Acknowledgements Introduction About this book Central theme: research practice and the empirical cycle Part 1 Orientation and reading 1 Preparatory reading and searching 2 Gathering and organizing key information 3 Studying thoroughly and critically Part 2 Making your research measurable 4 From your topic to your question 5 Formulating a good question 6 A testable concept 7 Making a research instrument Part 3 Doing and writing up research 8 Research practice 9 The structure of your article 10 Finishing your article: academic writing, titles, and abstracts 11 Citing sources and the bibliography Part 4 Reflecting and communicating 12 Preventing fraud and plagiarism 13 Collaboration, feedback, and peer review 14 Presenting Appendices Appendix A Sample literature review Appendix B Sample research article IndexWhat's a theoretical framework for? How do you effectively present your data in a figure? What's the secret to a good presentation?As an interdisciplinary student, you delve into theories and research methods from a whole range of disciplines. Academic skills are the tools that you can use to take in, develop, integrate and question knowledge. This guide provides specific instructions, tips and examples to help students develop these skills, both during and after their studies.As academic education focuses on research, the empirical cycle forms a key theme of the book, including when discussing the following skills:- Searching for, critically reading and analysing scholarly texts- Formulating research questions- Making concepts measurable, qualitatively and quantitatively- Organizing literature and data- Analysing and formulating an argument- Academic writing- Collaborating- Reflecting- Presenting