Summary of The Craft of Research Third Edition
Summary of
The Craft of Research
Students are asked to write dozens of papers while they are in college. But where are they supposed
to get the training to write solid, well-researched reports? The Craft of Research is a guide to
researching, structuring, organizing, writing, and documenting any topic of interest. My research
methods students (COMM 250) are required to buy it and read it. Here is a summary of the main
points.
Booth, W., Colomb, G., & Williams, J. (1995). The craft of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Part 1: Research, Researchers, & Readers
Chap. 1 – Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research, Public & Private
What is Research?
Gathering information needed to answer a question
Who does research?
Most of us do (informal) research every day
Why do research?
Research by others determines most of what each of us believes about the world
Why write it up?
1. To remember
2. To understand
3. To gain perspective
Why turn it into a formal paper? (and learn new rules for presenting the information?)
1. It will give you new ways of thinking
2. Since it is more demanding to write for other, your
ideas and connections among them will be clearer
Chap. 2 – Connecting with Your Readers: (Re-)Creating Your Self and Your
Audience
Conversations among researchers:
1. Research papers and “term” papers are conversations
2. You must be aware of your audience
3. What type of relationship do you want with them?
4. You get to create a “role” for yourself and your reader
Think about your readers:
1. We know things about them:
- they have their own interests and preconceived ideas
2. Is your question is a “live” issue in your community or readers?
3. Where do your readers stand in respect to your answer?
4. What do you expect of your readers:
- accept new knowledge
- change beliefs
- perform an action
Writers and their common problems:
1. Experts have the same problems as novices, but are better
equipped
2. Be aware uncertainties will arise
3. Master your topic by writing about it along the way
4. Control the complexities of your task
5. Count on your teacher to understand your struggles
6. Keep at it
Part 2: Asking Questions, Finding Answers
Three keys for working in groups:
1. Talk together a lot
2. Agree to disagree, then to agree
3. Organize yourself into a team with a leader
Three strategies for working in groups:
1. Divide, delegate, & conquer
2. Write side-by-side
3. Take turns
Chap. 3 – From Topics to Questions
The process of choosing what to research:
1. Interests: Choose an interest in a broad subject area
2. Topics: Narrow the interest to a plausible topic
3. Questions
:
Question that topic from several points of view
4. Problems: Define a rationale for your project
Each step requires getting more specific. There are four perspectives on research topics that can
help you narrow your interest to a research question:
1. Identify the parts and whole of your topic and questions
2. Trace the history and changes of your topic
3. Identify its categories and characteristics
4. Determine its value
Making the case for the significance of a research question:
1. Name your topic
2. Suggest a question
3. Motivate the question
Chap. 4 - From Questions to Problems
The research cycle:
Practical problems lead to research problems, and the answers are intended to help solve the
practical problems.
Practical problems:
1. originate in the world
2. Are based on some cost to society
3. Are solved by taking action in the real world
Research problems:
1. originate in your mind
2. Are based on incomplete knowledge or flawed understanding
3. Are solved by gathering useful information
Applied Research:
1. The rationale for the research defines what you wish to DO
2. The consequences of the research are tangible
3. The research is “applied” because knowledge gained will be
applied to solve an immediate practical problem
“Pure” Research:
1. The rationale for the research defines what you wish to KNOW
2. The consequences of the research are conceptual
3. The research is “pure” because knowledge is pursued for its own
sake
Chap. 5 - From Questions to Sources
Three types of sources:
Primary : Materials that you are directly writing about; data
Secondary : Books and articles in which others report their research
Tertiary : Books and articles that describe or synthesize the research of others
NOTE: Your instructor disagrees with the above categories. Scholars in communication and most
other social sciences generally agree on the following dichotomy:
Primary : First-hand reports of research (e.g., journal articles)
Secondary : Second-hand reports of the research of others (e.g.,
textbooks)
Chap. 6 – Using Sources
Using secondary sources:
1. One good source is worth more than dozens of mediocre sources
2. One accurate summary of a good source is worth more than the
source itself
Read critically:
1. Evaluate your sources
2. Take full notes
3. Get complete bibliographical information
4. Get attributions right
5. Get the context right
6. Get help – ask others to review your ideas and writing
Part 3: Making a Claim and Supporting It
Chap. 7 - Making Good Arguments
4 components:
Claims : what the reader is asked to accept (believe)
Evidence : why
Warrants : why the evidence is (necessary &) sufficient
Qualifications : limits on the claims
Qualifications - (pay me now or pay me later)
• can qualify in the hypotheses
• can qualify after evidence doesn’t fully support the hypotheses
Chap. 8 - Claims and Evidence
Anticipate the “So What?!” question
The nature of claims - must be . . . (or readers will dismiss . . .)
