Your Student Research Project

Martin Luck

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351870580
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Filología
• Subtopic: Escritura creativa

Now that you are approaching the final stages of your degree, have you ever wondered how you're going to cope with writing your dissertation? Apart from the practicalities of suddenly having to think and work in a completely different, and more in-depth, way trom before, how are you going to fit it in with the rest of your work and also have a social life? Your Student Research Project will show you how. This book gives you practical advice on how to cope with your project and make a success of your studies. It: ¢ is written in clear, accessible language ¢ provides a clear outline of practical guidance on how to run your project, from thinking about what topic to cover to the most effective way of presenting it ¢ explains how to work with your supervisor and the other important people around you ¢ shows you how to squeeze the maximum value from the effort you put in ¢ enables you to recognize how you have changed in the process and ¢ encourages you to exploit the skills and experiences you have gained in the world beyond your degree. It takes a different approach from other books on research methods because it considers the project as only one part of your existence. It concentrates on advice, ideas and examples while still giving thought to how you will manage your work within a crowded and exciting life. Above all, Your Student Research Project helps you to keep track of where you are heading and to make the right preparations for the future.

Chapter 1

Introduction

This book is designed to help you to get the most out of one particular part of your degree studies. Your research project or dissertation (Box 1.1) will be a major item in your final level of university study, but it amounts to a new experience within your academic career. It requires new personal skills, more self-confidence and a different mindset compared with anything you have done before.

Over the last few semesters, besides attending the formal parts of your course (lectures, seminars, tutorials, etc.), you have almost certainly already experienced several different types of self-directed study. These include things like essays, surveys, lab classes, workshops, mini-projects, etc. So by now you are quite skilful in managing your time, meeting deadlines and putting in the effort required to make a success of your coursework.

Now you are being asked to do an in-depth investigation to complete your studies. You will have to concentrate, by yourself, on a single, specialized topic within your main field of interest. The focus will change. You will need to work at a level of detail that you have not experienced before. You will have to be self-motivated and self-critical. New demands will be made on your time and on your powers of concentration, understanding and judgement. The pattern and intensity of life are about to change, radically.

You saw this coming, of course, and you’re probably excited to be getting on with it at last. But, there are still only 25 hours in a day and your other modules continue to demand their share of your attention. The end of your course isn’t that far off, so there’s also job-hunting to be done. And you want to do yourself justice by getting a good degree.

This book shows you how to cope with your project and make a success of your studies. It aims:

• to be a practical guide to undergraduate project work within the framework of your degree course;
• to show you how to squeeze maximum value from the effort you put in;
• to enable you to recognize how you have changed in the process;
• to encourage you to exploit the skills and experience you have gained.

Why Another Book on Research Methods?

Your library, and perhaps your own bookshelf, holds other student study guides. You will also find in your library or bookshop several books on research methods. These volumes contain much wisdom but may not be quite what you are looking for. Many of the study guides you have seen are probably aimed at degree work in general and may say little about extended project or research work. At the other end of the scale, there are many research guides aimed at postgraduate students who are about to embark on an academic career. These students have rather different requirements from you, not least because they can afford to be totally focused on one thing and have a much longer time-scale within which to work. A few research guides, such as some of those listed in the Bibliography, are aimed at undergraduate rather than research students and are thoroughly recommended. They offer plenty of detailed advice, sometimes within the context of a single discipline area, and often delve into the theory of research methods.

This book takes a slightly different approach from most others because it tries to consider the research project in context. In other words, it expects you to be concerned not only with the process of research itself but also with how to cope with a project alongside the other components of your degree course. It concentrates on practical advice and ideas but gives thought to how you will manage your work within a crowded and exciting life.

What About Skills?

Many books on study skills include practical exercises of one kind or another designed to make you reflect on or develop particular abilities and aptitudes. These exercises can be very effective and you should not

Box 1.1 What are we talking about?

The terms research project and dissertation are used more or less interchangeably throughout this book. They refer to investigative learning activities, also variously described as reports, inquiries, theses, extended studies, etc.

‘Dissertation’ and ‘thesis’ are frequently used simply to describe the final printed and bound product resulting from a research project. Sometimes ‘dissertation’ implies an essentially library-based rather than experiment- or survey-based investigation. The terminology varies between universities, even between departments. Different subject areas have their own traditions of usage.

