1Why do we write up our research?

What is Research? Research: gathering information to answer a question that solves a

problem.
Why Write Up Your Research?
Remember: writing helps you remember what you think and discovered
Understand: writing helps you organize your thoughts and understand a concept,
historical event, or discovery better
Test your thinking: writing helps you find problems or weaknesses in your thoughts so
you can change your thinking or find better arguments to support your ideas/claims
Joining the Conversation: by writing the research, you join a conversation of
researchers around the world who enjoy learning new things.
So what?
What will I find in this research so I will show the good and bad things to the reader.
I am working on the earthquake-resistant features of Hellenistic architecture
in Butrint because I want to find out what enabled them to withstand
thousands of years of earthquakes in order to help (so) my reader
understand how ancient technology may still be applicable today
(Theoretical: in order to help my reader understand whether ancient
residents of Butrint were intellectually and technologically more advanced
than later generations of builders).
What is the value and drawback of these types of sources: primary, secondary, and
tertiary?
Primary: original sources
In history: documents and artifacts from the time and people studied
In literature and philosophy: texts studied
In sciences: original surveys, experiments, reports
Secondary sources: written documents based on primary sources
Journal articles and scholarly reports based on primary sources
Tertiary Sources: synthesis of secondary sources
Textbooks, mass-circulation magazines
What type of claim is most significant? It depends from what you want to give to
percjell to the reader.
Claim: answer to your research question
The Kind of Claim
Practical: you give a practical answer

Benefits:
Useful!
Challenges:
Feasibility?
Cost?
Implications?
Better than alternatives?
Conceptual: you provide better understanding
Benefits:
Easier to argue
Challenges:
So what?
What is a hedge and why it is important for claims and arguments?
hedge Make claims appear less certain, but more easily accepted.
Arguments We wish to suggest, In our opinion, We believe that. Help us to
try to convince the reader in what we believe. And lets us to give our
opinion for the problem

What is the difference between reasons and evidence? How are they used in
arguments?
Reasons: why people should believe your claim ( arsyet)
Evidence: hard data or information available in the real world (Reasons are
created in your mind) ( provat reale).
What does it mean to say evidence must be accurate, precise, sufficient,
representative, and authoritative?
Accuracy: make sure you report evidence without making an error
Numbers and data are accurate
Quotes are accurate
Bibliographic information is accurate
If you are inaccurate, readers will doubt your entire claim
Sufficient
Is there enough evidence to trust the reason?
One quote, fact, or number may not be enough to prove a reason valid (but
can disprove a claim)

Representative
Does the evidence cover the range of cases or situations that apply to the
claim?
Example: opinion surveys of a city should include people from all different
parts and social classes of the city
You must show that your evidence is representative
Authoritative
Is the type of evidence accepted in the field of study?
Provat duhen te jene te kohes qe po flasim ne menyr qe te jene sa me te
pershtatshme ( afer ) per problemin qe po flasim. Te sakta ne menyr qe te jen sa
me bindese. Te mjaftushme ne menyr qe ta bindim lexusin.
When should we use quotes, paraphrases, and summaries in our reports?
Quote if the source uses
Original phrasing
States the point best
The source is an authority
You disagree with the source and want to be fair
Paraphrase if you can state the idea more clearly than the source
Summarize if you need to leave out unimportant information in the source
What is a warrant in an argument? How should it be used?
Warrant: the logical relationship between a circumstance and its consequence.
When X, then Y. when renewable resources are going to be used 100 % then
our air quality will be better.

What elements should be included in an introduction or conclusion?

Review of Introduction
Basic elements:
Context, Problem, Response
Pace
Decide how much background you need to explain for your audience
Options
If the problem is well known, leave out the common ground
If the consequences of the problem are well known, do not describe them

If you want readers to follow your thinking through the report, give a plan
rather than an explicit thesis for the response
Conclusion
Reverse the order of the introduction
Begin with your main pointrephrase it, make it stronger and more explicit
Show how the initial question is now solved
Add a new significance or applicationhow might this knowledge now change us,
the world, or our thinking?
Call for more researchidentify questions that still need to be answered
Echo the quote, fact, or anecdote from the beginning
What types of plans or arrangements of papers are useful? What types should be
avoided?
Why Plan?
A plan guides you through your writing process
You can organize ideas in a logical way
Outlines
Topic Outline:
I. Introduction: Laptops in Classrooms
A. Uses
1. Labs
2. Classroom
B. Revision Studies
1. Study A
2. Study B
II. Conclusions

Plans:
Some are pre-determined, as in sciences
Introduction
Methods and materials
Results
Analysis
Conclusion

Plans to Avoid
Narrative of your thinking
First I thought A, then I looked a B, then I decided C.
You should give an argument, not a story
Patchwork of sources
Topic
Sources A, B, C, D, E, F
Conclusion
This has little analysis. Where is your thinking?
Direct mirror of assignment
Structure your paper in the same structure as an assignment question.
Show your own thinking and analysis.

How can we use sources to develop questions for research?

Sources can help us to develop questions for our research in a source we can see why
is the x author pro or against the one specific problem.
What should we remember in revising style, in addition to correct grammar, spelling,
and organization of ideas?
1. Express crucial actions in verbs
2. Make your central characters the subjects of those verbs; keep those subjects
short, concrete, and specific
3. Begin sentences with familiar information
4. Use active sentences for things the writer does (claim, conclude, propose) and
passive sentences to describe experimental procedures
5. Put complex information, new technical terms, or introductions of following
material last

How do we write a parenthetical citation, a journal citation, or a book citation in

Chicago author-date style (Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition)?

Examples: Parenthetical: (Mojzes 2011, 25) Book:

Mojzes, Paul. 2011. Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the
Twentieth Century. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.
Journal from an Electronic Database:

Sletzinger, Martin. 2011. A Glimmer in the Balkans. The Wilson Quarterly 35 (1):
42-48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41001067

What is the value of having a clearly-formulated problem and thesis in a research

paper?
What bias must we guard against in our research?
According to Booth, Colomb, and Williams, what are the five key elements of an
academic argument?
What is the difference between practical and conceptual/theoretical arguments or
thesis statements?
Why should you test your own argument? How can you address weaknesses in the
argument?