PROJECTS IN LINGUISTICS - A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RESEARCHING
LANGUAGE
If one wants to embark on a scientific project, the first thing to do is to determine the subject of the research. The essence of effective research is the ability to discern what is both practical and wise to investigate. To navigate this, it's crucial to ask questions that are both intellectually stimulating and also realistically answerable using the available resources. Not all questions are suitable for research projects. Some questions are just impossible to answer due to practical reasons. For example, consider a question like "How many words exist in all the languages worldwide?" Even if you define what a "word" and a "language" mean, you'll never be able to find out that information. ● What Can I research A researcher should first figure out what area of discipline that they want to do their research about. This is the first and most important step, because it lays the foundation of the project. ● Who Will Supervise Me After finding the topic, you must then choose, or at least make some adjustment with the supervisor. Supervising student projects can be a very rewarding thing for a university teacher, and you will get most out of a supervisor who shares your interest in the subject, especially if they are personally research-active in it. ● What Am I Expected to do After that, you must check on any instructions you have been issued with for guidelines. Such as what the word limit is and how you calculate it, The required presentation format, And what the required reference style. These are all important questions to ask at the beginning, before you started the research
After answering the four questions above, then you can continue on with the preparation for conducting the actual research. The most essential parts that you must really planned out are as follows: ● Organizing Time ● Making Plans ● Structuring The Works
Then, we arrived at the most grueling part of scientific research, which is the data collection. There are many ways to obtain data through the available resources. Among others, the resources in questions are: ● Journal and Books Journal and Books, be they in physical form or online form, are the most basic and common resources for any researchers. They are essential resources because they offer a wealth of information, often from well-established scholars and experts and as such, are considered one of the most reliable sources of knowledge and serve as foundational references for academic research. ● The Internet In the internet, there is a lot of information that can be found on the internet, and it can be accurate and inaccurate for some information. This reason will make you aware of the information, also you can operate your critical thinking with caution, for selecting the information. for example when you do research about linguistics and you want to find a website that has the evidence of your data research. you can't just accept it right away, you must look for the references and track the data for yourself, whether it is true or not. ● People In this world there are a lot of people who know things that you don't know, but before you ask them you should know when they want to answer your questions. Moreover, you don't annoy people or waste their time, so you should give them some respect first. ● Databases The Databases can offer you some resources for linguistics material for the research that you could not gather for yourself. ● Dictionaries and glossaries If you could not interpret words or technical terms from your data, you could look it up in the dictionaries.
Being a researcher
● Some of the research engages with one or more research questions. Those questions will be answered through investigation. The questions acquired from what you have read, and existing theory create the best foundation for asking something new. Some of the theories make it possible to make a prediction about what you will find, this can be called a Hypothesis, moreover, linguistics spans the sciences and the humanities, it deals with different intellectual materials such as: 1. Quantitative data, in which statistical tests can be done 2. Qualitative data, such as judgments, perceptions, insights 3. Pure Theory, models of the internal process which, though testable in terms of what language is like are in essence non experimental
Reviewing literature ● Focusing more on the topic that you want to review and brainstorm the questions How to read and how to make notes ● Avoid reading the topic out of your research and make a note of the data of your research every time you see it.
Theory-only projects To start a project based solely on theory, carefully review relevant literature in your field to support your argument. Identify a hypothesis that gives you an edge and be ready to discuss it, then, at this point, continue to develop it from a new perspective. One method is to apply this hypothesis to another special situation, such as testing a lexical retrieval model for monolingual speakers in relation to multiple languages. Consider how a hypothesis can adapt to new circumstances or bring to light different perspectives, similar to human development or perception, through the discourse-creation model. Use diagrams to show how your hypotheses should work, making sure they are clear and equipped to understand any failures or problems simultaneously. Understand the difference between your model and others in terms of growth, interaction, and outcomes.
How to set up a data-based research:
● Make sure you know enough about the research Check to see if there are tutors who can assist you with additional skills, either directly or by recommending self-study texts or other resources. ● Recruit capable people and informants You might need to work with one individual in some detail or you might have to get various individuals to carry out the research, either exclusively or collectively. One way or the other, you should be certain that proper individuals will be available. ● Preparing the necessary equipment Make sure to always be prepared with all the necessary equipment you might need in order to do your research. ● Putting high importance on safety and ethics Always remember that safety is the number one priority. ● Reducing the risk of the research Participating in research is sure to bring up all sorts of problems that you wouldn't have anticipated. If your questionnaire is not clear, your test stimulus is not appropriate, or your recorder is not working, you may obtain useless data or even no data. ● Managing the results The biggest single error made by inexperienced researchers is not thinking about what the results will look like until they have them. ● Handling the data Summarizing information into something that is simple to process and compare is fundamental when both you and your assessors are to form a sense of them. ● Discussion about the outcome of the research Your objective ought to be to draw conclusions with respect to how dialect capacities or how people utilize and handle dialect. At the least, your work ought to permit you to offer educated hypotheses approximately the watched marvels and their potential clarifications based on your collected information. ● Presentation ● Avoid plagiarism ● Be in good terms with your assessor Your objective ought to be to guarantee that the assessor is satisfied with your work from the second they get it until they grade it. While creating excellent work is the essential procedure, there are extra strategies that can assist with making your work more peruser well disposed and interesting to the assessor.
References
Wray, A., & Bloomer, A. (2006). Projects in linguistics: a practical guide to researching
