Research: B2+

What is research?

In simple terms, when you do research, you are looking for information in order to answer a question. In academic settings, research can take many different forms depending on the subject discipline and the kind of question you want to answer. If you are studying a scientific subject, your research may take the form of an experiment to answer a question which begins with the phrase: ‘What will happen if … ?’. If you are studying a social science, your research may take the form of a survey of a group of people’s thoughts, feelings or experiences. In any case, no matter what your subject discipline, at some point you will have to do some research which involves investigating what other scholars have said about the topic you are interested in. In other words, you will have to do some library based research.

Glossary

subject discipline In an academic setting, a subject discipline is a particular topic or specific area of study.

Why do you have to do library based research?

When you do library based research, you usually have to work on your own. This gives you the opportunity to become a more independent learner and to show that you can think for yourself. These are qualities that are highly valued in academic settings within the English speaking world.

However, working independently does not mean that your research is not connected to the work of other people. One of the main purposes of universities is to produce knowledge, that is, to create, evaluate and disseminate new information and ideas. Producing knowledge usually involves many scholars working in different times and places. When you do research as part of your course, you are learning skills which will allow you to participate in that wider effort. You have the opportunity to develop the ability to:

Glossary

evaluate If you evaluate something or someone, you consider them in order to make a judgement about them, for example about how good or bad they are.

disseminate To disseminate information or knowledge means to distribute it so that it reaches many people or organizations.

How do you know if your research is good?

In some parts of the world, students are judged according to how well they retain information given to them. In the English speaking world, when your essay paper is being marked, the marker will normally use other criteria for judging how well you have demonstrated the skills involved.

These are the questions the marker may ask themselves:

1Has the student understood the question?

2How well does the student know what other scholars have written about the topic?

3How skilfully has the student evaluated the work of other scholars?

4To what extent has the student synthesized the information and ideas available to produce a convincing argument?

5How clearly has that argument been conveyed?

6Has the student learned what they were supposed to learn from the course?

Glossary

synthesize If you synthesize different ideas, you combine these ideas.

Some of these criteria may be more important than others, depending on the task you have been set. However, in most cases, students who are good at 3 and 4 tend to receive higher marks. That is because they demonstrate good critical thinking skills.

Generally speaking critical thinking involves viewing issues from multiple perspectives and weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of arguments. When you do this you demonstrate that you can make fair judgements and take an independent stance.

For more information on critical thinking skills, see Chapter 7.

Tips

The research process

Doing research is a complex process, so it can be helpful to divide it into tasks. How you break down the process depends on your assignment, your preferred ways of working, and your strengths and weaknesses as a researcher.

Remember, in practice, doing research can be a ‘messy’ process. You may do some tasks, such as making an outline plan, more than once. Or, you may do some tasks at the same time, for example, you will probably continue reading while writing your first draft. However, in general, if you are new to research, you should probably aim to spend about 50% of the time available preparing and gathering information, and 50% writing up. As you gain experience, you can adjust the length of time you spend on each stage. However, students who spend more time preparing tend to score higher marks.

Imagine you have 30 days to write a 3,000 word essay on a topic related to your course. The tasks you might do are listed in the table below. Tick the tasks that you think are important. For each task you have ticked, write approximately how much time you think it would be reasonable to spend on that task.

When your essay has been marked and returned, set aside time to carefully consider the feedback given. This will give you useful information about how to approach your next essay. If you do not understand the feedback given, it is important to seek clarification and advice. Although lecturers cannot always provide one-to-one meetings, your university is likely to have study advisors who can help.

Tips

Understanding the essay question

Sometimes set essay questions can be difficult to interpret. You may not know exactly what you are expected to do. However, if you break the question down into parts, you will find it easier to answer.

Essay questions can generally be divided into two parts:

Glossary

trait A trait is a particular characteristic, quality, or tendency that someone or something has.

1The topic – this tells you the general area of your research.

2The focus – this tells you what you need to find out about the topic.

