1 PROGRAM ISEM RESEARCH PAPER FOR APPLIED.docx

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PROGRAM: ISEM
RESEARCH PAPER FOR APPLIED PROJECT
GESTURES & DESIGN PATTERNS IN TOUCHSCREEN
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT: A USABILITY STUDY
KATIE TOBIN
Date: December, 18th 2011
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT............................................................................
........................................3
KEYWORDS
...............................................................................................
...................3
1. INTRODUCTION
...............................................................................................
.......4
2. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND JUSTIFICATION
..............................................................7
3. LITERATURE REVIEW - ANALYSIS OF RELATED WORK
................................................9
4. SOLUTION APPROACH
...........................................................................................15
5. WORK PLAN
...............................................................................................
...........20
6. PROTOTYPE IMPLEMENTATION
..............................................................................21
7. USABILITY STUDY RESULTS
....................................................................................50

8. CONCLUSIONS REACHED
.......................................................................................52
9. REFERENCES
...............................................................................................
...........53
APPENDICES
...............................................................................................
...............54
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ABSTRACT
This goal of this research is to examine several common
usability design flaws and to present a
plan to create a set of best practices that will contain both user-
tested design patterns and proper
gesture use that bring about better user task outcomes. It also
describes how a usability study
would be carried out, including the process of analyzing the
study results and finding the best
design patterns for those tasks. This research is needed,
because there are a limited amount of

usability-tested software design patterns for use on mobile
touchscreen devices and this re-
searcher believes that usability has understandably suffered in
this medium. As any mobile
touchscreen device user can attest, it can be surprisingly
frustrating to perform a simple task -
such as copying and pasting text from one location to another,
or filling out a simple form. The-
se tasks and more were tested on a mobile touchscreen device in
order to identify and attempt to
solve these common usability problems.
KEYWORDS:
Touchscreen, Gestures, Software, Usability, Affordances,
Usability Study, Software Design Pat-
terns
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1. INTRODUCTION
Touchscreen devices can be a nightmare to operate. Nearly
everyone has experienced the “Fat
Finger Problem” when trying to type some text on a tiny
touchscreen keyboard. And how many
times have you accidentally “clicked” a navigation element
when you simply wanted to scroll up
or down? Not to mention, the only ways to learn how to use
these devices are through trial and
error or through direct or indirect observation. These issues,
and others like it, are everywhere
on mobile touchscreen devices. Using a mobile touchscreen
device (i.e. smart phones, tablets,
etc.) can be extremely frustrating to users because many
software developers simply ported over
design elements from websites and other desktop PC
applications. However, adding the element
of touch does not make navigating through or entering data
automatically easier when utilizing
these familiar design patterns. This researcher believes that the
mobile touchscreen device adds
additional complexities that should be taken into consideration

when designing the user interface
software [4], [7].
One good example of a common problem in touchscreen
applications is there can be too many
actionable items on the screen. This may be due to a confusing
design layout or the “click-able”
objects were too close together making it hard for users to
select the desired item. Another
common issue is when a user performs a gesture that is
incorrectly interpreted by the device. In
addition, software developers often fail to consider in what
location users will be using the de-
vice/software (i.e. low light, bright light of the outdoors, using
device while distracted or in
heavy vibration settings). Moreover, in many cases, the text is
too small to read comfortably and
there is not always an option to make the text larger while
viewing it [4], [7].
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This researcher believes that many of these issues seem to come

from software developers utiliz-
ing website application design patterns in touchscreen
applications. These design patterns do not
always translate into good usability when users are trying to
perform tasks. For example, in An-
droid, the flick gesture is often used to scroll through text or
lists of items. However, it is all to
easy to select an option or linked text while scrolling when the
user did not intend to perform this
operation. Furthermore, this often results in navigating the user
away from the user’s desired
location.
Finally, this researcher believes that there seems to be a general
lack of affordances and proper
feedbacks being used in many design patterns. This researcher
reached this conclusion while
carefully analyzing several common design patterns present on
most mobile touchscreen devices.
For example, lists do not always appear to suggest that users
can scroll through the options or
rows presented.
There would be many benefits from the creation of a set of

usability tested design patterns and
gesture use cases. Users will get more use out of better
designed software programs because
they will be able to utilize more functionality and make less
errors all while taking less time to
perform a task. Software development companies will get
larger revenues from higher
touchscreen software sales because their applications are so
easy to use, compared with the com-
petition who did not use a well-thought-out user interface
design pattern.
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The main motivation behind this research is to contribute a set
of design patterns and gesture use
cases that can be used to make touchscreen software
applications that are both usable and versa-
tile (can be used in a variety of mobile settings).
Definitions of Commonly Used Terms:

Affordance - is a quality of an object, or an environment, that
allows an individual to perform an
action. For example, a knob affords twisting, and perhaps
pushing, while a cord affords pulling
[8].
Gesture - A gesture is comprised of 3 stages: Registration - the
moment the type of action is set;
Continuation - the adjustment of the parameters of the gesture;
Termination - when the gesture
ends. For example, with the Pinch gesture is registered when 2
fingers are present and start to
move towards one another. The continuation aspect is applied
as long as the fingers are still
moving toward one another and the corresponding item is being
shrunk in response to and scale
to the action. The termination phase is complete when the
fingers stop moving toward one an-
other [7].
Fat Finger Problem - This is when the user accidentally selects
a target that he/she did not in-
tend to because the target area was too small in relation to the
finger or due to the device reading
the input improperly [7].

