Difference between revisions of "BTH740 Research Essay 20113"

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(Survey and Critique)
(Survey and Critique)
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== Survey and Critique ==
 
== Survey and Critique ==
This is the abductive stage of forming a hypothesis.
+
This is the [http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/thinking/reasoning.html abductive] stage of forming a hypothesis.
 
   
 
   
 
There is no single logical procedure to implement here.  We identify points of interest and guess at what might be the case for the observations that we are making.
 
There is no single logical procedure to implement here.  We identify points of interest and guess at what might be the case for the observations that we are making.
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* Open-ended searches by the team members
 
* Open-ended searches by the team members
 
* Selections of interest to the team members
 
* Selections of interest to the team members
 +
* Identifying emotional reactions
 
* Discussion amongst team members to identify conditions that might be sufficient and economical in explaining an observation or a set of similar observations
 
* Discussion amongst team members to identify conditions that might be sufficient and economical in explaining an observation or a set of similar observations
  

Revision as of 17:42, 5 October 2011


BTH740 | Weekly Schedule | Research Projects | Research Essay | Student Resources

How To Write a Research Essay

Five Stages of Research

  • Survey and Critique
  • Thesis Statement
  • Research
  • Writing
  • Presentation

Survey and Critique

This is the abductive stage of forming a hypothesis.

There is no single logical procedure to implement here. We identify points of interest and guess at what might be the case for the observations that we are making.

Try

  • Open-ended searches by the team members
  • Selections of interest to the team members
  • Identifying emotional reactions
  • Discussion amongst team members to identify conditions that might be sufficient and economical in explaining an observation or a set of similar observations

Thesis Statement

Requirements For the Final Essay

set by the instructor - what you need to know before starting to prepare the thesis statement

  • number of sources
    • primary >= 2
    • secondary >= 4
    • tertiary - summarize
  • length 1600-2400 words
  • late penalties 20%
  • timeline:
    • thesis statement - due November 1
    • preliminary research - due November 8
    • recording details - due November 15
    • writing - due November 29
    • publication - due December 6

Narrowing the Focus

select the topic

  • sources
    • encyclopedias
    • textbooks
    • dictionaries
    • videos
  • process
    • jot down ideas
    • discuss ideas
    • circle one that are of interest
    • select one from a short-list
    • select another as the alternative

Searching for Sources

create working bibliography

  • questions to answer
    • are there sufficient sources
    • is each one relevant to the focus
    • are the sources diverse
    • are the sources quality sources
    • are there twice as many sources as required
  • process
    • read
      • abstracts
      • conclusions
      • reviews
    • balance
      • books
      • articles
      • electronic
      • audio-visual
      • old
      • new
    • list publication details accurately

Defining the Purpose

  • single sentence plus keywords
  • discuss the thesis
    • discuss with two peers
    • refine the focus
    • define the scope
  • pose the research question
    • sufficient sources
    • narrow enough topic
    • avoid
      • bibliographical
      • narrative
      • descriptive
      • unfounded assumptions
    • how successful not why successful
  • formulate one precise sentence
  • task is to answer the question <- sole purpose
  • make short list of sub-tasks
  • identify keywords

Submission

  • thesis statement
  • keywords
  • bibliography

Research

Writing

Presentation/Publication

Resources