Different Kinds of Discourse

Rhetoric is an art of using language to persuade or influence others. It refers to the body of rules to be
observed by a speaker or writer to express oneself with eloquence.
There are four kinds of discourse they are as follows
1. Description, 2.Exposition, 3.Argument, 4.Narration

DESCRIPTION
Suggestive description
It is concerned with the impression that the world makes on our senses. Presents the quality of objects,
person’s conditions and action. It suggests to the imagination the things as it comes immediately to an
observer.
Technical description and Suggestive description
Technical description provides information about things but Suggestive description provides information
about things but direct presentation about things. Technical description has the purpose of a scientist and
has the general law of nature. It is a scientific writing.
Suggestive description has the purpose of a artist it is an experience of the world. It is the literary
writing. Scientific writing occurs in literary writing and vice versa.
Suggestive description and the senses
Suggestive description cultivates our powers of observation. Imaginary object is impression drawn from
real life.
 Writer must put his observation & perceptions into words ---- right words.
 Expand his vocabulary.
eg: loud noise  crash, bang, wail,
scream etc.
 Descriptive writing tends naturally towards
metaphor –vivid ,concrete, specific.
 not depend on one sense alone
depends on a mass of them massiveness
eg: ‘apple is red’ fragrance, slickness
juiciness.
 no long description; use single word to condense
a whole series of qualities.
eg’ The ice is glassy’ glassy evoke hardness, transparency and brightness of glass.
Description and other kinds of discourse
1. Technical description – in isolation
Suggestive description – subordinate
when mixed with other discourse
 2. Without description  composition would be bare and unconvincing.
touch of reality, immediacy.
Dominant impression
 The concrete details of an object provoke some mood or feeling in us.
eg: opening line in Hamlet – creates
mysterious fear
 Not tell about the object but gives us the object.
vividness and immediacy of presentation.
 The principle of caricature – works on the principle of dominant impression.
 Selection of words – use – nouns, verbs, adverbs etc.
Texture and Pattern in Description
 Texture means – combination of
1.observations dominant impression
2. relation of such details to a dominant impression of the things
3. choice of words.
What is the need for a pattern in description?
 Achieve sense of unity – present in proper sequence
pattern/structure.
 Frame image – compares complicated object
| described with sth simpler (F.I)
____|_____
| |
fix the give details
details (baffle reads)
set in then frame
the frame
ARGUMENT

An Argument means a statement or facts advance to influence the mind, or to support a proposition by
its conflict over the correctness of differing proposition. The purpose of argument is to make the other
side change its mind, to resolve the conflict by applying to the reason. To convince someone through
argument means to find a common ground in reason, to sign a standard of reason.

1. When a fact can be readily established investigation, there is no need for argument.
2. An argument about a matter of taste is useless.
3. You cannot argue about something in general.

So, what is an argument about? An argument is about a proposition. What is a Proposition? A

proposition is a declaration of judgment, what an arguer holds to be a reasonable judgment. It can be
believed, doubted or distrusted. Therefore all arguments are about propositions.
 To begin your argument you must take your proposition in clear terms. Now proposition are of two
kinds

1. Proposition of facts: This kind of proposition states that something is a fact. Here you have to
establish as far as possible for you the key fact.

2. Proposition of action: This kind of proposition states that something should be done. Here you do
not stop with the establishment of a fact but proceed further to indicate and prove the kind of action
desirable on taking the fact into account.

A proposition may contain a main point and other minor points related to the main point. When
these minor points are related to the main point each of these has to be argued out as if they are single
propositions. This is because the main proposition may raise various questions and the minor
propositions may deal with these question the discussion and controversy over them. When one of the
minor propositions must be proved in order to get the main proposition accepted, that minor proposition
is called an issue.

In an argument we made use of evidence.

Evidence can be in the form of facts or opinions.

1. Facts as Evidence: a) A fact used as evidence must be a fact. It should not turn out to be a
mistaken opinion on examination.
b) A fact must be verified or attested by a reliable source when used as a piece of evidence.
c) Facts can be verified by referring to some regularity in nature, to some pattern in nature; Facts
can be established by testimony also.
2. Opinions as Evidence: An opinion to be used as a piece of evidence must be authoritative.
Whether an opinion is based on authority, can be tested by referring it to an Impartial technical
expert or by an appeal to experience before accepting it. In other words opinions however
authoritative are not so reliable as pieces of evidence as verified facts. This is because :
a) Authority is often based on an appeal to success.
b) An authority in one field may be considered as an authority on everything.
c) Authority has some relation to time. What was acceptable as an authority at one time may not
be acceptable at another.
d) An authority may convince a particular audience or a part of the audience, but not all.
An argument is a process of reasoning, an effort to find out a common ground in reason as we have
already noted. What is reasoning it is the process by which the mind moves from certain date to a
conclusion.

Now this process of reasoning can be done in two ways. We can make the progress from date to the
conclusion through the method of induction or generalization. No argument which moves from some to
all can give more than a probability. All instances have not been observed, and after examining few
instances, we take the inductive leap and make a generalization. The validity of such inductive the
generalizations must be tested in the following ways.

a) Whether a good number of instances have been investigated.

b) Whether the instances investigated are typical instances.
c) Whether we could explain a negative instance which defies the generalization. The
negative instance reduces the force of the generalization unless we can demonstrate that the
negative instance is not typical and therefore need not be considered.
Another type of induction is by analogy – i.e., two things are alike in a number of important points; they
will be alike in the point in question. But the validity of generalizations based on analogy must also be
tested before being accepted. We must test.
a) Whether the two instances compared are similar in all important respects.
b) Whether we are able to account as unimportant the differences between the two instances.
Parallels: In addition to generalization and analogy we can also use a large number of parallels to
strengthen our argument. But as with analogy and generalization, through citing parallels we can arrive
only at probability.

Deduction: Unlike induction, deduction does not give probabilities, but within its proper limits aims at
certitude.

In deduction we start with certain assumptions (premises called ‘axions’ in geometry). Once our
premises are true we can always arrive at a conclusion of certitude.‘Deduction’ is a Latin word; the
means from dugeve means to lead to. That is to say, a deductive argument, leads from something to a
conclusion. To think deductively is to work from a general motion to a particular application- that is to
think by classes.

Consider for example the following argument,

God loves man.

A Slave is a man.
God loves slaves.

Step 1: We think of the whole mankind as one class whom god loves.
Step 2: We think of the class of slaves as being included in the class of mankind.
Step 3: Therefore we conclude that God who loves all loves slaves also, who are also men.

Sometimes the form of the statement of a premise is confusing. The most ordinary cause of such
confusion is the use of a restrictive or exclusive element in the proposition, an expression such as all but,
all except, none but, etc.
Example: “None but the brave deserve the fair”
 The statement at first glance seems to mean all the brave deserve the fair”. But a little reflection
shows that such is not the case: and that it means, “All who deserve the fair are included in the class of
the brave”. That is “Some of the brave do not deserve the fair”.
Slips in Reasoning
Confusion may arise from a slip in the process of reasoning. A lawyer once argued for his clients as
follows:
“We know that all good men strive to provide well for their families. They work day after day for
that purpose. All good men strive to be considerate and win the love and esteem of their families. They
are beloved by their families. Well, I point out to you this man’s long record of devotion to his family
and their devotion to him”.
His argument can be restated thus
Good men are devoted to their families
Mr X is devoted to his family
Therefore, Mr X is a good man.

But we know that a man may be devoted to his family, but need not be good. In other words, “the class
of men devoted to their families” is larger than “the class of good men”. The confusion has been caused
by equating two non-equal classes or non identical classes.
In deduction necessity is what counts, not probability. Therefore a good check is to try to look
behind the words and see what is necessarily included in what. The use of terms like may be or perhaps
does not count in this kind of reasoning. To be convincing, the conclusion must follow from the
promise.

Begging the question is a type of weakness to be avoided in argument. Begging the question occurs
when the arguer assumes something to be true which really needs proof.

Examples:
The unsanitary condition of the slaughter pens is detrimental to health.
The argument is about whether the condition of the slaughter pens is detrimental to health, but the
use of unsanitary in the proposition means detrimental to health. The question that is supposed to be at
stake has been begged.
Ignoring a question: A arguer ignores the question when he introduces any consideration that will
distract from what is really at stake.
Non-Seguitar means using an argument which does not prove. The phrase means “it does not
follow”.
Example:
William Brown doesn’t drink or smoke, and so he ought to make a good husband.
Fallacies and Regulations: If we can point out a fallacy in an opposing argument, we can refute that
argument. While writing an argumentative piece, we can even anticipate several opposing arguments
and refute them.
The most important thing to bear in mind in deductive argument is the avoidance of weak links.
 Lastly every argument must try to persuade somebody. An appeal to emotions may be very important
in the strategy. An appeal to emotions may be very important in the strategy of presenting an argument.
The problem of persuasion is central to the presentation of an argument.

EXPOSITION
Exposition is defined as the action or setting forth or of explaining a detailed explanation or
interpretation.
The method of exposition can be in any one of the following forms:
Identification
Definition
Classification
Illustration
Comparison and contrast
Analysis
1. Identification
It is a kind of pointing by means of language. It can be simple and elaborate. It has many disadvantages:
It tends to overlap definition and it gives way to other interesting methods. It is defined as the action of
treating something as the same as some other thing. It asks the question “what is it?” Or “who is he?” It
is a kind of pointing by means of language. Identification can be as simple as “It is an apple” or “he is
Mr. ____ “
2. Definition
Definition is a word derived from Latin. ‘De’ means with relation to and ‘finis’ means limit. A
definition means the limiting of a word. Strictly speaking definition is not of a thing but of a word.
Definition is any word or group of words that constitute a unit of meaning that refers to one thing or
idea. Definition is always cast in the form of an equation A is B.
3. Classification
It is a group whose members have characters in common. It has classes and subsets. A class is a group
whose members have significant characteristics in common. What constitutes a significant characteristic
may vary according to the interest involved in the classification. For example, a maker of cosmetics
things of women in groups determined by complexion. A system of classes is a set of classes ranging
from the most inclusive down through the least inclusive.

The class ‘College students’ include ‘those of voting age’ and ‘those below voting age’.
The class ‘those of voting age’ includes ‘those interested in party A’ and ‘those interested in party B’,
and so on, with the result the class

Requirements of classification
There can be only one principle applied at each stage. The sub classes under any class must account for
all the numbers of the class. There can be only one principle applied and one sub-class must account for
all as the members of one class.

Use of classification
It is simply a way of sorting out things. It is a way of thinking about the material of our piece, that we
give order to it. The kind of order we get comes from distinguishing the sub groups within a group.
4. Illustration
It is one of the common ways of explaining an idea. Like definition and classification it is also a way of
thinking in terms of classes. Illustration is the method of using a particular in order to explain a class.
Hence illustration should represent one chief quality of a class.
5. Comparison and contrast
Explanation can also be in the form of noting down similarities and differences between things.
The purpose of comparison and contrast.
When we wish to present information about an item, we may do so by relating it to another item with
which our audience is familiar. Information about both the items of comparison or contrast, we may do
so by treating them in relation to some general principle which would apply to both and with which our
audience is familiar. Is not familiar, by comparing and contrasting them against some general principle
of fiction with which the audience is familiar. We may compare and contrast items with which the
audience is familiar for the purpose of explaining some general principle or idea.
6. Analysis
Analysis means dividing a whole into its component parts. In analysis an object is considered as a
structured whole, having mutually supporting function in determining nature of one whole structure.
How does analysis, then, differ from classification? Classification simply lists out the individual items
in a class. Under classification a class is not considered as a ‘structured whole’ and the individual items
as part ‘making that structure’. In analysis an object or an idea is considered to be structured whole, its
components organized in a particular way. For example we classify the words into various classes
known as ‘parts of speech’. But we analyse the structure of a sentence into its component parts.
Methods of analysis are decided by the interests that prompt the analysis. There are two types of analysis
namely i) functional analysis ii) casual analysis.