Design Pattern - is a general reusable solution to a commonly
occurring problem within a given
context in software design [10].
WIMP - Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers - denoting a type of
user-friendly screen display used
on small computers [9]
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2. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND JUSTIFICATION
While there are many usability design flaws present within most
mobile touchscreen software,
this researcher believes that this may be due to the fact that
software developers are lacking a
comprehensive set of usability tested software design patterns
and gestures for mobile
touchscreen devices backed by rigorous research and usability
testing. This report outlines a
plan for creating this set. It will involve creating a usability
study which has the following aims:
• Create a prototype touchscreen software application and

conduct a usability study utilizing the
prototype in order to gauge the usability of the standard user
interface design patterns already
available on the standard device by recording measurements of
overall task outcomes
• Analyze the study results and propose a set of software design
patterns and gesture use cases
and best practices for mobile touchscreen systems
Touchscreen software developers also need a set of overarching
principles that will help to guide
them to making the most usable systems that enhance
functionality and improve user task out-
comes. There are many informal best practice guides on the
internet in the form of blogs or on
vendor websites (Apple, Google, Windows, etc.), but there is a
definite need to create a set of
design patterns and gesture best practice guidelines that can be
used to create solid, usable and
standards-based designs that should be used to avoid common
usability problems. This is why a
usability study is necessary in order to test alternate design
patterns that may alleviate these
problems.

The main deliverables of this research will be a prototype and
usability test plan for some of the
most common usability issues that plague mobile touchscreen
device users. Out of the iterative
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usability testing of the prototypes will be a set of best practices
for use in designing software for
mobile touchscreen devices. The ultimate goal of this research
is to discover what improves us-
ability in touchscreen applications from actual users. This
researcher believes that a set of best
practices can be produced from the results of the usability
testing (please see Figure 1: Iterative
Usability Study).
Figure 1: Iterative Usability Study

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3. LITERATURE REVIEW -- ANALYSIS OF RELATED
WORK
There were only two books that this researcher could find on
touchscreen software design utiliz-
ing gestures (that were not vendor-specific) when this paper was
written. In addition, this re-
searcher found only a handful of research papers published in
journals that deal directly with
touchscreen software design that utilize gestures or software
design patterns. Usability and mo-
bile touchscreen software design is an area where research is
needed in order to understand the
unique challenges mobile touchscreen devices place on both the
users and the software design-
ers. Research in this area should lead to more usability friendly
software.
This researcher suspects that the predominant reason there is
not much literature on the subject is
because the technology is new and still emerging in the market
and not many researchers have

analyzed it yet. Certainly, touchscreen software vendors had to
race to market in order to com-
pete with the iPhone and iPod Touch, the first to market the,
now ubiquitous, mobile touchscreen
devices at an affordable price [15]. Furthermore, this
researcher speculates that after the market
is super saturated with mobile touchscreen devices and more
major companies are vying for
market share, the usability aspect will be a hot topic for
consumer research and will naturally get
more mainstream attention.
The most comprehensive book on the usability and touchscreen
devices is titled “Brave NUI
World: Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and
Gesture” and was written by two re-
searchers who were heavily involved in the creation of
Microsoft Surface, which utilizes a large
coffee-table sized touchscreen device where users can interact
with the device utilizing both
hands simultaneously.
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NUI stands for Natural User Interfaces. The authors suggest
that one think of this as a Natural
User Interface, not a Natural User interface. Essentially, this
means that the user should feel
natural while using the software, not that the software should
mirror the “natural” world. The
authors also make two other interesting points. First, most
designers have never had to “truly
design a user interface”, instead they rely on the work of others
before them or what WIMP ob-
jects are already available. Links, clicks and buttons are so
ingrained into users and software de-
velopers, they can’t see new possibilities. Touchscreen
applications have less restrictions in
terms of user interfaces because custom objects can be build
and interacted with more naturally
and intuitively with touch. Muscle memory can more easily be
incorporated for certain tasks,
which makes repetitive actions faster. Second, in an ideal
situation, users should feel like experts
when dealing with touchscreen devices. Ideally, it should feel
like second nature to use and learn
new tasks with them rapidly [7].

According to the NUI authors, the following principles are the
most important things to consider
when designing touchscreen software:
• Create an experience that can feel like an extension of one’s
body
• Create experience that feels just as natural to a novice as an
expert user
• Create an experience authentic to the medium, don’t mimic
real-world necessarily
• Build a UI that considers context, including right metaphors,
visual indications, feedback and
input/output methods for the context.
• Avoid copying other UI design patterns verbatim from other
non-touchscreen platforms [7]
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More principles and overall design guidelines can be found in
Appendix A: NUI Design Princi-
ples Considered [7].

The second book, titled “Designing Gestural Interfaces:
Touchscreens and Interactive Devices”,
was more generic and gave a 30,000 foot view. So, while it was
good for understanding the
overall principles used in the consideration of gesture
utilization, it was lacking the technical
specifications for actual software design. There were two main
concepts that this researcher took
away from this book, relating to usability on touchscreen
devices. First, the author suggested
using people to determine the correct gesture to use (e.g.
usability studies). Second, he stated
that the “tap is the new click”. There was an entire chapter on
this topic that essentially provided
an overview of how powerful and ubiquitous the tap was to
touchscreen software as the mouse
was to traditional desktop computing [4].
The first study, titled “Experimental Analysis of Touch-Screen
Gesture Designs in Mobile Envi-
ronments”, dealt with how situational impairments affect touch-
screen users. They used two
types of situational impairment: motor activity and distraction

level. For motor activity they
compared sitting and walking, while using no distraction, light
distraction and attention-
saturating distraction. They found that gestures allowed users
to perform many activities with a
greater degree of success on their mobile devices while their
attention was distracted. Another
interesting finding was the observation that some gestures could
be performed without looking at
the screen. They also found that bezel-initiated gestures had the
best overall user performance.
A bezel-initiated gesture is one that requires the user to slide
one finger from one side of the
screen (from the black outer part) to the other side of the
screen. Finally, the researchers found
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that mark-based gestures were the most accurate. A mark-based
gesture is “typically comprised
of axis-aligned [redacted] rectilinear mark segments that form a
compound path, e.g. “up” fol-
lowed by “right”...”. See image below for an example [1]:

