Office Hours with Dr. Guy - Episode 14: New Book, No Research, No Time, Family

[@taylorlerman1805]

Dear Dr. Guy, I hope my comment finds you well!! the reason why I'm writing to you is because I'm really struggling with my undergraduate dissertation and I'd greatly appreciate if you could please help me!! I have some questions: 1- Should i look for a knowledge gap in the literature review of an undergraduate dissertation? 2- Can i take more than 1 quote from the same source? 3- How can i read books fast and take relevant information? 4- How do i know that the quotes that i took are real arguments? 5- should i start writing the literature review even if i didn't finish collecting quotes? Thank you so much in advance!!!

[@guyewhite]

Hi Taylor! Thanks for reaching out to me! 1 - Depends on the normal format of your undergrad dissertation. Take a look at a sample, if they provide you one. See if a gap is addressed. Sometimes, you are simply required to argue a position in such an undergrad paper. 2- You absolutely can! However, you will not "quote" much in your final draft. Instead, you'll paraphrase. Focus on showing us what many different authors said TOGETHER and how they DIFFERED (compare / contrast), rather than quoting. 3 - Find books that are relevant to your topic. Skim first. Look for sections that are relevant to you. Then, deep read only the sections that are of interest. Intentionally look for 3-5 ideas from each source that could be useful to you. 4 - Depends what you mean by arguments. Typically, an author might provide (1) a position or (2) evidence, or (3) both. The best "argument" is one that provides POSITION + EVIDENCE. 5 - No. Don't write your literature review until you have (1) collected sufficient source material, (2) compared and contrasted where authors agree and disagree, and (3) have produced a well-written, logical outline. Spend more time on these steps so you can spend less time on the writing :) Send me a question any time! Sorry I took so long to reply.

[@taylorlerman1805]

Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!! You're a life saver!!!! I wish you were my teacher in real life!!

[@DivineShine7]

The Indispensable Guide to Undergraduate Research: Success In and Beyond College, by Anne H. Charity Hudley, Cheryl L. Dickter, and Hannah A. Franz. New York, NY: Teachers of College Press, 2017,186 pp., $29.95, Paperback.

[@laxmanpokhrel2091]

Congratulations on your achievement of life long dream. Please kindly make long videos like writing lit review on proposal writing by using mix method research methodology.

[@guyewhite]

Thank you so much, Laxman! It's been a huge journey. What part of the "mixed methods" research is challenging?

[@bonniegarrison903]

Great! I am going to order your book today.

[@guyewhite]

Bonnie, private message me the name and mailing address of one of your friends in your doctoral program and I'll send them a free copy of the book on me: All as a thanks for being one of the first to jump on this and buy the book. THANK YOU.

[@DivineShine7]

Hi Doc: I followed your steps for writing chapters 1-3 and it got me to the dissertation defense stage immediately..Thank you!! I always recommend your videos to my classmates. Now: I'm kindly requesting that you consider making some videos for how to write chapters 4 and 5...I am doing a slightly mixed-methods study (RQ: Quan. =3; Qual. =2). I already collected my data on Survey Money.

[@guyewhite]

Hi SunshineLove! Long time! So happy to hear from you. I'm on it! This is the perfect next step. What are the qualitative methods that you are using in your study?

[@DivineShine7]

Qual. =I used open-ended responses from two questions on my demographic questionnaire...for quan.= regression, manova

[@guyewhite]

I'm on it :)

[@DivineShine7]

Thank you. I used to think that chapter 2 was the most difficult to write but now I think that it is chapter 5. Can your new video highlight chapter 5 more? Or can you do individual videos for chapter 4 and chapter 5?

[@DivineShine7]

I hope you truly understand how helpful WE find your vids! Just in case you forgot how amazingly helpful you and your vids are...Im here to remind you. :)

[@laxmanpokhrel2091]

Congratulations on your achievement of life long dream. Please kindly make long videos like writing lit review on proposal writing by using mix method research methodology.

[@guyewhite]

Thank you so much, Laxman! It's been a huge journey. What part of the "mixed methods" research is challenging?

[@laxmanpokhrel2091]

Congratulations on your achievement of life long dream. Please kindly make long videos like writing lit review on proposal writing by using mix method research methodology.

[@guyewhite]

Thank you so much, Laxman! It's been a huge journey. What part of the "mixed methods" research is challenging?

[@pmadrill1]

I bought the book! Looking forward to it!

[@guyewhite]

Patty, THANK YOU. Private message me the name and address of one of your friends in the program and I'll send them a copy of the book at no cost -- all for being one of the first three people to mention buying the book. Thank you.

[@shkhan84]

i'm so glad you decided to write a book!! Gonna get it asap. Your videos on methodology and pretty much every other video were invaluable for me during my masters dissertation. You'll be happy to know I got an A in it and i think it was all because of your videos and the rubrics i developed like you suggested to organize my writing researching process, so thank you!!

[@guyewhite]

Ess, thanks for that. Your kindness means the world to me.