NARRATION
It is a kind of discourse concerned with action, with events in time, with life in motion.
It answers the question,”what happened?”It tells a story. It is to be distinguished from expository
narration, which appeals to our understanding.
Relation between Narration and other Discourses
Non-narrative writing is expository, argumentative, or descriptive. Its purpose is to appeal to our
understanding, to explain the why, the how or the quality of an action. The purpose of narrative writing
is to appeal to the imagination, to tell a story, to present the action as it happened. b) Sometimes a piece
of writing may occur in a large piece of writing that has an overall non-narrative intension. For example:
George Barton, a poor boy about twelve years old, was forced to sell the mastiff, which he had reared
from a puppy and was much attached to, for two reasons. First, having lost his job, he could no longer
buy proper food for it .second, after it had frightened a child, he was afraid that someone would poison
it. The rewritten passage:
George Barton owned a mastiff, which he had reared from a puppy .He loved it very much .But he
lost his job and could no longer buy proper food for it .then the dog frightened a little child of the
neighbourhood who was eating a piece of bread .George was afraid that someone would poison the
dog.so he sold it.
Narration can absorb other modes of discourse as subordinate parts to its dominant intension. i) The
subordinate intensions must fulfil their own functions ii) the subordinate intensions must be significantly
related to the main intension. Narration gives us a moving picture and its aim is to give immediacy or a
sense of the event happening before our eyes. Description also aim at immediacy, but its purpose is to
give the quality of an action, not the movement of an action.
ACTION
Action is motion and narration gives us motion in time. For action to happen, it must have unity of
meaning. An action is a structure and it has 3 constituent elements namely i) time, ii) logic iii)
meaning
TIME
An action takes place in time that is an event moves from one point in time to another. The length of
time is that time in which a movement takes place from a beginning to an end. The natural order in time
and the narrative order in time must be distinguished. Natural order is the chronological sequence.
Narrative order is where the author takes freedom to narrate the text in the order he pleases.
Narrative Pattern
An action whether real or imaginary must have beginning, middle, and end .It can take the form of
situation, complication, denouement or exposition.
Beginning: An action arises from a situation which may be complicated or simple. The significant
material for future development must be shown. The relation among the various elements must be
shown. Beginning is called exposition which may not be descriptive or explanatory.
The Middle: It contains the main body of the action. It involves points of mounting tension or increasing
complication, developing from the original situation. It is also called as complication.
The End: It is not simply the point at which the action stops. It may be a reconciliation of forces. End is
a piece where action achieves its full meaning. It is called denouement. It is untying the complications
developed in the middle.

Meaning in Narrative Interpretation

It makes us to sense the fullness of the process. To see, feel, hear and understand the event as a unit. To
be aware of the event happening. The interpretation may be made by the character in the narrative or by
the reader or may be stated by the writer.

How interest determines action

INTEREST: The narrator’s interest determines the action of the narrative.
SELECTION: It is a matter of vividness
RELEVANCE: i) Relevance of theme, ii) Relevance of immediacy
POINT OF VIEW: The point from which the action of a narrative is viewer. There are two possible
points of view personal point of view where ‘I’ real or imaginary himself is involved observer and as a
participant. The third person point of view where narrator acts as an observer only
In the First person the narrator is the Main character, involved observer, and observer
In the Third person narration is panoramic – large, complicate action or omniscient point of view like
battle, mob, burning city and The point of view of sharp focus single character.

NARRATIVE ACTION
Action is a flow, a motion, a movement in time. The flow is sequential. Sequence should have order.
Order is obtained by logic and causality. Action should have unity. Unity is obtained by structure.
Action should have meaning

ARGUMENT:
THE KEY FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH:
Toulmin proposed the argumentation structure. Argument and dialogue are the processes by which
we learn. Knowledge construction for the learner requires the opportunity to engage in critique and the
higher order thinking skills of synthesis and evaluation. Argumentation is the means that scientists use to
make their case for new ideas. Relatively little opportunity is provided for argument and discussion in
school science lessons. Teachers wishing to develop argumentation skills in pupils should themselves
give reasons for the explanations they give. Teachers whose lessons included the highest quality of
argumentation also encouraged higher order processes in their teaching. Teachers report that they value
argumentation as a way of improving teaching and learning. Argumentation improves subject
knowledge which was significantly better.
CRAFTING AN ARGUMENT:
Crafting an argument in your thesis means to clarify what you claim in the text and why.you
need to state the reasons for your claims.
The argumentation consists of reasoning with the following elements
1. A claim that which you argue in favour of
2. An argument that which you argue with
3. A statement that links the claim to the argument
The statement that links the claim with the argument enables your reader to understand why the
argument functions and is often referred to as the warrant.
THE STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENTATION:
1.Claim:
The claim is where you present a preliminary and possible conclusion on your research
question;you present the work that lies ahead,and what you expect to find.The claim can be anticipated
in your formulation of a research question,in hypotheses in the introduction,or in partial
conclusions.your final claim will be central in your conclusion and is often presented in your closing.
2.Argument(s):
Argument(s) may be based on emprical documentation,references to authorities in the field,or other
sources(such as historical sources,experiments,interviews).The arguments are evidences for the claim.
3.Research method(s):
The link between an argument and a claim is something known as a warrrent.Another word we use is
research method.Research method are the analytical.Make sure that there is a connection between your
theory,method and emperical data.
4)Counterargument:
A counterrgument is a critical reading of the research method you have chosen.Here you can point
out limitations,and possible weakness in the research method.Be explicit as to whether you have
reservations regarding the method,and if there are elements of uncertainly concerning the method as
such,or the practial use of it.
IN AN ARGUMENT WE MADE USE OF EVIDENCE:
Evidence can be in the form of facts or opinions:
1.Facts as evidence:
a) A fact used as evidence must be a fact.It should not turn out to be a mistaken opinion on
examination .
b) A fact must be verified or attested by a reliable source when used as a piece of evidence.
2. Opinions as evidence:
An opinions to be used as a piece of evidence must be authorative.In other words opinions
however authoritative are not so reliable as pieces of evidence as verified facts.
a) Authority is often based on an appeal to sucess.
b) An authority in one field may be considered as an authority on everything.
If reasoning can be done in two ways:
1.we can make the progress from date to the conclusion through the method of induction or
generalization .The validity of such inductive the generalizations must be tested in the following ways.
a) Whether a good number of instances have been investigated.
b)Whether the instances investigated are typical instances.
2.Another type of induction is by analogy:
Two things are alike in a number of important points;they will be alike in the point in question .But
the validity of generalizations based on analogy must also be tested before being accepted.we must test
a) Whether the two instances compared are similar in all important respects.
b) whether we are able to account as unimportant the differences between the two instances .
PARRELLS:
In addition to generalization and analogy and we can also use a large number of parellels to
strengthen our argument .But as with analogy and generalization,through citing parallels we can arrive
only at probability.
DEDUCTION:
Deduction is a Latin word; the means from dugeve means to lead to.That is to say, a deductive
argument,leads from something to a conclusion.To think deductively is to work from a general motion
to a paticular application- that is to think by think by classes.
For example,
God loves man.
A slave is a man.
God loves slaves.
The argument is about whether the condition of the slaughter pens is detrimental to health,but the use of
unsanitary in the preposition means detrimental to health.the question that is supposed to be at stake has
been begged.
Non-seguitar means using argument which does not prove .The pharse means"it does not follow".
Example:
William Brown doesn't drink or smoke,and so he ought to make a good husband.
The most important thing to bear in mind in deductive argument is the avoidence of weak links.
Lastly every argument must try to persude somebody.An appeal to emotions may be very important in
the strategy.The problem of persuasions central to the presentation of an argument.

LANGUAGE, TONE AND STYLE

Language
Effective writing depends as much on clarity and readability as on content. The organization and
development of yours ideas, the coherence of your presentation your command of sentence
structure, grammar Diction are all important considerations As are the mechanics of writings
capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and so on. The key to successful communication is:
The right language for the audience you are addressing.
In all writing, the challenge is to find the words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and
paragraphs that express your thoughts and that make them interesting to others.
Because good scholarship requires objectivity careful writers of research papers avoid language
that implies unsubstantiated or irrelevant generalizations about such personal qualities as age,
disability, economic class, ethnicity, marital status, parentage, political or religious beliefs, race, sex or
sexual orientation.
Style
Discussions about this subject have generally focused on wording that could be labelled sexist.
For example, many writers no longer use he, him, or his to express a meaning that includes
women or girls:
“If a young artist is not confident, he can quickly become discouraged.”
The use of she, her and hers to refer to a person who may be of either sex can also be distracting and
momentarily confusing. Both usages can often be avoided through a revision that recasts the sentence
into the plural or that eliminates the pronoun:
“If young artist are not confident, they can quickly become discouraged” or “A young artist who is not
confident can quickly become discouraged.”
Another technique is to make the discussion refer to a person who is identified, so that there is a reason
to use a specific singular pronoun. They, them, their and theirs cannot logically be applied to a single
person, and he or she and her or him are cumbersome alternatives to be used sparingly. Many authors
now also avoid terms that unnecessarily integrate a person’s sex with a job or role. For instance,
anchorman, policeman, stewardess and poetess are commonly replaced with anchor, police officer, flight
attendant, and poet.

The selection of words, the choice of sentence structure, the ideas to be expressed, the point of view, the
audience addressed, all help to form the style of a composition. What are the essentials of a scientific
style? It is generally agreed that the qualities of greatest importance in a good scientific style are clarity,
precision, conciseness, directness and objectivity.

Clarity and precision are to a great degree interdependent. Clarity results when the writer is
successful in making his communication understandable to the reader. Precision represents rather the
attainment of an exact correspondence between the matter to be conveyed and its verbal expressions.

Writing that is concise- that expresses its meaning in the fewest possible words-save the time and
energy of the reader and contributes to readability. Directness also serves these ends and facilitates
communication through the avoidance of circumlocutions and awkward inversions and of excessively
numerous ‘‘there is’’ and ‘‘it is’’ constructions in which the appearance of the subject is delayed. In
general, directness is the foe of verbiage, which impedes a simple, straightforward approach.

It is expected that the scientist’s style should reflect the objectivity of his attitude toward the
problems he investigates and toward his results. This emphasis on objectivity as a quality of scientific
style implies, that in subordinating subjective considerations, scientific style should be more formal and
more impersonal than is prose style in general.

Two factors work against the scientist in his writing. The journals plead for brevity, and custom
urges him to write impersonally. The style of much of the resulting prose reflects a writer under
restraint.

Here is an example

In order for us to understand the details of the history of our attempts to interpret the complicated
phenomenon of heat in its evolution from the now extinct caloric concept to the accepted kinetic theory,
there are several alternative approaches all of which we must pursue if we are to understand the nature
of the phenomenon.

The style long, complex sentence, carrying its burden of unnecessary words, almost buries the author’s
thought. With enough patience, however, a reader can finally recover it.

Heat is a complicated phenomenon. Physicists have now discarded the idea of a caloric fluid and
have generally adopted the kinetic theory. A review of the earlier concepts, however, will help us to
understand the nature of heat.

The original version was hard to understand, not because of the grammar but because of the style.

A more or less deformed style inevitably develops when a writer accepts the convention that the
scientist must write impersonally. Avoiding the first person does not necessarily produce grammatical
mistakes, of course, but it does encourage indirect statements. In addition, the need to use passive verbs
increases the probability of errors in grammar. Passive verbs start long trains of prepositional phrases;
they foster circumlocution; and they encourage vagueness. A writer will almost automatically his style
if he shifts from passive to active construction.

In general, short, simple sentences make the clearest exposition. A very long sentence strains the
reader to understand what it says. Sometimes a good explanation requires a long sentence; the author
should then help the reader as much as possible. The predicate should follow closely the subject, and
modifying clauses should appear close to the words they modify. The experiences writer vary the length
of his sentences as a short sentence placed among longer, complex structures provides emphasis as well
as relief.

