BY

Dr. DIWAKAR THOMAS

Associate professor

Department of English (PG)

Kongunadu Arts And Science College,

Coimbatore-641029.

The word research is derived from the French

recherche, from rechercher, to search

closely where "chercher" means “to look for

or to search.”

More than a set of skills, it is a way of

thinking: examining critically the various

aspects of your professional work.

Research is composed of two syllables, a

prefix re and a verb search.

Re means again, anew, over again.

Search means to examine closely and

carefully, to test and try, to probe.

The two words form a noun to describe

a careful and systematic study in some

field of knowledge, undertaken to

establish facts or principles.

Research is an organized and systematic

way of finding answers to questions.

Choosing the research problem

Review of related literature

Collection of data

Interpretation of data

Preparing the research report

Research can be defined as the search for

knowledge, or as any systematic

investigation, with an open mind, to establish

novel facts, usually using a scientific method.

When you say that you are undertaking a

research study to find answers to a question,

you are implying that the process;

1. is being undertaken within a framework of

a set of philosophies ( approaches)

2. uses procedures, methods and techniques

that have been tested for their validity and

reliability;

3. is designed to be unbiased and objective .

The system of collecting data for research

projects is known as research methodology.

The research process is similar to undertaking

a journey. For a research journey there are

two important decisions to make-

1) What you want to find out about or what

research questions (problems) you want to

find answers to;

2) How to go about finding their answers.

There are practical steps through which you

must pass in your research journey in order to

find answers to your research questions.

The path to finding answers to your research

questions constitutes research methodology.

At each operational step in the research

process you are required to choose from a

multiplicity of methods, procedures and

models of research methodology which will

help you to best achieve your objectives.

This is where your knowledge base of

research methodology plays a crucial role.

1. Formulating the Research Problem

2. Extensive Literature Review

3. Developing the objectives

4. Preparing the Research Design including Sample Design

5. Collecting the Data

6. Analysis of Data

7. Generalisation and Interpretation

8. Preparation of the Report or Presentation of Results-Formal write ups of conclusions

The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research

Papers, 7th ed. Author Modern Language

Association of America (MLA)

Original title The MLA Handbook for Writers of

Research Papers Country United States Language

English Subject(s)

Style guide Publisher Modern Language

Association of America Publication date 2009

Published in English March 2009

ACS Style Guide

AMA Manual of Style

The Associated Press Stylebook

The Chicago Manual of Style

Turabian

The Elements of Style

The Elements of Typographic Style

The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research

Papers (1977; 7th ed., 2009) is a publication

of the Modern Language Association of

America, based on The MLA Style Manual

(3rd ed., 2008). According to the MLA, since

its first publication in 1985, the MLA Style

Manual has been "the standard guide for

graduate students, scholars, and professional

writers".

Like the MLA Style Manual, the MLA Handbook is an

academic style guide widely used in the United States, Canada,

and other countries, providing guidelines for writing and

documentation of research in the humanities.

Released in March 2009, the seventh edition of the MLA

Handbook (like its previous editions) is addressed primarily to

secondary-school and undergraduate college and university

teachers and students ("What Is MLA Style?"). According to

the MLA, "For over half a century, the MLA Handbook is the

guide millions of writers have relied on," and "It provides an

authoritative presentation of MLA documentation style for use

in student writing."

The first 5 editions, published between

1977 and 1999 were titled the MLA

Handbook for Writers of Research Papers,

Theses, and Dissertations (WorldCat).

The title changed to the MLA Handbook

for Writers of Research Papers in 2003

(6th ed.).

It has Seven Chapters

Chapter 1: Research and Writing Primary Research & Secondary Research

Selecting a Topic

Library & Its uses – Reference Works

Thesis Statement – is a single sentence that formulates

both your topic & your point of view.

YES, You CAN !

GOD BLESS YOU

BY

Dr. DIWAKAR THOMAS

Associate professor

Department of English (PG)

Kongunadu Arts And Science College,

Coimbatore-641029.

