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17. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the list.
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17. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the list.
rigidities, format, protocol, vision, manual, suspension, devotions, behalf, incompatible, mutual
1. Our Muslim students are permitted to leave class early on Fridays to practise their _______. 2. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson received a lengthy _______ from international competition after testing positive for steroids at the Seoul Olympics. 3. Many game shows in countries around the world follow the same _______ as popular American game shows. 4. Because of the church's treatment of Galileo, many people suggest that religion is _______ with science. 5. What exactly is the proper _______ for making a complaint against a professor at this university? 6. The environmental award was accepted by a grade 12 student on _______ of the school. 7. _______ dependencies develop through the process of social interaction. 8. Some analysts suggest that _______ in the labor and goods markets are to blame for Europe's poor economic performance. 9. After he fell while skating, he found that he was dizzy, and his _______ was blurred. 10. I learned how to drive on a transmission, so driving an automatic is easy for me.
18*. Read the text and render it in English.
The Writing Process
The student should be in regular communication with his/her Chair, keeping the Chair up-to-date on his/her progress in the form of e-mail contact and/or print-outs of list of potential sources, statistical output (if relevant), and drafts of the paper. This interaction and the approval of each step facilitate student success. The student should absolutely avoid bringing his/her master’s project draft paper to the Chair in the last month of the expected graduation semester, without having consulted the Chair on the Project in the preceding months. Turning in a draft paper does not guarantee either approval of the project or graduation in that semester.
I. Writing the Introduction
The Introduction section should include the following:
An overview of the research problem.
Why this problem is worth exploring (spelling out the main positions in the literature to situate the problem, and, if relevant, your personal interest in it). What contribution your research is likely to make to the literature (the gap you will fill).
In about two pages you should be moving from laying out the broad context for the study to the narrowly-focused definition of the problem/research question.
The wording of the narrowly-focused research question should be explicit and be clear to even the most inattentive reader. For example, “I will be examining the extent to which microcredit has enabled the twin goals of poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment in Kenya. ” Notice the choice of “extent to which” over “whether” to allow for a more wide-ranging discussion of the outcomes of microcredit.
It is O. K. to cite one or more studies that are either directly relevant or that inspired this research project or provide the justification for the study, but the Introduction is not where one evaluates these studies.
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Invariably, one cannot write the final version of the Introduction section before completing the Literature Review and Methodology sections. Bear in mind that this section (along with the Conclusion section) will probably be the last section of the research paper to be completed.
II. The Literature Review
A. Your Main Objective: The purpose of your literature review is to justify your research project by evaluating the state of knowledge on the topic (that is, what we already know, what is contested, what we don’t know). It provides the context for your study. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify the relevant literature (that is, the most influential theories/writing on the topic, the methods used, the findings/conclusions), be familiar with these, and locate their own study in relation to the literature.
B. Identifying your argument and the evidence you need: A literature review is the necessary step to identify your argument/specific hypothesis and to develop your guide for gathering the evidence to examine this argument/hypothesis. At the outset—in the Fall semester of your second year—you are likely to have a “working hypothesis” based on reading a small number of articles and/or your personal experiences. Through reading and evaluating the relevant literature, the working hypothesis has to develop into a refined argument/hypothesis, by your becoming more informed about what others have argued or shown and your reactions to what they have said. You will also become informed about the types of methodology others have used and be able to identify your own methodology (e. g. what kind of variables you might need statistics on, what kind of empirical methodology is necessary and feasible--given your strengths and the time frame and the data availability; or what kinds of text you will be interpreting). Note: “evidence” covers a broad range of sources—from statistics to texts—depending on your methodology.
C. Identifying the Basic Trends and Patterns in the Literature:
In your literature review your strategy is to identify the main trends and patterns in the articles/books you read.
Pay attention to the following:
What theories seem to be referred to/used most often?
What are the common assumptions most researchers are making?
What are the common methods used?
What are the points of agreement/disagreement among the authors?
How has each scholar contributed with their work—are they the first to apply a particular method, first to survey a particular group, first to make a particular argument, and by doing so, how have they advanced the debate on the subject (shifted the question of interest etc. )?
Do any other researchers share your views (your “working thesis”)?
How has the literature on the topic evolved in recent years?
In your evaluation of the literature you should evaluate content for its application to your research (which you identify in the last column of the table above). Your literature review does not necessarily include everything you have read on the topic. For each potential reference ask yourself: “Why am I including this reference? ” The answer has to indicate how it helps build your argument. You want to include it because, for example, it makes a similar argument or it is an argument you are disagreeing with or it illustrates a weakness that you propose to overcome with research.
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D. The Relevant Literature:
Levels of Relevance: The literature that is relevant to your research project is likely to be of three types that will demand differing amounts of attention and space in your review. Example:
Background: You need to acknowledge these writings but not summarize them at length or in detail. These studies pertain to one aspect or “variable” in the research question. For the microcredit in Kenya paper, for example, studies that describe the shift in development policy toward neoliberal macroeconomic policies would be background literature. You may discuss key studies emphasizing that promotion of microcredit with its emphasis on self-employment, entrepreneurship, individual solutions, is consistent with market reforms and privatization.
Somewhat relevant: you need to provide a greater attention to this literature but not evaluate these studies in critical detail. For example, the literature on poverty reduction policies in developing countries.
The most relevant: You need to provide careful examination of these; these could be a set of studies that directly pertains to the research project. For example, studies on microcredit, quickly moving from a few well known South Asian studies to focus in depth on Sub-Saharan Africa. (see the type of thematic evaluation illustrated above).
Thus, your thematic literature review would move from general statements on the background literature to the detailed evaluation of the most relevant literature progressively providing more detailed, critical evaluation of the existing studies. In the figure from Hubbuch, the top triangle, narrowing to a tip, symbolizes this aspect of your literature review.
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