Unit 2 Initiating Research.docx

Unit 2 Initiating Research.docx

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Unit2InitiatingResearch

Unit2InitiatingResearch

Objectives

-Understandwhataresearchis

-Becomeawareoftwolanguagefeaturesofacademicwriting

-Initiateyourresearch

Contents

-Readinganddiscussion:

Whatisaresearch?

-Languagefocus:

personalpronounandnominalization

-Writingpractice:

topicselection;focusformulating;aworkingtitle;outlining

-Researchpractice:

starttheresearch

1.ReadingActivity

Thisunitaimstodescribewhataresearchis,bringyouanawarenessoftwolanguagefeaturesofacademicwriting,andfinallyhelpyouinitiatearesearchofyourown.

1.1Pre-readingTask

Beforeyoulearnthedetailedstepstoinitiatearesearch,pleasediscussthefollowingquestions:

Whatisthepurposeofinitiatingaresearch?

Howdoyouselectthetopic?

Whatkindoftopiccanbestudied?

Doyouoftenencounterfirstpersonalpronouninacademicwriting?

Andwhyorwhynot?

1.2ReadingPassage

Whatisaresearch?

Aresearchisasystematicinvestigativeprocessemployedtoincreaseorrevisecurrentknowledgebydiscoveringnewfacts.Itisdividedintotwogeneralcategories:

（1）basicresearchisinquiryaimedatincreasingscientificknowledge,and

（2）appliedresearchiseffortaimedatusingbasicresearchforsolvingproblemsordevelopingnewprocesses,products,ortechniques.Youmayuse"PPP"todescribethewholeprocessofresearching,whichstandsforPurpose（questions）,Process（asystemicapproach）andProduct（answers）inthefollowingfigure.

PurposeProcessProduct

（Questions）（Systemicapproach）（Answers）

Youcaninitiatearesearchinthefollowingsteps.

Step1:

SelectingaTopic

Selectatopicthatinterestsyou.

Selectingatopicispossiblythemostdifficultpartofdoingresearch.Isittoobig?

Isittoonarrow?

Willyoubeabletofindenoughonit?

Startbychoosingatopicthatyoulikeorarecuriousabout.Youaregoingtobeworkingonitforquiteawhile,sotryandfindonethatisinterestingandthatyoucanreasonablycoverinthetimeandspaceavailable.

Focusonabroadresearchtopic.

Ifyouhaveatopicinmind,youstillhavetofine-tuneyourselectionandnarrowthefocus.Forexample,byselectingthesubject"MedicalCare,"youwilldiscoverreportsrelatingtodozensofmorenarrowsubjects,suchas"ManagedCare,""MedicalMalpractice,"and"MedicalMistakes."Youwillhavetolimityourtopic,sothattheresearchquestionscanbesignificant,originalandanswerable.

Step2:

Formulatingathesisstatement

Writeyourtopicasathesisstatement,whichmaybetheanswertoyourresearchquestionand/orawaytoclearlystatethepurposeofyourresearch.Yourthesisstatementwillusuallybeoneortwosentencesthatstatepreciselywhatistobeanswered,proven,orwhatyouwillpromisetoyouraudienceaboutthescope,purpose,anddirectionofyourpaper.Itisgenerallylocatedneartheendoftheintroduction;sometimes,inalongpaper,thethesiswillbeexpressedinseveralsentencesorinanentireparagraph.Andremember,thedevelopmentofathesisassumesthatthereissufficientevidencetosupportthethesisstatement.

Athesisstatementissupposedtobespecific.Hereisanexampleofatoobroadstatement:

TheCatholicChurch’sinfluenceontheformationoflaborunionsinthenineteenthcenturywasextremelysignificant.

Revision:

TheCatholicChurch,bymeansofthepulpitandthepurse,greatlyinfluencedthelabormovementintheUnitedStatesduringthefinaldecadesofthenineteenthcentury.

Step3:

Writingatitle

Agoodtitleisdefinedasthefewestpossiblewordsthatadequatelydescribethecontentsofthepaper.Allwordsinthetitleshouldbechosenwithgreatcare,andtheirassociationwithoneanothermustbecarefullymanaged.

Thetitleofyourpapermaynotbeexactlythesameasyourresearchquestionoryourthesisstatement,butthetitleshouldclearlyconveythefocus,purposeandmeaningofyourresearch.

Intermsofthestructureofatitle,itismainlyanounphrase,gerundphrase,oraprepositionalphrase.Sometimes,itcanbeacompletesentence.Butforbeginners,sentencesarenotrecommended.Thefollowingsaresomeacceptabletitles.

Juveniledelinquencyastheresultoftelevision

Deathpenalty–isitbeneficialorunfavorable?

TheTVimpactonthemodernsociety

ThecontroversialcharacterofNapoleonBonaparte

FrankLloydWright:

KeyPrinciplesofDesignFortheModernHome

Abnormalmusculartensioncausedbypaspertin:

reportof12cases

Step4:

Outlining

Usinganoutlinecanhelpyouorganizeyourmaterialandcanalsohelpyoudiscoverconnectionsbetweenpiecesofinformation.

