Tips and Techniques:
How to write down a good Assignment/Thesis
Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker
Associate Professor
Daffodil International University (DIU)
Generally, It is a portion of work that is given to someone as part of their job for a particular purpose. In education, it refers to tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside the class to great extent of their responsibility.
The basic objectives of an assignment:
# to increase the knowledge and improve the abilities and skills of the students.
# to prepare them for upcoming lessons, extend what they know by having them apply it to new situations,
# to integrate their abilities by applying many different skills to a single task.
# It may be designed to reinforce what students have already learned.
# It also provides an opportunity for parents to participate in their children's education.
Useful Knowledge
Tentative Outline of an Assignment
Rationale:
Assignment Objective:
[Analyze/explore/investigate/illustrate/ demonstrate……,
relationship/comparative/review………………………, develop/construct model……….]
Scope:
[Population, Sample, what kind of research, Variables]
Others if Have:
[Statement of problems (research questions), limitations, definition of terms) – Not Mandatory
I. Introduction
Literature Review ?
A literature review is a text of a scholarly paper, which includes the current knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. Literature reviews use secondary sources, and do not report new or original experimental work.[1]
It is a systematic, explicit, and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded work produced by researchers, scholars, and practitioners.[2]
II. Literature Review/Related Works
II. Literature Review/Related Works
A research methodology is a science of studying how research is done systematically[3] i.e. adopting a suitable research technique is very much the essence in conducting any research .[5 & 6] Research methods is the functional action strategy to carry out the research in the light of the theoretical framework and guiding research questions and or the proposed hypothesis. It is planned and systematic approach of investigation that denotes the detail framework of the unit of analysis, data gathering techniques, sampling focus and interpretation strategy and analysis plan .[3] Research methods may be understood as all those methods/techniques that are used for conduction of research. Research methods or techniques, thus, refer to the methods the researchers use in performing research operations .[4]
III. Research Methods /Techniques
I. Methods of Assignment Used
-Type of Research: [Exploratory /Descriptive /Causal research)
- Qualitative/Quantitative research
- Exploratory Research [Survey research technique – secondary data]
II. Research Hypothesis (from Research Questions)
III. Operationaliation of variables
- Dependent/Independent variables (from model)
- Operational component (Questionnaire) – 5 Point Likert Scale, Simple attitude scale
- Measurement scale – Nominal/Ordinal/Interval/Ratio Scale
III. Research Methods ….
1. Statistical Treatment of Data (Different Statistical Tools)
- Excel
- SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences)
- AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structure)
- LISREL (Linear Structural Relations)
2. Pre-test : Pretest (Experts as Respondents) [30 – 50 respondents] Reliability Analysis (Cronbach’s Alpha, α)
3. Output of Statistical Tools (through graphical or tabular presentation)
4. Demographic Data
- Analysis of Gender by using Frequency and Percentage
- Analysis of Age by using Frequency and Percentage
- Analysis of Education Level by using Frequency and Percentage
- Analysis of Income per month by using Frequency and Percentage
IV. Discussion/ Findings of the Study
5. Descriptive Analysis
6. Inferential Analysis (Hypothesis Testing)
- SEM includes general linear model and common factor analysis
Be continued…………
Summary of findings (specific answer based on research questions/hypothesis)
Conclusions (Convert statistical language to academic language)
Recommendations (Specific suggestions)
Further study
V. Conclusions
Two (2) Styles [Mostly Used]
1. APA (American Psychological Association) System –
- Last name of Author, year of publication, e.g. (Lau, 2007) as text citations.
- Last name, first name (yr), title, name of publications, volume, pp. as
reference citations
Text citation example:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means the benevolent activities of the corporate bodies which will bring about the overall betterment of the mass people in the society and which has a linchpin role to contribute in the macro economy of the country (Sarker, 2012).
Reference citation Example:
Sarker, M. F. H. (2012). Corporate social responsibility of private banks in Bangladesh: Expectations, achievements and challenges. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 2(1), 178-187.
VI. Bibliography/References
2. Number-Reference (NR) System –
- [1], [2], [3] as text citations
- [1] Last name, first name, title, name of publications, yr, volume, pp. as
reference citations
Text citations example:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means the benevolent activities of the corporate bodies which will bring about the overall betterment of the mass people in the society and which has a linchpin role to contribute in the macro economy of the country [3].
Reference citation example:
[3] Sarker, M. F. H. (2012). Corporate social responsibility of private banks in Bangladesh: Expectations, achievements and challenges. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 2(1), 178-187.
Be continued……..
How to Use Google Scholar for References (I)
How to Use Google Scholar for References (II)
Search based on the research Key words
How to Use Google Scholar for References (III)
|
How to Use
Google Scholar for References (IV)
Understanding job satisfaction of the garments workers in Bangladesh: A qualitative study?
Let me know your plan……………..!!!
Key words: ?????????
Literature Review on what??????
What methods you will follow????????
Your Assignment Title
[1] Baglione, L. (2012). Writing a Research Paper in Political Science. Thousand
Oaks: CQ Press.
[2] Fink, A. (2005). From Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From Internet
to Paper, by d. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks.
[3] Aminuzzaman, M. S. (2011). Essential of social research. Dhaka: Osder
Publications.
[4] Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New
Age International.
[5] Islam, S. (2013). From science through art to literary and discursive interpretation: Rethinking anthropology from its classical to contemporary trajectory. Asian Social Science, 9(11), P148.
[6] Islam, S. (2014). On anthropological fieldwork: Does fieldwork experience matter in writing postmodern ethnography? Anthropologist, 17(2), 327-332.
References