Course
Objectives:
• To be able to appreciate and understand importance of
writing scientifically.
• To develop competence in writing and abstracting
skills.
• To write either a draft research proposal or a chapter
of dissertation.
COLLECTION AND
EVALUATION OF INFORMATION
Identification,
sources, searching information, classifying information under fact/opinion,
tabulating information, summarizing a text and presenting sequence of topics in
different forms.
WRITING AS A
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
- Different forms of scientific and technical
writing.
-
Articles in journals, research notes and reports, review articles, monographs,
dissertations, bibliographies.
How to formulate outlines: The
reasons for preparing outlines
• as a guide for plan of writing
• as skeleton for the manuscript
Kinds
of outline: topic outlines, conceptual outline, sentence outlines and
combination of topic and sentence outlines
DRAFTING TITLES,
SUB TITLES, TABLES, ILLUSTRATIONS
Tables
as systematic means of presenting data in rows and columns and lucid way of
indicating relationships and results.
Formatting
Tables: Title, Body stab, Stab Column, Column Head, Spanner Head, Box Head
Appendices: use and guidelines.
The
Writing process: Getting started, Use outline as a starting device, Drafting,
Reflecting and Re-reading. Checking: Organization, Headings, Content, Clarity
and Grammar.
Brevity
and Precision in writing - Drafting and Re-drafting based on critical
evaluation
PARTS OF
DISSERTATION/RESEARCH REPORT/ARTICLE
Introduction,
Review of Literature, Methodology, Results and Discussion. Ask questions
related to: content, continuity, clarify, validity internal consistency and
objectivity during writing each of the above parts.
WRITING FOR GRANTS
- Clearly state the question to be addressed
- Rationale and importance of the question being address
- Emperial and theoretical conceptualization
- Presenting pilot study/data
- Research proposal, clarity, specificity of method
- Clear organization
- Outcome of study and its implications
- Budgeting, available infra-structure and recourses