Another study was done that used a case study styled approach,
called “Building an interaction
design pattern language: A case study”. This study was
intriguing because it showed a systemat-
ic approach to validating design patterns. The authors later
used those design patterns to im-
prove an existing application. Of particular interest to this
researcher, were the sections on User
Research, Prototyping and Testing Individual Design Patterns.
For example, one of the design
patterns that was tested included a series of different solutions
for organizing tabs for navigation
through a system. There were too many tabs to fit on one
horizontal row, so the researchers cre-
ated several design patterns and tested them. This researcher
will utilize a similar methodology
when planning the design of the prototype and the usability
studies of the prototypes, in that sev-
eral experimental design patterns will be tested and evaluated
[3].
The final study this researcher found was titled “Design patterns
for user interface for mobile

applications”. This study built on previous work the
researchers had done, but added a question-
naire that was distributed to participants who were mostly
between 25 and 40 years old, were
mostly male and had an average of 5+ years of user interface
design experience. The results of
the questionnaire showed that many of these designers found the
recommended design patterns,
provided by the researchers, both relevant and useful [2].
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No analysis of usability and touchscreen computing would be
complete without consulting the
major software vendors for the mobile touchscreen device
platforms. The three largest vendors
of touchscreen mobile operating systems (Apple, Google and
Windows) have all provided design
guidelines on their respective websites. This researcher went to
each site and read all the rec-
ommendations, and was surprised to see how different each

vendor’s approach was (please see
Figure 1: UI Recommendations for Apple, Google and
Microsoft). In summary, Apple was most
concerned with creating a homogenous look-and-feel for all
applications that run on the iOS plat-
form, providing specific specifications and somewhat rigid
guidelines that must be followed or
developers run the risk of not getting their applications
approved and distributed. At the opposite
end of the spectrum, Google is most concerned with providing
developers with the most robust,
cutting-edge functionality and flexibility in user interface
design. In other words, Android is
very appealing to developers who want to create experimental
designs or games while not being
too concerned about getting their applications “approved”.
Google allows their application mar-
ket to regulate itself to a degree [14]. Finally, Microsoft is
perched somewhere in the middle,
while taking a more pragmatic approach by emphasizing the
combination of time-saving func-
tionality with consistency in user interaction metaphors [8], [9],
[10].

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4. SOLUTION APPROACH
The end result of this study will be a set of software design
patterns and gesture use cases for
mobile touchscreen software. This set will be created from the
results of detailed usability test-
ing utilizing a prototype application that will require users to
perform a variety of commonly ex-
ecuted tasks on a mobile touchscreen platform.
The usability study will require the following steps:
1. Design and build a prototype application that contains the
common usability issues that are
being investigated.

2. Design the usability test script and questionnaire. The
questionnaire will be given to the usa-
bility study participants. This questionnaire will ask subjective
questions about the tasks the
users performed. The answers to the questions will be out of a
1-5 scale to aid in quantifying
the results. These results will also be used in the analysis and
formulation of the design pat-
terns.
3. Test the prototype and (informally) gather baseline statistics
and metrics from a small sample
of people using the initial prototype application (5-10 people).
4. The results from the initial prototype test will be analyzed
and the prototype will be refined to
include the experimental design patterns and gestures. Also,
user feedback will be considered
in the design.
5. The formal usability testing will be done with the redesigned
application. Statistics and other
metrics will be gathered from test subjects just as before (the
goal is at least 385 total users).
Please note: the overall structure of the prototype application
and tasks the users will be asked

to perform will be the same.
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6. The results from round 2 of the usability study will be
analyzed and the final conclusions
formed and documented in this report.
The usability study will have the following objectives:
1. Test the nested list design pattern for utilizing lists of
actionable items (see Figure 3 for a
screen shot depicting scrollable lists that lack proper
affordances).
2. Test the affect of text size on task outcomes.
3. Test the overall usability of the copy and paste functionality
on the testing platform (an An-
droid device). This test will determine how many times users
attempt to copy and paste and
fail on average.
4. Test the overall usability of users filling in basic form fields
(there will be a form at the end to
gather information from users about their experiences while

taking the test).
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Before Scrolling
While Scrolling
Figure 3: Android List Design Pattern Showing Little
Affordances for Scrolling
For example, in order to test the nested design patterns for list
usage, the application will require
users to choose an item from a list that will require the user to
scroll in order to find the item and
to dig deeper into the nested items. For another example, when

trying to test how text size
played a role in performing a user task in a low light setting,
this researcher will design the ap-
plication to allow text resizing while performing the task.
Another task will focus on testing the
effect of text size while not allowing the user to resize the text.
This text will purposefully be
made very small. Finally, while trying to measure the overall
usability of the copy and paste
functionality that comes standard on Android devices (version
3.1), the prototype will ask users
to copy a block of bold text and paste it into a text box below.
If the user has trouble, a hint will
be given to help the user complete the task in the prototype.
Also, this researcher will, after one
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minute’s time, help the user to complete the task. The user will
also have the opportunity to skip
the task after 3 minutes.
This study will require an Android mobile phone for the testing.

It will also require gathering
around 400 total volunteers who will agree to perform the
usability tests and take the question-
naire afterwards. The target user group will be college
students. HU may not have enough stu-
dents who are available and willing to participate and if this is
the case, this researcher will go to
other universities in the area and recruit students to participate
(but only with the proper permis-
sion attained beforehand). This study may also necessitate
recruiting volunteers to help adminis-
ter the usability tests and record the results.
The total number of users needed for this usability study, using
the common statistical Normal
Distribution method, is at least 385. This researcher arrived at
the figure by assuming there are
at least a million mobile touchscreen users in the United States,
by allowing a 5% margin of er-
ror/needing a confidence level of 95% and by assuming a
response distribution of 50% [16].
The validity and quality of results will be dependent upon the
software’s internal measurements

