Finishing or even starting a graduate thesis is sometimes a struggle to a graduate student. That’s why it’s very important to have motivation and skills to do it. It is also essential to keep in mind your purpose. However, oftentimes, we are surrounded by temptations that distract our focus such as spending too much time on social media and other activities which are more relaxing than writing.
As a graduate student, do you feel like it’s a struggle to finish your graduate thesis? As my professor in semantics put it, “Doing a scholarly work is painful.” I agree if we do not know our purpose, we do not have enough skills, and we lack motivation. The sad fact about these three things is that things are easier said than done. It’s easy to keep in mind what your purpose is but it’s hard to act on it. Action is the real struggle.
Among the three reasons I have mentioned above, it is the third one, the lack of motivation, which I have to deal with the most. Thus, I am writing this blog to monitor my success and failure in thesis writing. I would like to share with you the tips that I learned from school and from my personal experience in doing this challenging task. I hope like me, you also have that strong desire to finish your graduate thesis. We’re all in this together.
Action # 1
Use the CARS Model – CARS stands for Creating a Research Space. This is a model developed by John Swales. This model was recommended by our professor. According to him, it is like a car which gives you the specific move that you have to take in your research. It is easy to understand and follow. It will teach you how to do the three basic moves that are important in your research: establishing a territory, establishing a niche, and occupying a niche. Your source can be John Swale’s Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.
Action # 2
Make sure you are done with library orientation. These days, because we think that we can find all the information that we need online, we feel like we do not have to consider library research seriously. However, after having our library orientation, I realized I still have to learn a lot of things about my materials and sources.I am so thankful with our professor and librarian in making sure that we know how to use the library first. Other colleges skip this process.
One thing that I learned from the librarian of the college of education in my university is the difference between popular and scholarly works/sources. This means I have to be selective when it comes to the materials that I am using. I should select scholarly materials. Another thing that I learned is the convenience of researching these days. We are given access to electronic databases for references. Even at home, we can do our research. Citing sources is a lot easier these days than in the past since we can just copy-paste it from the sites which provide the proper citation format.
So again, we should not underestimate the value of doing library research as there are things that we must do or avoid. Example: Do not cite the original source if you just got the information from a secondary source. You will be in trouble if your prof asks you where you got the original material. My question on this part though is, to what extent are we allowed to use secondary sources. I must ask this to my prof in our RRL or Review of Related Literature discussion. It’s too early to ask it today as we are barely in the introduction part.
Action # 3
Compare and contrast the ideas of different authors about your main topic. Use at least 10 sources. This is called a matrix by my professor in which you have to fill out a table that includes all the authors and titles of studies or literature related to your research. This provides a very helpful outline of the study that you will be selecting and include in your review or related literature and studies. In the matrix, you have to put the variable/construct or main concept o the study, the supporting variable/construct or the supporting concept, the argument or niche of the study, the conclusion, common and distinct recommendation, and formulated assumption.This is for us to learn how to select the most appropriate information in our research and to establish our territory, niche, and thesis statement in our next activity.In this process, we are being taught the similarity of research to cooking. The grocery store is the vast information in the field, and the basket is the matrix. For the rest of the tips on research, see Action 4 in my next entry.
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