• substantive
• contestable (non-intuitive, requires convincing)
• specific
The nature of evidence - must be . . . (or readers will dismiss . . .)
• accurate
• at right level of detail (precision)
• sufficient
• representative (properly generalizable)
• authoritative (methods, literature citations, constructs, etc.)
• perspicuity (clear; plainly understood due to clarity of presentation; the proper level of
detail/explanation)
Evidence is esp. Important because readers predisposed to reject your claims will question your
evidence carefully.
OUTLINE YOUR ARGUMENT !
Chapter 9 - Warrants
Warrants:
• if X then Y
Warrants - 3 criteria:
• describe the (general kind of) evidence
• describe the general kind of claim that follows
• describe the connection (cause/effect, correlation, intervening)
Clear thinking required !!!
• false warrants
• unclear warrants
• inappropriate warrants
• inapplicable warrants
Chap. 10 - Qualifications
Be Reasonable! (In your claims)
• anticipate and address objections
• concede (if you can’t rebut)
• stipulate limiting conditions
• limit the scope and certainty of claims & evidence
Part 4: Preparing to Draft, Drafting, & Revising
Chap. 11 - Pre-Drafting and Drafting
It’s easy to put off writing. But if you write as you go (as you read, organize, and plan) starting the
first draft is much easier. You know you are ready to start the first draft if you have thought about:
1. Your major research question
2. A possible answer
3. A body of evidence to support the answer
4. The major warrants
5. The objections you will have to rebut
6. The objections you cannot rebut
A plan for drafting:
1. Write out your main point, then determine where to put it (typically, the last sentence of your
introduction)
2. Formulate a “working” introduction (but plan to write a final version of the introduction LAST!)
3. Follow the intro with the information needed for readers to understand the rest of the paper
4. Rework your outline. Try different approaches. Reliable approaches include:
• old to new
• shorter & simpler to longer & more complex
• uncontested to more contested
Some people write “quick & dirty” drafts, others need to write “slow & clean,” perfecting the paper
sentence by sentence. Quick & dirty writing has several advantages:
1. Going with the flow; getting ideas down as you think of them (not
stopping to fix spelling and sentence structure)
2. When the flow stops, you have other tasks to do
Pitfalls to avoid at all costs:
1. Straightforward plagiarism of words (quote the source!)
2. Straightforward plagiarism of ideas (cite the source!)
3. Indirect plagiarism of words (changing a few words is still
plagiarism!)
4. Become aware you are plagiarizing. One test:
• if your eyes are on the source work, not your paper or
computer screen, as you type - you are probably plagiarizing
The biggest difference between good and poor writing is the attitude about the first draft:
• poor writers see the first draft as a triumph – they are near the end!
• Good writers see the first draft as a sketch – now comes the equally important work of refining the
paper
Chap. 12 - Communicating Evidence Visually
No summary is provided here since it requires accompanying examples. Please see the text.
Chap. 13 - Revising Your Organization and Argument
Again, keep the reader in mind.
More important than punctuation and spelling is the big picture:
• how well do the major elements fit together?
• Does it tell a complete story?
Four steps in analyzing and revising the organization of the paper:
1. Identify sentences that clearly summarize your introduction, conclusion, and main claim
2. Identify the major sections of the paper and the “main point” sentences for each
3. Identify in the introduction your central concepts and be sure you’ve focused on them
throughout
4. Step back to examine the overall shape of your paper
Revising your argument:
1. Identify your argument
2. Evaluate the quality of your argument
• Is the evidence clearly connected to your claim?
• Have you qualified your argument?
• Do you provide reasons and anticipate objections?
• What warrants have you left unexpressed?
(What else must the readers believe before they accept your claims?)
Chap. 14 - Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly
Three principles of clear writing:
1. Stories and grammars (advice about making sentence subjects the main
“characters” in your paper, avoid “nominalizing” verbs, etc.)