Thus, to achieve a good style in scientific writing an author needs only a few principles; write
simply. Avoid long sentences, choose plain words, and use active voice.
Tone
The final ingredient for learning how to write a thesis statement is tone. When one writes a paper, he or
she is always trying to persuade the reader, whether trying to get a budget approved or convincing a
college to grand a scholarship. As in sales, a strong, confident tone of voice is imperative for success. A
thesis statement should only include firm, empowering words that edifies the reader without a doubt
what the author is conveying. The phrase “most likely” is weak and unsure. Because of that simple two-
word phrase present in the thesis statement, the reader will not be persuaded to agree with the author’s
point of view. In our sample essay video games are bad. We should make our thesis statement confident
with succinct topics that prove our point:
“Video games are harming society because they glue young adults to the television, instil them with
poor moral values, and injure their vision.”
Simply by altering a few words, a thesis statement now stands out powerful and confident. The reader
knows exactly what stands we take and how we are going to back up our belief. Our thesis statement is
now complete! Now that we know how to write a thesis statement, the next challenge is determining
where to put it.

Effective writing depends as much on clarity and readability as on content. The organization and
development of your ideas, the coherence of your presentation, and your command of sentence structure,
grammar, and diction are all important considerations, as are the mechanics of writing¬-capitalization,
spelling, punctuation, and so on. The key to successful communication is using the right language for
the audience you are addressing. In all writing, the challenge is to find the words, phrases, clauses,
sentences, and paragraphs that express your thoughts and ideas precisely and that make them interesting
to others.
Because good scholarship requires objectivity, careful writers of research papers avoid language
that implies unsubstantiated or irrelevant generalizations about such personal qualities as age, disability,
economic class, ethnicity, marital status, parentage, political or religious beliefs, race, sex or sexual
orientations. Discussions about this subject have generally focused on wording that could be labeled
sexist. For example, many writers no longer use he, him or his to express a meaning that includes
women or girls: “If a young artist is not confident, he can quickly become discouraged.”The use of she,
her and hers to refer to a person who may be of either sex can also be distracting and momentarily
confusing. Both usages can often be avoided through a revision that recasts the sentence into the plural
or that eliminates the pronoun: “If young artists are not confident, they can quickly become
discouraged” or “A young artist who is not confident can quickly become discouraged.”Another
technique is to make the discussion refer to a person who is identified, so there is a reason to use a
specific singular pronoun. They, them, their and theirs cannot logically be applied to a single person, and
he or she and her or him are cumbersome alternatives to be used sparingly. Many authors now also
avoid terms that unnecessarily integrate a person’s sex with a job or role. For instance, anchorman,
policeman, stewardess, and poetess are commonly replaced with anchor, police officer, flight attendant,
and poet.
Avoid informal language. Though colloquial expressions or slang words may at times be useful
when attempting to add extra “umph” to your text, it is normally preferable to use formal phrasing to
accurately and effectively express your ideas. This is especially true when considering international
audiences.
Don’t – I mean do not – use contractions. English professors especially will not stand for it!
No superfluous words or phrases. Run-on expressions like “and so on”, “and the like”, “and so forth”,
etc. tend to sound lazy. Say what you need to say. When possible, try not to use “etc.” either.
Impersonal vs. personal style – most academic writing demands an impersonal style, written in the third
person, because it is more objective. Some reflective writing may be suitable, especially in the
introduction or conclusion, where the author can write in the first person. I once read a thesis on the
history of polio, where the author mentioned at the very end that her father, who’d contracted the disease
as a child, died while she was writing. I found this to be an effective passage, which did not detract from
the overall scholarly tone of her thesis.
No rhetorical questions. I mean, why would anyone ask a question that doesn’t warrant an answer in an
academic paper? Don’t belittle your audience. Explain your points by asking real questions and then
providing answers.
Use a cautious tone. Though it may sound more convincing to state some things with absolute certainty,
a cautious or tentative style may be preferable, especially when you are not absolutely certain. Research
suggests that this is likely to be the case.
Look at other work within your discipline. Well-regarded, published articles will provide good examples
of tone and writing style for your field of study.
Get help. Besides your computer’s spell-check and grammar programs, a fresh pair of eyes can do your
writing a world of good. Ask a relative or friend with a solid academic background for feedback.
This is the stage where you delve deeply into your topic, reflecting and analyzing your subject material
and research. It will require you to use the skills you’ve acquired throughout your studies, test the limits
of your academic thinking and your capacity for understanding complex theories and methodology. It
may be a struggle at times, but don’t worry – you will surprise and impress yourself!
Before beginning the writing process in earnest, make sure you are aware of your department’s thesis
requirements in terms of length, style and technical specifications, as well as expectations of content.
The more aware you are of what is expected, the better prepared you will be. Ask your professors or
supervisor to show you some good examples of theses, which fulfill the standards of your department
while displaying a high level of academic writing.
*On a technical note, choose a word processor you are both comfortable with and which your school
approves of. Many institutions simply insist that you use the ubiquitous Microsoft Word, so you
probably won’t have much of an option in this matter. At any rate, it’s better to be aware of such
stipulations right from the start so you don’t have unnecessary technical editing issues,
Especially if you’re not a computer whiz.
How to research efficiently
Research for a thesis, especially a graduate or PhD dissertation, should be highly detailed. You want to
contribute something original, and this is no easy task. Be sure to make clear what are your opinions and
your research as opposed to someone else’s.
Take advantage of public and university libraries. Do not limit yourself to course literature and the web.
Often you can gain free access to fee-based academic journals through your university. Ask your
supervisor, professors and school librarians. It also pays to be familiar with your university library’s
software.
Be independent, but not too independent! Ask your supervisor to help, especially in terms of what
direction to take at the outset, and then take more initiative and treat your tutor as your guide rather than
your teacher. As you progress through your writing, your sense of independence will grow.
Writing and researching is a reflective, thinking process in which we express, challenge and transform
our thoughts. Start writing as early as possible. Whenever you have a thought related to your topic, it’s
worth writing it down as it may prove to be valuable down the line.
Create a detailed annotated bibliography as you conduct your research. This can prevent the frustrating
and painful task of rifling through material because you forgot to note where you found a certain idea or
quote. It can also help avoid that nasty business known as plagiarism.
Use outlines and checklists
Following an outline is a helpful technique for writing. Sticking to an outline saves time and keeps your
writing organized. By working on sections one at a time, you accomplish mini goals en route to your
grand achievement.
Prepare an outline for your thesis before you begin the bulk of your writing, and smaller outlines for
each section. You can fill in your outline with any writing you have already done and list subtopics
under each chapter heading. This should help with writers block and give you a good idea of the amount
of work that lies ah
Even before filling in each section, place any figures, notes or information in their appropriate sections.
They can be rough, but make them understandable so your supervisor will have a clear enough idea of
what it is you are doing. Submit this rough outline to your supervisor for feedback.
Apply a checklist for each section of your thesis to make sure it matches both structural and content
standards as set forth by your school. Your university may supply its own checklists for this purpose. A
checklist can include “dummy” details such as “make sure your name spelled correctly”, but these little
points are not as stupid as they might seem. I once printed out my entire thesis and noticed my title, in
large, bold lettering, was spelled wrong on the title page.
Checklists will cover minutiae like the size of your margins, the use of Roman or Arabic numerals in
your table of contents, proper headings, spacing, and footnotes.
Correlation vs. causation
Knowing the difference between correlation and causation separates people who have learned to think
scientifically (like you and me) from the rest of the world, who just put two and two together and jump
to unfounded conclusions. Correlation shows that two variables have something in common or a
relationship, not that one variable causes another.
Example: wealthy people tend to spend more money, but that does not mean that spending more money
will make you wealthier. This would be jumping to an unfounded conclusion. On the other hand we
know that cigarettes cause cancer due to extensive scientific research on the subject, rather than because
we simply saw a lot of people who smoked getting cancer. In this case correlation suggested causation,
but did not prove it.
How much repetition should you use?
Repetition of facts or a theoretical position is part of writing a thesis. We use repetition to emphasize our
points and make sure our argument is clear. By repeating arguments via paraphrasing and through
example, we strengthen our points better than simply re-stating word for word.
Since your thesis will most likely be the longest work you have so far written in your life, covering more
material than you’ve ever done before, repetition will keep things focused. Theoretical explanations,
philosophical musings and wanderings can be kept on point by repeating and relating everything to your
central argument. That said, you don’t want to simply restate your central idea over and over again.
Use your judgment and that of your supervisor to decide how much is too much or when you should
repeat more in order to stay on point. Don’t just wait until your conclusion to repeat your argument.
Keep your audience focused by reminding them throughout the body of your thesis. Use repetition to
enforce the clarity of your arguments and overall position.
How to cite correctly
All institutions will require you to cite your material by using footnotes and/or parenthetical referencing.
In the U.S., the main styles of parenthetical citation conform to either APA (American Psychological
Association) or MLA (Modern Language Association) academic writing standards. The footnotes
system uses numbered notes in your text, which correspond to author and publication information at the
bottom of the page.
When including footnotes, the works will be listed at the bottom of the page in exactly the same format
as they appear in your bibliography the first time you refer to them; Author (last name first), full title,
publisher, city, year, page(s). Afterwards they may be referred to with just the author, title and page
number(s).
Though there are several variations of writing footnotes, they serve much the same purpose. Here is a
common example:
1. Tosh, John, The Pursuit of History, Pearson Education Ltd, London, 2002, 64
2. Tosh, The Pursuit of History, 93
The Latin word ibid is often used to show that you are citing the same source as previously. However I
recommend that you don’t use this, especially early on in your writing process, as you may wish to add
references in between previous citations and this can cause confusion as to which source “ibid” refers to.
If the work you are citing has four or more authors, use the main author’s name (often the editor)
followed by “et al”. This can also be used in parenthetical referencing (Edwards, et al, 1985).
Citations using parenthetical referencing are placed within the body of the text, immediately following
the quote or part of the text, which draws upon the source, but not after your own analysis or comment
on the source. APA states the author’s last name followed by the year in which the work was published
(Chai, 1996), while MLA states the author and page number (Chai, 84).
Consult complete style guides for whichever style of citation your department requires for your thesis.
These guides will cover formats for quotation, how to cite secondary sources, corporate authors,
multiple authors, anthologies, web resources, etc.
Getting feedback – what kind and how often?
You will likely set up a schedule of meetings with your supervisor. These meeting probably won’t last a
long time, since your supervisor will be quite busy. They may occur every couple of weeks or more
often and last anywhere from 15-30 minutes to an hour. Meetings should be supplemented by email
correspondence. Between meetings you can send rough drafts or particular examples of your work that
you’d like feedback on.
Before your sessions with your supervisor, write down any questions you have and make sure you bring
them with you. I had all mine in a notebook and jotted down anything of consequence my tutors said
during our meetings.
