Guidelines for Selecting

a Topic
1. Interest – are you interested in the
topic?
2. Originality – has someone written on
the topic before?
3. Researchable – will people be willing
to give you information on the topic?
4. Feasibility – Do you have enough
time and money?
 Sources of Research Topics
• Personal Experience
• Textbooks & Journals
• Current affairs (radio, Tv, newspapers)
• Previous Research Works
• Project Supervisor/Lecturer
 What NEXT?
Once you select a topic, you will
now start the research. A research
project is made up of 5 chapters:
we shall briefly go over them.
Elements of a Research Project
• Chapter ONE – Introduction
• Chapter TWO – Literature Review
• Chapter THREE – Research Methodology
• Chapter FOUR – Data Analysis
• Chapter FIVE – Summary, Conclusion &
Recommendations
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
• Background of the Study
• Statement of the Problem
• Purpose of the Study
• Significance of the Study
• Scope of the Study
• Research Questions
• Definition of Terms
 BACKGROUND OF THE
STUDY
• Explain what the topic is all about and the
problem to be investigated
• Give reasons why you became interested in the
topic
• Try to convince the reader why finding solution
to the problem is so important
• State what your research wants to do.
 STATEMENT OF THE
PROBLEM
• What is it you are investigating?
• What problem do you want to find solution
to?
• State the problem preferably in form of a
question e.g. Why do students engage in
exam malpractice?
 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
• Why are you carrying out the research i.e.
what do you want find out?
• To write a good purpose, you should
identify and list the things you want to find
out in the research.
• For instance, this research wants to find
out: (i) why students engage in exam.
Malpractice; (ii) whether they believe
exam malpractice can be avoided
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

• What is the importance of this research

• Who will benefit from this research and
how would they benefit?
• For instance this research will be
important to School administrators
because it will reveal the causes of exam
malpractice and their possible solutions.
 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
• ‘Scope’ refers to the area covered by
something. What aspects of the topic are
you covering in this research?
• Scope does not mean the location you are
covering. You define the scope in relation
to the content of the topic
• For instance, this research will
concentrate on exam. Malpractices
carried out during the conduct of
examinations. It will not look at those
carried out before or after the exams
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• In order to find information for a research, a
researcher has to ask questions.
• These questions asked must be related to the
Purposes of the research. These questions are
called Research Questions
• For instance, on the topic we are using a
researcher can ask these questions:
• Why do students engage in exam malpractice ?
• How can exam malpractice be avoided?
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Are there terms or concepts that you are
using in ways different from their ordinary
meanings? These are the concepts you
should define.
• For instance for a topic like, Causes of
examination malpractice among students
of FCE T Gusau; the only concept you
need to define is examination malpractice
 RECAP
• Chapter One = INTRODUCTION
• It is made up of:
• Background of the Study
• Statement of the Problem
• Purpose of the Study
• Significance of the Study
• Scope of the Study
• Definition of Terms