Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas

Research Methodology and Scientific Writing

Code

711160003

Academic unit

Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas

Department

Línguas, Culturas e Literaturas Modernas

Credits

6

Teacher in charge

Alda Jesus Correia, Rogério Puga

Weekly hours

4

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

a) To present an overview on the specificity of conducting research within the Humanities;
b) To identify individual sciences in the western scientific body of knowledge;
c) To provide a set of basic rules and guidelines on conducting research, on discourse, and on organisation and compiling a bibliography;
d) To apply basic rules when compiling a working bibliography and preparing academic papers;
e) To develop research skills, to select evaluate relevant source material and data.

Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Subject matter

1. Science
1.1. Culture, Literature and Science
1.2. Research in the Humanities
1.3. Investigation and scientific writing
1.4. Ethical principles and methodology in scientific work
2. Methods
2.1. Conventional research techniques and methodology
2.2. Research aids
2.3. Resources: libraries, archives and other documentation centres
2.4. Study objectives, study objects, corpus and research organization
2.5. Books and the publishing industry
2.6. Sources: researching and selecting information
2.7. Norms: bibliography, notes and citing
3. Information technologies
3.1.IT: epistemology and change of paradigm
3.2. Library research and electronic sources (Internet, CD-ROM)
3.3. Databases in the Humanities
3.4. Selecting and dealing with relevant information
4. Discourses
4.1. Plagiarism, paraphrasing, citing
4.2. Organising discourse
4.3. Different types of academic texts: summary, abstract, review, report, essay and dissertation.

Bibliography

Azevedo, M. (2009). Teses, Relatórios e Trabalhos Escolares. Lisboa: Universidade Católica.
Ceia, C. (2012). Normas para a Apresentação de Trabalhos Científicos. Lisboa: Presença.
Gibaldi, J. (2009). MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Sétima edição. Nova Iorque: Modern Language Association.
Lakatos, E. (2012). Metodologia Científica. São Paulo: Pé da Letra.
Soles, D. (2010). The Essentials of Academic Writing. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Teaching method

Practical (60%) and theoretical (40%) classes will familiarize the students with the research methods of the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Evaluation method

Written essay (30%), one written practical work (20%) and one test (50%).

Courses