3 BƯỚC LÀM BÀI NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC // Writing Research Papers — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Hello everyone! Welcome back to my channel]
2. 0:03If you are here for the first time, Hello, my name's Chi Nguyen. I have a PhD in Education and I am currently teaching and doing research at a university in the US
3. 0:10This is the very first video that is directly and closely related to my current work and also the subject that I am teaching at the doctoral level
4. 0:18which is the methodology to conduct a research paper
5. 0:24Many of you who follow The Present Writer channel have asked me to make this video because you want to do research for your school essays
6. 0:32for graduation thesis, or for your personal research. I've been pondering for a while on how to convey such a difficult, academic content
7. 0:42in a short video. But anyway the biggest motivation that drive me to make this video is the fact that a lot of young people
8. 0:51are confusing about doing research. They think that doing research is just collecting data, writing it down on paper and submit it to the teacher
9. 1:01and then leave it there, covered with dust, totally useless and meaningless for the life of anyone, especially of you yourself
10. 1:06But in my opinion, research skills are highly applicable in almost every aspect of life.
11. 1:13For example, you are a high school student. You want to summarize information about universities in order to choose one to apply for.
12. 1:20That is doing research. You are a student and you want to collect information about international universities and scholarship opportunities so you can apply for
13. 1:29That is doing research. Or you are an employee and your boss asks you to do a market research and write a report on competitors. That is doing research
14. 1:41Everything that requires you to dig deep, explore, discover, summarize, create something that expands your knowledge and can be highly applicable. It is doing research.
15. 1:52And I think that when you are equipped with a clear, coherent, logical way of thinking and good research skills, all your future work will be easy
16. 2:01because you always know what and how to get the data, how to arrange it in your head to produce a report that shows your knowledge and skills
17. 2:11So in today's video I will try to convey all the knowledge and skills I have acquired as clear and consise as possible.
18. 2:19But before we go to the main content, I also want to tell you that it is impossible to say all about doing a scientific research paper in one video.
19. 2:29When I teach this subject in the US, I have a whole semester, ie. serveral months including grading and correcting students' papers
20. 2:37it is not to mention that my students are at high levels, ie. PhD students.
21. 2:41so you know, this one video can hardly cover all topics of how to do a research.
22. 2:45What's more, each profession has its own requirements for scientific research.
23. 2:50For example, if you study engineering, it will be different from social studies like me.
24. 2:54So in this video I'll try to cover the core ideas,
25. 2:58the most important things for you to apply to any field of study,
26. 3:03and you can use these steps as a starting point to further learn about research skills for yourself
27. 3:07If you have questions about any of these ideas, I will address them in future videos.
28. 3:12So please leave your quesions in the comment section.
29. 3:17I will address them in future videos.
30. 3:19Let's begin today's video on The steps to conduct a scientific research.
31. 3:22Throughout the research process for this video, I've referred to numerous online sources about the steps to execute a scientific research study.
32. 3:28I found a particularly feasible one from the American University
33. 3:34detailing 10 steps from the inception of an idea to its completion
34. 3:39I'll leave a link in the description for those interested in a deeper dive into the reasons and objectives of each step
35. 3:49However, as I am someone who believes in minimalism, both in life and in research work,
36. 3:56so when I see a list of 10 steps, I tend to simplify it to 3 steps
37. 4:01Hence, in today's video, I'll share just 3 essential steps for you to conduct a scientific research
38. 4:07I assure you that these three steps are comprehensive and possibly even deeper than what I've found online
39. 4:13Step 1: Choose a topic
40. 4:16The first step is to choose a topic.
41. 4:18The research topic should be one that you truly care about, truly curious about, and truly interested in.
42. 4:24to discover what it's all about, and you feel that your research can make a new contribution to the academic research base, or for applications, or for policy.
43. 4:34It's a topic that you feel you really, really want to do and really want to spend time exploring.
44. 4:39This topic may also need to align with those accepted by your professors, or your supervisors or mentors.
45. 4:49Because, when you graduate in a field or are doing a thesis in a discipline, there are specific requirements from the faculty or the panel,
46. 5:00you need to follow these, ensuring that your passion aligns with the common interests of your mentors.
47. 5:08And especially, when they are experts in that topic, then they can guide you.
