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Advanced composition and introduction to research

Course objective →
This course seeks to:
1. Equip students with skills that can help them develop their academic writing;
2. Consolidate student’s sub-skills in writing and improve their style;
3. Enable students to understand academic essays by showing them professional
models;
4. Introduce students to the field of academic research by showing them how to
conduct a research (study);
5. Introduce them to the tools of data collection analysis, presentation, and discussion;
6. Introduce them to the was of formulating research objectives, research questions,
and research hypotheses;
7. To prepare students for models 37/38

Style of academic writing

There are certain stylistic conventions that academic writers should take into
consideration. The style used py thee writers depends on the discipline (field of study) in
which they are interested. Each discipline has its own style. However there are some
stylistic conventions that pertain to all discipline.
1. The use of formal style / language devoid of colloquialisms and slang language
(everyday language);
2. Avoiding the use of abbreviations and contractions (don’t → do not)
3. Avoiding the use of long and complicated sentences and adequate words (archaic /
old) to reach some clarity;
4. The use of specialist terminology (jargon)
5. Being impersonal by avoiding the use of (I – we – you)
6. Being objective and non-judgmental by avoiding the use of subjective judgmental.
Adjectives such as: Interesting, important, etc…
7. Avoiding the use of logical fallacies;
8. Writing numbers below a hundred in full in non-scientific academic writing;

9. Writing continues prose (writing full sentences and grouping them into a coherent
paragraph and avoiding lists of points;
10. Avoiding misplaced conjunctions by not starting sentences with “and” 2or” except in
creative writing (poems, short stories);
11. Being precise by avoiding vague sentences and empty words.
12. Distinguishing between opinions, arguments and facts.
- An opinion is not always based on good evidence and may even go contrary to the
evidence.
- Arguments are reasons provided to back up (support) points of view. Facts used in
academic writing are generally gathered and recorded in some formal way;

13_02_2023
Logical fallacies

1. Logical fallacies are weakness and flows arguing for against ans idea or opinion;
2. Logical fallacies are simply weak arguments that look like real and strong but in fact
they have a misleading appearance;
3. Logical fallacies are a digression from logical thinking and reasoning;
4. The use of logical fallacies in academic essays and research papers is unethical.
Example →
• Circular fallacy ==> arguing or reasoning in a circle. It simply means giving
arguments that are just the repetition of empty words.
[Water is so important in life because without it, there is no life]
• Either … or … fallacies ==> (black or white fallacy=
Ex → When someone writes a sentence like this: People have to choose
between gun-control and supporting murder.
• which are the sign of failure of giving effective arguments.
This kind of fallacies is also known as omission fallacies
• appeal to sympathy / pity ==>
Example → This research is very important because I have spent nine
months working on it.
In this example there is an appeal to sympathy instead of giving strong
arguments.
• Appeal to authority ==>
In this kind of fallacies, the research or writers hide themselves behind an
expert instead of giving strong arguments.
• Appeal to a false authority ==>
In this kind of fallacies, some researchers and writers may appeal to an
expert or a scholar whose qualifications and expertises are not relevant.
Example → Said Ennassiri, a Moroccan actor, was invited to make an add
about the importance of the Covid vaccination though he had no medical
qualifications or expertise.
• Appeal to an anonymous authority ==>
In this kind of fallacies, an unknown expert or scholar and unspecified source
are used as evident. In academic writing, the following phrases should be
avoided:
- «Most scientists say that ...»
- «Most studies show that ...»
- «Statistics show that ...»
• Appeal to ignorance ==>
When academic writers and researches appeal to ignorance, they claim that
something is true since there is no evidence against it, and no one has said
the opposite.
Example: Since no one has stood up against this project, we have continue
working on it.
• Hasty (quick) generalization ==>
It simply means drowing quick conclusions depending on a small sample.
Example: In the three lessons I observed, the teacher used technology
successfuly and achieved good learning outcomes, so all teachers can
achieve the same result by using technology.
• Genetic fallacy ==>
Genetic fallacies are used to accept or refuse an idea or an opinion just
because we love or hate its origins. It›s also known as attaching the person
or praising the person fallacy.
 Example: The idea that comes from such authors as Salman Ruchdie should
not be accepted in our society. This is a genetic fallacy because the focus is
on the person and not on the ideas.
• Bandwagon fallacy ==>
It's also known as appeal to the masses and common belief. Academic
writers and researchers may resort to this kind of fallacy when they want to
defend an idea or opinion just because all or most people do it, say it, or
defend it. This is part of what is known as Heard / Mob mentality.
Example: Some students justified their cheating in the exam by saying that
most students do it.
• Two wrongs make a right fallacy ==>
This kind of fallacies occurs when someone argues that an action is justified
just because the other person has done the same action or would do the
same if given the chance.
Example: A father speaking to his son: » Don't hit others, but if they hit you,
hit them. «The problem with this kind of fallacies is that a wrong thing / action
is justified with another wrong action and this justification takes the
appearance of something right.

