1. BUILDING A RESEARCH PROJECT
The Arnhold Undergraduate Research
Fellows Program

2. RESEARCH PROJECT WORKFLOW
General Research Topic
Choice of Primary Sources
Close Reading of Primary Sources
Guiding Research Questions
Working Hypothesis
Methodology/Method/Approach
Bibliography/Lit Review

3. GENERAL RESEARCH TOPIC

4. GUIDING RESEARCH QUESTIONS

5. GUIDING RESEARCH QUESTIONS

6. WORKING HYPOTHESIS

7. WORKING HYPOTHESIS

8. WORKING HYPOTHESIS

9. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH/METHOD
Methodology refers to the system of methods used in any particular area of study or activity. As the word “system” suggests, methodology necessarily includes both the chosen approach and the chosen method(s) used to carry out research.

10. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH/METHOD
Defines the direction you will take in your analysis
Describes the perspective you will adopt in the application of specific methods of research, as well as in the interpretation and presentation of the knowledge produced
Approach is an orientation that defines what you will choose to highlight, examine, and research
In literary studies, deciding on an approach usually involves adopting a particular interpretive language – e.g., humanist, Marxist, psychoanalytic, mythic, sociopolitical, deconstructive, historicist, etc.

11. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH/METHOD
Involves the practical procedures used to gather data, test hypotheses, overcome problems, and produce new knowledge
A method is a well-organized and well-outlined practice designed to carry out the aims of any given research project
Method determines the specific process by which you will achieve your goals
What kind of practical tasks will you need to undertake in order to properly explain your research questions?
What tools are available for you to undertake this task?
How will you execute the tasks?

12. SHAPING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY/LIT REVIEW
Combined, the bibliography and “literature review” portions of your research proposal not only outline the material you’ll read and analyze in order to answer your research questions, they also define your field of study and demonstrate your knowledge of that field.
In shaping the bibliography, it can help to distinguish between different sub-fields that relate directly or indirectly to your research topic/hypothesis.
You can think of these sub-fields as “conversations” around a shared subject, with each author within that sub-field representing one voice in the conversation.

13. SHAPING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY/LIT REVIEW
To start, you might divide your bibliography into 2 lists:
List 1: Works Directly Related to the Research Topic
List 2: The Wider Field/Larger Contexts

14. SHAPING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY/LIT REVIEW
Under List 1, you might further divide your texts into:
Primary Texts:
I.e., texts that speak directly to your topic and serve as the primary objects of analysis
Secondary Texts:
I.e., texts that speak to the analysis of your primary texts – what others have said about the (primary) texts you’ll be analyzing.
Peripheral/Related Texts:
I.e., Texts that won’t necessarily serve as you primary sources, but which speak to the general topic under consideration.

15. SHAPING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY/LIT REVIEW
Under List 2 – The Wider Field/Larger Contexts – you might divide your texts according to the larger theoretical or critical perspectives you intend to engage with:
E.g., Marxist literary theory, Queer theory, historiography, phenomenology, etc.