As I mentioned last time, we recently had a guest lecturer in to give us some guidance on tackling our ER assignment, with a view to preparing for our dissertations.

These were his suggestions:

1. Stick to a field you’re interested in – you’re going to be steeped in it for some time
2. Keep a record of references from the outset, keeping extracts from interesting articles, and possibly photocopying front covers (copyright??)
3. Have a tutor/critical friend/proofreader
4. Set aside a time and a place
5. Indentify key authors in your field of research
6. Start and finish each chapter with a review
7. Create a thread through the project
8. Edit and proofread
9. Make sure all the chapters relate to one another and to the theme
10. DO something  – get started!!

He gave us some ideas about a process of tightening up the question:

1. Record initial thoughts: what, why and how
2. Find an article/publication to serve as your core and build around it
3. Define the terms of the question and create a rationale to form the basis of the question for the dissertation (perhaps use a mindmap to link ideas)
4. The ER assignment is a narrowing process which feeds into the dissertation, which in turn feeds into the wider subject as a whole.
5. Pilot the research methodology to make sure it’s going to work before going live with it
6. Find the faults in your own work and be transparent about them