Why do you conduct the academic research?

Generally speaking, academic research is conducted for the following reasons:
1- To produce knowledge.
2- To address questionable and researchable topic and problems.
3- To fill in a gap in knowledge.
4- To explain some linguistic, social, and cultural phenomena.
5- To solve complicated and challenging problems.
6- To quench our curiosity to find new thing.
7- To gain academic respectability.
8- To serve the society by sharing the findings with the members of society.

Ethics in academic research

1- Researchers should avoid plagiarism (taking the ides of others and claiming that
they are yours). This is unethical academic crime. The works of others should be
recognizes and acknowledged.
2- Self-Plagiarism should be also avoided.. Every researcher experience should come
up with something original and new.
3- It’s is also a must to avoid logical fallacies.
4- It is also a must to be fair, objective, and bias-free (neutral).
5- Researchers should respect their audience by telling them the truth and sharing
with them the findings as they are.
6- They should also give credit to the scholars upon whom they have relayed.

Academic essays
Definition ¦
Academic essays are a kind of formal and scholarly writing in which writers collect data
about a certain topic or problem, brainstorm, ideas about it, take note, related to it,
deconstruct a problem, analyze and discuss certain phenomena in an academic way.
These writers are required to build on logical thinking and sound reasoning. There should
not be room for logical fallacies which are the sign of failure of giving effective arguments.

Each academic essay addresses an assignment question

Example ¦
Define Bloom’s taxonomy and explain how it applies to Moroccan EFL learning
environment.
Analyzing, interpreting, and understanding an assignment question.

Step 1 check the meanings of words and concepts in the assignment question
Step 2 Look for the command words. The words that tell you what to do such as,
define, explain, analyze, discuss, compare and contrast, describe, … etc
Step 3 Determine the general area of discussion and make it specific by asking
some questions¦ define what? In relation to what? In which context? For
what purpose?
Step 4 Chunk the assignment questions into small parts depending on the specific
areas you want to cover.

step 5 Write a thesis statement which is a response to the assignment question.

The thesis statement is most often considered the core element of an
academic essay.

Exercise==>
- analyze and interpret the following assignment question¦
1- define Facebook and discuss its impact on Moroccan university students.
2- define distance learning and compare it to face to face one.
3- Explain positive feedback and show its relationship to students motivation.

07 – 03 – 2023
These guide lines help to establish a bridge of communication between researches /
writers and readers:
I- Formatting:
1- Font → the most common font is times new Romans.
2- Font size → the most common font size is 12.
3- Page margins → the page margins should be about 2,54 cm
4- Line spacing → the most common line spacing is double space, but it is sometimes
possible to use w and half line spacing
5- Spacing between paragraphs → there are two choices
Choice 1 → if the paragraph are intended, there should be no space between the
paragraphs.
Choice 2 → if the paragraphs are not intended, there should be space between
them.
6- Paragraph indentation → for the paragraph indentation, it should be 1,27 cm (0,5 inch).