Even if you don’t like the feedback you receive, try to take it on board and not let a hurt ego get in the
way of receiving potentially helpful advice. Note specific points and be sure to ask questions if you
don’t understand. Email any changes you’ve made according to your supervisor’s advice and ask if
you’ve made improvements.
Once you’ve produced a solid rough draft you are well on your way to completing a successful final
thesis. In the next section we’ll discuss the editing process and how to put on the finishing touches.
When you’ve achieved a decent rough draft that is complete in terms of your research, commentary and
analysis, it is time to polish it off and turn it into a proper academic thesis. This will require a thorough
editing process with more attention to style and flow as opposed to content, which you will have already
covered in previous stages.
Conclusion
Before your final edit, write a conclusion containing the strongest points already made in the thesis
body. This is what you most want your readers to remember about your work.
A conclusion should restate the problem or question you began with and contain a summary of
observations and insights gained while conducting your research. Use paraphrasing when doing this, and
end by suggesting further research and briefly exploring what the larger significance of your work and
topic may be.
Revising
Revision is a painstaking process, but essential for achieving quality written work. A large thesis can
take hours to proofread and much longer to edit, change and adjust. Take a break of few hours or even a
day so you will have a fresh mind when returning to your thesis. If you don’t have enough time, go out
for a walk and come back to it.
You should proofread your final thesis at least 4 times before handing it in. This can be a bit grueling the
fourth time through, even if you’ve got the wit of Dickens and the ego of your head professor.
When revising and editing look for the following:
Flow – Try to give your writing an exciting tempo, making the style, as well as the actual content,
interesting to read. One way to help achieve this is by ending each section and beginning the following
one with common “joining” words and ideas so that they are connected and hold the reader’s interest.
…[Jack Womack] concurs with the sentiments of Bruce Sterling in regard to cyberpunk science fiction
or particularly Gibson’s imprint on technology and everyday culture.
Gibson is personally uncomfortable with his position as some sort of prophet of science fiction or the
byword “Your hot ticket to the future!” to which he has been ascribed…
If you are discussing material that may not be easily understood by your audience, especially those in
your field, give clear explanations. You can check how effective your explanations are by letting a
fellow student or colleague read your work. See if they clearly understand what you have written.
Avoid paragraphs that are either too long or too short. Check that your sentences aren’t too long either.
Use the grammar and spell check features on your computer’s word processor, but keep an eye out for
homonyms like two, too and to, which spell check won’t pick up.
Try to avoid using the passive voice and stick to the active voice.
For example:
The draconian measures used reflect a sense of frustration in an occupying power, which was stretched
beyond its capacity.
This active sentence is more effective than the following passive version:
A sense of frustration in an occupying power, which was stretched beyond its capacity, is reflected by
the draconian measures used.
Vary your vocabulary and limit your repetition of words. Use a thesaurus to help you, but make sure to
use words that most people will understand. Don’t show off with overly flowery language or obscure
terms.
Repeated feedback
Be sure to receive regular, repeated feedback from your supervisor, taking his or her advice on board
and adjusting your writing accordingly. This is an important step in perfecting your craft as a writer and
researcher.
If you are discussing material that may not be easily understood by your audience, especially those in
your field, give clear explanations. You can check how effective your explanations are by letting a
fellow student or colleague read your work. See if they clearly understand what you have written.
Finally, find out if a certain type of paper is required: size, cotton content, weight. Know your
university’s preferred fonts and text size, spacing, margins, how many copies they need and if your
thesis should be bound.
Appendix
Thesis defense
If you are required to defend your thesis, as discussed in the introduction, check with your school
regarding standards, requirements and procedures for your live examination or viva voce. I actually
prepared a beautiful PowerPoint presentation for my master’s thesis defense (never to be seen), when all
I had to do was answer questions from a professor and a fellow student whose task it was to critique my
work. Though it was entirely unnecessary and I should have known better, making the PowerPoint
helped me crystallize a decent overview of my final thesis in my mind.
Find out if you will be required to make a speech or introduction, ask other students how their defenses
went and most importantly, be confident and enthusiastic about your work. Believe in yourself – this is
your crowning achievement and no matter how it is criticized during your examination, you should feel
passionate and assured about the quality of your thesis and your abilities as a researcher and writer.
UNIT IV
LOGIC AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS IN LITERARY RESEARCH
Research is a process and a means to acquire knowledge about any natural or human phenomena.
Francis Bacon defines research as “a power of suspending judgment with patience, of meditating with
pleasures, of asserting with caution, of correcting with readiness and of arranging thought with
scrupulous pain.” It is as indispensable for progress in education, as it is for progress in any other field
of life. The need for research in education has increased with the changing ideas and the rapid
expansion and democratization of education all over the world. The secret of our cultural development
has been research, pushing back the areas of ignorance by discovering new truths, which in turn lead to
better ways of doing things and better products.
Research can be done by both logic and scientific methods. Any research is guided by the rules
of logical reasoning and the logical process of induction and deduction. Logic furnishes principles and
methods for distinguishing between correct and incorrect reasoning. It makes us conscious of
inconsistencies in our beliefs.
Induction is a process of reasoning whereby we arrive at universal generalization from particular
facts. Induction involves two processes - Observation and generalization. If, in a number of cases, it is
observed that educated girls have got expensive habits, one may conclude that all educated girls have
got expensive habits. This is the simplest kind of induction and is called induction enumeration. But
scientific induction is based on known causal connection. Induction by enumeration gives us only
probable conclusion, but scientific induction gives us certain conclusions.
A perfect induction is the process of establishing a universal proposition by an exhaustive
enumeration of all the instances of the type covered by the universal proposition. Perfect induction is
not opposite to deduction; but on the other hand, it is an example of deduction. The conclusion in
perfect induction is arrived at by strict syllogistic reasoning. But since in perfect induction, there is
really no generalization, it is not sometimes regarded as induction in the true sense of the term.
Intuitive induction is the process of arriving at a conclusion from intuition and not from
reasoning. It may be intuitively known that particular patch of red is darker than a particular patch of
pink. Here the conclusion is direct and is based on perception which may be beyond my justification.
In intuitive induction, no process of inference is involved. Therefore there can be no logic of intuitive
induction. Intuitive induction is not also antithetical to deduction. However induction may be regarded
as a method by means of which the material truth of the premises is established.
Deduction is the process of drawing generalization through the process of reasoning on the bases
of certain assumptions which are either self-evident or based on observation. In deduction, we deduce
generalization from universal to particular. Deduction can give conclusive evidence. Depending upon
the premises, every deductive reasoning is either valid or invalid. The main task of deductive logic is to
clarify the relation between premises and consigns in valid arguments. It is concerned with the working
out of logical implication between propositions. Let us consider an example All men are mortal. John
is a man. John is mortal. Here the conclusion follows from the two premises logically. Therefore, it is
valid. Whether a proposition follows from another proposition or not, depends upon the form or
structure of the two proposition. Let us take another example:-
Some men are honest.
John is a man.
John is honest
Here the reasoning is not valid, because the conclusion does not automatically follow from the
premises. The form of reasoning here is not valid.
 Logical implication does not depend upon the material truth of the premises. The premises may
be materially false, but yet the reasoning may be correct. Deductive reasoning does not wait to examine
the material truth of the proposition. Let us take an example.
If Bhutan was a democracy and no democracy had any kings, it follows that Bhutan had no
kings. The falsity of the proposition “Bhutan was a democracy” does not prevent us from drawing
certain logical implications.
It is wrong to think that deduction and induction an opposite to each other. We have already
seen that pure and intuitive inductions are not all antithetical to deduction. In general, not all the
premises required logically in induction are known to be true. The specific problem of induction is to
determine as to what extent the samples are fair. The proper contrast is not between detective and
inductive inferences, but between interferences which are necessary and inferences which are probable,
because the evidence for universal proposition can never be more than probable.
Pure induction and pure deduction are not meaningfully possible. A scientific method is perfect.
Deduction and induction are complementary rather than competitive. Both of them are needed for
scientific thought as the right and left foot are needed for walking.
Scientific method is a branch of study which is concerned with observed facts systematically
classified, and which includes trustworthy methods for discovery of truths. Scientific method alone can
bring about confidence in the validity of conclusions. Research is an endeavour to discover answers to
problems (intellectual and practical) through the application of scientific methods to the universe.
George Hand berg defines scientific method as one consisting of systematic observation,
classification and interpretation of data. The main difference between day-to-day really generalisation
and the scientific method lies in the degree of formality, rigorousness, verifiability and general validity
of the latter. Scientific method is marked, according to Karl Pearson, by three features, is careful and
accurate classification of faction of facts and observation of their correlation and sequence; discovery of
scientific laws with the aid of creative imagination; and self - criticism.
Observation, hypothesis and verification are the three important components of scientific method.
Observation which serves as the basis on which hypothesis is built itself depends upon the available
data in the form of literature and other materials already developed in the literature and other materials
already developed in the field of investigation. Observation as a process in the course of inquiry figures
at two different stages. In the early stages of investigation, it helps in formulating the hypothesis. The
second stage of observation comes into picture as a means to collect data for the verification of the
hypothesis.
The second stage in the process of scientific method is the formulation of hypothesis.
Hypothesis should never be taken as an established theory. It is merely a testable proposition whose
purpose is only to indicate the direction in which investigation should be carried on.
The third and final stage if scientific method is that of verification. Verification involves three
aspects namely, 1. Collection of data, 2. Analysis of data; and 3. Interpretation of data.
Scientific method demands that research should be systematic. It means it must be theory –
oriented and theory directed. The theory and research should form interrelated parts of a coherent and
orderly body of knowledge. It is said that research untutored by theory may prove trivial and theory,
unsupported by data futile. Theory does not consist of speculation and introspection but of analysis,
explanation and prediction. It is on the basis well-organised, logically interrelated structure of concept
and propositions that hypothesis have to be advanced. The hypothesis, in their own turn, has to be
capable of undergoing rigorous testing and, then alone, should form the basis of new theories.
The main scientific methods are induction, deduction, and comparison, historical, structural and
functional method. We have seen inductive and deductive methods. Historical method is a backward
movement in knowledge to trace the antecedent cause or causes of a phenomenon. Analysis and
comparison of two contemporary phenomena is known as comparative method. The comparison is
always undertaken in order to discover new facts or relation a study of what a thing is, what are its
outlines and significant features is a structural study. Functional method studies the processes and their
causes, that is ‘how’ and ‘why’ of a thing.
The logic and scientific method are very useful in a literary research. Logical and scientific
reasoning make research more meaningful in the context of decision-making. The validity of an
argument depends upon its form rather than upon its content. The form must and should be logical for
every research to be successful.