2. Old before new (present new information after familiar information)
3. Complexity last (present simple information before complex information)
Chap. 15 - Introductions
The structure of a good introduction:
1. Provide context for your ideas
2. State the problem
• Incomplete knowledge about some topic
• The consequences of that incomplete knowledge
3. Provide a solution or response too the problem
• This is your main point and main claim
The Craft of Research
Students are asked to write dozens of papers while they are in college. But where are they supposed
to get the training to write solid, well-researched reports? The Craft of Research is a guide to
researching, structuring, organizing, writing, and documenting any topic of interest. My research
methods students (COMM 250) are required to buy it and read it. Here is a summary of the main
points.
Booth, W., Colomb, G., & Williams, J. (1995). The craft of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Part 1: Research, Researchers, & Readers
Chap. 1 – Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research, Public & Private
What is Research?
Gathering information needed to answer a question
Who does research?
Most of us do (informal) research every day
Why do research?
Research by others determines most of what each of us believes about the world
Why write it up?
1. To remember
2. To understand
3. To gain perspective
Why turn it into a formal paper? (and learn new rules for presenting the information?)
1. It will give you new ways of thinking
2. Since it is more demanding to write for other, your
ideas and connections among them will be clearer
Chap. 2 – Connecting with Your Readers: (Re-)Creating Your Self and Your
Audience
Conversations among researchers:
1. Research papers and “term” papers are conversations
2. You must be aware of your audience
3. What type of relationship do you want with them?
4. You get to create a “role” for yourself and your reader
Think about your readers:
1. We know things about them:
- they have their own interests and preconceived ideas
2. Is your question is a “live” issue in your community or readers?
3. Where do your readers stand in respect to your answer?
4. What do you expect of your readers:
- accept new knowledge
- change beliefs
- perform an action
Writers and their common problems:
1. Experts have the same problems as novices, but are better
equipped
2. Be aware uncertainties will arise
3. Master your topic by writing about it along the way
4. Control the complexities of your task
5. Count on your teacher to understand your struggles
6. Keep at it
Part 2: Asking Questions, Finding Answers
Three keys for working in groups:
1. Talk together a lot
2. Agree to disagree, then to agree
3. Organize yourself into a team with a leader
Three strategies for working in groups:
1. Divide, delegate, & conquer
2. Write side-by-side
3. Take turns
Chap. 3 – From Topics to Questions
The process of choosing what to research:
1. Interests: Choose an interest in a broad subject area
2. Topics: Narrow the interest to a plausible topic
3. Questions
:
Question that topic from several points of view
4. Problems: Define a rationale for your project
Each step requires getting more specific. There are four perspectives on research topics that can
help you narrow your interest to a research question:
1. Identify the parts and whole of your topic and questions
2. Trace the history and changes of your topic
3. Identify its categories and characteristics
4. Determine its value
Making the case for the significance of a research question:
1. Name your topic
2. Suggest a question
3. Motivate the question
Chap. 4 - From Questions to Problems
The research cycle:
Practical problems lead to research problems, and the answers are intended to help solve the
practical problems.
Practical problems:
1. originate in the world
2. Are based on some cost to society
3. Are solved by taking action in the real world
Research problems:
1. originate in your mind
2. Are based on incomplete knowledge or flawed understanding
3. Are solved by gathering useful information
Applied Research:
1. The rationale for the research defines what you wish to DO
2. The consequences of the research are tangible
3. The research is “applied” because knowledge gained will be
applied to solve an immediate practical problem
“Pure” Research:
1. The rationale for the research defines what you wish to KNOW
2. The consequences of the research are conceptual
3. The research is “pure” because knowledge is pursued for its own
sake
Chap. 5 - From Questions to Sources
Three types of sources:
Primary : Materials that you are directly writing about; data
Secondary : Books and articles in which others report their research
Tertiary : Books and articles that describe or synthesize the research of others
NOTE: Your instructor disagrees with the above categories. Scholars in communication and most
other social sciences generally agree on the following dichotomy:
Primary : First-hand reports of research (e.g., journal articles)
Secondary : Second-hand reports of the research of others (e.g.,
textbooks)
Chap. 6 – Using Sources
Using secondary sources:
1. One good source is worth more than dozens of mediocre sources
2. One accurate summary of a good source is worth more than the
source itself
Read critically:
1. Evaluate your sources
2. Take full notes
3. Get complete bibliographical information
4. Get attributions right
5. Get the context right
6. Get help – ask others to review your ideas and writing
Part 3: Making a Claim and Supporting It
Chap. 7 - Making Good Arguments
4 components:
Claims : what the reader is asked to accept (believe)
Evidence : why
Warrants : why the evidence is (necessary &) sufficient
Qualifications : limits on the claims
Qualifications - (pay me now or pay me later)
• can qualify in the hypotheses
• can qualify after evidence doesn’t fully support the hypotheses
Chap. 8 - Claims and Evidence
Anticipate the “So What?!” question
The nature of claims - must be . . . (or readers will dismiss . . .)