of user task outcome. The total time taken to complete the task,
and the number of failed at-
tempts will be recorded for each task the users perform.
Statistical analysis will be performed on
the results to detect any patterns in the data. Every reasonable
precaution will be taken to assure
that the measurement methods for each version of the prototype
application and for each action
performed within the prototype application will be consistent.
Each task will be timed and the
user will have to press a start button to initiate the timer and
begin the task. The prototype’s test-
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ing structure will not change during the duration of the usability
testing study. Finally, the in-
structions and environment will be set up the same for each user
taking the usability study [16].
In addition, for the formal usability testing, there will be a strict
policy that no usability study
participants will be family of or friends with this researcher to
assure that the results will be as

unbiased as possible. The usability script will be clear, concise
and will only state that the appli-
cation is being tested as part of a student research project. The
script will not mention that it is
testing design patterns or what the goals of the study are. It
will only give instructions specific to
the tasks the users will be expected to perform. Participation
will be voluntary only and any par-
ticipant may stop the study at any time without penalty.
Participants may be offered candy or
any other small incentives as a “thank you” for participating.
Any volunteers that may assist this
researcher with the study will be trained and agree to follow the
stipulations provide above [16].
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5. WORK PLAN
This researcher expects to design and build the prototype and

complete the usability studies in
the fall of 2011 as part of ISEM 699 (for a task breakdown,
please see Figure 3 below). This re-
searcher also plans to gather enough data from the study results
to write a thesis pertaining to
improving usability on touchscreen devices. In the spring or
summer of 2012, this researcher
will prepare a separate proposal for the thesis and enroll in
GRAD 699.
Proposed Due Date
(Fall 2011)
Event
Aug. 28th - Sept. 3rd Complete paper prototype of each
application.
Sept. 4th - Sept. 10th Complete shell of prototype application
for Android devic-
es.
Sept. 11th - Sept. 24th Complete prototype application 1
utilizing standard rec-
ommended design patterns and gestures.
Sept. 25th - Oct. 1st Complete usability test script with specific
procedures to
follow. Schedule a time/place to conduct usability study.
Oct. 2nd - Oct. 15th Conduct informal study with baseline

application that in-
cludes common usability issues.
Oct. 16th - Oct. 29th Analyze usability study results, modify
prototype to in-
clude experimental design patterns and gestures to test.
Oct. 30th - Dec. 8th Conduct formal usability study with
modified prototype
that contains experimental design patterns and gestures
(need a total of 400 people).
Dec. 9th - Dec. 17th Analyze usability study results, prepare
findings.
Figure 4: Proposed Timeline of Events in Usability Study
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5. PROTOTYPE IMPLEMENTATION
This researcher has created a web application that can be used
on most mobile touchscreen de-
vices as of 3rd quarter of 2011 (phones, pads, etc.).
The following pages contain actual screenshots depicting the

usability tasks users were asked to
perform.
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Figure 5. Usability Test Web Application - Start Screen

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Figure 6. Usability Test Web Application - Loading Graphic
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Figure 7. Usability Test Web Application - Task 1 of 4 Part A
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Figure 8. Usability Test Web Application - Task 1 of 4:
Warning
The user will be warned if he/she chooses an incorrect option
and will be reminded which option
to search for and choose.
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Figure 9. Usability Test Web Application - Task 1 of 4 Part B
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Figure 10. Usability Test Web Application - Task 1 of 4 Part C
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Figure 11. Usability Test Web Application - Task 2 of 4 Start
Screen
1
Users will be required to read few paragraphs of text,

intentionally made too small to read com-
fortably.
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The second part of task two asks users to answer questions
about the what the user has just read
on the previous screen.
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Figure 14. Usability Test Web Application - Task 2 of 4
Validation
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Screen
1
5
Depicts a user selecting text to ‘copy’.
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Figure 18. Usability Test Web Application - Task 3 of 4 Part C
A user has activated the selected text and can now Share
selected text or Copy it.
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Figure 19. Usability Test Web Application - Task 3 of 4 Part D
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Figure 20. Usability Test Web Application - Task 3 of 4 Part E
Depicts copied text in the text box.

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Screen
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Figure 22. Usability Test Web Application - Task 4 of 4: Form
Questions 1-5
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Question 6-6b

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Questions 7-8
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Questions 9-10
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Validation

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Figure 27. Usability Test Web Application - Thank You Screen
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Usability Test Script
Thank you for agreeing to volunteer as a subject for a student
research project. You will be
asked to perform a series of tasks. Please keep in mind that
there are no wrong ways to accom-
plish the tasks. You are permitted to ask questions, but the
researcher asks that you try to com-
plete the task first on your own before asking questions. Also,

as you are going through the test
the researcher asks that you narrate what you are trying to do
and thinking about. The researcher
will take notes.
Privacy Statement
All information provided during the study will be kept
confidential as part of the study. Study
participants have a very small chance of being contacted via
email to verify participation in the
study. However, study participants are not required to respond,
and will not be contacted for any
further information. By participating and providing your
information within the study’s mobile
device application, you agree to these statements.
Thank you!

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Researcher Notes
Take notes on what users seem to struggle with or hesitate on
and write down any questions
asked by the user next for each task below.
Task
1:___________________________________________________
____________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
Task
2:___________________________________________________
____________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________

_________________________
Task
3:___________________________________________________
____________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
Task
4:___________________________________________________
____________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
Task
5:___________________________________________________
____________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________

_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
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Did the user skip any tasks? Yes/No (circle one)
If yes, which ones? 1/2/3/4/5 (circle all applicable)
Notes on why tasks were skipped:
__________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
_____________________________________________________
_________________________

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Rationale for Each Task in the Usability Study
In order to expose the common problems users of mobile
touchscreen software will run into, this
researcher devised an application that would call upon many of
the most common actions per-
formed in a web application. The four tasks chosen were:
1. Finding an item in a set of nested lists.
2. Read a few paragraphs of very small text and then answer
some questions to gauge reading
comprehension.