UNIT V

THE MECHANICS OF WRITING

Although the scope of this book precludes a detailed discussion of grammar, usage, style, and related
aspects of writing, this chapter addresses mechanical questions that you will likely encounter in writing
research papers.
1. Spelling
2. Punctuation
3. Italics
4. Names of persons
5. Numbers
6. Title of works in the research paper
7. Quotations
SPELLING
Consistency:
Spelling, including hyphenation, should be consistent throughout the research
Paper-except in quotations, which must retain the spelling of the original, whether correct or incorrect.
WORD DIVISION
Turn off the automatic-hyphenation option in your word processor. A word divided between lines is
harder to read, and the reader sometimes cannot tell whether the hyphen it contains is part of your
spelling or part of the spelling in text you are quoting. If you choose to divide a word, consult your
dictionary about where the break should occur.
PLURALS
The plurals of English words are generally formed by addition of the suffix –s or –es (laws, taxes), with
several exceptions (e.g. children, halves, mice, sons-in-law, bison). The plurals librettos and formulas
are therefore more common in American English than libretti and formulae. Consult a dictionary for
guidance. If the dictionary gives more than one plural form for a word (appendixes, appendices), uses
the first listed.

FOREIGN WORD
If you quote material in a foreign word language, you must reproduce all accents and other marks
exactly as they appear in the original (ecole, pieta, tete, lecon, Fahre, ano). If you need marks that are
not available in your word processor, write them in by hand.
PUNCTUTION:
THR PURPOSE OF PUNCTUATION:
 The primary purpose of punctuation is to ensure the clarity and read-ability of writing. Punctuation
clarifies sentence structure, separating some words and grouping others. It adds meaning to written
words and guides the understanding of readers as they move through sentences. The rules set forth here
cover many of the situations you will encounter in writing research papers.
COMMAS
Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, or yet) joining
independent clauses in a sentence.
The poem is ironic, for the poet’s meaning contrasts with her words.
But the comma may be omitted when the sentence is short and the connection between the clauses is not
open to misreading if unpunctuated.
Wallace sings and Armstrong plays cornet.
Use commas to separate words, phrases, and clauses in a series.
WORDS
Boccaccio’s tales have inspired plays, films, operas, and paintings.
PHRASES
Alfred the great established a system of fortified towns, reorganized the military forces, and built
a feet of warships.
CLAUSES
In the great Depression, millions lost their jobs, businesses failed, and charitable institutions
closed their doors.
But use semicolons when items in a series have internal commas.
Pollsters focused their efforts on Columbus, ohio; Des Moines, lowa; and saint Louis, Missouri.
Use a comma between coordinate adjectives-that is, adjectives that separately modify the same
noun.
Critics praise the novel’s unaffected, unadorned style. ( The adjectives unaffected and unadorned each
modify style.)
Use commas to set off a nonrestrictive modifier-that is, a modifier that is not essential to the
meaning of the sentence. A nonrestrictive modifier, unlike a restrictive one, could be dropped without
changing the main sense of the sentence. Modifiers in the following three categories are either
nonrestrictive or restrictive.
CLAUSES THAT BEGAIN WITH WHO, WHOM, WHOSE, WHICH, AND THAT
NONRESTRICTIVE
Scientists, who must observe standards of objectivity in their work, can contribute usefully to
public-policy debates.
RESTRICTIVE
Scientists who receive the Nobel Prize sometimes contribute usefully to public-policy debates.
Many writers prefer to use which to introduce nonrestrictive clauses and that to introduce restrictive
clauses.
ADVERBIAL PHRASES AND CLAUSES
NONRESTRICTIVE
The novel takes in China, where many languages are spoken.
RESTRICTIVE
The novel takes in a land where many languages are spoken.
Use a comma after a long introductory phrase or clause.
PHARASE
 After years of anxiety over the family’s finances, Linda Loman looks forward to the day the
mortgage will be paid off.

CLAUSE
Although she was virtually in her day, scholars have come to recognize the originality of her
work.
Do not use a comma between subject and verb.
Many of the characters who dominate the early chapters and then disappear [no comma] are portraits of
the author’s friends.
Do not use a comma between verb and object.
The agent reported to the headquarters staff [no comma] that the documents had been traced to an
underground garage.
Do not use a comma between the parts of a compound subject, compound object, or compound
verb.
COMPOUND SUBJECT
A dozen wooden chairs [no comma] and a window that admits a shaft of light complete the stage
setting.
COMPOUND OBJECT
Ptolemy devised a system of astronomy accepted until the sixteenth century [no comma] and a
scientific approach to the study of geography.
COMPOUND VERB
He composed several successful symphonies [no comma] but won the most fame for his
witticisms.
SEMICOLONS
Use a semicolon between independent clauses not linked by a conjunction.
The coat is tattered beyond repair;still, Akaky hopes the tailor can mend it.
Use semicolons between items in a series when the items contain commas.
Present at the symposium were Henri Guillaume, the art critic; Sam Brown, the Daily Tribune reporter;
and Maria Rosa, the conceptual artist.
COLONS
The colon is used between two parts of a sentence when the first part creates a sense of
anticipation about what follows in the second. Type one space after a colon.
Use a colon to introduce a list, an elaboration of what was just said, or the formal expression of a
rule of principle.
RULE OF PRINICIPLE
Many books would be briefer if their authors followed the logical principle known as Occam’s
razor: Explanation should not be multiplied unnecessarily.
DASHES AND PARENTHESES
Dashes make a sharper break in the continuity of the sentence than commas do, and parentheses
make a still sharper one. To indicate a dash, type two hyphens, with no space before, between, or after.
Your word processor may convert the two hyphens into a dash, as seen in the examples below. Your
writing will be smoother and more readable if you use dashes and parentheses sparingly. Limit the
number of dashes in a sentence to two paired dashes or one unpaired dash.
Use dashes or parentheses to enclose a sentence element that interrupts the train of thought.
The “hero” of the play (the townspeople see him as heroic, but he is the focus of the author’s satire)
introduces himself as a veteran of the war.
 Use dashes or parentheses to set off a parenthetical element that contains a comma and that
might be misread if set off with commas.
The colors of the costume-blue, scarlet, and yellow-acquire symbolic meaning in the story.
Use a dash to introduce words that summarize a preceding series.
Ruthlessness and acute sensitivity, greed and compassion-the main character’s contradictory qualities
prevent any simple interpretation of the film
A dash may also be used instead of a colon to introduce a list or an elaboration of what was just said.

HYPHENS
Compound words of all types-nouns, verbs, adjectives, an soon-are written as separate words
(hard drive, hard labor), with hyphens (hard-and-fast, hard-boiled), and as single words (hardcover,
hardheaded). The dictionary shows how to write many compounds. A compound not in the dictionary
should usually be written as separate words unless a hyphen is needed to prevent readers from
misunderstanding the relation between the words.
• Use a hyphen in a compound adjective beginning with an adverb such as better, best, ill, lower,
or well when the adjective precedes a noun.
Better-prepared ambassador
Best-known work
Ill-informed reporter
Lower-priced tickets
Well-dressed announcer
But do not use a hyphen when the compound adjective comes after the noun it modifies.
The ambassador was better prepared than the other delegates.
• Use hyphen to join coequal nouns.
Scholar-arthlete
Writer-critic
Author-chef
APOSTROPHES
A principle function of apostrophes is to indicate possession. They are also used in contractions (
can’s, wouldn’t), which are rarely acceptable in research papers, and the plurals of the letters of the
alphabet (p’s and q', three A’s).
To form the possessive of a singular noun, add an apostrophe and an s.
a poem’s meter
To form the possessive of a plural noun ending in s, add only an apostrophe.
firefighters’ trucks
To form the possessive of an irregular plural noun not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.
women’s studies
QUOTATION MARKS
Place quotation marks around a word or phrase given in someone else’s sense or in a special
sense or purposefully misused.
A silver dome concealed the robot’s “brain”.
If introduced unnecessarily, this device can make writing heavy-handed. Quotation marks are not
needed after so-called.
Their so-called friend brought about their downfall.
SQUARE BRACKETS
 Use square brackets around a parenthesis, so that the levels of subordination can be easily
distinguished
The sect known as the Jansenists.
SLASHES
The slash, or diagonal, is rarely necessary in formal prose. Other than in quotations of poetry, the
slash has a place mainly between two terms paired as opposites or alternatives and used together as a
noun.
The writer discussed how fundamental oppositions like good/evil, East/West, and aged/young
affect the way cuitures view historical events.
But use a hyphen when such a compound precedes and modifies a noun.
Nature-nurture confict
East-West relations
PERIODS,QUESTION MARKS,AND EXCLAMATION POINTS
A sentence can end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. Periods end declarative
sentences.
Place a question mark inside a closing quotation mark if a question mark occurs there in the quoted
passage. But if the quotation ends a sentence that is a question, place a question mark outside the
quotation. If a question mark occurs where a comma or period
would normally be required, omit the comma or period. Note the use of the question mark and.other
punctuation marks in the followingsentences:
Whitman asks, "Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?"
Where does Whitman speak of "the meaning of poems"?
"Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?" Whitman asks.
ITALICS
Italic is a style of type in which the characters slant to the right (Casablanca). More visually pleasing
than underlining if sometimes less distinctive, italicization is commonly acceptable in research papers. It
is assumed in the examples in this handbook. In material that will be graded, edited, or typeset, the
clarity of every detail of text is important. Choose a type font in which the italic style contrasts clearly
with the regular style.
_Casablanca_
_Life Is a Dream;

WORDS AND LETTERS REFERRED TO AS WORDS AND LETTERS

Italicizewords and letters that are referred to as words and letters.

Shaw spelled Shakespeare without the final e.
The word albatross probably derives from the Spanish and Portuguese word alcatraz.
Foreign Words in an English Text
In general, italicize foreign words used in an English text.
The Renaissance courtier was expected to display sprezzatura, or
nonchalance, in the face of adversity.
The numerous exceptions to this rule include quotations entirely in another language ("Julius
Caesar said, 'Veni, vidi, vici' "); non-English titles of works published within larger works (poems,
stories, essays, articles), which are placed in quotation marks and not italicized (Hel suefio," the title of a
poem by Quevedo); proper nouns (the Entente Cordials}, except when italicized through another
convention and foreign words anglicized through frequent
use. Since American English rapidly naturalizes foreign words, use a dictionary to decide whether a
foreign expression requires italics. Following are some adopted foreign words, abbreviations, and
phrases commonly not italicized:
EMPHASIS
Italics for emphasis ("Booth does concede, however ...") is a device that rapidly becomes ineffective. It
is rarely appropriate in research writing.
NAMES OF PERSONS
First and Subsequent Uses of Names
In general, the first time you use a person's name in the text of your research paper, state it fully and
accurately, exactly as it appears in your source.
Arthur George Rust, Jr.
VictoriaM.Sackville-West
Do not change Arthur George Rust, Jr., to Arthur George Rust, for example, or drop the hyphen in
Victoria M. Sackville-West. In subsequent referencesto the person, you may give the last name only
(Rust, Sackville-West)-unless, of course, you refer to two or more persons with the same last name-or
you may give the most common form of the name (e.g., Garcilaso for Garcilaso de la Vega). In casual
referencesto the very famous-say, Mozart, Shakespeare, or Michelangelo-it is not necessary to give the
full name initially.

NUMBERS
Arabic Numerals
Although there are still a few well-established uses for roman numerals, virtually all numbers not spelled
out are commonly represented today by arabic numerals.

Use of Words or Numerals

If you are writing about literature or another subject that involves infrequent use of numbers, you may
spell out numbers written in one or two words and represent other numbers by numerals. To form the
plural of a spelled-out number, treat the word like an ordinary noun (sixes, sevens).

Commas in Numbers
Commas are usually placed between the third and fourth digits from the right, the sixth and
seventh, and so on.
1,000
20,000
7,654,321
Following are some of the exceptions to this practice:

PAGE AND LINE NUMBERS

on page 1014
ADDRESSES
at 4132 Broadway
FOUR-DIGIT YEAR NUMBERS
in 1999
But commas are added in year numbers of five or more figures.
in 20,000 Be
 Percentages and Amounts ofMoney
Treat percentages and amounts of money like other numbers: use numerals
with the appropriate symbols. In discussions involving infrequent use of numbers, you may spell out a
percentage or an amount of money ifyou can do so in three words or fewer (five dollars, forty-five
percent, two thousand dollars, sixty-eight cents). Do not combine spelled forms of numbers with
symbols.
TITLES OF WORKS IN THE RESEARCH PAPER
Capitalization and Punctuation
Whenever you cite the title of a published work in your research paper, take the title from the title page,
not, for example, from the cover or from a running head at the top of a page. Do not reproduce any
unusual typographic characteristics, such as special capitalization or
lowercasing of all letters. A title page may present a title designed like one of the following examples:

These titles should appear in a research paper as follows:

Modernism and Negritude

Reading Sites: Social Difference and Reader Response
Turner's Early Sketchbooks

The rules for capitalizing titles are strict. In a title or a subtitle, capitalizethe first word, the last word,
and all principal words, including those that follow hyphens in compound terms. Therefore, capitalize
the following parts of speech:

• Nouns (e.g., flowers, as in The Flowers of Europe)

• Pronouns (e.g., our, as in Save Our Children; that, as in The Mouse That Roared)
• Verbs (e.g., watches, as in America Watches Television; is, as in What Is Literature?)
• Adjectives (e.g., ugly, as in The Ugly Duckling; that, as in Who Said That Phrase?)
• Adverbs (e.g., slightly, as in Only Slightly Corrupt; down, as in Go Down, Moses)

Italicized Titles

Italicize the names of books, plays, poems published as books, pamphlets, periodicals (newspapers,
magazines, and journals), Web sites, online databases, films, television and radio broadcasts, compact
discs, audiocassettes, record albums, dance performances, operas and other
long musical compositions (except those identified simply by form, number, and key; see 3.6.5), works
of visual art, ships, aircraft, and spacecraft.
The Awakening (book)
The Importance of Being Earnest (play)
The Waste Land (poem published as a book)
New Jersey Driver Manual (pamphlet)
Wall Street Journal (newspaper)
Time (magazine)
PMLA (journal)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Web site)

QUOTATIONS
 Use and Accuracy of Quotations Quotations are effective in research papers when used
selectively.
Quote only words, phrases, lines, and passages that are particularly interesting, vivid, unusual, or apt,
and keep all quotations as brief as possible. Overquotation can bore your readers and might lead them to
conclude that you are neither an original thinker nor a skillful writer.
You must construct a clear, grammatically correct sentence that allows you to introduce or incorporate a
quotation with complete accuracy. Alternatively, you may paraphrase the original and quote only
fragments, which may be easier to integrate into the text. If you
change a quotation in any way, make the alteration clear to the reader, following the rules and
recommendations below.

