UTM
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
UHB2422: ADVANCED
ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC
COMMUNICATION
Lecturer:
Miss Shazwani Abd Rahman
ASSESSMENT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Proposal Presentation
Research Instruments
1st Draft of Report
Consultations (Ind.)
2nd Draft of Report
Quiz (Ind.)
Report Presentation (Ind.)
Final Report
• Final Exam
• TOTAL
(5%) – Wk1
(5%) – Wk2
(10%) – Wk3
(10%) – on-going
(10%) – Wk4
(10%) – Wk4
(10%) – Wk5
(10%) – Wk5
(30%)
(100%)
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LET’S GET
STARTED!
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WHAT IS RESEARCH PROBLEM?
• Research problem is a statement that has academic
value that solving it will achieve one or more of the
following:
– Enhancing knowledge/ improving understanding of a
particular subject (i.e. from not-knowing, or from knowing
less to knowing more)
– Improving quality of life (e.g. safety, health, mobility)
– Increasing productivity or efficiency (i.e. getting/doing more
with similar resources)
– Improving process (i.e. reducing wastage)
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Journey to a complete
research report
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RESEARCH REPORT WRITING
Purpose
Audience
Value
Place of
language
• to communicate findings of a
research/experiment
• internal/external
• proof of research activity
• a well-written report indicates
the quality of the research
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CHALLENGES: QUALITY OF
WRITING
• Clarity – when others can follow your
ideas.
• Coherence – when thoughts are hang
together.
• Logic – when sequence is valid.
Resistance
Clarity, Coherence, Logic
Acceptance
Ideas
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UTM
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
Research Proposal
Research Proposal?
To persuade
To seek funding
COMPONENTS IN RESEARCH PROPOSAL
1. Background of the Study
5. Significance of the
Study
2. Statement of Problem
6. Scope of the Study
3. Objectives of Study
7. Methodology
4. Research Questions
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Backgrou
nd of the
Study
Statemen
t of the
Problem
Objectiv
es
Research
Questions
Significan
ce
Scope
Methodolo
gy
• What calls upon the need for the research?
• Problem Statement = Current situation + GAP (diff. between CURRENT &
IDEAL) + Cost/Consequence + Proposal
• Aims or goals of the study
• List questions that you need to find answers to.
• Benefits of carrying out the research
• Area of the research
• Processes in gathering primary data (answer to research questions).
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Work out a proposal for your
chosen research topic and
present it to your class.
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CHAPTER 1
Introduction
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1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
[1:126]
“… provides readers with essential
background info of the relationship
between specific topic of research and
the general area of study”
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(cont.) Background of the Study
General
context
• Statistics
• Historical
development
Specific
statements
• Findings made
by other
researches
Statement for
more research
• Address the
issue that
you’re
investigating
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Language Conventions
-Background of the Study• Simple present & present perfect tense
are most commonly used
“Being in a non-earthquake zone, buildings in
Singapore are usually designed without
considering earthquake conditions. But with an
increase in earthquake occurences in Sumatra
recently, there is a growing awareness of the
damaging effects of ground tremors on buildings,
structures and reclaimed land. “
Present Perfect Tense
- happened in the past up
until now
Simple Present Tense
- general/factual
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Language Conventions
-Background of the Study“In the past few years, the Internet has
proven to be a huge and powerful
media for users to access and retrieve
information fast and free of charge.”
“In the last decade, extensive
deployment of GPS satellites to give
satellite coverage has made GPS a
superior global space-based
positioning.”
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Language Conventions
-Background of the Study• Sometimes the simple past tense is also
used especially when you wanted to
indicate specific time in the past. This
happens when you start background of
the study by giving historical
background.
• “Optical fibres were first used in laser Doppler
velocimeter for the measurement of average localised
blood flow velocity in 1975.”
Passive Simple
Past Tense
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2.Statement of Problem
• To define the issue or problem
investigated in the study
• Heart of a good thesis
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(cont.) Statement of Problem
When do you have a problem?
• When there is a GAP between current
situation and ideal situation.
Ideal Situation
GAP
•Knowledge
•Understanding
•Solution
QUESTIONS
•What? (what didn’t we know?)
•Why? (Why it happen?)
•How? (How to solve)
Current Situation
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How to prove a problem exist?
• Since a problem is a GAP between current and
ideal situations, you need to provide:
1. Justification of why we need the IDEAL situation!
2. Hard facts (e.g. data, reports, etc.) as evidence
to the CURRENT situation.
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Structure of Problem Statement
Problem Statement = Current situation
+ GAP (diff. between CURRENT &
IDEAL) + Cost/Consequence +
Proposal
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What is a GOOD problem
statement?
• “inform the readers of the current
situation & make the readers aware of
the negative impact of the problem as
well as the consequences of not solving
the problem”
• Should end with a hypothesis/proposal.