48. 5:13When you ask questions, they can answer.
49. 5:15Those two factors are the most important in the process of developing your research topic.
50. 5:20In the process of topic development, one thing I notice in students, even at postgraduate levels, is that topics are often very broad.
51. 5:29You might have a nascent idea, or you want to research a broad scope.
52. 5:35However, for research, it has to be specific, deep, it needs depth, not breadth.
53. 5:42Therefore, during topic development, a very important task is to narrow down the research topic so that it is researchable.
54. 5:49For example, suppose you want to research the educational opportunities for poor students; it's a broad and meaningful topic.
55. 6:01But starting with such a topic is challenging. Which educational opportunities, which students, and where? In Vietnam, in the US, globally?
56. 6:12How can you research all levels from kindergarten to higher education?
57. 6:17The narrower the scope of your research, the easier it will be to gather relevant information and target the right group, to ask more specific questions.
58. 6:25And your answer can be more tailored to a smaller target group.
59. 6:29Because if your topic is too broad, your target group will have too many variations and differences.
60. 6:36Returning to the topic of educational opportunities for impoverished students,
61. 6:38we might ask: what kind of opportunities? How do they study? Who are these impoverished students?
62. 6:43so we can narrow it down, for example: university opportunities for 12th-grade students from disadvantaged families in Nghe An.
63. 6:52You see? From a broad topic like 'educational pportunities for impoverished students', we've narrowed it down to 'university opportunities for 12th-grade students'.
64. 7:00And while we keep "impoverished students", we've specified it further as "students from disadvantaged families", and even more specifically, in Nghe An, a particular locality.
65. 7:12I'm just providing one example to show you that, when you have such a broad topic, you can narrow it down in certain ways.
66. 7:18Once you've narrowed down your topic, you can start formulating research questions
67. 7:25This is a significant task for any research paper because the challenge is in picking the topic.
68. 7:30Because the topic is this big. But within the research, there are smaller segments, different angles, that is, specific questions and particular sections of that topic.
69. 7:44The research questions could be "How", "What", or "Why", right?
70. 7:51For example, as for the topic of educational opportunities for impoverished students, a research question could be:
71. 7:56'What challenges do 12th-grade students from disadvantaged families in Nghe An face in their studies?'
72. 8:03This is a 'What' question. Or you could ask a 'How' question:
73. 8:07'How are 12th-grade students from disadvantaged families in Nghe An preparing for university opportunities?'
74. 8:14You still follow the same theme, but you've asked a different question. Or you can ask a 'Why' question:
75. 8:21'Why do 12th-grade students from disadvantaged families in Nghe An choose to attend or not attend university?'
76. 8:27You can combine all these three research questions, or come up with other research questions.
77. 8:31However, a significant point to note when formulating research questions is not to pose biased or prejudiced questions.
78. 8:39For example, before conducting research, without prior investigation, one might pose a biased question like
79. 8:45'students from disadvantaged backgrounds perform worse than students from better backgrounds'.
80. 8:50It could be true, but it might not be. So your question must be neutral.
81. 8:55For example 'What is the difference in academic performance between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those from better backgrounds?'
82. 9:01It's devoid of bias or preconceived notions. There's no predetermined answer.
83. 9:08Because if there was, why conduct the research at all?
84. 9:11Secondly, you should avoid questions that can only be answered with 'yes' or 'no' without any follow-up.
85. 9:17For instance, 'Do students from disadvantaged backgrounds attend university?'
86. 9:21The answer is just 'yes' or 'no'. There's no deeper insight.
87. 9:26Two approaches can be taken: first, rephrase the question to address 'What', 'How', or 'Why'. Avoid yes-no questions.
88. 9:33Secondly, have follow-up questions. If you have a yes-no question,
89. 9:39the next question could be 'why?', 'how?', or 'how can we improve that particular issue?'
90. 9:45These are some notes before you embark on the process. As you roll out your topic, refine it, and build your research questions.
91. 9:52Step 2: Research
92. 9:55The second step is research, which is the main step.
93. 9:59In the research design, the first step is what we call 2.1, which is the construction of a literature review (or an overview of research)
94. 10:07In this phase, you will read many documents related to the topic you are researching.
95. 10:14Using the keywords found from the initial topic, from our step 1, you'll type them into search bars to find scientific research articles on this topic.