Derived from the Latin word Plagiarius (Kidnapper)

Plagiarize means ‘ to commit literary theft’.

Consequences of Plagiarism

Spelling

Punctuation

Italics

Titles of work in the Research paper

Quotations, etc

Margins - leave margins one inch art the top & bottom

& on both sides of the text.

Times New Roman, 12 Points.

Do not justify the lines of the text at the right margin.

Double space including quotations, notes and the list of

works cited.

Do not italicize or underline your title, put it in

quotation marks or boldface, or type it in all capital

letters

Page numbers - no number on the first page

Documenting Sources

The List of Works Cited

Citing Periodical Print Publications

Citing Non-periodical Print Publications – A book by a

single author, a book by 2 or more authors etc

Citing Web Publications

Parenthetical Documentation and the List of Works

Cited

Sample References

Common Scholarly Abbreviations and Reference Words

Titles of Works – Bible, Works of Shakespeare

Example: Gen. for Genesis, Prove. for Proverbs

Ado. for Much Ado About Nothing

Ham. for Hamlet etc

MLA style provides a bibliography of

"Works Cited" listing works cited in

one's text and notes (either footnotes

and/or endnotes), which is placed after

the main body of a term paper, article, or

book.

In addition to "Works Cited", MLA style

also provides other possible options for

bibliographies, such as more-selective

lists headed "Selected Bibliography" or

"Works Consulted".

To cite a work within an article, paper, or book, one

inserts the author's name in a introductory phrase and

then within parentheses inserts the page number of

the work in which the information appears. For

example:

Complete information about the publication by Lopez

is listed alphabetically in the "Works Cited."

If the author is not mentioned in an introductory

phrase, the author's name, followed by the page

number, must appear in parentheses. Example:

When citing an entire work, or one without page numbers (or

only one page), one writes only the author's name in

parentheses.

If the whole paragraph references only one source, write the full

citation on the next line.

The "Works Cited" (bibliography) may contain more than one

work by an author. If the text preceding the citation does not

specify the title of the work, there is a comma after the author's

name followed by a shortened version of the title in question (or

the entire title if it is short) and the page number. Such a short

title may include the first significant word or words of the title:

with the title italicized for a book or within quotation

marks for an essay, a poem, or a speech, as appropriate.

In the "Works Cited" or bibliography, three short dashes

(––– if word processed; hyphens [---] when typed) are

used when the author or authors' name is the same in

subsequent works being listed.

Achtert, Walter S., and Joseph Gibaldi.

The MLA Style Manual. New York:

Modern Language Association (MLA),

1985. Print.

Bande, Usha. The Novels of Anita Desai.

New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1988. Print.

(8 Punctuation Marks)

Most works on the web have an author, a title, and

publication information and are thus analogous to print

publications.

Since sites and other resources on the Web sometimes

disappear altogether scholars need to record the date of

access as well as the publication data when citing

sources on the web.

Johnston, Kirsty. Theatre Research in Canada. N.p.27

July 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.

Green, Joshua. The Rove Presidency.

The Atlantic.com. Atlantic Monthly Group, Sept. 2007.

Web. 15 May 2011.

A NOTE ON THE TEXT

The Investigator has made an extensive use of the

following texts and quoted passage from the five major

novels of Sashi Deshpande in Chapters II, III, IV, V and VI

respectively.

For Research Methodology the scholar has extensively

used only MLA Hand Book for Writers of Research Papers

(Seventh Edition) by David G. Nicholls et al., New Delhi :

East – West Press Pvt. Ltd. 2009.

A Note on the Text

Chapter I

Introduction

General Perspectives :

Review of Related Works

Significance of the Study

Hypothesis

Aims and Method

Times New Roman, 12 Points

Do not Justify the lines at right Margin

Double space including quotations

Atleast 22 lines per page

Do not Italicize or underline you title

No number on front page of the chapters

Chapter VI

Summing Up / Conclusion

Scope for further study

Works cited

YES, You CAN !

GOD BLESS YOU