Research Techniques for Writing a Thesis
Large research projects like writing a doctoral thesis or a masters dissertation are painfully slow as there are large time gaps between significant developments in the course of selecting a topic, researching and writing. Such research assignments require rigorous and comprehensive research at different levels and stages before finally understanding and producing a work worth a thesis or a dissertation.
In this process students and research scholars are at constant danger of losing track of amount and gravity of research conducted throughout. If you are writing your masters dissertation or a thesis and are not aware of the research techniques to be followed or are careless about it, you may not be able to use your research in your writing effectively or at worst, you may commit accidental plagiarism.
So what are the research methodologies and how they should be followed to avoid plagiarism. Let us find out.
a) Research begins and evolves with a definite direction which comes from one’s own understanding, interest and ideas. No matter how concrete or technical your research is, there must always be a room for creativity. Keep a note of your ideas and their development. Also, you must make best use of your prior knowledge on the subject as it helps in creative and effective research reading.
b) Begin with your reading list assigned to you by your supervisor. The reading list decides the course of your research and thus you must be particular and conscious of the books you select and the order in which they should be read. Many books require a certain level of understanding and prior knowledge to be fully comprehended. Broadly classifying, primary books are read before Secondary texts but in a few cases, it is essential to read the secondary texts along with the primary for better understanding of the latter.
c) The responsibility of a researcher is not only to investigate a topic from varied sources but to read and from his/her own perception and view point from what is referred and read. To be able to contribute something to the field of one’s study, though indirectly, the scholar has to read, absorb, and reproduce something of his own. It could be a new perspective, a new structure or newer and clearer understanding of a text.
d) You must take notes effectively and carefully. Keep note of the all the important information of the book you refer. Some if the important information to be noted is name of the book, author, publisher, date and place of publication, and other information like library from where you issued the book(for future reference) etc.
e) Discussion is considered as an effective and fruitful research technique. A constructive discussion with co-workers, fellow students and relatives widens your understanding of a particular topic as it opens their ideas which also act as stimulus to your own dissertation ideas.
These research techniques are not necessarily restricted to large research projects like writing a thesis but can be applied to any form of essay writing like class assignments, Sociology or English coursework.
