Bryman & Bell: Research Project Guide

Table of Contents

1. Preparing Yourself to Do Research
2. What Do I Want to Research Exactly?
3. The Research Process
4. Writing Up Your Research Report
   1. Preliminary planning
   2. The structure of a dissertation
   3. Title page, acknowledgements and contents page
   4. Abstracts
   5. Introduction
   6. The literature review
   7. Research Methods
   8. Results
   9. Discussion & Conclusions
   10. References, appendices and obligations
   11. Referencing
   12. Writing up research checklist

Preliminary planning

Writing up Your Research

Chapter 24; p.559-60)

1. Start early
2. Structure your writing - follow the Structure of a dissertation
3. Be persuasive
   1. you must convince your readers of the credibility of your conclusions
4. Get feedback
   1. try to get as much feedback on your writing as possible and respond positively to the points anyone makes about what they read
   2. provide your supervisor with drafts of your work to the fullest extent that regulations will allow
5. Avoid sexist, racist, and disablist language:
   1. One of the biggest problems (but not the only one) of non-sexist writing is in avoiding complex his/her formulations. The easiest way to deal with this is to write in the plural, e.g.:
      1. 'I wanted to give each respondent the opportunity to complete the questionnaire in his or her own time and in a location that was convenient for him or her.'
   2. This is a rather tortuous sentence and, although grammatically correct, it could be phrased more helpfully as:
      1. 'I wanted to give respondents the opportunity to complete their questionnaires in their own time and at a time that was convenient for them.'
   3. The British Sociological Association provides very good general and specific advice about this issue, which can be found at: www.britsoc.co.uk/new_site/index.php?area=equality&id=64

Web link:

www.languages.ait.ac.th/EL21OPEN.HTM - from the Language Center at the Asian Institute of Technology, includes sections on how to write up (intro, methods, results etc) good general advice though aimed at Masters students.