It is difficult to come up with a common set of criteria, and definitions are unhelpful if they are too restrictive or exclusive. Nevertheless, whatever it is called, it will comprise a process (doing the work) and an outcome (report or product) and should have many of the following characteristics:

• Study in depth
• Originality
• Gestation of ideas
• Review or re-appraisal of existing knowledge
• Re-evaluation of current hypotheses, assumptions, procedures or working practices
• Contribution of new ideas or interpretations
• Exercise of critical faculties
• Input of personal endeavour
• Production of a structured, written report

Most importantly, it involves research. This, again, is a term to be used loosely. It encompasses everything from, for example, the molecular sequence analysis of a newly discovered gene, through a survey of public attitudes to censorship, to a textual comparison of all existing published editions of Hamlet. Each of these, in its own peculiar way, requires the original input of the researcher. Each will deliver something creative and new and interesting.

Even the most sedentary (and apparently often re-worked) literature survey is a process of original research since it involves the seeking out, selection and evaluation of information in a way which is unique to the researcher and can never have been done before. Collating, reviewing and imposing structure on an existing body of knowledge is as valuable as contributing a new piece of information.

hesitate to use them if you think they will help. Such exercises, however, are often meant to be carried out in isolation from the real work you need to do: you end up with the desired skill but little or nothing to show by way of progress in the task itself. The exercises and examples in this book have been carefully designed so that their outcomes will be of direct practical use to you, either in doing an effective piece of study or in improving the quality of the final presentation.

Context

It would be difficult, probably impossible, to create a book of advice on any aspect of university study which is equally applicable to all academic disciplines. The different subject areas offer such a wide variety of experience that no single book can hope to cater for all. Furthermore, departments and courses vary enormously in their expectations of students, including the extent to which they include research work within the final degree programme. This book is intended to be of use to you whatever your area of study but it inevitably contains material which you will not find appropriate. All advice is context sensitive and the use you are able to make of what this book offers will depend on your own background, needs and experiences.

My background is in the natural sciences. You will rapidly discern this from the style and content of the book, particularly if you are from a non-science background. For example, in the sections on project planning and design, there is some bias towards ‘experimental’ methods, hypothesis testing, numerical analysis and other pure science approaches to research. The book is not intended to be exclusive, however, and some effort has been made to make the bulk of its content relevant to all students who find themselves engaged in research for the first time. If certain sections seem to be out of step with what you are doing, feel free to skip them or read between the lines. (Students in arts, social sciences and education may in particular wish to consult books which deal directly with the research methods of their own fields such as Allison et al. (1996), Bell (1993), Berry (1994) and others listed in the Bibliography.) Be aware, however, that successful and productive research has some common features whatever the discipline. There is often much to be gained by trying to appreciate how others approach it.

Looking Ahead

The process of doing your research can be divided up into several stages:

Stage 1 Thinking about it

Understanding the reasons for doing a research project, its potential benefits for you and how best to fit it into a busy degree course.

Stage 2 Planning it

Deciding which project to do, finding a supervisor, designing the project, asking the right questions and managing your efforts effectively.

Stage 3 Doing it

Taking a productive approach to your work, reading the literature, interacting with your supervisor and making the most of your opportunities.

Stage 4 Presenting it

Writing up the dissertation and presenting it for assessment.

Stage 5 Shouting about it

Telling the world about what you have done, realizing how you have changed as a person, and exploiting the skills you have developed (for example, to get a decent job).

This book is divided that way too. If you are looking at the book for the first time, it is likely that you are at Stage 1. The stages overlap in a way that book sections cannot, so once you get going you will have to dip into the chapters as you need them.

In summary, this book aims to put your research project in the correct perspective. Its tone is intended to be reflective as well as advisory. It encourages you to be enthusiastic but to keep your total workload in balance. It expects you to get completely immersed in the subject of the project but to keep your head above the waves and to remain in sight of land. Above all, it aims to help you keep track of where you are heading and to make the right preparations for the future.

Your project is a unique opportunity for you to sample the delights and frustrations of research, to experience the intensity of the investigative process and the excitements of discovery. Carrying out your project work will force you to think independently and move beyond any passive acceptance of the knowledge and beliefs of others. Your reaction to all this will be a personal one and cannot be predicted: you may find it totally enthralling and decide to make research your career vocation or you may feel like writing ‘NEVER AGAIN’ on the nearest motorway bridge. Whatever your experience and whatever you decide for the future, doing your own research will change your perception of life, your view of yourself and your assessment of your capabilities.

Stage 1

Thinking about It

Chapter 2

Motivation and Skills

Your project is probably an obligatory part of your course. Since you have little choice, you may not have thought very much about why you are doing it. In fact, it is there for several different reasons, some of which you would recognize as personally valuable. Identifying these ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of boxes
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Stage 1 – Thinking about it
• Stage 2 – Planning it
• Stage 3 – Doing it
• Stage 4 – Presenting it
• Stage 5 – Shouting about it
• Bibliography
• Index