argument Archives - Enhancing Postgraduate Environments https://postgradenvironments.com/tag/argument/ Mon, 12 Jul 2021 12:04:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://postgradenvironments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/favicon.png argument Archives - Enhancing Postgraduate Environments https://postgradenvironments.com/tag/argument/ 32 32 What is a research question and how do I write one? https://postgradenvironments.com/2021/07/12/what-is-a-research-question-and-how-do-i-write-one/ Mon, 12 Jul 2021 12:04:58 +0000 https://postgradenvironments.com/?p=1146 Research Questions guide many aspects of our work. They can help us to decide what literature to read, what data to collect and what kinds...

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]]> Research Questions guide many aspects of our work. They can help us to decide what literature to read, what data to collect and what kinds of theories to draw on to inform our understandings. Getting them right is therefore an important part of the research journey. Research questions emerge from the research problem we want to address and so they can only be crafted when we have a pretty thorough understanding of the phenomenon we want to study. This video takes a look at a few issues to consider when writing research questions – as well as a few pitfalls to avoid. 8-minute animated video

This video was produced by Sherran Clarence, Neil Kramm, Nontokozo Mchunu, & Sioux McKenna, Rhodes University

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Who might find this useful?

This video is made for postgraduate scholars and supervisors but might be useful for undergraduates too.

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]]> Thesis Statement https://postgradenvironments.com/2018/08/06/thesis-statement/ Mon, 06 Aug 2018 10:12:08 +0000 http://postgradenvironments.com/?p=908 Every thesis has to make a contribution at the boundaries of the field. Can you state in just a sentence what the contribution of your study is?

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]]> Every thesis has to make a contribution – it has to have a central argument that it offers to the field of study. It is often difficult to figure out what your exact thesis statement is but once you do so, you can get a clear sense of what smaller arguments will need to be built up through chains of evidence in order for the reader to be convinced of the thesis statement. This video uses an example from Education and so it will probably be of use to students from across the Humanities and Social Sciences. For those in the Natural Sciences, the building of an argument is generally (but not always) in a more linear fashion. But regardless of your field, you will have to make some contribution to the field and it is worth trying to sum this up in just one clearly constructed sentence.

Developed by Sioux McKenna, Director of Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University.

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Who might find this useful?

This video would make a useful resource for a writing workshop. It is primarily aimed at the kinds of argument building and thesis statement construction found in the Humanities and Social Sciences – but it might help those in the Natural Sciences too to construct in just one clearly crafted sentence what it is that their study offers the field.

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