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Sources:. Sources are all those materials the researcher may legitimately use in order to support his or her research or make the task of its conduct easier.
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Sources: Sources are all those materials the researcher may legitimately use in order to support his or her research or make the task of its conduct easier. The researcher can support an assertion made by referring to a reliable source that has already established the point of the said assertion. Otherwise he or she has to demonstrate the validity of such assertion.
Sources come in two categories, Primary sources Secondary sources Primary sources are reports of original research by those who have conducted that research. A secondary source is often in the form of a compilation
A compilation is an article or series of articles written by a third party that summarizes, discusses or explains the work done by one or many researchers in a given area. This may be in the form of a single paper, a series of papers or a collection published in a book.
The Weakest Link Principle Purists argue that as research is ultimately a series of interconnected arguments leading to a conclusion of which the researcher wishes to convince us, the argument and therefore the validity of the conclusion is at best only as strong as the weakest argument made. Therefore, a researcher must select his or her sources carefully. Only recognized, valid, robust and acknowledged sources should be used. Unless of course you are making an explicit reference to a flaw. As much as possible, only cite primary source references.
The Use of Secondary Sources Secondary sources are best not used as citations when directly supporting work of original nature. For indirect support, however, use may be made of these resources. Some instances of indirect support include: Literature Review Introductory Remarks The Related Works Section
Literature Review I know a researcher who worked for over eighteen months on a project only for the results to be published by another independent researcher a week before she was to publish hers. In research there are very few prizes for coming second. Horrifying as this might be, this is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst is when one finishes a piece of research, writes it up and sends it for publication only to be written back by the editor saying that this work has already been done and published months or years ago!!!
This is why conducting a detailed literature review is essential Literature review is conducting a survey of ALL there is out there that might impact the way you set up, conduct or report your research. This entails finding if: • The research has already been done; • There is any research that says this work CANNOT be done; • There is any related research that might help you plan your own; • There is any related research that might underpin your work.
It is for the purpose of conducting literature review that secondary sources prove exceptionally useful. Textbooks give a good general introduction to the topic. Some advanced textbooks even at times discuss the current, recently passed and forthcoming areas of research interest. Many also have a list of references, a bibliography and sometimes even an annotated bibliography. They are good first stop. An annotated bibliography is a good second stop. An annotated bibliography is a list of books, and articles organized by topic with each described briefly in terms of its content, importance and contribution to the field; usually by a highly rated expert in the field.
Annotated bibliographies would lead you to the major works in a given field. A recent one is therefore invaluable in helping to discover the state of affairs with the topic of your research. Pursuing the lead of annotated bibliographies would guide you to the identification of the important periodical or on-line sources of publication in a given field. A survey of the recent volumes of such publications is an obligatory next stop. Given that you have done a thorough job of taking these steps, you should now be on firm ground.
Types of sources of primary publication: Conference proceedings Trade periodical Scholarly periodicals/journals Archival journals
Locating and obtaining resources: Library Periodicals Searches On-line Searches Loan-requests
Writing and Research: Researchers have to communicate. There are four areas of importance about which researchers need to do so. These are the: • Research proposal • Research notes • Research progress report(s) • Research report (final publication)
Irrespective of the area, a piece of research writing must be: Clear and understandable An expert is he or she who can talk about the most difficult aspects of her area of expertise in a way that normal, educated laypersons would understand. Clarity is one attribute that assists in this.
Rules of clarity: • Mean what you say. • Say what you mean. • Correct be grammatically. • Perpetually refrain from the employment of a protracted expression provided that a diminutive variation of such cognitive handle is at your disposal. • Never use jargon when common speech will do.
If you want to make a sentence with many qualifications, put some of those qualifications in separate sentences. Do not write legalese. • Do not let the beginning of your sentence lead the reader to an expectation which is contradicted by the end. • Write in the active voice whenever possible • Do not use double negatives unless logically required.
Do not sacrifice precision. Number 4 says “Do not use a long word when a short word will do”. It does not say “Use shorter words to replace long ones”. Use the PRECISE word for the occasion at all occasions. • Be brief. However, again, do not sacrifice precision and understandability for brevity. • Use diagrams –if allowed – as a picture is worth a thousand words. • Do not use diagrams that do not add to the context.
The Research Proposal: The first job of a researcher is to be a salesperson. He or she must be able to convince some entity with funds available to let him or her use that money to conduct the research. Of course to do so successfully, the researcher must convince the funding body of a number of things. These are, that: • The research is feasible (it can be done) • The researcher/team is qualified and capable • Costs are predictable and reasonable • Its returns (financial or other) justify the expense
Members of funding bodies are not always experts in the field. So the researcher has to write the proposal in a language that whilst precise, is also understandable by the educated, layperson. However, research proposals are also ultimately viewed by experts in the field to make technical judgments. They would wish a precise and technical description of the proposed research. There is usually a page/size limit. Therein lies the first difficulty. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed research and also to show that it will be of value, and also for financial reasons, one often needs to explain in detail exactly how this research would be done and what the results shall be. If we knew this, why bother? Therein lies the second difficulty.
