Week 2: the research process

This week we will be focusing on establishing supervisory strategies that are appropriate for the LSHTM distance context. The aim is to improve how we support students to develop their research proposals, recognizing that this means working with students to develop their academic writing. In particular, we prompt you to consider the challenges of developing academic writing when supervising students across cultures.

There are two parallel activities this week, as well as some time set aside to prepare your first assignment.

Task 1: From topics to titles (1 hour)

Choose a topic that is currently popular in your discipline. Imagine that your student has expressed an interest in conducting a project in this area. Write six possible research questions for that topic and look carefully at the difference between the topic and title.

Plan how you will guide the student through the process of turning this topic into a research question. Your response will likely include an explanation, a visual tool and some questions. Post your response in the Topics to Titles discussion.

Task 2: Academic writing across cultures (2 hours)

Read Helen Fox's Introduction to her book. What assumptions underpin Western academic writing? Now look at the example supervisor feedback on a draft. What implicit knowledge does the student need in order to be able to interpret this feedback?

Post your thoughts in the Academic Writing area and engage in this tutor-moderated discussion.

Task 3: Preparing Assignment 1 (1 hour)

Your first assignment is due at the end of this week, on 26 January.

You need to prepare a learning contract suitable for your supervisory context, using the template provided, and submit it via the 'assignment 1' activity.

Key readings

Further resources