A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

Don't reject a question because you think someone must already have asked it. Until youknow, pursue its answer as if you asked first. Even if someone has answered it, you mightcome up with a better answer or at least one with a new slant. In fact, in the humanities andsocial sciences the best questions usually have more than one good answer. You can alsoorganize your project around comparing and contrasting competing answers and supportingthe best one (see 6.2.5).The point is to find a question that you want to answer. Too many students, both graduateand undergraduate, think that the aim of education is to memorize settled answers to someoneelse's questions. It is not. It is to learn to find your own answers to your own questions. To dothat, you must learn to wonder about things, to let them puzzle you, particularly about thingsthat seem most commonplace.2.2 Propose Some Working AnswersBefore you get deep into your project, try one more step. It is one that some beginners resistbut that experienced researchers usually attempt. Once you have a question, imagine someplausible answers, no matter how sketchy or speculative. At this stage, don't worry whetherthey're right. That comes later.For example, suppose you ask, Why do some religions use masks in ceremonies whileothers don't? You might speculate,Maybe cultures with many spirits need masks to distinguish them.Maybe masks are common in cultures that mix religion and medicine.Maybe religions originating in the Middle East were influenced by the Jewish prohibition against idolatry.Even a general answer can suggest something worth studying:Maybe it has to do with the role of masks in nonreligious areas of a culture.Try to imagine at least one plausible answer, no matter how tentative or speculative. If afterlots of research you can't confirm it, you can organize your report around why that answerseemed reasonable at the time but turned out to be wrong, and so isn't worth the time of otherresearchers. That in itself can be a valuable contribution to the conversation on your topic.(See 10.1.1–10.1.2 for how to use an apparently good idea that turns out to be wrong.)In fact, look for two or three plausible answers. Even if you prefer one, you can improve itby testing it against the others, and in any event, you can't show that an answer is right if youcan't also show why others are wrong. Even early in the project, write out your answers asclearly and as fully as you can. It is too easy to think that you have a clear idea when youdon't. Putting a foggy idea into words is the best way to clarify it, or to discover that you can't.2.2.1 Decide on a Working HypothesisIf one answer seems promising, call it your working hypothesis and use it to guide your