Similarly, we need to predict and provide a budget, prior to the commencement of the project. Usually if too high we run the risk of being rejected, if too low, we may run out of money. Therein lies the third difficulty. Finally in order to demonstrate that you are the qualified person to conduct this work, you almost need to prove that you have already done this work. But if so, why do it again? Herein is the fourth difficulty!
Research proposals usually have a(n): • Executive summary • Introduction: that discusses the area, the nature and importance of the research to be conducted. • Proposed research discussion. In this section the research question is presented and discussed technically. • Methodology section that discusses how the research will be done. In this section the researcher has to prove that this method is appropriate, cost effective and will yield results. • Budget
Timing and schedule • Expected results section that discusses what the results might be and why they are important. • Benefits section. This section discusses the benefits of conducting this research and that of its results. • Investigators’ details. This section provides and discusses the history and backgrounds of the investigators involved and their respective roles and responsibilities. • Summary and Conclusions section
10. References 11. Appendices which may include price quotations for equipment, resume and publication lists of the investigators, list of and performance indicators on previous grants, affiliations, security clearances, conflict of interest, animal and human subject declarations and other “ethical” binders, etc.
Research Notes: Leonardo Da Vinci wrote his research notes in mirror image and upside-down. This was to make it difficult for others to abuse his ideas. A modern day researcher has to also balance privacy requirements with availability and the need to communicate ideas to himself/herself at a later time or to others, particularly colleagues who are assisting in the conduct of research.
Research notes come in two forms: Laboratory/field notes, and Study notes Laboratory or field notes basically are notes that capture the data or some other important fact in an experiment or a field or case observation. A study note is an annotated summary of some relevant material studied; particularly a reference.
Whenever I start a new item of research, I start off a new notebook, each page or several pages of which is dated by a given date which continues progressively. In that notebook, and under a given date, I record and annotate ALL the relevant material I may have studied or come across (even lateral thoughts, bright ideas, etc. I might have had) on that day in relation to the work at hand. I may even write small draft paragraphs of the final research report or an interim progress report. That way, writing these reports later becomes much easier. I keep these notes private but do let my colleagues directly involved with that research know where the notebook is, IN CASE OF A MISHAP. More recently, I have been trying a soft version.
Research Progress Report: The form and extent of a progress report varies vastly based on the organization requiring the report. A progress report may be a one page document basically inquiring whether the project is on track or not to a multi-page detailed report discussing all expenditure to date, budgets vs. actuals to date, time-line, progress against time-line, etc. The essence of such a document however is to let the funding or other concerned organizations or individuals know if we are on track, and what deviations/alterations have occurred or are in store.
Final Report: This is the report that discusses the findings of the research. It is usually but not always in the form of a publication. Again, usually but not always this publication is a paper that is submitted to a conference (for small or incremental research), or a journal (for more significant research). Sometimes also a separate more detailed research report is generated where the research is reported therein without any page, size or diagramming limitations. We shall discuss this document in greater detail at a later time.
What is referencing? Referencing is a standardized method of acknowledging sources of information and ideas that you have used in your work, in a way that uniquely identifies their source. Direct quotations, facts and figures, as well as ideas and theories, from both published and unpublished works must be referenced.
Why reference? Referencing is necessary to: Support your arguments and assertions; Avoid accusations of plagiarism; Avoid having to repeat reporting of work already done; Enable the reader to verify quotations; and Enable readers to follow-up and read more fully the cited author's arguments.
Styles of referencing: There are many different styles of referencing. Each with its own peculiarities. Amongst these the more pertinent ones to CS are: The IEEE Style The Harvard Style The AIP Style Other referencing styles such as the Chicago style, the Turabian style, the APA style, and the MLS style might also be mentioned
Irrespective of style, a reference has two components, An in-text citation, and A reference listing The in-text citation is placed in the article at or near where the source is referred to, so that the reference statement or object is clearly identified. The reference listing is an entry in the reference section of the article where the source is identified in sufficient detail so that the reader of the article can locate the original source.
In the case of a book, reference listing includes the following: (at a minimum) Author/editor Year of publication Title Edition Volume number Publisher, and place of publication.
In the case of a journal article it refers to: (at a minimum) Author of article Year of publication Title of article Journal/serial title Volume number Issue number Page numbers on which the article appears.
In the case of electronic information it refers to: Author/editor Year of publication Article title Journal title The type of medium (eg. CD-ROM, Online, etc.) Pages or length "Available at" statement (eg. WWW address, supplier and name of electronic database, Email address, etc.) Access date (Not all of these details will necessarily be applicable.)