3. Copy and Paste some bold text as instructed.
4. Fill out a questionnaire as directed.
This research observed a general lack of affordances in lists
inside of many touchscreen applica-
tions and reasoned that finding items within a set of nested lists,
may pose an even greater usabil-
ity challenge for users to find the required information.
For the reading comprehension test, the text was purposefully
made to be too small (9pt.) for the
average reader to see easily without squinting. The way the
standard browser renders the text
and screen, makes it difficult to resize the text and also read it
without scrolling from left to right.
This researcher believes this is a basic usability flaw, present in
many other applications, not just
mobile touchscreen software. This researcher wanted to capture
statistics on how many times a
user had to scroll back and forth and change the screen
orientation while trying to read the text.
In addition, this researcher also wanted to gauge if this had a
negative affect on reading compre-
hension of text presented in this manner.

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In addition, the copy and pasting, navigating nested lists and
filling out a form (the survey) tasks,
this researcher wants to test how usability-friendly the default
design patterns are while utilizing
test subjects. The metrics gathered while administering the test
will be compared against a base-
line. This researcher will also have a group of users click
through the web application on a
standard PC. Metrics gathered during this phase will be the
baseline of comparison between
standard PC and touchscreen devices.
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7. USABILITY STUDY RESULTS
This researcher was only able to recruit 10 subjects to use the
application as part of the usability
study. The website is hosted at
http://www.katietobin.net/research and will remain there until
the
study is complete. As such, the results detailed below only
apply to the 10 subjects who partici-
pated thus far.
The results for task 1 (finding items in a series of lists) were
fairly consistent among users. All
rated the task subjectively as none to low difficulty (4 none, 5
low). Only 1 out of 10 subjects
had to ask for assistance in completing the task.
For task 2 (reading comprehension of very small text), all 10
subjects answered question 1 incor-
rectly, 2 out of 10 answered question 2 incorrectly and 0 out of
10 answered the 3rd question in-
correctly. None of the subjects asked the researcher for
assistance with completing the task. On
average, it took the subjects 1 minute and 38 seconds to read the

very small text. Subjectively,
the subjects rated the difficulty of this task as low, on average
(2 medium, 3 low, 2 none). Over-
all, this was another very consistent result amongst the subjects.
For task 3 (copying and pasting text into a textbox), 9 out of 10
users experienced some difficul-
ty completing the task. These subjects required this researcher
to describe and sometimes show
them how to physically perform the gesture to copy and paste.
A few subjects took 4-5 minutes
to finally complete the task. The average completion time was
3 minutes and 6 seconds and was
the task that took, on average, the longest for the subjects to
complete (including task 10, which
was to fill out a 10 question form, that took, on average, 1
minute and 27 seconds to complete).
1
Subjectively, the subjects rated the difficulty of this task as, on
average medium (1 severe, 1
high, 4 medium, 1 low, 1 none) .

Finally, for task 4 (filling out a questionnaire form as directed)
all 9 out of 10 subjects reported
using a touchscreen device daily. Also, there were 8 males and
2 females who completed the
study. The average time the subjects took to fill in the form
was 1 minute and 27 seconds. This
researcher also noted that some users (3 out of 10) accidentally
pushed the “Go” button on the
keyboard, which resulted in submitting the form prior to the
user wanting this event to occur.
Users were trying to hit a different key that was in very close
approximate range from the desired
key. Finally, 8 subjects rated their understanding of the
instructions to complete the tasks in the
study as having a difficulty level of none and 1 subject rated the
difficulty level as low.
5
8. CONCLUSIONS REACHED
Currently, this researcher believes that more subjects need to be
recruited to participate in the

survey and more results from the study gathered in order to
draw final conclusions. However,
the results so far have consistently shown some areas that have
proven difficult for many of the
subjects. It seemed that on tasks where there are little
affordances and feedback within the user
interface interaction, the subjects struggled to figure out how to
perform the tasks.
Nowhere was this most basic usability flaw more evident, than
in task 3 (copying and pasting
text into a textbox). This researcher observed that the subjects
seemed to understand what to do,
just not how to execute the complex set of gestures that
consisted of pressing one finger over a
part of the desired text to be copied and waiting until a section
of this text was highlighted.
Then, subjects have to drag each end of the highlighted section
so that all of the desired text to be
copied is highlighted. Third, the user must tap the highlighted
text once, with a single finger and
a modal window will pop over the screen. This modal window
has two options: Copy and Can-
cel. After a subject chooses the Copy option, the user must then

press on the text field for a mo-
ment until the textbox becomes “editable”. The keyboard will
appear in the bottom half of the
screen. A modal window will appear with two options: Paste
and Cancel. Upon choosing the
paste option, the subject will see the copied text pasted into the
textbox. So it is no surprise that
task 3 took the longest amount of time for the subjects to
complete – 3 minutes and 6 seconds, on
average. This was almost double what it took to read the very
small text in task 2 or to fill in 10
fields on the form in task 4.
1
9. FUTURE WORK
This researcher intends to continue this investigation into
usability issues on mobile touchscreen
devices next semester in GRAD 699. This researcher will
perform the following tasks:
1. Continue recruiting volunteers to take part in the usability
study and record results

2. Conduct detailed literature survey utilizing secondary sources
3. Draw conclusions based on research results
4. Create recommendations for usability methodology for
mobile touchscreen devices
5
9. REFERENCES
[1] Bragdon, Andrew, et al (2011), CHI2011, May 7–12, 2011,
Vancouver, BC, Canada. Experi-
mental Analysis of Touch-Screen Gesture Designs in Mobile
Environments
[2] Nilsson, Erik G., (2009), Design patterns for user interface
for mobile applications, Advanc-
es in Engineering Software, Vol. 40 1318-1328
[3] Pauwels, Stefan L., et al (2010), University of Basel,
Faculty of Psychology, Department of
Cognitive Psychology and Methodology, Switzerland. Building
an Interaction Design Pat-
tern Language: A Case Study

