Research and writing are important tools in education,
work, and other life-long pursuits people have in their lives. Research is an
active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry in order to discover,
interpret or revise facts, events, behaviours, or theories, or to make
practical applications with the help of facts, laws, theories, or examples, sometimes
referred to as supportive evidence.
The term "research" is also used to
describe the collection of information about a particular subject. Research is
also a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and
evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to general knowledge.
According to Roberta H. Markham, Peter T. Markham,
and Marie L. Waddell in their 10 Steps in
Writing the Research Paper (1989), research is described as “the
disciplined process of investigating and seeking facts which will lead one to
discover the truth about something. This truth, stated as one’s thesis is a
result of the facts one discovers, and it must be proved conclusively to the
reader by the facts selected. The thesis may not be a statement of preconceived
opinion or prejudice, nor may the paper be a stringing together of related
quotations and a collection of footnotes.”
The 10 Steps
in Writing the Research Paper is useful to students in various education
institutions.
According to the authors: “The research paper, a
formal presentation of these discovered facts, provides the evidence one needs
to defend the opinion expressed as the thesis. Consequently, one must state how
and where these facts were found. If they were discovered from what other
people have said or written, the student must tell who said them and where they
were discovered by direct observation, the student must describe this
experience so that the reader could repeat it and observe the same phenomena or
facts. The opinion, which is the thesis, the analysis of the material on which
it is based, and the conclusions one draws from the material are the most
important parts of the final paper. These are subjectively presented while the
facts, which provide supporting points, are objectively presented and carefully
documented” (1989: 1).
Research provides evidence and data for writing a
paper that is convincing, persuasive, and argumentative. Research is a critical
process a student needs to master in their lives as a student. Knowing what to
include in the essay is as important as raising issues about a topic set as a
question for writing.
“During the process of research, the student learn
to select, evaluate, and analyze facts; to discipline habits of thought and
work; and, most important, to think—to create a new angle of vision. In this
sense only, the research paper is original; but it is important enough in
itself to justify the word involved in its creation. Because nothing else
clearly reveals the truth quality and merit of the writer’s mind, the research
paper becomes a valid criterion for judging the disciplined work habits and the
intellectual maturity of the student” (Markham, Peter T. Markham, and Marie L.
Waddell, 1989: 1).
The skills of research are important skills that
students develop in their lives. The intuitive student is someone who searches
for truth and discovers them through research. In study of law, for example,
students are expected to research their papers as the basis for their
arguments, but which must state the facts, identify the issue or issues, link
that to an applicable law, through demonstrative arguments before arriving at
any conclusions.
“Legal research means you search for, discover,
inquire into, interpret, understand and learn the meaning of the law and how it
can be applied,” is the mantra Claire Macken promotes in her book, Law Student Survival Guide: 9 Steps to Law
Study Success (2010: 152).
Macken elaborates further: “Legal research and
writing is an essential skills and will be used throughout your professional
life, whether you practice as a lawyer or in a different field. The ability to
find an answer to a question, examine and scrutinize other views and write well
will always be valuable to you. Legal research is important because it requires
the skill of high-level analysis. At times, this skill will require you to
comprehend difficult and complicated written legal sentences, which requires an
excellent knowledge of the English language….Other times, the skill of legal
analysis may require you to listen to a simple and unsophisticated explanation
of facts (for example, from a client) and be able to translate that into legal
issues that may span several areas of the law” (2010: 152).
In many law essays research is the necessary
foundation for essays of excellence. Legal evidence is necessary for research
papers of excellent quality. Evidence is gathered from various primary and
secondary sources of law. Using evidence from these sources of law allows a
researcher to make sound, persuasive, and make convincing arguments.
The advice I give to my students are UPNG, which I do
at the beginning of every semester is: “Avoid leaving your essay assignments
until the last minute. It is critical that you think about the essay question
that you want to write about. Thinking about the question allows you to do a
mental frame of the arguments or discussions you can make about the topic you
choose to write about. Mental frames also help you develop a road map of both
the discussions you will make and also on how you will proceed with the
assignment. Making early mental frames on the essay topic helps you to begin
work on your essay the moment the ideas are fresh. Often the result of this
approach is that you are prepared to work on your assignment without too much anxieties
about what to write and how to start.
Writing good research based essays are the building
blocks for success at university level courses. Even in the work environment
one has to write reports based on research of the subject and context for which
the reporting is concerned about.
A simple advice to the novice writer: ‘Research before you write’.
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