World Languages: Home

Identify and Develop a Topic

Selecting a research topic is much like deciding on a travel destination. Once you have narrowed your ideas to an interesting subject, write down a brief statement about this topic. For example: "Rock groups of the 60s, their popularity and major influence on the music industry."  Once the topic is selected, write down specific questions that you'll want to answer. The research process will drive your destination. Your original topic may develop into something entirely different. You may choose to follow an alternate path and go down a different road.

Find Background Information

After determining the topic, you can map out your route. You must identify the types of sources that will provide the information needed, then determine where to find these sources. Types of sources that should be considered include books, periodicals, the Internet, and other libraries (through interlibrary loan).

The key to finding books is the online library catalog called Discovery.  Search in Discovery by selecting a keyword that best describes your topic. You can also search by title, author, subject, or keyword. In addition to books, the catalog allows you to search for periodicals, government documents, audiovisual material, and Special Collections.   

 If you get lost during your sight-seeing trip, stop and ask directions. The following reference sources will be most useful to acquire quick answers to any questions you may have.

•  Begin with Encyclopedias, then to get off the main drag, use Subject Encyclopedias.

•  What does it mean?  Use a Dictionary.       

•  How much, how many?  Find Statistical Information.

•  Who?  Find Biographical Information.

•  How can I get in touch?  Use a Directory.

•  Where do I go from here?  Bibliographies.

Find Journal Articles

Periodicals include newspapers, magazines, and journals. They are published regularly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. Journals are periodicals containing articles written by experts in a particular field of study. If the researcher wrote the article, is it a primary source. If reporters write the article, such as in popular magazines, it is a secondary source. Typically, journal articles contain extensive bibliographies that lead to additional sources.

Journal List - If there is a specific journal that you are looking for, this will take you directly to McFarlin's holdings.

Discovery - If there is a specific article that you are looking for, you can search Summon with that article's title.

Database List - If you don't have a specific journal or article in mind, then McFarlin's databases will allow you to search multiple journals with a keyword.

Linguistic Analysis

In linguistics courses, students may do phonetic transcriptions to analyze the sounds, syllable structures, and variations in spoken language. The primary purpose of a linguistic analysis paper is to systematically examine and explain the linguistic features and patterns present in a given text, utterance, or set of data. A linguistic analysis paper usually includes the following components.

Introduction

• Briefly introduce the data or linguistic phenomenon being analyzed
• State the research question or problem
• Present the hypothesis or proposed analysis
• Outline the organization of the paper

Data Presentation

• Clearly introduce the data set(s) you will be analyzing - state what kind of data it is (spoken, written, etc.), its source, and any relevant background information.
• Present the key examples or data points that will be the focus of your analysis. These could be:
  • Specific utterances or sentences transcribed from speech
  • Excerpts from written texts
  • Linguistic forms or constructions extracted from a corpus
• Number or label the examples systematically (e.g. (1), (2), etc.) for easy reference later in the analysis.
• Provide relevant contextual information for each example when necessary, such as:
  • Metadata about the speaker/writer
  • Situational context in which the utterance occurred
  • Explanation of abbreviations or transcription conventions used
• Use appropriate formatting and notation conventions from the field of linguistics, such as:
  • Italics for mentioned words/expressions
  • Phonetic transcription with IPA symbols
  • Morphological glossing
  • Syntactic tree diagrams or phrase structure representations
• Consider including summary statistics, frequencies, or distributional information about the data if analyzing corpus data or multiple examples.
• Arrange and present the data clearly and systematically, perhaps grouping examples by linguistic patterns or categories that will be discussed in the analysis.

Analysis

• Present your central claim or thesis about the linguistic phenomenon you are analyzing.
• Use numbered subsections or headings to break down the different components or aspects of your analysis in a systematic way.
• Rigorously explain the reasoning behind your analysis, providing clear examples and evidence from the linguistic data to support your claims.
• Demonstrate how your proposed analysis can coherently account for and explain the linguistic patterns, forms, or constructions present in the data you have presented.
• Discuss previous analyses of the same data and critique their shortcomings. Explain how your analysis improves upon or differs from earlier approaches.
• Employ the conventions, formalisms (e.g. syntactic trees, phonetic transcription), and vocabulary of the linguistic subfield you are working in.
• Explore the broader theoretical implications of your analysis. Acknowledge any remaining data, counterexamples, or issues that your analysis cannot fully account for and suggest areas for future research.

Conclusion

• Summarize your central claim and analysis
• Discuss theoretical implications of your analysis
• Acknowledge remaining questions or issues for further research