[4] Saffer, Dan, (2009), Designing Gestural Interfaces:
Touchscreens and Interactive Devices,
O’Reilly Media, Canada
[5] Stone, Roger, (yyyy?), Loughborough University, England,
Mobile Touch Interfaces for the
Elderly
[6] Unger, Russ; Chandler, Carolyn, (2009), A Project Guide to
UX Design For User Experience
Designers in the Field or in the Making, New Riders, Berkeley,
California
[7] Wigdor, Daniel; Wixon, Dennis, (2011), Brave NUI World:
Designing Natural User Interfac-
es for Touch and Gesture, Morgan Kaufman, Burlington,
Massachusetts
[8] Android. User Interface Guidelines.
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/inde
x.html. Accessed August 8th,
2011.
[9] Apple Inc. iOS Human Interface Guidelines.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UserExp
erience/Conceptual/MobileHI
G/Introduction/Introduction.html%23//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP400

06556-CH1-SW1. Accessed
August 8th, 2011.
1
[10] Windows. User Experience Design Principles.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dd834141.aspx. Accessed August 8th, 2011.
[11] Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance.
Accessed August 6th, 2011.
[12] The Free Dictionary.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/WIMP. Accessed August 6th,
2011.
[13] Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_pattern_(computer_science)
. Accessed Au-
gust 6th, 2011.
[14] Android. Publishing to Android Market.
http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/publishing.html#
market. Accessed August
15th, 2011.
[15] Kaneshine, Tom. CIO.com. Why Apple Owns the High

End: First Mover Advantage.
http://www.cio.com/article/499151/Why_Apple_Owns_the_High
_End_First_Mover_Advant
age. Accessed August 15th, 2011.
[16] Kumar, Ranjit, (2011), Research Methodology a step-by-
step guild for beginners, Sage,
Washington, DC
5
APPENDIX A
NUI Design Principles Considered [7]
Less is more: where possible, build on simple interactions in
order to do more complex tasks
Interface control elements should not be presented if they are
not needed

Most interface elements should emerge in response to user
action only to communicate the state
of the system or suggest next action or consequence of action.
Software developers should not change the state of the system
mid-gesture
The number of system states should be few
The system must respond to every contact immediately
Make every transition fluid, no abrupt appearance or
disappearance of objects - too jarring
Make interactions as realistic as possible by mimicking mass,
acceleration, friction, viscosity
and gravity
Controls for starting/ending should always be visible (do not
embed major functions in menus)
All interaction metaphors start with physical manipulation and
extend it
Enable users to manipulate content directly - rather than though
interface controls. For exam-
ple, use a scale manipulation (2-finger gesture to zoom in/out)
instead of a zoom slider button.
Ensure all actions lead to either prompting for the next step in
an action sequence or foreshad-

owing the state of system/object when action is finished
At appropriate times, show affordances that guide user to access
the unseen content or function-
ality (example: a list of songs showing an incomplete list that
when the user selects and moves
will show more songs).
1
Require explicit and intentional user input for destructive
functions or to cause larger changes
or transitions
Give users the opportunity to decide to undo or traverse their
previous actions by foreshadow-
ing what will happen next
Reduce number of features in an application, but provide
“premium experience” for primary
actions
Make sure essential features are immediately discoverable (For
example, make a blank docu-

ment load automatically in a text processing app, don’t make
user select one in a menu first),
but do not explain saving files and folders until user has
something to save.
Encourage discovery through exploration so functionality is
revealed as users continue through
experience, but be sure visual responses communicate cause and
effect
Demonstrate functionality wherever possible and
Make sure feedback contributes to better understanding of the
system and its state. For exam-
ple, when users touch a control, it moves to the front, grows,
and displays a drop shadow, indi-
cating a change in its position along the z-axis and reinforces
position “on top” of the content.
Put users in control; don’t provide too many automated actions
and keep controls enabled and
logical at all times
To avoid the Fat Finger Problem make actionable targets larger.
When this isn’t feasible, de-
signers can auto-target main items on screen so that when user
touches near one, the nearest one
is selected (like first person shooter games). Or they can create
iceberg targets that are larger

than the item being selected.
5
Mobile phone users predominantly use thumbs, while
touchscreen or tablet users can use more
fingers and arms may be outstretched

Thesis/Project Guidelines
for Graduate Students
Acknowledgement: This guide is an abbreviated and heavily
edited version of the MS Thesis Guidelines at the New Castle
University in England.
1 Overview
These guidelines are intended to help you in the thesis/project
process. Given that a thesis/project is an individual piece of
work there is no intention unduly to restrict you in your
approach. This document presents guidelines to support your
work, therefore, and is not a set of absolute rules or procedures
to which you must adhere. You will talk in more detail about
your own project with your thesis/project supervisor.
In general, thesis/projects vary in style and approach according
to your program of study. The following represent some core
principles that differentiate a thesis from a practical project:
· Thesis: You undertake a thorough review of literature and of
current knowledge and test the theoretical base for your work in
some way in some practical situation. You typically present
some hypothesis and test them for validity through some hands-
on experiments, surveys or other instruments. The objective is
to help the research community.
· Practical Project: You undertake a thorough investigation of a
topic (e.g., use of mobile devices in healthcare) and develop
deep understanding of the practical aspects and real life
applications/implications of the field. You may develop
prototypes or insightful reports that are of value to
practitioners. The objective is to help the practitioner
community.
The primary goal of the thesis/project is to allow you to enrich
your knowledge and integrate your academic study with the

analysis of related practical or theoretical work. The results
produced should be publishable in a conference paper after
minor additional work. This is not a requirement, just a
desirable goal.
2 Assessment Criteria
2.1. The scope of assessment
Ideally, your thesis/project should reflect:
· A clear statement of the problem you have chosen to
investigate
· A thorough reading of the relevant literature (practical or
theoretical)
· Appropriate selection of a study approach
· An ability to synthesise various perspectives
· A good grasp of the theoretical and/or practical issues
· An ability to evaluate evidence, drawing appropriate
conclusions and acknowledging ambiguity;
· Clarity of presentation
· A fluent style
2.2 How your work is Assessed
The thesis/project will be assessed by your advisor and other
relevant experts as determined.
2.3 Presentation and format

