MA Programme_English Literature

Research Methodology
Dept. of English – College of Arts/BU 2022-2023
Assist. Prof. Dr. Phil. Muhammad Alashtar

Research Methodology in English Literature

Instructor: Muhammad Alashtar (PhD) Office: Dept. of English- College of Arts

Philosophy of Education – Critical
Thinking and Pedagogy
Office Hours: A wall-mounted sheet E-mail: mohammed.almaliki@uobasrah.edu.iq
in my office indicates the hours of my Website:
availability for any queries and/or https://sites.google.com/site/drphilmuhammadalashtar/home/home
questions. Please sign up Course Site
individually/or group https://new.coursesites.com/index.html#thankyou-instructor
Google Classroom: (Sign up for the course upon receiving the invitation note)
Platform: Philosophy of Language
PhD program
Class code: ju6mwqy
Credits: 2 hrs. per week
Course Module
This triple module outlines the major requirements, expectations, and policies made for this course. Read
the following THREE parts well and refer to them continuously

LOCATION: Department of English, Faculty of Arts at Basra University (BU) – 61004 Basra, Bab al-
Zubair College Campus- Iraq.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is an introduction to the essentials of thesis writing. It trains students to understand
and apply the concepts of research to wider context: research title, develop an effective outline and
abstract, research problem, literature review, research design, formulations of questions, objectives and
hypothesis, conduct research methods, instruments of analysis and evaluation. Further, students are
trained in preparing a research proposal, data collection, data analysis (sorting, displaying and
description), research report formatting, recommendations, and documentation. The course is, thus,
organized around two major areas: theory and application.

LEARNING GOALS

At the completion of this course, you are expected to:

1. Understand the nature of research and why people undertake it;

2. Identify research problems, questions, objectives and hypotheses;
3. Be able to collect, analyze, interpret and evaluate data;
4. Investigate theories of knowledge underlying research;
5. Focus on specific research methods of the chosen discipline;
6. Develop and effective research design;
7. Deduct results and formulate conclusions; and

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 8. Identify a topic for research and develop a credible schedule for its completion;
9. Present and defend a coherent argument in the form of an oral presentation.
10. Write a research paper/thesis.
READING AND INPUT

Almack, John C. Research and Thesis Writing: A Textbook on the Principles and Techniques of
Thesis Construction for the Use of Graduate Students in Universities and Colleges 2008

Biggam, John. Succeeding with Your Master’s Dissertation: A Step-by-Step Handbook. 2008

Blaxter, Loraine. How to Research? 4 th ed. Open University Press: England, 2010.

Brown, Brian J., and Baker, Sally. Philosophies of Research into Higher Education. Continuum
International Publishing: London, 2007.

Dawson, Catherine. A Practical Guide to Research Methods. Oxford: K, 2007.

Griffin, Gabriele. Ed. Research Methods for English Studies. 2005

Hesse-Biber, and Sharlene, Nagy. Mixed Methods Research: Merging Theory with Practice. Guilford
Press, 2010.

Mauch, James E., and Birch, Jack W. Guide to the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: A Handbook
for Students and Faculty. 1998

Mounsey, Christ. How to Write Successful Essays, Dissertations, and Exams. 2nd Edition.2013

Nicodemus, Brenda, and Swabey, Laurie. Advances in Interpreting Research: Inquiry in Action. John
Benjamins Pub. Com.: Amsterdam, 2011.

Walliman, Nicholas. Research Methods, 2nd Edition.2013

FURTHER READING AND INPUT

Further reading, i.e. articles, reviews; commentaries, etc. are to be made available to you via the
virtual platform.

TIME FRAME: Winter semester (15 weeks).

PROGRAM STARTUP: Sept. 15, 2022
EXPEXTED PROGRAM FALL: May Fall, 2023

VIRTUAL LEARNING PLATFORM

You can get access to all materials, videos, PPTs, grading, class announcements, class calendar, blogs,
discussions, group task split, and many other features through a very advanced interactive virtual learning
platform called Google classroom. See first page.
MA Programme_English Literature
Research Methodology
Dept. of English – College of Arts/BU 2022-2023
Assist. Prof. Dr. Phil. Muhammad Alashtar

Instruction Method
This course follows a student-centered/an inquiry-based technique. In this course, we will use a variety of
methods, including in-class discussion, Socratic questioning method SQ, think aloud protocol TAP, focus
group discussion FGD, workshops, individual and group presentation, seminar, round table groups, flip
lecture, video recalling, poster, and many others.

Academic Integrity
Violations of academic integrity, of any type and more specifically plagiarism, will not be tolerated in this
course; you will get an F.

COURSE EVALUATION
The following chart describes your final grade of the semester in the academic year:

No. 1st Semester Task Description Credits Total

1 Assignments/short commentaries/term paper 10 30
2 Presentations and participation 10
3 End term exam 10
4 Final exam 70 70
Total 100 100
Pass 60

Ice-breakers
Essentials of research: Design and structure (1)
Research design ground up

Discussion of students reports (aims of academic

research)
Area-focused research: textual and thematic analysis,
comparative literature, interdisciplinary studies, film
and literature, translations, advertisement, etc.

Textual analysis: practices

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 Research types in literature

Genre focused research: novels, poetry, plays,

children’s literature

Schools of comparative studies

Research topic selection: defining the research project

and identifying the theoretical approach, research
ethics, formulating questions, hypotheses, writing an
abstract

Research strategies: qualitative (descriptive, textual

analysis within a theoretical framework); quantitative
(analyzing collected data in statistical forms to decide
on a hypothesis); mixed (combining qualitative and
quantitative methods).
Literature review: conducting and organizing aspects
that can contribute to the subject (gathering data,
connecting text to theory, quotation, documentation,
and bibliography)
Formatting, processing and analysis of collected data,
checking hypotheses and stating findings

Students’ presentations of their research papers

End term exam

ates are subject to change for any unpredicted upcoming event/day off. In this case, you will receive a compensation notice for
those missed sessions.

Muhammad Alashtar
BU, October 2022