Posts by RuffNot

RuffNot

Oct 22, 2009

Research Papers / I need help finding a topic for my research paper (Intro to Linguistics class) [6]

Have you come up with something?

It's very unusual for a lecturer to ask a student to come up with a new theory in an Intro class. Did you misinterpret the task? Were you asked to look for a theory and tasked to prove it instead?

If your lecturer did ask you to come up with a theory, you can do something that you can observe at your university... or at your dorm, at home, wherever you are spending most of your time.

It can be:
- Hand gestures of lecturers (something really easy to observe when you are attending class!)
- Foreign students and their assimilation into English based classes
- How body language betray sleepy students

Take it easy! Research and theory can be anything and everything and most of them are over rated!

RuffNot

Oct 24, 2009

Research Papers / 1st attempt at writing research paper - A Lit Review [5]

Yes, agree that you should introduce the subject you are reviewing in the first paragraph. This paragraph can be a one or two sentence summary from all the literature that you have read. Example: Teaching and learning English are still scanty today despite the availability of one-to-one laptops in almost every school. (I assume this is the topic of your research... but I see this objective only at the end of the paragraph. Your reader had to figure out what your intentions are).

Let the reader hear your opinion first, from all the literature that you have read (and synthesized), then support your statements with what you have read-- this is where other researcher's findings come in, which you cite.

In my school, we call the pattern of referencing too many other authors' work in a block of writing 'patchwork'. It's very easy to patchwork the literature review portion of the research paper, and forget to put in what your thoughts are after reviewing the literature, and how the literature you have read guided you towards your own research. Also, one paragraph made up of several citations is very difficult to read. Break it into several paragraphs.

RuffNot

Oct 26, 2009

Grammar, Usage / whats the difference between somones and someone's ? [17]

I think the spellchecker accepts the word because the programmer has not distinguished this particular word out of the millions of plural word possibilities.

It also sounds like a foreign food -- so-mo-nes!

:)

RuffNot

Oct 28, 2009

Research Papers / Linking research on Leadership Communication to an organization [2]

I have a real life situation and a field of interest I'd like to focus my research paper on, but do not know how to narrow down to a specific topic. Would appreciate some direction and advice.

I work in the Communications department in a financial institution in Asia and am also studying for my masters in Communications.

Like many organizations, the management does not regard Communications an important aspect of the business. The current CEO prefers a low profile for himself and the company. Information management is on a need to know basis and external communications to the public is almost nil. To cut the long story short, I can identify many gaps in the aspect of communications in my organization.

I would like to address these gaps in my research, and I would like to highlight the importance of Communications and how it can help the organization-- from public and employee perception to employee engagement etc.

One of the areas that I thought I can focus on is Leadership Communications. The current CEO will retire next year and there are two possible successors. None of them have polished communications skills. None of them are media-ready and many employees find them offensive on occasions-- they demotivate and discourage. It would be good if my paper can be used for reference for future successor grooming.

From my reading of management and communication books, I have found information on 'what should be'-- ideal situations. My problem is, I do not know how to link this or narrow down to be more specific (there are so many ideal situations) to fit my organization.

I am allowed to use an internal online survey tool and if the management is agreeable, I can do my research locally in my country, or in five countries in the region. It is an exciting opportunity, but I can't distill my objectives properly. Leadership Communications is not a new topic and yet, I can't seem to find any inspiring journal articles or past research to refer to.