II- Referencing_

1- Referencing is the act of giving credit to external sources such as books, journal
articles, interviews, newspapers, magazines,and websites. The absence of referencing in
academic writing is plagiarism which is ethically unacceptable and legally forbidden.
2- referencing is an academic requirement (must) to inform readers about the source and
references you have relayed on.
3- referencing is very important as it shows the inter-textual / dialog aspect of the research
paper.
4- referencing can take two main forms:
 1- in-text citation
2- reference list
There are there ways of in-text citation: Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.
1- Quoting means the information word for word.
2- Paraphrasing means rewriting the information using different words, phrases, and
sentences.
3- Summarizing means shorting the information and summing up the key points.

N.B.: - Quoting should be rarely used because it might be seen as failure of

understanding the points in the quote. It does not require much efforts. All that researchers
do is just «copy and paste».
- Paraphrasing and summarizing are much better because they require an understanding
of the quote.
– Quoting can be a good choice when the words in the quote have a strong, dramatic,
and powerful impact that no other words can have.

Examples of in-text citations:

1- According to Hall (1997, p.6), cultural studies in “a discursive formation.”

2- According to Hall, cultural studies is “a discursive formation.” (p.6)
3- According to Hall (1997), cultural studies is “a discursive formation.” (p.6)
4- Cultural studies is a discursive formation (Hall, 1997, p.6)
An example of an entry in a list reference:
Lazar, J. (2006). Web usability: A user-centered approach.

Last name Capital letter of first name year of publication title in italics

Pearson Addison Wesley → publishing house

The line (s) after the first should be indented by 1,27 cm. This is known as a hanging
indent

Dealing with quotations:

possible changes:
Generally speaking the quotes should be kept as they are. However, there are
some cases where some changes are possible:
1- Adding [sic]
When there is a grammar or spelling mistake, the mistake should not be corrected.
Instead, [sic] should be inserted after the mistake.
2- Single quotation marks:
If there are quotation marks (“...”) in the quote, they can be replaced with single quotation
marks (“...”).
3-An ellipsis (…)
If the researcher wants to delete some words from the original quote, this should be
indicated with an ellipsis (…).
4- The period or the full-stop The first capital letter in a quote, according to APA style, can
be changed from upper-case to lower-case if it is part of a long sentence. This is not
possible in the MLA style where the original capitalization should be kept.

The MLA style ¦

MLA stands for Modern Language Association. The purpose is to establish a common
background that can facilitate communication between academic writers and researchers
by setting clear rules and guidelines.

In-text citations ¦
According to MLA style, in-text citations can take the following forms ¦
1- We mention mainly (basically) the last name of the author and the page number without
a comma.
Example ==> Billy ha the ability to relate to others with his voice (Vonnegut 36)
==> Vonnegut (36) describes Billy’s ability …
==> Vonnegut describes Billy’s ability to relate to others with his voice
(36)
2- If there are two authors of the same source, we mention the last names of the authors in
the same order they appear in the source and separate them with an “and”.
Example ==> (Smith and John 24)
3- If a source has 3 or more authors, then we give the last name of the first author and
replace the names of other authors with et al.
Example ==> (Burdick et al. 3)
4- If two authors are cited with the same last name, we also cite the first initial of these
authors. Example ==> (Arthur Smith) (John Smith) → (A. Smith 24) (J. Smith 26)

27 – 03 – 2023

Long quotations ==>

1- According to the APA style, a long quotation consists of more than 40 words, but in the
MLA style, it consists of more than 4 lines for a prose and more than 3 lines for verse
(poetry).
2- Long quotations should be used as a free-standing block of text and quotation
marks should be omitted.
3- Long quotations (block quotations) should be indented by 1.27 cm (½ inch) (just from
the left side)
4- Short verse quotations (three lines or fewer) can be included in the text with a forward
slash (/) to indicate the line break.
Example ==> Beauty is but a flower / which wrinkles will devour.
Reference within a second resource ¦
Academic researchers may relay on secondary sources if they cannot have access to the
original one.
Example 1 ==> As Shakespeare said, “sweets to the sweet”. (qtd. in White 109).
In this example the original source is Shakespeare, and the secondary source is White
and the citation is done by using qtd. in
Example 2 ==> “Sweets to the sweet” (Shakespeare qtd. in white log)
- The first example is narrative, and the second is parenthetical citation.