Prose
If a prose quotation runs no more than four lines and requires no special emphasis, put it in quotation
marks and incorporate it intothe text.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles
Dickens of the eighteenth century.

You need not always reproduce complete sentences. Sometimes you may want to quote just a word or
phrase as part of your sentence.
For Charles Dickens the eighteenth century was both "the best of times"
and "the worst of times."

UNIT V
TOOLS OF LITERARY RESERCH

AMELIORATION AND PEJORATION

AMELIORATION:-
Amelioration, a word derived from the latin word Melior, meaning “better”,
identifies the kind of change that occurs when the meaning of a particular word improves. A
Word itself does not better or worse because of changes, but its associations do. The word
‘Nice’ has made a complete shift. Its original negative connotations of “foolish”,” stupid”,
and “wanton” have changed to current meanings that are consistently agreeable.A brave in
the sense of a warrior was used in the sixteenth century as a term for a bully or hired assassin.

Enthral originally refers to enslave. By a transfer of meaning from literal

enslavement to a captivation of the senses, it has come to have its present meaning of “to
Charm”. The fine print of historical dictionary reveals the questionable origins of many
reputable words in use today. Jazz is only one example.
PEJORATION:-
Pejoration is a process that attaches negative connotations to a word. Often it occurs
Simultaneously with changes in specialization or generalization. Spit once referred to
anything spewed from the mouth. We retain that sense of the word when we say something
like” He spits our bitter reproaches”. When spit became more specialized to refer mainly to
ejecting saliva, it underwent Pejoration. It usually carries un pleasant associations. Idiot
Originally preferred not to hold public office. The transition from “an uneducated private
citizen who prefers not to hold office” to “one totally incapable of holding office” accounts
for the negative association that the word now has.
The reputation of words is sometimes relative. Among people of liberal,
non-authoritarian thought, words like reactionary, fundamentalist and purist are used
Pejoratively. Among ultra conservative thinkers, liberal, left and intellectual are used with
Scorn. Over a long period of time, negative connotations that spring up may at times stick.
Pontificate is almost exclusively used today in a negative uncomplimentary sense. In groups
frequently borrow words of the standard Vocabulary and give them private associations for
their own purposes. Those secondary meanings, compared with their usual ones, are often
Pejorative.one might list acid, lid, gay and powder as words looked upon differently
depending on the context and the user. If as a writer you are unaware of the pejorative
meaning of many words, you can fall into unintentional blunders.
Syllogism

A syllogism (Greek: συλλογισμός – syllogismos – "conclusion," "inference") is a kind of logical

argument in which one proposition (the conclusion) is inferred from two or more others (the premises)
of a specific form. In antiquity, two rival theories of the syllogism existed: Aristotelian syllogistic and
Stoic syllogistic.

Aristotle defines the syllogism as, "...a discourse in which certain (specific) things having been
supposed, something different from the things supposed results of necessity because these things are so."
Despite this very general definition, in Aristotle's work Prior Analytics, he limits himself to categorical
syllogisms that consist of three categorical propositions . These include categorical modal syllogisms.

From the Middle Ages onwards, categorical syllogism and syllogism were usually used interchangeably.
This article is concerned only with this traditional use. The syllogism was at the core of traditional
deductive reasoning, where facts are determined by combining existing statements, in contrast to
inductive reasoning where facts are determined by repeated observations.

Within academic contexts, the syllogism was superseded by first-order predicate logic following the
work of Gottlob Frege, in particular his Begriffsschrift (Concept Script) (1879), but syllogisms remain
useful in some circumstances, and for general-audience introductions to logic.

Basic structure

A categorical syllogism consists of three parts:

 Major premise
 Minor premise
 Conclusion

Each part is a categorical proposition, and each categorical proposition contains two categorical terms.
In Aristotle, each of the premises is in the form "All A are B," "Some A are B", "No A are B" or "Some
A are not B", where "A" is one term and "B" is another. "All A are B," and "No A are B" are termed
universal propositions; "Some A are B" and "Some A are not B" are termed particular propositions.
More modern logicians allow some variation. Each of the premises has one term in common with the
conclusion: in a major premise, this is the major term (i.e., the predicate of the conclusion); in a minor
premise, it is the minor term (the subject) of the conclusion. For example:
Major premise: All humans are mortal.
Minor premise: All Greeks are humans.
Conclusion: All Greeks are mortal.

Each of the three distinct terms represents a category. In the above example, humans, mortal, and
Greeks. Mortal is the major term, Greeks the minor term. The premises also have one term in common
with each other, which is known as the middle term; in this example, humans. Both of the premises are
universal, as is the conclusion.
Major premise: All mortals die.
Minor premise: Some mortals are men.
Conclusion: Some men die.

Here, the major term is die, the minor term is men, and the middle term is mortals. The major premise is
universal; the minor premise and the conclusion are particular.

A sorites is a form of argument in which a series of incomplete syllogisms is so arranged that the
predicate of each premise forms the subject of the next until the subject of the first is joined with the
predicate of the last in the conclusion. For example, if one argues that a given number of grains of sand
does not make a heap and that an additional grain does not either, then to conclude that no additional
amount of sand would make a heap is to construct a sorties argument.

Types of syllogism[edit source | editbeta]

Relationships between the four types of propositions in the square of opposition

(Black areas are empty,

red areas are nonempty.)
There are infinitely many possible syllogisms, but only a finite number of logically distinct types, which
we classify and enumerate below. Note that the syllogism above has the abstract form:
Major premise: All M are P.
Minor premise: All S are M.
Conclusion: All S are P.

(Note: M – Middle, S – subject, P – predicate. See below for more detailed explanation.)

The premises and conclusion of a syllogism can be any of four types, which are labeled by letters as
follows. The meaning of the letters is given by the table:
code quantifier subject copula predicate type example
a All S are P universal affirmatives All humans are mortal.
e No S are P universal negatives No humans are perfect.
i Some S are P particular affirmatives Some humans are healthy.
o Some S are not P particular negatives Some humans are not clever.

In Analytics, Aristotle mostly uses the letters A, B and C (actually, the Greek letters alpha, beta and
gamma) as term place holders, rather than giving concrete examples, an innovation at the time. It is
traditional to use is rather than are as the copula, hence All A is B rather than All As are Bs. It is
traditional and convenient practice to use a, e, i, o as infix operators so the categorical statements can be
written succinctly:
Form Shorthand
All A is B AaB
No A is B AeB
Some A is B AiB
Some A is not B AoB

The letter S is the subject of the conclusion, P is the predicate of the conclusion, and M is the middle
term. The major premise links M with P and the minor premise links M with S. However, the middle
term can be either the subject or the predicate of each premise where it appears. The differing positions
of the major, minor, and middle terms gives rise to another classification of syllogisms known as the
figure. Given that in each case the conclusion is S-P, the four figures are:
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
Major premise: M–P P–M M–P P–M
Minor premise: S–M S–M M–S M–S

(Note, however, that, following Aristotle's treatment of the figures, some logicians—e.g., Peter Abelard
and John Buridan—reject the fourth figure as a figure distinct from the first. See entry on the Prior
Analytics.)

Putting it all together, there are 256 possible types of syllogisms (or 512 if the order of the major and
minor premises is changed, though this makes no difference logically). Each premise and the conclusion
can be of type A, E, I or O, and the syllogism can be any of the four figures. A syllogism can be
described briefly by giving the letters for the premises and conclusion followed by the number for the
figure. For example, the syllogism BARBARA above is AAA-1, or "A-A-A in the first figure".

The vast majority of the 256 possible forms of syllogism are invalid (the conclusion does not follow
logically from the premises). The table below shows the valid forms. Even some of these are sometimes
considered to commit the existential fallacy, meaning they are invalid if they mention an empty
category. These controversial patterns are marked in italics.
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
Barbara Cesare Datisi Calemes
Celarent Camestres Disamis Dimatis
Darii Festino Ferison Fresison
Ferio Baroco Bocardo Calemos
Barbari Cesaro Felapton Fesapo
Celaront Camestros Darapti Bamalip

The letters A, E, I, O have been used since the medieval Schools to form mnemonic names for the forms
as follows: 'Barbara' stands for AAA, 'Celarent' for EAE, etc.

Next to each premise and conclusion is a shorthand description of the sentence. So in AAI-3, the
premise "All squares are rectangles" becomes "MaP"; the symbols mean that the first term ("square") is
the middle term, the second term ("rectangle") is the predicate of the conclusion, and the relationship
between the two terms is labeled "a" (All M are P).

The following table shows all syllogisms that are essentially different. The similar syllogisms share
actually the same premises, just written in a different way. For example "Some pets are kittens" (SiM in
Darii) could also be written as "Some kittens are pets" (MiS is Datisi).

In the Venn diagrams, the black areas indicate no elements, and the red areas indicate at least one
element.
Examples

M:man
S:greek P:mortal
Barbara (AAA-1)
All men are mortal. (MaP)
All Greeks are men. (SaM)
∴ All Greeks are mortal. (SaP)

M:reptile
S:snake P:fur

Celarent (EAE-1

Similar: Cesare (EAE-2)

No reptiles have fur. (MeP)
All snakes are reptiles. (SaM)
∴ No snakes have fur. (SeP)

Terms in syllogism

We may, with Aristotle, distinguish singular terms such as Socrates and general terms such as Greeks.
Aristotle further distinguished (a) terms that could be the subject of predication, and (b) terms that could
be predicated of others by the use of the copula ("is a"). (Such a predication is known as a distributive as
opposed to non-distributive as in Greeks are numerous. It is clear that Aristotle's syllogism works only
for distributive predication for we cannot reason All Greeks are animals, animals are numerous,
therefore All Greeks are numerous.) In Aristotle's view singular terms were of type (a) and general
terms of type (b). Thus Men can be predicated of Socrates but Socrates cannot be predicated of
anything. Therefore, for a term to be interchangeable—to be either in the subject or predicate position of
a proposition in a syllogism—the terms must be general terms, or categorical terms as they came to be
called. Consequently, the propositions of a syllogism should be categorical propositions (both terms
general) and syllogisms that employ only categorical terms came to be called categorical syllogisms.

It is clear that nothing would prevent a singular term occurring in a syllogism—so long as it was always
in the subject position—however, such a syllogism, even if valid, is not a categorical syllogism. An
example is Socrates is a man, all men are mortal, therefore Socrates is mortal. Intuitively this is as valid
as All Greeks are men, all men are mortal therefore all Greeks are mortals. To argue that its validity can
be explained by the theory of syllogism would require that we show that Socrates is a man is the
equivalent of a categorical proposition. It can be argued Socrates is a man is equivalent to All that are
identical to Socrates are men, so our non-categorical syllogism can be justified by use of the
equivalence above and then citing BARBARA.

