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children are already skilled learners, since they ask questions about everything, are highly motivated and not afraid of experimenting or getting things wrong. Instead of building on these strengths, however, schools adopt an authoritarian approach and isolate education from the real world. Children become passive and lose confidence. He thinks that the situation could be improved first by introducing more freedom and flexibility. Attendance would be voluntary, learning would take place outside the classroom as well as within, and non-teachers would share their experiences of life with children. In addition, he advocates interactive group learning, self-assessment and an end to the fixed core curriculum.

4. Read again the article “Choosing a Research Topic” and summarize it.

ABSTRACT WRITING

Abstract

An abstract is an accurate representation of the contents of a document in an abbreviated form. An abstract can be the most difficult part of the research report to write because in it you must introduce your subject matter, tell what was done, and present selected results, all in one short (about 150 words) paragraph. As a result, you should usually write the abstract last.

You will need to write an abstract when your dissertation for a higher degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) is accepted, when you submit an article for publication, or when your report will be disseminated to an audience that needs a summary of its contents.

An abstract serves an important function in a research report; it communicates the scope of your paper and the topics discussed to your reader and, in doing so, it facilitates research. Abstracts help scientists to locate materials that are relevant to their research from among published papers, and many times scientists will only read a paper’s abstract in order to determine whether the paper will be relevant to them.

An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a manuscript, acting as the point-of-entry for any given academic paper or patent application. Abstracting and indexing services for various academic disciplines are aimed at compiling a body of literature for that particular subject.