Length: The Thesis/project should be between 10,000 to 12,000
words (it should not exceed 12,000 words), not including
references and appendices.
You must submit an electronic copy of your work in PDF
format.
There are no firm specific rules for content and presentation.
However, thesis/projects will normally comprise:
· A Title Page (this is essential): including the title of the
thesis/project, your name and degree course, and the institution
awarding the degree. The title should be succinct yet clearly
specify the content of the report. This should be brief (thirty
words is normally the maximum length). It should be agreed and
finalised as part of the final draft. It may be different from the
original working title.
· An Abstract (essential): stating briefly the mode of enquiry
and any conclusions reached. This should be brief, certainly no
more than one page in length.
· A Contents Page –
· A Preface: acknowledging any help, advice or support –
especially from people outside the School – and mentioning any
specific difficulties encountered in carrying out the project
which may have detracted from the outcome.
· An Introduction (essential): the purpose of this chapter is to
introduce and contextualize the study. This means that the
significance or importance of the topic is set out. If there is no
apparent importance to the study to any external reader, the
topic may not be appropriate. This can best be done by
positioning the thesis/project in relation to other work that
hasbeen published, whether in agreement with that work or
otherwise. This Introduction should also discuss the questions

your thesis/project addresses. This section should also tell the
reader how the topic will be unfolded and the order of
forthcoming material.
· Literature Review: Depends on Project or Theses. Discussed
in Proposal
· Method (Aproach Used): Depends on Thesis or Project.
Discussed in Proposal
· Results or findings: these should be clearly presented. Avoid
over- burdening the reader with masses of data: produce
summaries of the main findings Where statistical procedures
are employed, these should be described. You should include
samples of data, calculations and computer printouts in the
appendices (appendices do not contribute to the word count).
· Discussion: this should summarise your findings, and indicate
their implications for your questions. The discussion functions
as an appraisal and criticism of your work, in relation to the
issues and hypotheses raised in the introduction. It should not
simply repeat chunks from your introduction or findings. In
some cases, discussion is included in the Results section.
· Conclusion(essential): a brief statement of any conclusions
you have reached as a result of your work. What do you want
the reader to know as a result of having read your
thesis/project? If you have developed any strong personal
opinions about the subject which seem appropriate to relate, this
is the place where such content is appropriate.
· References: a complete list, properly set out, with all relevant
details. All references cited in the text should be included here -
and vice versa.
· Appendices: if appropriate. As a general rule, if figures,
tables, charts or quotes are less than a full page and can be

conveniently included in the text, you will want to do so, since
reference to appendices is awkward for the reader. All such
material, in the text or at the end, should be titled and
sequentially numbered. Appendices are intended to support and
provide additional, substantiating information for your work,
not as a ‘dumping ground’ for anything that you couldn’t get
into the main text because of word count restrictions.
2.4 General points
Writing Style: The level of writing must be appropriate to the
level of your degree. Specifically, you should pay attention to
correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and
clarity of style. It is your responsibility to edit the text for
typing and grammatical errors.
Page Layout: Pages should be numbered, starting with and
including the title page.
Margins: Please leave sufficient margins to allow for binding.
Tables and charts: should be numbered in sequence by chapter,
e.g. Table 3.1 is the first table in Chapter 3. Each figure should
be accompanied by a descriptive title which completely explains
the contents of the figure.
Final Note: Plagiarism
· The intellectual work of others that is being summarised in the
thesis/project must be attributed to its source. This includes
material you yourself have published or submitted for
assessment here or elsewhere.
· It is also plagiarism if you copy the work of another student.
In that case both the plagiariser and the student who allows
their work to be copied will be disciplined.

· When writing thesis/projects and essays, it is not sufficient to
just indicate that you have used other people's work by citing
them in your list of references at the end. It is also not
sufficient to just put "(Bloggs 1992)" at the end of a paragraph
where you have copied someone else’s words. It is essential that
the paragraph itself be IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
· The only exception to this is if you are quoting a source. In
that case you must put the quotation in quotation marks and cite
the source, including page reference, immediately afterwards.
If the quotation is longer than a sentence, you should indent and
set off the whole passage; when the quotation is indented in this
way it is not necessary to use quotation marks, but, as always,
the author, date, and page number should be cited.
· It is assumed that all ideas, opinions, conclusions, specific
wording, quotations, conceptual structure and data, whether
reproduced exactly or in paraphrase, which are not referenced to
another source, is the work of the student on this thesis/project.
If this is not the case, an act of plagiarism may have occurred,
which is cause for disciplinary action at the programme or
University level.
Page 3 of 6
Writing in APA Style for Literature Reviews
Information from: Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 5
th
ed.

Components of paper
Title page: Name, title, class, section, date
Body (use headers where appropriate)
References: end of paper with centered title References
Margins One inch margins are required on every side. (File >
Page setup)
Spacing Double-space or single-spaced
Font Times New Roman, 12 point
Page numbers Make sure to put page numbers at top right
corner of every page (in header)
Citations in the Text
ONE WORK BY SINGLE AUTHOR:
Smith (1983) compared reaction times
In a recent study of reaction times it was found that (Smith,
1983)
In 1983, Smith compared reaction times
ONE WORK BY THREE OR MORE AUTHORS:
Cite all authors the first time the reference occurs; in
subsequent citations include only the
surname of the first author followed by "et al." (not underlined
and with no period after "et") and
the year.
Citations apart of the text, use and , when citing in parentheses
use & symbol.
Williams, Jones, Smith, Bradner, and Torringon (1983) found
(first citation)
Researchers (Williams, Jones, Smith, Bradner, & Torringon,
1983) found (first citation)

