PMCb1002 - Academic Writing Autumn 2023, Class 2 of 6 Types of writing, working with sources, research questions Types of writing: research proposals Types of writing: research proposals Types of writing: research proposals Types of writing: research proposals -The goal is to convince your audience that your research is suitable and manageable -It should have: -Strong introduction and background to the topic -Literature review that covers existing research -Overview of research methodology -Discussion regarding practicalities, such as timelines, limitations, biases, etc Types of writing: book reviews -Can be found in academic journals -800 to 1 200 words -The editors will sometimes tell you what to focus on and what the review should contain. For example, do a comparison with other books, write a brief overview, tackle the topic of political assumptions -Evaluates the book’s content, sets the work in a larger context, identifies strengths/weaknesses Types of writing: case studies -“The detailed examination of an aspect of a historical episode to develop or test historical explanations that may be generalizable to other events” – Levy, 2008 -Lijphart’s 1971 categories of atheoretical, interpretive, hypothesis-generating, theory-confirming, theory-informing, and deviant case studies Types of writing: ideographic case studies -Idiographic case studies: describe, explain, interpret, and/or understand a single case as an end in itself rather than as a vehicle for developing broader theoretical generalizations - -Inductive case studies: very descriptive and lack an explicit theoretical framework. Often take the form of “total history,” which assumes that everything is connected to everything else and aims to explain all aspects of a case and their interconnections - -Also known as descriptive or atheoretical Atheoretical: describe a case very well, but not to contribute to a theory Types of writing: ideographic case studies -Theory-guided case studies: also aim to explain/interpret a single historical event rather than to generalize beyond the data - -In comparison to inductive case studies, they are explicitly structured by a well-developed conceptual framework that focuses on some theoretically-specified aspects of reality and neglects others - -Examples: efforts by political scientists to explain the origins of WW1, the end of the Cold War, as well as realist, Marxist, and feminist historical analyses Atheoretical: describe a case very well, but not to contribute to a theory Types of writing: hypothesis-generating case studies -Hypothesis-generating case studies: aim to generalize beyond the data -Examine one or more cases to develop a general theoretical proposition -Contribute to the process of theory-construction rather than to theory itself Types of writing: hypothesis-testing case studies -Most/least likely case designs -Assesses the plausibility of a hypothesis by using sample data -Various research methods – interviews, experiments, questionnaire, etc Types of writing: abstracts -Short summary of a longer work with key points -Usually about 200-250 words -Presents the methodology, research question, and the key findings -It lets the reader decide if they will read the full paper - - Working with sources: primary and secondary sources -Primary sources: offers first-hand evidence and information -Data collected yourself through interviews, surveys, or experiments, government documents, legal texts. -Social media posts, newspaper articles (history), speeches -Physical objects; artwork, photos, letters, diaries - -Secondary sources: have already interpreted and analyzed information from primary sources -Journal articles, academic books, reviews, textbooks, documentary Working with sources: how to search for information -Search engines for academic articles: Google Scholar, JSTOR, Scopus, Web of Science, FSS Library e-Resources - -Access these search engines through your Masaryk University account - -Familiarize yourself with your topic and determine keywords/terms to find the information you want Working with sources: how to read sources -The abstract will provide a good overview of the article -Be critical: -Distinction between facts and opinions? -What evidence is being used? -What are the findings and conclusions? - -Skimming? Read the first and last sentences of each paragraph, or the introduction and the conclusion Working with sources: how to annotate -Notes are essential to remember what you’ve read – great for studying -Accurate, clear, concise -My preferred method: 1.Highlighting key points and later re-writing them in a review document 2.Headings with subpoints -Highlight/underline main information -You can make tables, diagrams, word clouds -You should be able to concisely summarize the reading Working with sources: how to do a literature review - What is a literature review? -An overview of previously published works on a topic - -It demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of your topic, particularly how the works related to each other - -It is time-consuming but it is the foundation of your research Working with sources: how to do a literature review Working with sources: how to do a literature review In an article, this section can be titled: -Literature review -Theoretical background -Current state of knowledge - -It brings together all the existing, relevant knowledge for your paper -Divide your literature review section into paragraphs that present themes, trends, relevant theories -You must synthesize the published material, but also evaluate it in regard to your research question Working with sources: how to do a literature review Literature Review Annotated Bibliography -Draws together multiple sources to examine where they agree and disagree -Helps identify gaps in the literature -Essay format -Relate the findings of the sources to the research question - -Summary and evaluation of each source on an individual basis -Annotated bibliographies help develop literature reviews -Can be used as a reference point to help paint the bigger picture in the literature review - How to develop a research question -Identify a subject area -Carry out preliminary research -Focus on a precise issue within your broader topic -Make sure your question hasn’t already been answered (but the topic can be the same) -You can also develop sub-questions -How will you answer this question? We will look at this in during class 4 Final paper topics -What are some topics in which you are interested? - -Are you interested in: a region of the world? A phenomenon? A historical period? A historical figure? A relationship between two actors? A political theory? - -Questions about some already existing ideas?