Thursday, January 28, 2016

Slow your typing to improve your writing, says study

The quality of your writing will likely get better if you simply type slower, according to a recent study.

Waterloo researchers asked study participants to type essays using both hands or with only one. Using text-analysis software, the team discovered that some aspects of essay writing, such as sophistication of vocabulary, improved when participants used only one-hand to type.

“Typing can be too fluent or too fast, and can actually impair the writing process,” said Srdan Medimorec, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at Waterloo, who led the study. “It seems that what we write is a product of the interactions between our thoughts and the tools we use to express them.”

The results led the researchers to speculate that slowing down participants' typing by asking them to use only one hand, allowed more time for internal word search, resulting in a larger variety of words. Fast typists may have simply written the first word that came to mind.

"This is the first study to show that when you interfere with people’s typing, their writing can get better," said Professor Evan F. Risko, Canada Research Chair in Embodied and Embedded cognition and senior author of the study. "We're not saying that students should write their term papers with one hand, but our results show that going fast can have its drawbacks. This is important to consider as writing tools continue to emerge that let us get our thoughts onto the proverbial page faster and faster.”

The researchers suggest that speed could affect writing quality regardless of the tools, whether they are text-to-speech programs, computers or a pen and paper but future research is required to confirm this idea. In addition, the researchers note in the paper that previous research has demonstrated that slowing down typing too much could impair writing. Their one-handed typing condition only slowed writing to about the speed of handwriting. Hence, the hunt-and-peck method might not be the solution.

The paper appears in the British Journal of Psychology, and involves three experiments with undergraduate students. Participants in the study wrote essays describing a memorable school day for them, an event that had a positive effect on them, and that asked them defend their position on a ban on cellular telephones in high schools. 

Science Speed Networking event a success

by Faculty of Science staff

Almost 200 Science students descended into the EIT foyer last evening to meet with Faculty alumni in what has become an eagerly anticipated career exploration event: Speed Networking.

In its fifth installment, sponsored by Faculty of Science Foundation and Science Alumni Services, this flagship career exploration event united thirty-four Science alumni, working in traditional and non-traditional science careers, with career-minded undergrad and graduate science students interested in exploring work options upon graduation. During the event, students paired with alumni for eight one-on-one speed sessions. Enthusiastic chat and open discussion about chosen fields, job satisfaction, serendipity, mentoring, and old-fashioned hard work, opened doors to the breadth of options attainable upon graduation.

In addition to traditional careers such as Optometry, Pharmacy and medicine, alumni working in pharmaceuticals, genetic counselling, product development, aviation, scientific writing, and water resources, to name a few, attended. Organizer Bonnie Fretz, of the Science Alumni Office, is proud  of the record number of students who attended and scope of alumni who came back to campus to speak with students. “It’s a great opportunity for our students to meet and be inspired by science alumni in a variety of careers and see where their degrees can take them. Our alumni see the benefit of this type of interaction; they feel like they have helped the next generation of science graduates.”

Bonnie would like to thank all who helped make the event an incredible success: Science alumni, student volunteers, FSF faculty directors (past and present), department chairs and associate deans, and many more. 

Vitamin deficiency in older adults a concern, says study

A high proportion of older adults entering long-term care homes in Ontario are B12 deficient, with more developing deficiencies over the course of their first year in residence, according to research from the University of Waterloo. There is a connection between B12 deficiency and several serious health conditions.

Researchers found that almost 14 per cent of study participants were B12 deficient at the time of admission to a long-term care home, while another 38 per cent had only slightly better levels. Over the course of one year, an additional four per cent developed B12 deficiencies. However, those receiving supplements had better B12 levels.

The study, conducted in partnership with the Schlegel-University of Waterloo Research Institute for Aging (RIA) and published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, suggests a simple, yearly blood test could be the key to eliminating B12 deficiencies among elderly living in long-term care homes.

In Ontario, there is currently no systematic screening system to identify B12 deficiencies among long-term care residents — at the time of admission or afterwards.

“The negative effects of a B12 deficiency are considerable,” said Heather Keller, a professor of kinesiology at Waterloo and Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition and Aging. “This is of particular importance in the context of our aging population with more Canadians requiring long-term care.”

Thursday's notes

Two "New Faculty Information Social Series" events are taking place in the coming weeks. The first event, "Co-operative Education & Career Action," will be tomorrow, Friday January 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in TC 2218.  The second event of 2016, "Copyright and Licensing," will be held on Wednesday February 24 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in EV1 241. Sessions will be geared towards new and recent faculty, but all are of course welcome. Please send your RSVP directly to Monica Vesely.

The result for the Sever Ties Referendum will be shared at 12:30 p.m. on January 28 in the Student Life Centre Great Hall. Undergraduates at the University of Waterloo cast their vote from January 25 to 27. More information about the referendum is available online.