US president-elect Barack Obama (L) waves as US President George W. Bush (R) welcomes him to the White House in Washington, DC. Obama took his first steps in the Oval Office on Monday at his first talks as president-elect with Bush, from whom he will inherit two wars and a global economic crisis.
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Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze a specific field (for instance, mythology) as a complex system of interrelated parts. It began in linguistics with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure. But many French intellectuals perceived it to have a wider application, and the model was soon modified and applied to other fields, such as anthropology, psychoanalysis, literary theory and architecture. This ushered in the dawn of structuralism as not just a method, but also an intellectual movement that came to take existentialism's pedestal in 1960s France.[1]
Structuralism enjoyed much popularity, and its general stance of antihumanism was in sheer opposition to the Sartrean existentialism that preceded it. But in the 1970s, it came under internal fire from critics who accused it of being too rigid and ahistorical. However, many of structuralism's theorists, from Michel Foucault to Jacques Lacan, continue to assert an influence on continental philosophy, and many of the fundamental assumptions of its critics, that is, of adherents of poststructuralism, are but a continuation of structuralism.[1]
Structuralism isn't only applied within literary theory. There are also structuralist theories that exist within mathematics, philosophy of science, anthropology and in sociology. According to Alison Assiter, there are four common ideas regarding structuralism that form an 'intellectual trend'. Firstly, the structure is what determines the position of each element of a whole. Secondly, structuralists believe that every system has a structure. Thirdly, structuralists are interested in 'structural' laws that deal with coexistence rather than changes. And finally structures are the 'real things' that lie beneath the surface or the appearance of meaning
To this point, being a graduate student has been, more or less, an extension of your earlier life as a student. Many people, in fact, go to graduate school because they have always been "good at school," and want to continue with something that brings them success and self-confidence. The reading assignments, labs, papers, and tests you have been assigned as a graduate student may not have been so different from your undergraduate course work. The dissertation, on the other hand, is a new kind of academic project, unlike anything else you've done. It is the academic project that marks your transition from student to scholar
Abstract
An abstract is a short summary of your completed research. If done well, it makes the reader want to learn more about your research.
These are the basic components of an abstract in any discipline:
1) Motivation/problem statement: Why do we care about the problem? What practical, scientific, theoretical or artistic gap is your research filling?
2) Methods/procedure/approach: What did you actually do to get your results? (e.g. analyzed 3 novels, completed a series of 5 oil paintings, interviewed 17 students)
3) Results/findings/product: As a result of completing the above procedure, what did you learn/invent/create?
4) Conclusion/implications: What are the larger implications of your findings, especially for the problem/gap identified in step 1?
However, it's important to note that the weight accorded to the different components can vary by discipline. For models, try to find abstracts of research that is similar to your research
Table of Contents
The table of contents provides the reader the outline and location of specific aspects of your document
List of Illustrations
A listing of illustrations is typically included with longer documents. Under a headings such as "List of Illustrations" or "List of Tables" are listed number, title, and page number of each illustration.
Body of the Report
If you are asked to write a research report based on original research, the tone will be objective and formal, the writing should be concise and direct, and the structure is likely to consist of these standard sections: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion
Presentation
Careful editing and proofreading is important in all your writing, but precision is especially important in this type of writing. Carelessness in your information management or writing will undermine your credibility and raise doubt about the quality of your research. Therefore, proofread scrupulously.
Prewriting Strategies
Pre-writing strategies use writing to generate and clarify ideas. While many writers have traditionally created outlines before beginning writing, there are other possible prewriting activities. Five useful strategies are
Brainstorming
Brainstorming, also called listing, is a process of generating a lot of information within a short time by building on the association of previous terms you have mentioned
Clustering
Clustering is also called mind mapping or idea mapping. It is a strategy which allows you to explore the relationships between ideas
Free writing
Free writing is a process of generating a lot of information by writing non-stop. It allows you to focus on a specific topic, but forces you to write so quickly that you are unable to edit any of your ideas
Looping
Looping is a free writing technique that allows you to increasingly focus your ideas in trying to discover a writing topic
The Journalists' Questions
Journalists traditionally ask six questions when they are writing assignments, 5 W's and 1 H: Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, How? You can use these questions to explore the topic you are writing about for an assignment.
Bluesky