Williams et al. (1983) found (subsequent citations)
CITING MULTIPLE ARTICLES AT ONE TIME
Separate two or more citations with semi-colon, and list in
alphabetical order.
Several studies have shown that monozygotic twins tend to be
more similar than dizygotic
twins on this dimension (Dunn & Plomin, 1986; Plomin,
DeFries, & Fulker, 1988). (first
citation)
INCLUDING A PAGE NUMBER WHEN USING A QUOTE
As Rose (1995) stated how genetic effects are modulated (p.
627).
Temperament, defined as constitutionally based individual
differences in reactivity and self-
regulation (Rothbart & Ahadi, 1994, p. 55),
REFERENCING A STUDY READ IN ANOTHER SOURCE
You should attempt to obtain any study that you are referencing,
as descriptions of studies may
be interpreted differently person to person. In the case that you
are unable (or do not need) to get
the original source, then the citation should include both
sources (one referring to and the one
where information was found).
For example: Consequently, experts can devote more working
memory capacity to using
recalled information to reason and solve problems (Bjorklund &
Douglas, 1997, as cited in

Berk, 2003). In the references you would only list Berk, 2003,
not the original paper.
References at end of paper
Arrange entries in alphabetical order by last name of the first
author.
General format: Author last name, first initial (year). Title.
Journal, issue, pages.
Use a hanging indent for 2nd line of reference
(Format>Paragraph>Special select
hanging.
When your reference list contains multiple works by the same
author:
o Single author entries precede multiple-author entries
beginning with the same last
name
o References with the same first author and different second or
third authors are
arranged alphabetically by the last name of the second author,
etc.
o References with the same authors in the same order are
arranged by year of
publication, earliest first

Examples of references
JOURNAL ARTICLE, ONE AUTHOR
Baumrind, D. (1967). Child care practices anteceding three
patterns of preschool behavior.
Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75(1), 43-88.
JOURNAL ARTICLE, MULTIPLE AUTHORS:
Ahadi, S. A., Rothbart, M. K., & Ye, R. (1993). Children's
temperament in the US and China:
Similarities and differences. European Journal of Personality,
7(5), 359-377.
ENTIRE BOOK
Harris, J. R. (1998). The nurture assumption: Why children turn
out the way they do. New York:
The Free Press.
ARTICLE OR CHAPTER IN EDITED BOOK
LeVine, R. A. (1988). Human parental care: Universal goals,
cultural strategies, individual
behavior. In R. A. LeVine & P. M. Miller & M. M. West (Eds.),
Parental behavior in
diverse societies (pp. 3-12). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
WEBSITE
Try to use the format above with the information you have
available on the website. If you do
not have an author, use website name at beginning. For
example:

Babycenter.com (2005). Back up childcare plans.
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babychildcare/5935.ht
ml
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babychildcare/5935.ht
ml
Good writing tips
USE OTHER LITERATURE REVIEWS AND ARTICLES AS A
GUIDE
QUOTATIONS: Quotations should be extremely rare in
scientific writing, and should only be used
if exact wording or terminology is needed.
VOICE: AVOID 1ST PERSON (GALVAN, 2004, P. 54)
Ex. Improper voice for academic writing
In this review, I will show that the literature on treating
juvenile murderers is sparse and
suffers from the same problems as the general literature
Unfortunately, I have found that most
of the treatment results are based on clinical case reports of
Ex. Suitable voice for academic writing
The literature on treating juvenile murderers is sparse and
suffers from the same
problems as the general literature Most of the treatment results
are based on clinical case
reports
AVOID SLANG. USE PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE

conducted a study instead of did a study
examined instead of looked at
utilize instead of use (where appropriate)
great deal instead of a lot
furthermore instead of run-on sentences
ORGANIZE THE PAPER BY TOPICS NOT CHRONOLOGY:
Build paper with a clear thesis. Good
writing should provide clear and organized evidence for your
argument or theory.
BE CONSICE: Delete unnecessary words, phrases, and
sentences to drastically improve your
writing. Scientific writing is concise and to-the-point!
REVISE AND REWRITE: Good writing takes hard work. Give
yourself enough time to take a break
from the paper. Time away from the paper provides perspective
regarding organization and
allows the opportunity to find technical errors.
CITATIONS: It is imperative that you use good citation habits.
It is plagiarism to use other
writers words and IDEAS.
USE ASSISTANCE OF WRITING CENTER ON 2ND FLOOR
OF LIBRARY (M F 1-4PM)
References
American Psychological Association (2003). Publication manual
of the American Psychological
Association (5th Ed).
Galvan, J. L. (2004). Writing Literature Reviews: A guide for
students of the social and

behavioral sciences (2nd Ed). Glendale, CA: Pryzcak Publishing
Hamilton College Writing Center (2004).
http://onthehill.hamilton.edu/academics/resource/wc/
index.html.
http://onthehill.hamilton.edu/academics/resource/wc/
(EXAMPLE PAPER)
Title for Literature Review Paper
Name
Wofford College
Class and section
Date
(page break)
Title for Literature Review Paper
Introduction
Establish your argument/thesis
Describe organization of paper what will be covered in paper
Body of paper
Reorder notes to group material by content.
Use topic
headings and subheadings. Headings should reflect what the
section is about.
Headings should be left justified on a separate line (not bolded).
Subheadings are left justified and italicized.

Synthesize material in each section.
Summarize the overall findings or conclusions.
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Conclusions
Summarize entire paper at the end.
Discuss conclusions and future directions.
(page break)
References
Author Last, F. (Year). TitleABCD12345. Journal from the
American Psychological
Association, edition number, page numbers.
Author Last, F. (Year). Title. Journal, edition number, page
numbers.
This document was created with Win2PDF available at
http://www.daneprairie.com.
The unregistered version of Win2PDF is for evaluation or non-
commercial use only.
http://www.daneprairie.com

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