if you know that the chances are good that the study leader will not be satisfied with it. You should also think how other readers will respond to your work. If you doubt that they will understand, agree with or like your arguments, you will need to change them or motivate them as well as you possibly can.
Ask others for feedback. Asking a friend, your wife or husband, a colleague or a language editor to read your manuscript will let you get another perspective on your writing. A different reader will be able to help you catch mistakes that you might have overlooked, although people close to you might not always be completely honest and objective in their feedback.
Appendices
Make use of appendices to provide the reader with evidence that substantiates arguments made in the thesis or dissertation but is too long to include in the body. Appendices can also explain long processes and provide additional and complete information on aspects that appear in the main text that are too long to include in a specific chapter or section. Appendices should be numbered.
A review checklist
It is unlikely that your study leader or any of the external assessors will use a checklist to assess your thesis or dissertation. They are mostly experienced academics and deficiencies in your work are likely to attract their attention. Even so, you can use a checklist to spot most of the deficiencies that they might find.
Presentation of the thesis or dissertation
Dissemination is the process by which you communicate your thesis or dissertation, its findings and recommendations, to other potentially interested parties. You might need to present your findings to the following possible interested parties before and after you have submitted your thesis or dissertation for graduation purposes:
within your organisation,
to meetings where people from similar organisations and fields of interest gather,
to your union branch,
to professional associations,
to a local adult education group, and
at national or international conferences.
There are also various formats in which you might present your work, for example as a lecture (or series of lectures), at a seminar, at a workshop, etc. Whichever format you adopt, you will need to give some thought (and practice) to how you present, particularly if you have not done this kind of thing before.
Really confident and eloquent speakers can just sit or stand and talk for however much time is needed or available; or, at least, they seem to be able to do so. Most of us, however, need supports of some kind or another.
The days of ‘chalk and talk’ seem now long gone, and even overhead transparencies are already old fashioned. The more dynamic speakers can still work wonders with a flipchart and pens, scribbling down ideas and issues as they arise. PowerPoint presentation is currently in fashion, but you should be careful not to overdo it or to use it incorrectly, for example by writing everything on slides and then reading off from them. Whatever form of presentation you adopt, planning and practice will be necessary.
Summary
The title of your thesis must be clear, short, and relevant to the topic of your research.
You should personally proofread the manuscript for your thesis or dissertation.
Check for grammar and typographical errors.
Make sure that you meet the technical and editorial requirements of the university.
You should have your manuscript language-edited.
You can use dedicated computer software and a checklist to proofread your manuscript.
The following guidelines can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your proofreading:
Find out what errors you typically make.
Learn how to fix your common errors.
Take a break.
Leave yourself enough time to review what you have written.
Read aloud when you are alone.
Role-play and “predict”.
Ask others for feedback.
Check that you use appendices to substantiate arguments, explain long processes and to provide additional information.
You should disseminate your thesis or dissertation to other potential and real interested parties.
Close
This is the last of the 109 videos and articles on research methodology that I made and posted.
I will now prepare a ten to twenty question test on each video.
Those of you who watched the videos on the Mentornet online platform (https://mentornetonline.co.za/videoCourses.php) can do the tests at no additional cost. You can repeat the tests as many times as you wish and, once you have successfully completed all 109 tests, you will automatically be issued with a Mentornet Proficiency Certificate in Research Methodology.
Study leaders and lecturers who are in the know will know that you not only worked through the entire research process on master’s and doctoral level, but also that you understand the concepts and processes.
You can also gain access to the videos for free on YOUTUBE. However, here we post only one video per week.
Also, you will, unfortunately, not be able to do the tests if you did not watch the videos on the Mentornet online platform.