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Example of good problem
statement
• Many engineers belief that car accidents are the
result of poor road conditions. They fail to take into
account the behavior of the drivers as the
contributing factor. Until the engineers cease to be
single-minded, car accidents can never be reduced.
Car accidents are preventable when driver behaviors
are clearly understood.
–
–
–
–
Current situation:
Gap:
Consequences:
Proposal:
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• Current Situation:
– engineers belief that car accidents are the result of poor road
conditions.
• Ideal situation:
– engineers should know that car accidents happen because of
poor road conditions as well as drivers’ behavior.
• Gap:
– engineers fail to take into account the behavior of the drivers
as the contributing factor to car accidents.
• Consequences:
– until the engineers cease to be single-minded, car accidents
can never be reduced.
• Proposal:
– car accidents are preventable when driver behaviors are
clearly understood.
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In an ideal setting, a student's grade in a course should be a
judgment of the student's knowledge in that subject area.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many teachers use
grading systems that do not reflect the student's knowledge of the
topic at the end of the course. A student is often offered a single
assessment event to show their mastery of a concept.
If the student has not mastered the material in the allotted time, they
will receive a negative grade for that unit of information.
This is not an accurate view of the student’s knowledge,
because they may learn more about a topic throughout the
rest of the course.
Retesting is a method where a student is allowed to test on a
topic more than one time. As the course progresses, the student
may learn the material. Retesting allows this student to show
mastery of the material if they learn it after the original test. By
incorporating a retest policy, the ideal situation should occur. The
grade awarded to the student at the end of the semester would
be an accurate assessment of the student’s knowledge of the
topic.
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3.Purpose of the Study
• To include a broad discussion on the
reasons why the study was carried
out and intentions of the study
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4.Research Objectives
• To show the extent and the expected
outcome of the study
• To begin with a leading statement
followed by the objectives written in
point forms
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Language Conventions
-Objective of the Study• This section usually contains the
following:
– Appropriate action verb (e.g: investigate,
demonstrate, determine, study)
– Subject + Verb + ‘to’ + Infinitive
• e.g: The objective of the study [subject] is
[verb] to determine [to infinitive] …
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Language Conventions
- Objective of the Study• Ensure too that you must use standard
and formal words and expression
Х Informal: I want to find out if the quantity of
rainfall in Malaysia is always the
same in the months of June to July.
√ Formal: The objective of this study is to
investigate the consistency of rainfall
in Malaysia in the months of June
and July.
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Action Verbs for
Purpose/Objective
• To ascertain
• To discover
•
To investigate
• To assess
• To evaluate
•
To measure
• To examine
•
To present
•
To provide
•
To recognise
•
To reveal
• To compare
• To decide
• To explore
• To describe
• To find out
• To determine
• To identify
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Language Conventions
- Objective of the Study• If you have more than one objective, it is
clearer to list them.
• Use parallel structure – same patterns of
words to show two or more ideas have the
same level of importance.
research
Not
parallel The
The objectives
objectives of
of this
the study
are are
to: to:
Parallel
1.
1. develop
Develop aa programme
programme to
to optimise
optimise the
recent
software. using recent software.
the performance
2.
2. create
Create aa user-friendly
user-friendly programme
programme
package.
package.
3.
test the
programme
to be
ensure
its to be
3. The
programme
must
ensured
effectiveness.
effective.
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5.Research Questions
• To guide the discussion about the topic
• To stimulate readers’ interests
• To turn the objectives of the study into
research questions (refer to pg.139)
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6.Significance of the Study
• To justify the reason for conducting
the study
• To emphasize the potential benefits
that it would bring
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6.Significance of the Study (con’t)
• Example:
“ The results of this study will provide
the basis for developing better
prosthetic implant to help improve pain
in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
The study is important especially for
patients with cancer in the neck or head
area, as they cannot use the current
implants that are available.”
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6.Significance of the Study (con’t)
“The data obtained from this survey
should be able to prove that there is a
need for the electronic road pricing
systems to be extended into the
evening hours.”
“This study is likely to bring about
change to the present system which has
limitations as discussed earlier.”
Modal verb
Tentative expression
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7. Scope of the Study
• shows direction of research
• states boundaries or parameter of
study
• outlines method of investigation
used in study
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Components in Scope
• What to be examined or compared
• Sample size
• Methodology
• Equipment / Data collection instrument
• Duration
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Scope of the Study
• Example:
“ This study is designed to understand the use of the designbuild project delivery system in interior design firms;
therefore, the intent of this study is to exclusively address
firms with interior design as their primary concern. A
survey will be carried out which will include both firms
that lead a design-build team, and firms that may not lead
a design-build team but are involved in the design-build
process. The results of the research conducted therefore
will be collected from interior design firms and designbuild projects that these firms are working on. This
research does not represent the views of all organisations
that use the design-build project delivery system and it
does not represent clients’ (the owners’) perspectives on
the projects surveyed.”
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