AWorkingOutlinemightbeonlyaninformallistoftopicsandsubtopicswhichyouarethinkingofcoveringinyourpaper.Sometimes,however,aninstructormightrequirethataworkingoutlinebesubmittedatthebeginningofyourwork;thenyourinstructormightsuggestwaysinwhichtheworkneedstobefurtherdevelopedorcutback.Theworkingoutlinecanberevisedasyoudiscovernewmaterialandgetnewideasthatoughttogointoyourpaper.

AFinalOutlineenhancestheorganizationandcoherenceofyourresearchpaper.Theoutlineorganizationshouldsuitwelltoyourpurposes.Areyouattemptingtoshowthechronologyofsomehistoricaldevelopment,cause-and-effectrelationship,comparisonandcontrastbetweenonephenomenonandanother,theprocessbywhichsomethingisaccomplished,orthelogicofsomeposition?

Afinaloutlinecanbewrittenasatopicoutline,inwhichyouuseonlyshortphrasestosuggestideas,orasasentenceoutline,inwhichyouusefullsentences（evenverybriefparagraphs）toshowthedevelopmentofideasmorefully.Thefollowingisatemplateoutlineofresearch,whichmaynotreflectalloftheresearchyouwillbeincludinginyourfinalpaper,butitshouldshowthatyouhavedoneenoughresearchthatyouknowthemaintopicsandsubtopicsthatyouwillbeusing.

∙Title

∙Completethesentence"ThePurposeofthisPaperis..."

Introduction

oDescribetheproblem

oWhyisthisanalysisappropriate?

oImportanceoftheproblem

oThescopeofthereview

oGapsinthepreviousstudy

oHowtheresultsofthereviewwillbeapplied.

oIdentifytheresearchquestionsyouhopetoanswer

Methodology

oIdentifythemethodusedtoidentifyandlocatesources;

oExplaintherationaleusedforselectingthesourcestoanalyze;

oExplaintheprocedurestobeusedforanalyzingthesources;

oIdentifythecriteriaforevaluatingtheinformationfound.

AnalysisandDiscussion（Generalpointstoconsider）

oEvidenceandideasarepresentedfromsources

oConceptsareorganizedbysub-topics

oSourcesaregroupedbyconceptsinsteadofindividualentities

oGroupingmayberelatedtoresearchquestions.

oValidityofsourcesisstatedtosupportyourultimateanswerstoyourquestions.

oEachofyourstatementsiscitedbyplacingthenumber（s）identifyingthereference（s）whichsupportyourstatement.

ConclusionsandRecommendations

oIdentifyandsynthesizefindings

oSystematicallyansweryourresearchquestions

oProviderecommendationsfor

▪Futureresearch

▪Classroomapplications

▪Educationalpoliciesandprocedures,

▪Programrevisions,or

▪Otherwarrantedsituations

∙References

oListeachofyourreferencesusingAPAformat（orasclosetoitasyoucanget.）

oNumbereachofyourreferencessoyoucanciteyourevidenceintheAnalysisandDiscussionsection

1.3ReadingComprehension

1.3.1Summarizetheprocedureofinitiatingaresearchbasedonthetextinafewkeywordsandfillinthefollowingtable.

Steps

Keywords

Step1

Step2

Step3

Step4

1.3.2ReadthefollowingtopicsandpleasedecidewhatthethemeisandinwhatwaythetopicislimitedforeachproposalbasedonStep1.

Topic

Theme

LimittheTopic

1.AregraduatestudentsofSoutheastUniversity（SEU）satisfiedwiththeircampuslife?

2.JobprospectofgraduatesofMasterofScienceofSEU.

3.ThemaritalstatusofgraduatestudentsofSEU.

4.Arescholarshipandallowanceenoughforthegraduates?

5.Anxietyamongthegraduates.

6.HowmanyEnglishwordsshouldgraduatesacquire?

7.IspersonalsuccessofSEUteachingstaffcorrelatedwithbilingualism?

2.LanguageFocus

2.1PersonPronouns

Firstpersonpronouns

Youcanusuallystrengthenyourimpersonaltonebyremovingfirstpersonpronouns.

Secondpersonpronouns

Whenconsideringanaudience,youestablishcredibilitybyavoidingsecondpersonpronounstodecreaseclosenessandinformality.

2.1.1Turnthefollowingsentencesintoacademiconesbyavoidingfirstandsecondpersonalpronouns.

1.Ithinkthatdoctorsshouldberequiredtocompletecommunicationskillcourses.

2.WhenyoureadHamlet,youshouldnoticeclearforeshadowingofeventstotranspire.

3.Ichosethismethodbecauseitwaslesscomplex.

4.Myreadinghasshownthatthereareseveralreasonswhyplantsaredispersedbyants.

5.TheoneIhavefoundthemostagreementforisthatantnestsarenutrientenrichedsitesandthereforeitmaybeadvantageousforseedstogerminatefromwithinantnests.

6.IalsofoundthattheresultsofthisstudyconcurredwithBerg's（1975）hypothesisthatseedsareprotectedfromfirethroughtheirburialinantsnests.

2.1.2Checkfortheappropriatepersonforthefollowingtext.Firstandsecondpersonpronounsaresometimesapplicabletotheconsultativevoice,butnotintheformalone.Besurethatyouareconsistentwithyourusagethroughoutthepaper.

Forourprojectwedecidedtocheckouttheimpactoftwosimpleactionsaimedatgettingmorefemaleemployeestousethestairsatafivefloorworksite