96. 10:28So where do you look for sources? You can search through books, or scholarly articles in libraries.
97. 10:37However, the largest source of information is the internet.
98. 10:41But, don't search on regular Google because it provides all types of information.
99. 10:47For scientific research, use Google Scholar.
100. 10:50I'm not sure if you've ever used Google Play? It is similar to Google, meaning it provides search results based on keywords.
101. 10:59But, the database of Google Scholar is focused only on published scientific papers.
102. 11:06When you search, it's essential to look for verified sources, especially on Google Scholar.
103. 11:12Check if the article is truly published in reputable journals? Is it referenced by renowned scholars in the field?
104. 11:20I'll introduce more on how to find out these details in the subsequent series because it's a lot of information.
105. 11:25You just need to know that to start by searching from authoritative sources.
106. 11:29Once you have these legitimate sources, for instance, save all those research papers on your computer, or borrow related books from the library.
107. 11:40or ask around for similar topics or documents to read
108. 11:46However, when you have that much data, you need to establish a system to track where you're up to. What are the results
109. 11:55how to summarize the content of each document? There are many software tools or applications that can help you organize, like Excel.
110. 12:04For example, you can have a column for the author's name, one for the document title,
111. 12:09one for the summary, another for quotations, and one for your thoughts.
112. 12:15Besides Excel, you can work on Microsoft Word or Notion. I'll introduce more about Notion in the later part of the video.
113. 12:24Or you can use apps specialized for reading scientific documents, like Mendeley, EndNote, or Zotero.
114. 12:33You can explore which source or system suits you best.
115. 12:37However, the key point is that no matter which system you choose, it's essential to choose it right from the start.
116. 12:43Don't let yourself be overwhelmed with too many documents, reading a bit here and a bit there,
117. 12:48and in the end, not remembering what you are reading, where you've noted it down, and that's such a waste.
118. 12:54Therefore, you should establish a system right from the start so that, when you read, you only read once.
119. 12:59If necessary, you may read it for the second or third time, but just the essential parts, without having to start over like it's brand new.
120. 13:04That's the first thing when you do a "Literature review," ie. an overview of the research topic
121. 13:10For most research papers at the undergraduate or even master's level, it usually stops at this literature review.
122. 13:20That is, when you do a research paper, you compile existing research, synthesize the information, and write your responses to your research questions, creating your own paper.
123. 13:31Mostly, it is so at the undergraduate and even master's level.
124. 13:36However, some programs have higher requirements, especially when you pursue a PhD, where you might need a thesis.
125. 13:43They will require a second research phase, called section 2.2 in this video, known as empirical research.
126. 13:52What is empirical research? Empirical means you have to collect your own data and do your own research, rather than borrowing and compiling others'.
127. 14:00For instance, you'll have to collect data, whether by interviews, surveys, or using existing datasets for analysis.
128. 14:12That's the first step: you must gather your own data. The second step is to analyze this data.
129. 14:21Depending on your research question and the data you have, you'll decide on the analysis method.
130. 14:30This might be quantitative, qualitative, or a mixed method, combining both.
131. 14:39There are many deep and varied methods.
132. 14:43For example, there are many ways to approach quantitative and qualitative methods, and so we can't cover in today's video.
133. 14:50So, I just want to say that, depending on your project's requirements, you might or might not need to do empirical research.
134. 14:57If not, just doing a literature review is perfectly fine. And if you do need empirical research, you'll embark on a deeper and more personal journey because you have to do it yourself.
135. 15:09To undertake this journey, you'll need support from someone, like a supervisor or a research committee,
136. 15:18to closely monitor you, help you find appropriate data sources for your research question, and choose appropriate methods for research and analysis
137. 15:28You'll have to read research books, take specialized courses, and acquire a lot of skills to undertake this empirical research step.
138. 15:37Step 3: Writing a research paper
139. 15:40The third step is to write the research paper.
140. 15:43After you have settled on a topic and conducted research on it, you must write findings to report the results.
141. 15:54First and foremost, my advice is to have an outline. In writing a scientific research paper, you will follow a standard outline.
142. 16:06If you are in a specific field, you can download a published scientific article from that field as a reference.
143. 16:14The structure in that publication is also the outline you should follow for your writing.
