University of Babylon
College of Education for Human Sciences
Department of English
Academic Year 2017 ? 2018
Course Title: Methods of Research
Instructor: Assist. Lecturer Sadiq Mahdi Al-Shamiri (M.A.)
Class: Third Year
Classrooms: 2A and 2B
Time: As Scheduled
E-mail: sadiq.hum2016@gmail.com
1st Lecture
26 September 2017
Introduction to the Research Paper Process
1.1 Course Description and Students Assignments
Since it is the first meeting, I d like to give you a general idea about the subject of the course, the process of writing research paper. I d like, also, to remind you of some of your assignments.
This course tackles the process of writing research paper as a college assignment. You are assumed to be familiar with the concept of research paper itself. Yet, let me ask you the following question: Have you ever written research papers? Suppose that I noticed that most of you limited their answers to whether or not they did such process in their first academic year only. Your answers, as a result, would give me an impression that you faced difficulty in using the English present perfect tense (Have you done). Suppose also that I became interested in that topic, generalized the problem to the Iraqi EFL learners, tried to investigate it deeply, set some hypotheses, constructed some tests, and finally reached to some conclusions and useful recommendations that facilitated that difficulty. In this way I had done a kind of academic research.
Doing a significant research paper, therefore, does take time and patience. It requires hard work on the part of both teacher and students. A research paper, as a result, "presents and argues a thesis, the writer s proposition or opinion… it tries to convince readers that the writer s argument is valid or at least deserves serious consideration"(see Rozakis, 2007:4). It is hoped that, by means of this course, this task will be turned into pleasure and success.
It is helpful that you know your assignments during the course, which are:
1. You are required to regularly attend the class in due times.
2. You are required to abide by your uniform.
3. You are expected to prepare the material at home in order to respond to some questions raised during the lecture.
4. To have your textbooks when attending the lesson.
5. To sit two-classroom examinations one for each semester. The due times will be decided in the class.
6. To write research papers in no more than 15 pages for each one. I ll tell you later on when to start.
7. Some quizzes will be done along the academic year.
The credits will be given as follows: 20 marks for each class exam, 5 marks for writing your own researches, 5 marks for attending the class and the quizzes, and 50 marks for the final exam.
Your textbook is "Bailey et al.(1981). Writing Research Papers: A Practical Guide. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston." Some new editions of the same book are available at bookshops with few adjustments. We ll adopt the 1981 edition because it is the available one in the Free Education. The following sources are also recommended:
• Judith, B. (1987). Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science. Stratford: Open University Press.
• Perrin, R. (2002). Handbook for College Research. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Rozakis, L. (2007). Writing Great Research Papers. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1.2 Why Write a Research Paper?
University students at your stage are required to learn writing research papers. This process is of importance or significance for several reasons among them are the following:
1. A research paper may be the most practical of all your college assignments. It is an exercise in communication and an integral part of your education. So, doing this practical process is one of requirements for graduation.(The second practical activity is the practical application during the fourth year)
2. By means of writing research paper you learn about the resources available in general and in your academic field. It helps you how to deal with the libraries because most of your papers are library research papers.
3. It helps you how to evaluate resources. That is, to identify the relevant and the reliable sources available.
4. It provides you with valuable experience in deeply investigating some topics and forces you to develop informed conclusions about them.
5. You will gain valuable knowledge about some portions of your field of study. You probably will remember the material from your research projects longer than anything else from your courses. So, it paves the way to write deeper and wider in coverage postgraduate works.
6. The research paper process is not confined to college preparation. Students of all fields apply it often in their future times. For instance, as a lawyer preparing briefs, and as a doctor searching medical literature to find the right diagnosis and cure. Similarly, you will apply the skills of research in future as teachers of English.
المادة المعروضة اعلاه هي مدخل الى المحاضرة المرفوعة بواسطة استاذ(ة) المادة . وقد تبدو لك غير متكاملة . حيث يضع استاذ المادة في بعض الاحيان فقط الجزء الاول من المحاضرة من اجل الاطلاع على ما ستقوم بتحميله لاحقا . في نظام التعليم الالكتروني نوفر هذه الخدمة لكي نبقيك على اطلاع حول محتوى الملف الذي ستقوم بتحميله .
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