PARADIGMS

Webster Dictionary defines paradigm as "an example or pattern: small, self-contained, simplified
examples that we use to illustrate procedures, processes, and theoretical points." The most quoted
definition of paradigm is Thomas Kuhn's (1962, 1970) concept in The Nature of Science Revolution, i.e.
paradigm as the underlying assumptions and intellectual structure upon which research and development
in a field of inquiry is based. The other definitions in the research literature include:

1. Patton (1990): A paradigm is a world view, a general perspective, a way of breaking down the
complexity of the real world.
2. Paradigm is an interpretative framework, which is guided by "a set of beliefs and feelings about
the world and how it should be understood and studied." (Guba, 1990). Denzin and Lincoln
(2001) listed three categories of those beliefs:

 Ontology: what kind of being is the human being. Ontology deals with the question of what is
real.
 Epistemology: what is the relationship between the inquirer and the known: "epistemology is the
branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge and the process by which knowledge
is acquired and validated" (Gall, Borg, & Gall, 1996)
 Methodology: how do we know the world, or gain knowledge of it?

 A paradigm is a matrix of beliefs and perceptions. There are power relationships and action
implications inherent in paradigms. Foucault’s (1972, 1972-1977) theory helps us to understand
paradigms. Foucault believed that there are mindsets of the age. These mindsets emerge through
the conversations and actions of people. They are specific to a time and place context. They are
social rather than individual entities. The mindsets simultaneously emerge out of daily being
with others, and determine how we interact with others.

Let us examine one of Foucault’s own examples. One of the research topics that Foucault was interested
in was mental illness. He analysed the systems and structures that were instituted to deal with persons
who were classified as mentally ill. One component of the mindset of the age when he was doing his
research was a belief that people who are mentally ill are dangerous. Institutions keep people who were
mentally ill away from the general populace. These mindsets of the age are insidious (or in other words
dangerous) because they are largely unconscious. If we are aware of these beliefs at all, our conscious
concepts are using vague and fleeting. Paradigms can be conceived of as collections of mindsets of the
age.
 At this point, it would be helpful for us to consider another term. This term is discourse. Mills
(1997) wrote about discourse as the meaning and power of the language between people. The
concept of discourse extends beyond words and language. The concept includes the meanings of
the words and the way in which we use language to express and share power.
 Let us extend our exploration of the concept of discourse to explore dominant and challenging
discourses, and then pursue an example. Often there are more than one, and often contrasting,
mindsets of the age. The mindset that is held (often unconsciously) by the majority, or the
powerful minority, is called the dominant discourse. The contrasting mindset, which is often
advocated by a group of people, is called the challenging discourse. Sometimes there is one
dominant and multiple challenging discourses.
 One of the disciplines where you will read the terms dominant and challenging discourse is in
Disability Studies. The dominant discourse that remains prevalent is that it is sufferable and
pitiable to have a disabling condition. This discourse is enacted in the sympathy extended to
parents and the attribution of the quality of patience to these parents. In other words, the public
perception (largely unconscious) is that sons and daughters with disabling conditions are burdens
and try one’s patience. The enactment of this dominant discourse is the creation of respite
services to relieve parents of their burden, and the earmarking of research dollars toward
preventing and curing disabling conditions. One of the challenging discourses is that persons
with disabling conditions are regular human beings, no more a burden or challenge than anyone
else. Just like others, people with disabling conditions have both strengths and challenges. All
people can contribute to society given the opportunity. Advocates offering this challenging
discourse, encourage research dollars to be spent on quality of life pursuits rather than prevention
and amelioration.
 Now, let us return to our initial concept of paradigm. Some would say that there has been a
paradigm shift from people with disabling conditions as victims and burdens to regular citizens
with strengths and challenges. However, it does not take a long glance to observe stigma and
oppression still in place. This is why paradigm shift was challenged a number of paragraphs
above. Entrenched and unconscious mindsets are difficult to eradicate and there is seldom a
wholesale shift from one mindset to 3
 another. Instead, we tend to talk about dominant and challenging discourses, recognizing the
complexity of social life.

 JARGON

Jargon Explanations It was expected that the effectiveness of residents’ explanations would
vary, so a trichotomous variable (definite/partial/absent) was developed. To be assigned a
definite rating, the explanation statement had to refer to the jargon word directly and not use
jargon itself. Explanations that used jargon were assigned a partial rating. For example in Figure
Figure11 the explanation of “prostate-specific antigen” is rated as partial because it uses the
word “marker” without an accompanying explanation. A partial rating could also be assigned for
explanations that were not obviously linked to a specific word or for explanations that were
questionable to the abstractors. Discrepancies between abstractors were automatically resolved
by assignment to the partial explanations category.

 Calculations and Analyses

 The “explanation ratio” is a measure of the burden of unexplained jargon words over the entire
transcript. This quantifying approach is grounded in cognitive psychology research suggesting
that the mental effort necessary for puzzling over unexplained concepts inhibits comprehension
of information that is subsequently encountered. 26–29 The explanation ratio is calculated using the
formula
 

 where the numerator is equal to the number of jargon words that are never explained or that are
more than two statements earlier than the explanation, plus 0.5 for each jargon word that only
follows a partial explanation. For example, in Figure Figure22 the explanation ratio for
“mammogram” is 1÷4, or 0.25.
 The “explanatory time lag” was a measure of informational content (in statements) presented
between the first usage of the jargon word and its first full or partial explanation. In Figure
Figure11 the time lag for “prostate-specific antigen” is 1 statement, while in Figure Figure22 the
time lag for the word “mammogram” is 22 statements.
 The explanation ratio and explanation time lag calculations were both done by a spreadsheet
(Microsoft Excel, Redmond, WA) without subjective interpretation. Statistical analyses were
performed using JMP software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). One-way ANOVA and chi-squared
tests were used as appropriate for variable type. Inter-abstractor reliability for jargon words was
calculated using Cohen’s method.

 RESULTS
 Participant characteristics are shown in Table 1. The interviews averaged 10.1 min (range, 2 to
21.9) and 146.4 statements per transcript. Inter-abstractor reliability was κ = 0.92. To evaluate
the feasibility of our methods we tracked time and expenses, and project that quality
improvement projects in the future will be achievable with a budget under $50 per clinician
evaluated.


 Table 1
 Participant Characteristics

 Jargon Words
 Abstraction and the preceding seven step process in the protocol allowed us to populate the
jargon word list with 350 unique jargon words across 86 transcripts. The average number of
unique jargon words per transcript was 19.6 (SD 6.1). Most words were used more than once so
that the total jargon count averaged 53.6 words per transcript (SD 27.2). There were no
significant differences in jargon count by resident gender or year in residency. The five most
frequent jargon words included for each type of cancer are listed in Table 2.

 Table 2
 Most Commonly Used Jargon Words in Counseling

 Jargon Explanations
 All but one of the transcripts included at least one jargon explanation. There was an average of
4.5 explanations per transcript (SD 2.3). Prostate screening transcripts averaged more
explanations per transcript than mammography transcripts (5.9 versus 3.2 respectively,
p < .0001). The five most frequently explained jargon words for each type of cancer are listed in
Table 3.


 Table 3
 Most Commonly Explained Jargon Words in Counseling
 The average explanation ratio was 0.15 (SD 0.11), meaning that the remaining 85% of jargon
was neither explained in the transcript nor explained before two more statements were presented.
The explanation ratio was slightly better for prostate transcripts (0.18) than for breast cancer
transcripts (0.12, p = 0.0125), but there were no significant differences by resident gender or year
in residency.

 Time Lag Between Jargon Words and Explanations

 The average time lag was 8.4 statements (SD 13.4), meaning that a patient would have been
exposed to eight concepts while puzzling over an unexplained word. The lag was greater in
mammography (11.6) as compared with prostate transcripts (4.6 statements, p = 0.004). There
were no significant differences by resident gender or year in residency.
HYPOTHESIS:
INTRODUCTION:
Hypothesis is the word derived from the Greek word ”Hypo”- meaning under and
“tithimi” meaning place that is together to place under. In other words, a theory placed under known
facts of the problem to explain to them.
DEFINATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS:
According to Salter, “A Hypothesis is a tentatively proposed statement of what actions result in
postulated consequences.”
 Crisp states,” A Hypothesis may be define as a tentative theory or supposition setup and adopted
provisionally as a basis of explaining certain facts or relationships and as a guide in the further
investigation of other facts or relationships.”
FORMULATING A HYPOTHESIS:
As has been stated earlier a research worker in the beginning makes a preliminary enquiry of
the total situation by reviewing it and data or evidence related to the problem. He should then
formulated a hypothesis which may be more or less a guess to guide him in establishing a direction
in which to proceed. This process of arriving at hypothesis for a probable solution of the problem is
generally made through detective reasoning and the hypothesis is called a trial or working hypothesis
is then tested by gathering ,classifying and comparing the facts.
FUNCTIONS OF HYPOTHESIS:
It directs the search for data in orderly case.
It provides basis a basis for separating relevant from irrelevant observations.
It creates the answer where answer does not exist.
It helps in the development of research technique.
It establishes the relationship between assumption and observation.
It serves as an important link between theory and investigation
TYPES OF HYPOTHESIS:
WORKING HYPOTHESIS:
It is the one which is provisionly adopted to explain certain facts and to guide a
research worker in the investigation of others. It is called a working hypothesis becausee the research
test in the light of gathered facts.
NULL HYPOTHESIS:
It is contrary to the positive statement made in working hypothesis.
ALTERNATE HYPOTHESIS:
It is desirable to formulate several hypothesis in the beginning and then to select
one which explains phenomenon most efficiently of fits the case best.
ATTITUDES OF HYPOTHESIS:
TESTABLITY:
A hypothesis should be testable it should be so that it is possible to deduce logically certain
conclusion from it which can be tested by observation.
CLARITY:
A hypothesis should not be ambiguese the terminology used should be commonly accepted and
understood.
RELEVANCE:
A hypothesis must be relevant in relation to the problem under study.
CONSISTENCY:
It must be self -consistent without involving many complex and assumption.
BALANCE AND PARALLELISM:
Balance operates on the principle of recurring patterns. Balance with a sentence weighs one part
evenly with another. Parallelism, which refer simply to similarity of structure, frequently works hand
in hand with balance. Two parts alike in structure are possibly alike in rhythm as well. But balance
and parallelism do not necessarily imply completely symmetrical phrasing.
For instance,
But individuals like students are by virtue of their stage in life changeable and changing malleable
yet often intransigent –Kenneth Keniston.”The Faces in the lecture room”
In this sentence “malleable yet often intransigent” has the same one two effect of balance as
“changeable and changing” but when the two are put together the result is something slightly
asymmetrical, because the rhythms are different and the patterns are not exactly parallel.
Thus, balance and parallelism are closely tied with matters of symmetry and asymmetry. There is a
tendency sometimes to think of symmetry as a righting of something that is crooked therefore, a
special artistic value. Yet we need to observe that the unbalanced and asymmetrical are as common
in our experience. As the balanced and symmetrical nature itself is filed with asymmetrical forms
trees, cloud, formations, streams, mountains. We may be less awake of asymmetrical forms, but they
are wholly natural all of which is to say that some writers reject balance and parallelism as contrived
and artificial. Ultimately the use of balanced and parallel structures is a private choice, a mark of
individual style. Some writers cannot avoid them because these strategies satisfy a feeling. We can
see this affinity operating in each of the following sentences.
Balance and parallelism
We are an active, ingenious, pragmatic race, concerned with production rather than
contemplation, with efficiency rather than understanding and with information rather than wisdom.
_Dwight macdonald’s “Howtoism”
Balance without parallelism
The moon was always measured in terms of hope and reassurance and the heart pangs of
youth on such a night as this, it is now measured in terms of mileage and foot pounds of rocket
thrust Children sent sweet wishes to moon; now they dream of blunt nosed missiles.
Parallelism and imbalance:
For in sports, as in gambling and as in the most of the activities that we think of as
peculiarly masculine the greater the risk,the more serious the play, the the keener the fur. _George
stade
Exact balance and parallelism:
The love of liberty is the love of other, the love of power is the love of ourselves.
_ William Hazlitt.
The way parallel phrasing obligates a writer to remain consistent can be illustrated by a diagram that
puts balanced and parallel structures under one another.
There must be understanding in any more situation.
Understanding
that lets each member of the family accept the others.