144. 16:19Just like when you're doing an assignment in class, or a thesis or dissertation, your professor or university might have provided a pre-defined outline.
145. 16:29You should follow these provided guidelines to structure your paper.
146. 16:32Personally, I always start by constructing the whole outline, jotting down every main idea, such as the introduction, body, and conclusion.
147. 16:41For instance, the body consists of theoretical basis, research methods, results, discussions, or applications, etc.
148. 16:52I list all the main ideas I want to cover in each section and use a method called "plug in" where I incorporate available data into my outline.
149. 17:04I once introduced this method in a previous video; I call it "plug in"
150. 17:08It means under each main point, I would attach an example from a book or a specific idea from a page I've read.
151. 17:17After having the outline, the next step is drafting. What's drafting?
152. 17:22It's where you compile all the information you have and write it down fluently.
153. 17:26I've observed many struggle at this stage, especially when you have to cite various scholars. If Chi Nguyen says X, Nguyen Van A says Y, Pham Van C says Z
154. 17:40many of you would just repeat these scholars. For example, "Chi Nguyen says education is like this and that; Pham Van A thinks education is so and so."
155. 17:50You keep writing simple sentences, beginning with author's name and their ideas.
156. 17:55Such writing doesn't make for a smooth research paper. It's merely a collection of bullet points.
157. 18:06The best way to write is to somehow weave together the views of these scholars. As I always tell my students:
158. 18:11Make it feel like these scholars are having a conversation with each other. You facilitate their conversation and make them talk to you too.
159. 18:17For example, while Chi Nguyen speaks about education in one way, Nguyen Van A sees it differently.
160. 18:23However, these two opinions aren't too different, as Pham Van C has also analyzed the topic from similar perspectives.
161. 18:31As you can see, these scholars have differing views and arguments. But I have combined them smoothly and seamlessly.
162. 18:41This is what I highly recommend you practice during the drafting process.
163. 18:45Once you have a complete draft, the editing phase begins. The aim is to polish it to perfection.
164. 18:53Readers should be able to comprehend it clearly, and the argument needs to be logical.
165. 18:57During editing, two things need attention.
166. 18:59First, content clarity: does it answer the research question posed at the beginning?
167. 19:06I've read many papers where the introduction asks one question, and by the conclusion, the topic has shifted with no clear linkage.
168. 19:14This shouldn't happen.
169. 19:16It shows you haven't reviewed your research thoroughly from the reader's perspective
170. 19:21First, regarding the content, you have to ensure that you have answered the research question.
171. 19:28Second, focus on writing style: is it understandable? Any grammatical or spelling errors?
172. 19:38Especially when writing in another language, be extra careful.
173. 19:43Also, make sure your citations are correct. Incorrect or missing citations can be seen as plagiarism.
174. 19:58That is, you present the ideas as if they are yours.
175. 20:04This is strictly taboo in academia. I'll have another video discussing citation in detail.
176. 20:11Once successfully edited, the paper is complete.
177. 20:15Next, you just need to submit it, perhaps for a professor's feedback or to a scientific journal for scholarly review.
178. 20:27There are many subsequent steps in the journey of a research paper, which probably need another video.
179. 20:35But, in my opinion, those are the three most basic and most understandable steps for executing a scientific research paper.
180. 20:43Applying the 3 research steps (using Notion)
181. 20:47To give you a clearer idea of applying the aforementioned three steps in practice, I thought of creating a template.
182. 20:53The aim is to demonstrate these steps in reality, with examples.
183. 20:58However, during this process, I discovered there's already a template available on Notion. It's detailed and logical.
184. 21:05Hence, I'll use Notion as an example to help you understand how to apply these three steps in practice.
185. 21:11If you aren't familiar with Notion, it's an all-in-one note-taking application.
186. 21:16I've introduced it multiple times in my videos on my channel.
187. 21:19I'm a big fan of this app, especially for scientific research.
188. 21:23Today, I was surprised to discover that Notion offers a variety of excellent and academic templates.
189. 21:29for those interested in conducting scientific research.
190. 21:32To get started, head over to the Notion website, and you can click on the template section.
191. 21:37Within these templates, there's a category designed for students, labeled "student".
