RÉPUBLIQUE DU SÉNÉGAL

Un Peuple-Un But-Une Foi

UNIVERSITÉ CHEIKH ANTA DIOP DE DAKAR

FACULTÉ DES LETTRES ET SCIENCES HUMAINES

Département d’Anglais
: 221 33 860 59 66 / 30 118 10 89
Email : flsh@ucad.edu.sn
B.P. 5005 Dakar-Fann

UE Ang Brit 421 – Outils de recherche

EC : Méthodologie de la recherche

Initiation à la méthodologie de recherche et

aux techniques de rédaction

Année universitaire 2019-2020

M. Mody Sidibé

Professeur assimilé

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Main objectives of this course
1. To make students familiar with academic writing.
2. To help students to choose a relevant topic and formulate it adequately.
3. To make students aware of the importance of using evidence and avoid
making plagiarism.
4. To understand the methodological norms for a presentation of the research
report according to the MLA style (cover page, bibliography, quotations,
footnotes and endnotes)

Requirements for Research Report

Master 1 students have to submit a research report the aim of which is to judge
their ability to write an MA dissertation. A good report contains the following
elements.

Cover page: According to the academic norms and the tradition of the
university. Too fancy cover pages are not very academic.

Topic: Choosing a topic requires careful consideration. Avoid broad subjects

and too long formulations. A good title is expressive, meaningful and attractive.
Once you have chosen a theme, it is important to narrow down in order to
establish a focus.

Preliminary outline: A good outline is in accordance with the title and the
problematic. As you read and become more involved in the subject of your
report, your viewpoint may change. In this case, your original outline may be
modified and subsequently your final title.

Problematic: It highlights the main research questions and explains their

significance. Identify the questions you intend to answer and elucidate their
relevance. Most important, what will be your original contribution in this field
of knowledge ?

Bibliography: A list of articles and books that helps you to deal with your topic.
Try to get the most recent publications in your field. You should respect the
referencing style recommended by your supervisor and pay a particular details
such as capitalization, alphabetical order and punctuation marks.

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What is academic writing?
On a broader sense, it includes exposés, dissertations, reports, doctoral
thesis. Academic research is defined, organized and regulated by norms students
have to be familiar with and abide by. There are different referencing styles.
You have to choose one in collaboration with your supervisor and follow the
rules and regulations.
Main purposes for academic writing
University departments require students to produce a written work in order to
demonstrate that:
- They have read, understood and evaluated some of the literature in their
field.
- They can synthesize ideas from various sources.
- They can select appropriate academic sources to support their point of
view or perspective.
- They can develop and express their ideas.
- They can provide evidence to support their ideas.
- They can dispute or support existing theories and demonstrate their
critical thinking ability.
Any reading you do should have a clear purpose. It should help to find relevant
information to your project.
Before reading
- Why are you reading these documents/ what is your purpose?
- How are you going to read them / what are your reading strategies?
- It is important to think critically as you approach your reading
- Avoid accepting passively any text that you are presented with
Critical thinking
- Recognize what is relevant and what is not relevant
- Identify the writer’s purpose
- Assess the writer’s argument
- Compare and evaluate issues
- Evaluate the credibility of the writer’s sources

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Using evidence to support your ideas:

It is part of academic conventions that any claim made in writing be

supported by evidence. You need to support any statements you make with
evidence. This gives more academic weight to your ideas. Using other people’s
ideas and acknowledging them is an essential part of academic writing. You
need to show some proof that what you are saying is correct. You need to
support any statements or points you make with evidence.
You can incorporate evidence in your report in three different ways:
summarizing, paraphrasing or direct quotation.
The three stages of writing are planning, researching and writing.

Choice of a topic and a supervisor

The two are intimately related and can have a decisive influence on the quality
of the work and sometimes on the future of the researcher. Such a decision has
to be taken after much thought and preliminary investigation. At this stage, the
topic is provisional and the wording is liable to change. Before choosing a topic,
identify a theme in a specific field (literature or civilization) and ask yourself the
following questions:

- What is the scientific interest of the topic?

- Is the documentation available (books, reviews, journals, dissertations,
thesis, etc.)
- Who are the teachers capable of supervising me in this field?

Bibliography

Beaud, Michel. L’art de la thèse: Comment préparer et rédiger un mémoire de

master, une thèse de doctorat ou tout autre travail universitaire à l’ère du Net.
Paris : La Découverte, 2006.
Boulogne, Arlette. Comment rédiger une bibliographie. Paris: Armand Colin,
2005.
Constant, Anne-Sophie et Aldo Lévy. Réussir Mémoire, Thèse et HDR (5ème
ed.). Paris : Lextenso Éditions, 2015.
Eyrolles, Serge. Les 100 mots de l’édition. Paris: Presses Universitaires de
France, 2009.

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MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.). New York: The
Modern Language Association of America, 2009.

MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.). New York: The
Modern Language Association of America, 2008.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).

Washington: American Psychological Association, 2012.

The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and
Publishers (16th ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010.

Williams, Joseph M. Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. New York:
Longman Publishers, 2003.

McCormack, Joan and John Slaght. Extended Writing and Research Skills.
Reading: Garnet Publishing, 2009.

Samb, Djibril. Manuel de méthodologie et de rédaction bibliographique:

initiation à la recherché, à la rédaction et à la présentation des thèses, des
mémoires, des rapports scientifiques, des articles et autres travaux
académiques. Paris : L’Harmattan, 2014.