EAPP 12

Concept Paper and the ways in elucidating

Elucidating
 Elucidating means to make clear or to give a clarifying explanation.

What is concept?

 An idea of what something is or how it works

 Something conceived in the mind or thought
 An abstract or generic idea generalized from a particular instance

Concept Paper
►A concept paper is a summary document of a project proposal that tells what
the project is all about, the reasons for conducting the project, and how it will be carried
out. This paper also provides an overview of the project, and help funding agencies
eliminate proposals that are likely to be disapproved.

►Concept has several uses. These are:

• serves a foundation of the full proposal,
• determines whether the project is feasible or not,
• piques the interest of the potential funding agencies,
• obtains informal feedback on the ideas before preparing the full proposal,
• helps in addressing social issues that plague our society.

►A concept paper enables one (you as student) in putting thoughts and ideas
together into a paper for consideration of research or action to work for it. It is from the
concept paper that one develops a proposal for action or research which is either be for
academic or business purpose. Making a concept paper makes one to capture a holistic
thought or ideas into one.

►Paper presentation nowadays is shifting on a 3 minimum to 10 maximum-page

concept paper. This is to elucidate the relevant ideas only and present the current
situation and the proposal.
►In short, concept paper defines an idea or a concept and explains its essence in
order to clarify the “what is it and about it” of that idea or concept.

Concept Paper have purposes.

 Purposes:
1. To clarify meaning of words, or to correct misinterpretations, or misuse of a term.
2. To stipulate the meaning of a term by limiting, extending, or redirecting the sense in
which a term is usually understood; to use a term, borrowed from another field of
knowledge, in a special way.

Before writing a concept paper, you must first learn how to explain your concept of your
project or research. Basically, there are three ways of explaining a concept.

1. DEFINITION
-It clarifies the meaning of a word or a concept and it also limit the scope of that
particular word or concept.

-It is explaining the concept by answering, “What does it mean?” This makes of an
illustrations, examples, and description to clarify the term.
 -In short, definition is a method of identifying a given term and making its
meaning clearer.

How did you elucidate the definition of words? Can you give some techniques?
-In defining a word, there are techniques. These are the following:

 Formal – follows a pattern or equation: term+genus+differentia (differentiating

characteristics)

Example: Technology is the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or

applied
sciences.

 By synonym- using a word or phrase that shares a meaning with the term being
defined.
Example: Technology – Knowledge, Computers

 By origin or semantic history

Example: Yoga comes from the Sanskrit “to join”
Example: Technology comes from the Greek word tekhnologia.

 By Illustration
Example: Known for their shedding their leaves in the fall, deciduous trees include
oaks, maples, and beeches.
Example: Technology involves the use of machineries in every aspect of work.

 By function
Example: A thermometer measures temperature change.
Example: Technology uses hi-tech machines to get the work done.

 By analysis -Breaking down wholes into parts, aspects into levels, and a
process
into steps.
Example: The republican form of government has three branches: the executive,
the
legislative, and the judiciary.
Example: Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge for
practical purposes, especially in industry.

 By contrast- use of opposites

Example: Unlike the manual work, technology makes work efficient.

 By negation – stating what a term is not

Example: Technology is not harmful if used properly.

 By likeness of similarity
Example: Technology is likened to modern living where robots exist.
  By analogy or metaphor
Example: Technology is like a robot that makes life easier.
-Signal Words for Definition
The following signal words are useful when explaining a concept by definition.

-as defined is defined as

-for example such as
-for instance means
-to define to illustrate

Any questions regarding the first one?

(The students will have their questions.)
(The teacher will answer the students’ questions.)
(When the students have no questions, proceed to the second.)

2. EXPLICATION
-An explication is a commentary that is a method of explanation in which
sentences, verses, quotes, or phrases are taken from a literary or academic work then
interpreted and explained in a detailed way. In short, explication is a method of
explaining a concept or issue by borrowing sentences, verses or passages from an
academic or literary work and explaining these thoroughly in relation to the concept
being explained. Also, the process by which concepts are defined for scientific purposes.
"To explicate" something is, in the most general sense of the term, to spell out its
implications. Thus, it is the process of spelling out the implications of something and
derived from this, in turn, is the sense of "explication" that refers to the product of this
process: some account of what the implications of something are. Explication, in other
words, is a kind of explanation.

-When using this technique, you need to clearly present your thesis in the
introduction and follow it up with a detailed analysis of a passage or text. You may begin
the body of the explication by analyzing and explaining how the text was constructed.
Your explication should end with a concise conclusion by restating your thesis and
major arguments. Explication not only illuminates a piece of literature, but also serves
to remind the readers about its historical setting and formal properties of style and
language.

-Example: The Poem “the Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

“The Road Not Taken”

The poem titles “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is about a man reflecting on
a choice he once made. While the outcome of this choice is not implied to be positive or
negative, the speaker notes that the choice in itself and the consequences of that choice
have made a huge difference in the way his life has unfolded.

Let’s analyze this poem. First stanza.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
 The poem is about the importance of choices. The poem begins with the speaker
regretting that he could not have been two people so he could have at some point in his
life taken two roads instead of being confined to one. He looked as far as he could to see
what was ahead on one of the roads he could have taken, but he was limited to seeing
only as far as where it turned and disappeared in the bushes.

Second stanza.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted
wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
In the second stanza, he says he took the other road because it was grassy and
was possibly better because it was less travelled though not much more than the other
road.

Third stanza.

And both
that
morning
equally
lay
The third stanza says both roads covered in leaves that had been walked on
infrequently, to the extent that the leaves covering them had not been made black from
tramping feet. He also says he continued on the road he chose, and because he knew
that one thing leads to another (“way leads on to way”) he doubted he would ever return
to this part of the road.

Last stanza

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Finally, he says he will tell the story when he is much older (“Somewhere ages and
ages hence”) that he had the choice of taking one road over another, and having taken
the one he did make a big difference in his life. Also, in the final stanza of his poem, The
Road Not Taken, Frost talks about his dilemma of coming upon two diverging paths, and
not knowing which one to choose. The third line is very important, as it delivers an idea
of choosing between the two divergent paths.

The tone in this stanza shifts from regretful to optimistic. The two roads
symbolically represent individual choices. The mood is neither depressed nor unhappy,
but the poet sighs because he knows what the complexities our life may have for him.
Whether he has chosen a right or a wrong path, it has a compelling impact on his life.
The phrase “less traveled” suggests the theme of individualism.

3. CLARIFICATION
Another way of elucidating a concept paper is through clarification.
-It is a method of explanation in which the points are organized from a general
abstract idea to specific and concrete examples. The analysis of the concept is done by
looking at the examples and specifying its characteristics.

-There are Signal Words for Clarification. There are the following:
-After all -for instance -namely
-As an example -in other words -put another way
-To clarify -for example -To be specific
-in particular -in short -that is
-to be specific -specially -stated differently
-After all -Namely -As an example
-Consider the following Example

-Example:

Nowadays, social activism seems to have distanced itself from its subversive-
driven connotation. In the face of changing social, political and historical contexts,
social activism is now defined as going beyond its radical feature. It now means
being one with the nation in its quest for social justice. It used to be associated with
leftwing movement and rallying for reform the hard-core way.
Social activism is no longer about fighting the government in the quest for
social reform but about answering the call for nation-building and its attendant
goals: to help fight poverty and injustice and fine the most pro-active solutions to
some of society’s most pressing problems.

In this example, the concept of social activism has been explained using a combination
of definition, explication, and clarification.