• substantive
• contestable (non-intuitive, requires convincing)
• specific
The nature of evidence - must be . . . (or readers will dismiss . . .)
• accurate
• at right level of detail (precision)
• sufficient
• representative (properly generalizable)
• authoritative (methods, literature citations, constructs, etc.)
• perspicuity (clear; plainly understood due to clarity of presentation; the proper level of
detail/explanation)
Evidence is esp. Important because readers predisposed to reject your claims will question your
evidence carefully.
OUTLINE YOUR ARGUMENT !
Chapter 9 - Warrants
Warrants:
• if X then Y
Warrants - 3 criteria:
• describe the (general kind of) evidence
• describe the general kind of claim that follows
• describe the connection (cause/effect, correlation, intervening)
Clear thinking required !!!
• false warrants
• unclear warrants
• inappropriate warrants
• inapplicable warrants
Chap. 10 - Qualifications
Be Reasonable! (In your claims)
• anticipate and address objections
• concede (if you can’t rebut)
• stipulate limiting conditions
• limit the scope and certainty of claims & evidence
Part 4: Preparing to Draft, Drafting, & Revising
Chap. 11 - Pre-Drafting and Drafting
It’s easy to put off writing. But if you write as you go (as you read, organize, and plan) starting the
first draft is much easier. You know you are ready to start the first draft if you have thought about:
1. Your major research question
2. A possible answer
3. A body of evidence to support the answer
4. The major warrants
5. The objections you will have to rebut
6. The objections you cannot rebut
A plan for drafting:
1. Write out your main point, then determine where to put it (typically, the last sentence of your
introduction)
2. Formulate a “working” introduction (but plan to write a final version of the introduction LAST!)
3. Follow the intro with the information needed for readers to understand the rest of the paper
4. Rework your outline. Try different approaches. Reliable approaches include:
• old to new
• shorter & simpler to longer & more complex
• uncontested to more contested
Some people write “quick & dirty” drafts, others need to write “slow & clean,” perfecting the paper
sentence by sentence. Quick & dirty writing has several advantages:
1. Going with the flow; getting ideas down as you think of them (not
stopping to fix spelling and sentence structure)
2. When the flow stops, you have other tasks to do
Pitfalls to avoid at all costs:
1. Straightforward plagiarism of words (quote the source!)
2. Straightforward plagiarism of ideas (cite the source!)
3. Indirect plagiarism of words (changing a few words is still
plagiarism!)
4. Become aware you are plagiarizing. One test:
• if your eyes are on the source work, not your paper or
computer screen, as you type - you are probably plagiarizing
The biggest difference between good and poor writing is the attitude about the first draft:
• poor writers see the first draft as a triumph – they are near the end!
• Good writers see the first draft as a sketch – now comes the equally important work of refining the
paper
Chap. 12 - Communicating Evidence Visually
No summary is provided here since it requires accompanying examples. Please see the text.
Chap. 13 - Revising Your Organization and Argument
Again, keep the reader in mind.
More important than punctuation and spelling is the big picture:
• how well do the major elements fit together?
• Does it tell a complete story?
Four steps in analyzing and revising the organization of the paper:
1. Identify sentences that clearly summarize your introduction, conclusion, and main claim
2. Identify the major sections of the paper and the “main point” sentences for each
3. Identify in the introduction your central concepts and be sure you’ve focused on them
throughout
4. Step back to examine the overall shape of your paper
Revising your argument:
1. Identify your argument
2. Evaluate the quality of your argument
• Is the evidence clearly connected to your claim?
• Have you qualified your argument?
• Do you provide reasons and anticipate objections?
• What warrants have you left unexpressed?
(What else must the readers believe before they accept your claims?)
Chap. 14 - Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly
Three principles of clear writing:
1. Stories and grammars (advice about making sentence subjects the main
“characters” in your paper, avoid “nominalizing” verbs, etc.)
2. Old before new (present new information after familiar information)
3. Complexity last (present simple information before complex information)
Chap. 15 - Introductions
The structure of a good introduction:
1. Provide context for your ideas
2. State the problem
• Incomplete knowledge about some topic
• The consequences of that incomplete knowledge
3. Provide a solution or response too the problem
• This is your main point and main claim
Komentar
Posting Komentar