From Topic to Research Project

Review existing literature

Once you have a general idea of a research topic, the next step is to carry out research to discover what has already been written about the topic with a view to developing your own independent research project. A good way to get an overview of the literature is to run searches using the relevant key words in the databases of the University of Tartu Library, University of Glasgow Library, or Google Scholar.

The aim of the literature review is to ascertain the current state of the field, the theoretical and conceptual approaches used to study the topic, and the techniques and methods that have been used by other researchers to investigate the issue. The review of literature goes beyond just searching for information about your topic: it is about identifying relationships between existing scholarly contributions and theoretical approaches to studying the topic, and determining research gaps and/or unanswered questions that can be used to form the basis of a research puzzle. By the end of Semester 1, students are only expected to have done a very preliminary review of the literature for the purposes of formulating their research puzzle and writing the MA thesis prospectus. Work on the more in-depth literature review will continue in subsequent semesters.

When working on the literature review, you are recommended to draw up short summaries of the material you read, which should contain relevant statements, quotations, definitions, and problem statements that deal with the research puzzle in depth. You might want to follow a more a systematic approach to organising your note taking, such as the Cornell Note Taking System. The notes should be accompanied by the name of the author and any other information required in the bibliographic record and references. This will make it easier to compile and refer to the bibliography later on.

TIP! Start compiling a preliminary bibliography with key scholarly books, academic journal articles, and primary sources that you have read, or are planning to consult, to shape the early stages of your research. You are highly encouraged to use a reference manager to collect, store, and cite academic literature, such as Zotero, Mendeley, or Endnote (See Bibliographic Software).

 

Formulate a research puzzle

The aim of the MA thesis is not simply to provide a detailed description of a topic or phenomenon but to identify something that is unclear, contradictory, or that behaves/acts in a way that contradicts expectations from literature/theory and thus requires explanation. The research puzzle could take the form of examining counterintuitive or varying phenomenon among empirical case studies, identifying gaps or contradictions in theory, or applying new methods or techniques to gather data that changes our understanding of a topic. Read more about different types of research puzzles in the article by Day and Koivu (2019). Take note that it is not enough to simply identify that there is a “gap” in the existing scholarly literature or that a particular topic has not been examined before. You need to construct a convincing argument for why it is important that this “gap” is filled! The research puzzle should also be feasible to answer within scope of an MA thesis of 20–25,000 words.

TIP! In the case of theoretical research puzzles, all CEERES theses are still required to have an empirical component that is based on the students’ own analysis and interpretation of data. The CEERES programme is not the place to write a thesis that is purely theoretical, ie. political philosophy.

Formulate research questions

The foundation of the MA thesis is a central research question which stems from the research puzzle. The aim of the thesis is to answer this question and thereby present a solution or partial answer to the research puzzle. The central research question can be followed in turn by sub-questions that serve to address the main question step by step. The questions should be clear, focused, researchable, and analytical rather than descriptive. For example, you are recommended to avoid bivalent questions that are answered only in the positive or negative (simple yes or no answers), making them only marginally informative. How and why questions are more useful than what questions as they require you to analyse an issue or problem. Read more about research questions in the book by Sandberg and Alvesson (2011) – ebook login with University of Glasgow.