Online thesis training

8/13/2019 Online thesis training

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My comments are in blue. I hope they can be helpful.

Assignment 4 - B

Describe your own thesis by writing down the following: (1) your possible thesis title [see item h in

Homework Assignment 1], (2) a short description of your research, (3) your Research Questions, and(4) the research tools/sources you will/may be using (literature, surveys, acoustic measurements,

statistics, corpora, archives, etc.).

1. Possible thesis title: I Mean, the Thing Probably is, Like, you Know: A Comparison Betweenthe use of Vague Language in American Television Series and American Literature.

2. A short description of your research: The topic for my possible thesis is vague language. Acouple of examples of vague language are conversational hedges such as kind of likeand like,

the discourse markers you knowand I mean, and nouns of vague reference such as thing.

Furthermore, the vague coordination tag or somethingand the stance markermaybeare

examples of vague language. I think I would like to focus on the words like, well, I meanand

you know, because I think these words are quite popular at the moment. I want to examine

the difference between the use of these words in American television and in American

literature. The main idea is to use television series based on books as my data. For instance, I

could use the television series True Blood, which is based on the book series The Southern

Vampire Mysteries.

3. Research Question: What are differences between the use of vague language in Americanliterature and American television series?

4. The research tools and sources: The literature research will, obviously, be based on literatureabout vague language. For instance, I found two articles that might be useful, namely Like

The Discourse Particle and Semanticsand The Discourse Marker Well. Besides, I found

two books that I might use for my literature research, namely Television Dialogue and

Vague Language Explored. Furthermore, I will use the books and scripts as my data. If

possible, I might use a programme to analyse my data.

I think your possible thesis title sounds very unique and it conveys the idea of your whole

study in one line.

Regarding the research question, I would say that it goes to the point, after all that is what

you want to show to your readers. However, I think it would be helpful if you add some

other research question maybe a bit more specific, like for example: Why is the language

different in both cases? What are the differences implies that we know that exist a

difference between them and thats why you want toidentify them, but you could also

identify the reasons that make them different.

Assignment 4 - C

Indicate which thesis parts will be [e.g. Introduction and Research Questions], and will not be [e.g.

Preamble and Methodology], in your intended thesis. Motivate your choices.


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Introduction & research question: My thesis will include an introduction in which the topicwill be introduced first. I will probably start with a quotation to show that the topic is

important. For instance, this quotation can be taken from the data that I will use. After

introducing the topic I will provide an overview of the historical background. This will include

a discussion of the previous research that has been done, which will lead to a discussion of

the conclusions of the previous research. After the historical background the motivation of

my study can be found, in this case a gap in previous research. In some theses it is useful to

include the perspective after the motivation; however, I will not include the perspective,

because I think it is not necessary to involve my personal experience in linguistic thesis.

Furthermore, I will not include a separate section for the focus of my thesis, because I think

this already becomes clear from other sections, such as the motivation and the research

question. The research question will be the next section of the introduction, which also

shows the main focus of the research. At this moment I do not know if it is necessary to

include the secondary aims and the principle findings. The introduction will end with an

outline of the structure, because this summarises what the reader can expect. Methodology:My thesis will also include a methodology chapter, because this is the best

way to structure a linguistic thesis. The methodology will start with an introduction in which

the data will be described. This description will also describe why this particular data was

chosen. The introduction will be followed by the tools section, in which the tools that were

used will be described. The procedure section will include a chronological overview of the

steps that were taken to come to the results. At the end of the chapter I will probably

provide a short conclusion, because I think that it is important to summarise the chapters.

Results:The results chapter will also start with an introduction. In the introduction I willdescribe the way the results are presented in the chapter. After the introduction the results

will follow. The way in which the results will be presented is not clear yet, because it depends

on the results itself. I will probably use tables and/or graphs to illustrate the results, because

this is usually a good addition to the text. The results will also be compared with the previous

research that has been done. I think that especially in this chapter it important to add a

conclusion, because the main findings will be summarised in this conclusion.

Conclusion:My thesis will of course include a conclusion. The best way to open a concludingchapter is by reminding the reader of the purpose of the thesis. This will be followed by an

overview of the results, which may also include the sub conclusions of the previous chapters.

After this section the expected/unexpected results are usually included. Of course I do not

know what the results will be, but if I think it is necessary I will include this section. The samegoes for the strengths/weaknesses of the study. Finally, the interpretation of the results will

be included in the conclusion.

Actually I do not know well if you really need to have a methodology chapter but in my view,

that is not necessary. In my view, your possible thesis looks like a literary one. It sounds a bit

like the thesis about the psycho hero; you can check it in the thesis samplesof this course.

Assignment 4 - E

Give/motivate your own thesis Framework as best as you can; is there a logicalbalance between the

Research Questions (see item b3) and the Framework in your future thesis?


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My thesis is based on previous research, which can be found in the book Television Dialogue. There

is a chapter about vague language in the television series Friends. This shows that television indeed

makes use of vague language, although there is still a great difference between the use of vague

language in conversation and on television. This made me wonder if there is also such a difference

between the use of vague language in literature and television. Thus far I have not found information

about this, which is why I decided to write my thesis about this. My thesis thus adds something to

the previous research. I think that it is mostly theoretical; however, it opens the opportunity for

further research for more practical reasons. For instance, how to use vague language in literature

and/or television.

I agree with you that your frame tends to be more theoretical since it will intend to add

knowledge instead of solving a problem.

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