A Practical Guide to Research and Project Writing:- Akanwa, U.N

ABSTRACT

 Research and project writing have never been easy at any point in time. Anybody who is involved in project supervision will agree with us that students’ knowledge of research methods and techniques are at best theoretical. When it comes to practically writing a project or thesis, most students don’t find it funny. They get confused about a lot of things. Some undergraduates will start asking: “what am I expected to do”? Where and how do I start”? When you start explaining to them, some will say “Ehee, some of these things were taught us in research methods!” What about the post graduate students who dread oral presentation and defense of a work which they are assumed to have worked upon themselves? Project and theses writing, presentation and defense have always constituted a problem to both undergraduate and post graduate students. It is against this background that this book is written in order to assist researchers at least acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and competences in the art of selecting a research topic, carrying out an investigation on a topic of their choice, preparing a report on the investigation carried out, as well as presenting the report orally and defending it. This book is divided into six chapters. Chapter One deals with the choice of a research topic, background to the problem, statement of the problem, scope of the study, purpose of study, significance of the study, research questions and hypotheses. Chapter Two focuses on how to write the review of related literature, and the theoretical and empirical framework. Also illustrated in this chapter is the referencing pattern in the literature. Chapter Three presents the methodology of the research design, area of study, population of study, sample and sampling techniques, instruments used for data collection. validation of the instruments, reliability estimation of the instruments, method of collecting the data, and method of analyzing the data. Chapter Four handles analyses of data and presentation of same in tables. Chapter Five deals with discussion of findings, implication of the study, conclusions and recommendations. Chapter Six looks at research proposals and pattern for a completed thesis, while Chapter Seven is an overview of the preliminary pages of a Research Project. It also highlights the referencing style according APA 5th edition 2005. The authors wish to give special thanks to the Almighty God who has made us what we are today by His grace. We also wish to thank our former lecturers, academic mentors and senior colleagues among who are Emeritus Professor O. C. Nwana, Professor M. A. Maduabum, Professor Nwadiuto Onofeghara, Professor Nnenna Kanno, Rev. Sister Professor Angela M. Odoemenam, Professor Uwakwe Igbokwe and a host of others too numerous to mention. We also owe gratitude to Dr. O. V. Opara who slaps with the right hand and draws you nearer with the left hand, like the good mother she is. Also to Dr Ben Afiamagbon, etc. Special thanks also go to all members of the Oguh family in the United States of America. Finally we wish to say God bless the men who have helped us to actualize our womanhood by marrying us and making us happy: Professor Chinyere Nwahunanya and Dr Mike Akanwa. May you live long and may the Lord for ever fight your battles. Amen