For what they are not

For what someone thinks they should be
Understanding
That makes each one notice the good and
positive things in others and
Not dwell in the faults and shortcomings that each of us needs.
Understanding
That makes each one realise that it is terrible to reject others
That to put some one down is to create tension and provide barriers to happiness.
Student sentences in its usual form,the sentence would read
There must be understanding in any home situation understanding that lets each member of the
others for what they are, not for what someone thinks they should be; understanding that makes
 each of us has; understanding that makes each one realise that it is terrible to reject thus ,that to put
someone down is to create tension and provide barriers to happiness.
This long 84 words works because the balance and parallels divide it in to readable segments and
keep it orderly
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Holt guide to English by William F.I.R.Mscher

THE CASE STUDY AND METHODS

The case study is potentially the most valuable method known for
obtaining a true and comprehensive picture of individuality. It makes an intensive investigation on the
complex factors that contribute to the individuality of a social unit a person, family, group, social
institution or community. Bernard has pointed out that case study method is very old. He writes, “It was
first employed to illustrate and support propositions and dogmas rather than to arrive at new hypotheses
inductively. In this way social cases such as the parable, allegory, vision, revelation, myth, and story,
and tragedy, novel have been used from the earliest times”.
USE OF CASE STUDY:
 The case study method has come to be recognized as a useful mode of
investigation in the casual relationships of complex educational phenomena.
 It has been frequently employed in education in studying problem cases,
maladjusted pupils and scholarship difficulties. It is obviously an important source of educational
ideas.
 It is also employed in studying the general characteristics of phenomena
of any given class, as for eg: case studies of truants in a backward area, the learning difficulties
of pupils in mathematics the teaching difficulties of beginning teachers.
 The findings of case studies form the basis of guidance in preventing
maladjustment.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD CASE STUDY:

 It should be based on adequate and complete data.
 Its data should be valid.
 It should have continuity about it.
 It records should be kept confidential.
 Its data should be scientifically synthesized and this synthesis should be as much prognostic as
diagnostic.
 Its follow up work should be undertaken.
NATURE OF CASE STUDY:
Psychophysical Examination: Vision, hearing, speech, neuromuscular coordination.
Medical Examination: Height-weight ratio, nutrition, teeth, general health, bodily ailment, disease or
disturbance of the nervous and granular systems, worms, adenoids.
Mental Condition: General intelligence through verbal, non verbal tests, special abilities.
Temperamental Aspect: General emotionality, complexes, neuroses, interests, attitudes of sentiments,
character.
Educational Testing: Reading, number, handwriting, composition, appreciative mass, capacity for
sustained application, attitude, special skill or knowledge, general information and culture.
School History: Promotions, kind of work have done, mobility, quality of school attended, and relations
with teachers.
Family History: Ancestry, parents, siblings, home conditions, economic status and history, cultural
resources, relations with in home, control, attitude of parents towards society.
Social History: Contacts, attitude towards own religion, mixing with children of the same age,
undesirable company, sex history, delinquency.
METHODS OF DATA GATHERING IN CASE STUDY:
Case study data may come from numerous sources. The major problem of the case study is
essentially the same as that of the historical method that is obtaining dependable data from which valid
interpretations are to be derived. Not only are gaps bound to exist in the data, but the data that are
available generally have not been collected for the purpose of elucidating the present problem, and
invariably they are incomplete, and otherwise inadequate.
THE STEPS OF THE CASE STUDY:
If it is to be accepted as a scientific technique, the case study must follow essentially the same steps and
meet essentially the same criteria as do the other research methods.
I. Selection of the cases: The selection of the cases which exemplify the problem area under
investigation is obviously the first step. There is especially a need for typical cases. Since case
studies cover many facts of the total picture and extend over a long period of time and are
therefore time consuming and costly, it is common practice to restrict the study to the thorough
investigation of a few cases.
II. Determining status of the phenomenon: Either by direct observation or measurement, the
status of the phenomenon under investigation must be determined. He establishes the fact that
the phenomenon under investigation is inadequate in some vital respect or stands in need of
scientific study.
III. Formation of a hypothesis: Then he will formulate a tentative hypothesis which will guide him
for data collection on the individual cases. His judgements about the probable hypothesis are the
products of past experiences and researches with similar cases, symptoms and antecedents
arrived at by means of incidental or systematic observation, or both.
IV. Collection of data: The investigator collects what appears to be relevant data, observes
behavior, administers tests, and examines products. Some of the data will be readily available
from records and will pose no problem of collection. There will be the need for its verification
and interpretation. The data collection involves the use of observation, interviews, tests and other
data-gathering devices and techniques designed to provide information on the individual’s life
history, his health history, his scholastic history, his home and community background, and any
other aspects of the situation that might clarify the present problem.
V. Tentative diagnosis: The next step is the derivation of tentative diagnosis of the likely
antecedents of the difficulty. The investigator evaluates the data collected, compares data with
past experiences and norms, and reaches decisions that not all is well. He seeks the conditions
leading to or accompanying the inadequacy. From these circumstances and conditions, he selects
a supposed cause or causes. He further checks for the presents or absence of the supposed cause,
through systematic investigation when such appears necessary.
VI. Instituting remedy: He re-examines his own past experience and scientific investigation for
ideas relating to a course of action. Then chooses from several alternate courses of action those
that appear to be appropriate to the immediate situation. He institutes a treatment programme
accordingly. The diagnosis cannot be considered complete until the conditioning circumstances
supposed to explain the case have been removed and the effects observed. If several adjustments
 have been suggested by the diagnosis, and if one desires to know the potency of each particular
factor, then one must modify a single circumstance at a time, with all others held constant, as
suggested by the law of the single variable.
VII. Follow-up or rechecking: The final step is the follow-up of the case from the standpoint of its
response to treatment. This constitutes a test of the validity of the diagnosis. A recheck is
employed to determine adequacy of behavior, performance or output. It involves remeasurement
of the phenomenon under investigation to ascertain was changes, if any, have been produced in
its status by the modifications made. If the change is a positive one, and in an amount thought
significant, then the diagnosis can be judged correct.
LIMITATION OF CASE STUDY:
A generalization drawn from a single case or a few casually selected ones cannot be applied
to all cases in a population. The difficulty also lies in selecting subjects or units for a study that
are representative or typical. While collecting evidence from records, document, etc. We have to
accept data that are the product of errors of perception, faulty memory, deliberate deception,
unconscious bias, the subject’s desire to present the right answer, and the tendency to
overemphasize unusual events or to distort them for dramatic effect. Effects may wrongly
attribute to factors that are merely associated rather than cause and effect related. The case study
process is susceptible to this post hoc fallacy.

THE STRUCTURE OF PARAGRAPH

The arrangement of sentences within a paragraph normally followed a limited number of patterns.
1. From general to particular
2. From particular to general
3. Alternating order
4. Time order
5. Space order
6. Climatic order
1. FROM GENERAL TO PARTICULAR :-
Paragraph of this order characteristically begin with a topic sentence and proceed to give
support of some kind. For example :
The drugstore was a horse of a different colour, but it was circumscribed by
equally strict rule. [LEAD IN GENERALISATION]
Often, in the thirty’s, it boasted one of the few neon sign seen on main street, usually a blazing
vermilion vertical down the side of the building, spelling our “Nyal” or “Recall” and sometimes
the pharmacists name as well. [DETAILS ABOUT OUTSIDE APPEARANCE]
Insight the store, except in the poorest town was rather splendid : after you recover, reeling
slightly from the which mingle fumes of Iodoforn, Chocolate Soda Syrub and the essence of a
thousand biological, you stored pharmacists corner at the back behind which were ranged
multiple rose of apothecry jar.[DETAILS ABOUT INSIDE APPEARANCE]
2. FROM PARTICULAR TO GENERAL :-
Paragraph of this order characteristically begin with details of some kind-posively narrative,
descriptive, explicitly- and proceed to offer some general statement at the end. For example:
Galileo said that the Earth moves and that the Sun is fixed; The inquisition said that the
Earth is fixed and the Sun moves.[TWO PARTICULAR THEORIES]
 But now we says that anyone of these statements is equally true provided that you have
fixed your sense of “West and Motion”. In the way required by the statement adopted. At
the gate of Galileo’s controversy with inquisition Galileo’s way of stating the fact was,
beyond question the fruitful procedure for the sake of scientific
research.[ELABORATION]
Yet this question of the motions of the Earth and the Sun expresses that the real fact in
the Universe and all side had got hold of the importance truth concerning it. But with the
knowledge of those time the truths appeared to be inconsistent.
3. ALTERNATING ORDER :-
Alternating order is the natural movement of comparison and contrast or of pro and con discussion.
The ship may be frequent that in forth from A to B, B to A all the detail may be presented in simple
complimentary order A then B. Eg:
PART A : The protagonist in the stories are generally poor but well educated, having
seen better days. They are patient and deserving, people of family who have nice and run-
down old house with a few good antiques.
PART B : Crookes are easily identified because they are vulgar, bad tempered and have
an unfortunate tendancy to raise their voices to people.
4. TIME ORDER :-
Time order is most closely associated with narrative but any collective material. For example:
The body of information about submarine plant life- may be presented in the order that
findings were made. Eg: Our life in the Sanitarium was like that of hogs nothing but
eating and sleeping.
At seven a bell rang for breakfast we had to bath at 8 and at 9 we had to go “back to
sleep until 11 which was lunch time. From 12.30 we had to sleep again”.
5. SPACE ORDER :-
Space order is most closely associated with description. It is a round village with the living the
adjust of the perimeter lanes, but which is shops, church, school, chapels, spread along a central board
following the bank of a creek officially known as Potsfore River but falled locally the “Black Ditch”.
The centre of the village remains self-contained and quiet inspite of form machine, motor-bikes and dull
murmur of summer holiday traffic.
This particular description is conceal in terms of wide and its centre. At first the perspectives
looks downward then shifts acquired to the city.

6. CLIMATIC ORDER :-
Climatic order implies both a raising to a climax and falling a way from it. It depends on an
order of sentences from the least importance from the known to unknown with the suspense then lowest
to higher or any number of other ways that produce cumulative effect. It therefore applies to any mode
of writing whether it is an argument, narrative, description persuation. For example :
In him the Brudenell beauty had come to flower. He was tall with wide shoulder
tappening narrow way, his hair was golden, his eyes flashing sphere blue, his nose
aristrocratic his bearing proud.
He excelled in sportsmanship and promised to be a first class. He had in addition to
courage another characteristics which impressed itself all who met him.
He was alas, unusually stupid. Infact as Greville pronounce later an ass.
The raising and falling motion of this paragraph is sharply defined that the reader cannot fail to respond
to its effect.
DICTION
Speech and writing are codes of communication dependent mainly on words. Writing is even more
dependent on words than is speech because a speaker has many nonverbal means of influencing an
audience. Further, we have other nonverbal codes for communicating thoughts and feelings—
mathematical symbols, musical notations, and ideograms. Each of these codes or languages has its own
basic principles which permit the system to operate. We characteristically refer to the principles that
make words operate efficiently as the grammar of the language.
From time to time, codes are displaced almost entirely because they have lost their efficiently or
their magic. Smoke signals, drum beats, and flag signaling—all once significant systems of
communication—exist today only in rare circumstances and situations.
The fading of old codes and the emergence of new ones have prompted some thinkers of our day to
question whether writing has the capacity to survive when computers and electronic devices offer vastly
more efficient means of communication.
To Leo Rosten, language was a lure. To him and to all of us, it is a natural and personal means of
expression . We do not need complicated technology to produce words. They are still the most
characteristic stamp of our human identity.