192. 21:41Within this category, there's a specific template I'd like to recommend to you. It is Thesis Planning
193. 21:48Interestingly, this template aligns perfectly with the three steps I recently covered in the previous section of the video.
194. 21:55The initial section, "topic", can be explored further by clicking on it. What does "topic" mean here?
195. 22:01It lists various subjects that the template creator has provided.
196. 22:05For example, you can see the topic's title and criteria to determine whether you genuinely like it, or if it's worth pursuing.
197. 22:17Then, there are research questions. This section aligns with step one I introduced: choosing a topic.
198. 22:28The second step, "Sources & notes", corresponds to the research phase I mentioned earlier.
199. 22:34However, in this section, it seems the emphasis is mainly on the "literature review"— meaning reviews of existing research.
200. 22:45You can see that the template's author provides a series of research sources, which can be accessed with a click.
201. 22:53I noticed that within this section, if you have a video, for instance, you can attach its URL link.
202. 23:02And you can identify whether your topic is a video box, an ebook, or, in the context of research, it might be a scientific paper or a scientific journal article.
203. 23:13Another interesting template in Notion, which I found impressive, is also under the student category.
204. 23:21If you go to the reading list, and especially the English reading section, you will find the template is very clear, resembling columns like in Excel.
205. 23:31The first column categorizes the source, whether it's a journal article or resources from platforms like essay podcast, for example.
206. 23:39Afterwards, there's the title, then there are statuses, whether I've read it or not.
207. 23:44The point is whether it's relevant to my research or not,
208. 23:48and importantly, there's the author's name, the place of publication, the publication date, and the link to that text.
209. 23:57And if you have your own summary, you can also write it here.
210. 24:02When you click on a scientific research article, for example, you can see that this template provides fields for whether you've read it,
211. 24:12how far you've read, the publisher's details, the publication date, and the link.
212. 24:18Most importantly, if you want, you can embed your research paper in PDF format here.
213. 24:26This way, you can compile everything into one file, noting the results of your research, your readings, and so on. It's very convenient.
214. 24:36If you want to build a reading list for your literature review, I think this is a great template to start with.
215. 24:46Returning to the template "Thesis planning," another thing I love about this template is that it has a timeline at the bottom.
216. 24:56This timeline logically arranges your journey.
217. 25:01First, when you explore an idea, there's a timeframe, a status of completion, its applications, and what needs to be done.
218. 25:11Then comes the research phase as I mentioned above: Primary and Secondary Research. Here you also have a schedule and a status.
219. 25:20Below that, there are draft chapters. This corresponds to the third step I shared with you in the first part of this video.
220. 25:27How to draft, what sections are needed... links of sources can be put here.
221. 25:32Similarly, following the timeline, you'll see chapters leading up to your final draft and the "proposal"
222. 25:42This means you've completed and can submit your work to your panel, professors, or teachers for feedback.
223. 25:47Then you make presentation and defend your work.
224. 25:52For such processes, I believe that if you have a long-term project, such as a thesis for undergraduate, master's, or Ph.D. level,
225. 26:02or a research topic that requires more than 1-2 months, this template is excellent.
226. 26:10So, if you're interested, you can learn more about Notion. I'll provide the registration link below; it's completely free.
227. 26:16Especially for students with a .edu email, you can unlock many of Notion's features.
228. 26:23Even if you don't have a .edu email, you can still use it for free, and all these templates are open to the community.
229. 26:30Summary
230. 26:32As I mentioned at the beginning, this video is meant to give you the most basic and straightforward overview of the steps to conduct scientific research.
231. 26:42If you're interested in diving deeper into any of these steps or any aspects of research, leave a comment below.
232. 26:54I'll check them and try to make follow-up videos to answer your specific questions.
233. 27:01I'm truly passionate about this topic, teaching a scientific research course at a university in the US.
234. 27:08Therefore, I hope in some ways to provide advanced, academic knowledge to those in Vietnam for free.
235. 27:17I understand not everyone has the opportunity to learn this and not every institution in Vietnam teaches this.
236. 27:22Having been a student myself and not being taught these things, I had to figure out a lot on my own.
237. 27:27I hope you understand my passion, and if you're interested in this topic, please like, share the video, and let me know
238. 27:35what you'd like to see in the next video in this series.
239. 27:39Goodbye everyone, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye!