Looking for texts on principles of research methods

[Schmedlap]

This might seem amateurish, but it was helpful for me. I, too, am doing some independent research, but I am a biology major who never had to write any research papers in college. I did a few minor ones (5 whole pages) in high school, but that was before the internet age (or at least before the internet reached my rural little high school).

I came across the website below, created by a Western Civilization professor. It is written primarily for an undergraduate audience, but as another commenter noted, research is research. Aside from giving basic and familiar pointers, he recounts the process that he went through while doing his graduate thesis and his PhD dissertation.

Here is the link: http://www.historyguide.org/guide/guide.html#Table

[jcustis]

This might seem amateurish, but it was helpful for me. I, too, am doing some independent research, but I am a biology major who never had to write any research papers in college. I did a few minor ones (5 whole pages) in high school, but that was before the internet age (or at least before the internet reached my rural little high school).

I came across the website below, created by a Western Civilization professor. It is written primarily for an undergraduate audience, but as another commenter noted, research is research. Aside from giving basic and familiar pointers, he recounts the process that he went through while doing his graduate thesis and his PhD dissertation.

Here is the link: http://www.historyguide.org/guide/guide.html#Table

Thanks to everyone for pointing me towards useful material. I even found a companion onine reference from Bowdoin College (rival of my alma mater, Bates College!): http://academic.bowdoin.edu/WritingGuides/

I even received several PM that have definitely shaped things...now I just have to start the business of reading and adhering to the precepts within...

[marct]

You know, there's a distinct difference between "research" and "writing" and that has some interesting implications. There are thousands of different research methodologies, grounded in hundreds of different theories, but there are really only six major ways in which people write, so figuring out "how to do" research means you have to figure out a) how you write and b) what type of research you are doing for a given project.

BTW, the six ways to write comes from a lot of research done by Aviva Friedman at Carleton who used to be my boss when I was a writing tutor. They range from the build an outline and "research" to fill it in (1), all the way through to just sit down and write your final version (6). Personally, I come in at about 4.5 or so, usually producing one draft and sending it out for friends to rip apart, then re-writing the entire thing. Anyway, you need to figure out where you are in the scale from "I must have exact structure!" to "Don't bug me; it will appear".

What type of research you are doing on a particular project depends on a lot of variables. I'm tossing up a cheat sheet I hand out to my students to get them thinking about types of research. It's couched in terms of building operational models for a research process and figuring out which methodologies you can use.

Marc

[selil]

MarcT has returned.

I like the choosing what concepts to use section.

[marct]

MarcT has returned.

- I've been pulling one of those "work for 10 weeks flat out" things. I' on the downside of it now (only a workshop and 3 concerts this weekend, a book review next week, and a couple of supervised reading courses).

I like the choosing what concepts to use section.

Thanks. Feel free to suggest modifications, changes etc. - it's an ongoing work.

Marc