Course Contents

1. Common knowledge 2. Critical thinking 3. Critical reading 4. Critical writing 5. Academic writing 6. Developing the academic style of writing 7. Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing 8. How to write a literature review 9. How to Write an Abstract for Your Thesis or Dissertation 10. Interpretivism 11. Realism 12. Positivism 13. Pragmatism 14. How to write a research proposal 15. How to prepare and make a research proposal presentation 16. Plagiarism 17. Referencing 18. MLA Style sheet 19. Research ethics 20. Research proposal presentations

Course Synopsis

The course provides an introduction to research methodology in English Studies with an aim to familiarize students with basic concepts of research theory and practice. It also acts as a preparatory course for students undertaking research for their Final Year Project. The course examines current research paradigms, principles of research design, instruments of data collection, and commonly used research methods, processes involved in the analysis of data, and modes of presenting research findings. By covering a range of theoretical and practical issues related to research in English studies, the course shall equip students with an appropriate understanding of concepts, tools, and methods to conduct future research in their field of interest.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, the students should be able to: 1. Identify key issues regarding research in current English studies and develop skills to search online and offline sources to carry out literature review. 2. Define an appropriate research topic by recognizing a suitable research area and thereby, formulate research questions accordingly, by describing the rationale and research design. 3. Distinguish among various aspects of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research in English studies. 4. Design and conduct a research study in accordance with the identified research need. 5. Assess ways to collect, compile, and conduct a data analysis by considering the use of various software tools in order to analyse research data. 6. Apply academic skills to present the research study findings in a formal academic oral presentation and a written research paper.