Multiple sources in the same citation MLA ==>

If a researcher wants to include different sources in the same citation, the three sources
should be separated with a semicolon.
Example ==> (White 109 ‫ ز‬Vonnegut 36 ‫ ز‬Peake 33)

When there is no author ==>

1- If the author does not exist, citations can be done according to the title.
Example ==> computers, serve as an important teaching // learning tool … (Technology
and learning, 2015)
In this example, the title has replaced the last name of the author.
Dealing with titles according to MLA style ==>
==> The titles or book, plays, films, periodicals, journals, and websites should be put in
Italics.
==> Works that are part of a larger work (Articles in ajournal, essays, poems, short stories,
chapters, web-pages, ans speeches)should be put in quotaiton marks.
==> Sometimes, titles of books or articles may contain other titles the same rules shjould
be respected

Research
Research objectives ==>
There are simply the objectives behind conducting the research paper or the study. These
objectives should be transformed into research questions and each question should have
a temporary answer in the form of a hypothesis. There should be a logical connection
between the research objectives, questions, and hypotheses.
Example ==> Topic → The use of ECRIF to teach the speaking skill in the Moroccan EFL
classrooms ELT supervisors perspectives.

Research Objectives ==>

This study seeks to explore the following ¦
1- The extent to which ECRIF can help students learn the speaking skills in Moroccan EFL
context.
2- ELT supervisors perspectives on the use of ECRIF to teach the speaking skill.

Research questions =>

This study addresses the following questions ¦
1- To what extent can ECRIF help students learn the speaking skill in Moroccan EFL?
2- What are the ELT supervisors perspectives on the use of ECRIF to teach the speaking
skill?

Research Hypothesis ==>

Based on the research objectives and questions of this study, there are two main
assumptions upon which this study is formed ¦
1- ECRIF can significantly help students learn an develop the speaking skill.
2- The ELT supervisors adopt a positive attitude towards the use of ECRIF to teach the
speaking skill in Moroccan EFL classrooms.
==> In this example, it is clear that there is a logical connection and relationship between
the research objectives, questions, and hypothesis.
These 3 components should not be dealt with in isolation from each other. A research
objective should be transformed into a research question which requires a temporary
answer in the form of hypothesis.

The scope of the study / research ¦

1→
3 → The importance of narrowing down the scope of the study resides in that it helps
explain and show what will be covered in research project.

Example 1 ==> Topic one. The use of technology.

When? The use of technology Who?

During teachers
covide-19 What? Where? Which? Teachers of
The benefits Morocco technological English
Of High school devices High school
challenges EFL classrooms Mobile phones

The benefit and challenges of using Mobile Phones in Moroccan EFL classrooms during
COVID-19 ¦ High school teachers’ perspectives.
Example 2 ==> Topic 2 → Computer addiction.
Who?
Where?
What?
When?
Which?
How?
The psychological and social Effects of Addiction to video Games on male teenagers in
Moroccan urban areas for the last five years.
Example 3 ==> Topic 3 → Teaching Grammar.
Who? High school students
Where? Moroccan High Schools at Beni Mellal Directorate
What? Difficulties / challenges
When? For the last decades
Which? English tenses
How? OHE
The difficulties of using OHE to teach tense to Moroccan High School students for the last
decade: The case of High School at Directorate of Beni Mellal.