It is important to pay careful attention to the focus of the essay question because this indicates the boundaries of your research. The question ‘Is generosity an innate human trait?’ limits your discussion to the issue of whether human beings are generous by nature. You should not be tempted to discuss at length other issues such as whether generosity is morally good or bad.

Glossary

boundaries The boundaries of something such as a subject or activity are the limits that people think that it has.

Notice also that the question requires you to focus on generosity in humans. You may find it useful to make comparisons, for example to behaviour in animals. However, you should keep your focus on human beings.

Once you understand the topic and focus, you need to think about how you are expected to approach the question, that is, what you need to do to answer it.

Choose the option a, b or c which best describes how you should approach the question.

Is generosity an innate human trait?

a You should answer ‘yes, it is’ or ‘no, it isn’t’ and give your reasons.

b You should evaluate the arguments for and against the notion that generosity is an innate hum an trait and come to a conclusion expressing your opinion.

c You should write everything that you have been able to find out about generosity in human beings.

Instruction words in essay questions

Sometimes essay questions contain an instruction word or expression which indicates the approach you should take.

In this case, you are instructed to make judgements about the media coverage. You might ask yourself: How good or bad was it? Or: To what extent was it fair, accurate, or thorough?

Notice how changing the instruction word changes the approach.

For example: Analyse media coverage of the 2008 banking crisis.

This question requires you to study media coverage in order to come to an understanding of why it was the way it was. This might involve looking for patterns or dividing it into categories in such a way that allows you to understand it more deeply. You might ask yourself questions such as: How frequently was the banking crisis mentioned in the news? Which aspects of the crisis were given most attention? What sort of language was used to describe the crisis?

Instruction words often appear in the introductions to essays and reports. Complete the essay extracts below by underlining the most appropriate word in italics.

1 Section 1 will discuss/justify racial stereotyping with regard to the ‘big five’ personality traits. Section 2 assesses/examines the interplay between cultural stereotypes and media representations of minority ethnic communities.

2 This essay compares and contrasts/outlines the main components of the government’s poverty reduction strategy… A final evaluation will trace/assess the extent to which government measures to reduce child poverty have met targets set in 2000.

3 This study will trace/justify the one-thousand-year history of the Catalan language. It will then outline/compare and contrast Spanish policy on minority language protection with that of the Scottish government in relation to Gaelic.

4 This essay will argue that there is little evidence to justify/outline arguments in favour of state intervention.

Eight common instruction words and expressions along with examples are given in the table below. Match each expression with the correct definition a–h.

Write definitions for the instruction words in bold below.

1 Comment on the key components of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

2 Illustrate the impact of management style on teamwork in organizations.

3 Relate the principal factors that are commonly thought to influence a person’s choice of life partner to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Describing versus presenting an argument

Some essay questions require you to describe, that is, to display knowledge without necessarily giving your opinion about it.

For example: Which regions of the world are most seriously affected by conflict over access to water resources?

This question asks you to list and describe the parts of the world where there are the most serious conflicts over lack of water.

Other questions require you to present an argument, that is, to give your opinion backed by supporting evidence.

Glossary

supporting evidence Supporting evidence is information that is used to prove something.

notable Someone or something that is notable is important or interesting.

For example: How can conflicts over Nile River water resources best be resolved?

To answer this question you need to give your opinion about the best way or ways to deal with conflicts over access to Nile River water. You need to give reasons for your opinion and supporting evidence, that is, examples and data to prove your point. You also need to show that other ways of dealing with the problem are or have been less effective.

Often essay questions ask you to both describe and argue.

For example: What have been the most notable conflicts over water resources over the last ten years and what are the most effective approaches to resolving these types of disputes?

To answer this question you have to list and describe and present an argument based on your evaluation of the evidence. Be careful! It is often easier to describe than to evaluate. Less experienced students often focus too much on displaying information and not enough on developing an argument. Instruction words can also be categorized in terms of whether they require mainly description or mainly argument in the response.

Tip

Look again at the instruction words a–l below and answer questions 1–3.

1 Which require mainly description?