Problem Statement

→ Problem statement is one of the important elements of a research paper. As its name
indicates, it states the problem that the research paper seeks to deal with, and the gap is
seeks to fill in. Thus, the problem statement has to answer the following questions:
1- What is the problem that my research deals with?
2- What is the critical issue that my research addresses?
3- What is the gap in knowledge that this research wants to fill in?
4- In which context is the study conducted?
→ The problem statement should be built on some evidence. It should be built on
systematic observation and reflective analysis. It can be also built on the results and
findings of a questionnaire / survey. It can be also built on reading related studies ans
existing knowledge to find the gaps to fill in.
→ Problem statement should be clear, concise, and precise. They should be objective,
and they should clearly state the issue under investigation.
Data source ¦
There are two types of data¦
1- Primary data ¦ It is the data collected directly from the participants (first-hand data). It is
called the first-hand data that researchers collect by administering, for example, a
questionnaire or a series or by conducting on interview.
2- Secondary data ¦ it is the second-hand data that has been collected and compiled by
someone else.
Data collection:

There are different research instruments, but the most common ones are: Questionnaire,
observation, focus group, case study, text analysis, records / document, interview.

10 – 04 – 2023 Research design

Qualitative Quantitative Mixed method sign
Descriptive Statistics Both
words numbers qualitative
images percentages quantitative

Qualitative research Quantitative research

1- The data collection in a qualitative → Quantitative research is numerical
research is descriptive because researchers statisticalm and mathematical.
use words, expressions, images, → The daa collected is presented and
observation notes, and interviews notes to analyzed in terms of numbers and statistics.
present and analyze the result and finding → Researchers in quantitative research
of the research. should objective and precise qhen they
2- Quantitative research is thus non- present, analyze results and finding of the
numerical. study.
3- In quantitative research, there is a room → Quantitative research usually uses big
for the subjectivity of the researcher. sample size.
4- quantitative research usually uses small → Data analysis is quantitative research is
sample ‫ ﻋﻴﻨﺔ‬size. statistical numerical, mathematical.
5- Data analysis in quantitative research is
descriptive and narrative

Mixed method design

It is the research design in which there is the combination between the qualitative
and quantitative research designs. It is a mixture of the two designs. Researchers present
and analyze and discuss the results and the findings of their research parers descriptively,
narratively, statistically, and mathematically. The importance of this design lags in that it
provides an extra insight into the problem of the study much better than relaying just on
qualitative or quantitative design. Thus, mixed method design helps enrich the findings of
the research.
Types of research
1- Experimental Research ==>
It is known as a cause and effect research because it aims at testing the
relationship between two variables.
1- Independent variable (cause)
2- Dependent variable (effect)
For example → If we want to measure the impact of cold weather on students
performance in class, the independent variable is the cold weather, and the dependent
variable is student’s performance in class. To conduct an experimental research,
researchers have to administer a pre-test before the experiment, and a post-test after the
experiment. They also have to divide the participants into two groups the control group and
the experimental group.
2- Exploratory research ==>
It is a non-experimental research because it does not involve experimenting with
anything. The objective is to explore one or more aspects without conducting an
experiment and dividing the participants into control and experimental groups. It takes less
time than experimental research.
3- descriptive research ==>
In this kind of research, researchers simply describe a topic / situation / case under
study. The main characteristic of descriptive research is that it is theory based.
4- diagnostic research ==>
In this kind of research designs, researchers focus on a certain problem or issue by
following three main steps
- step 1 ==> Inception of the problem.
AT this stage, we ask the following questions¦
. what is the problem?
. where does it come from?
. when did it start?
Step 2 ==> Diagnosis of the problem¦
At this stage, we ask the following questions¦
. what the main causes of this problem?
. when is it serious and evident?
. when is it less serious and less evident?
Step 3 ==> Solution for the problem¦
At this stage, we ask the following questions.
. how to solve this problem?
. what measures should be taken to avoid this problem?