With most pieces of work you do, there are two key components to consider when it comes to ensuring your work is organized and effective. These two components are research and composition.
In this article, we'll look at the different factors that contribute to successful research and all the things you need to know about composing compelling written work.
Research and Composition Definition
Before we go any further, let's take a quick look at some definitions and examples:
Research refers to the organized and systematic investigation of a topic using various strategies and sources to obtain factual information, data, or evidence from which to draw a conclusion.
An example of research could be investigating the effects of caffeine on productivity in men aged 20-25. This research could be carried out by conducting interviews with participants regarding their caffeine consumption and productivity levels, or by observing these factors yourself in a more controlled environment. You could also do some independent research using secondary sources about the effects of caffeine.
Fig. 1 - Thorough research is vital for most written projects.
And what about 'composition'?
Composition refers to how the components (parts) of something are arranged in relation to each other.
Some common contexts in which you've probably heard the word 'composition' might include:
- a photo's composition – how the photographer has arranged the subjects of the photograph to create a pleasing aesthetic
- a music composition – the way a musician has composed or put together different musical instruments or techniques
- a written composition – how an essay, article, or other written piece of work is structured.
In a nutshell, to create written work that is effective, engaging, and factually accurate, research and composition are critical.
Research and Composition: English
As far as English studies are concerned, thorough research and carefully considered composition are necessary aspects of written work in both English Language and Literature. It doesn't matter if you're writing an essay on The Great Gatsby or analyzing a piece of text from a newspaper; these two factors will help you to take your written work to the next level.
Research and Composition: Writing
When starting a written project, or indeed any kind of project with a written component, you should start with some thorough research.
Why is Effective Research Important?
Research allows you to improve your personal knowledge of the subject you're writing about.
Research can help you to fill in any blanks where you may not be sure of something.
Research equips you with interesting information and facts that can enhance your project.
Effective research can also help you to improve certain skills, such as skimming and scanning text for keywords and cross-referencing information to ensure it is complete and accurate.
Types of Research
Although research is a wide and varied topic in its own right, there are two key types of research that you need to know about. These are:
Qualitative research is concerned with the quality or nature of things, or in other words, things that cannot be counted or directly measured. Qualitative research is often concerned with people's feelings, opinions, or viewpoints on a particular subject.
Quantitative research is concerned with the countable aspects of a particular subject or topic. Quantitative research tends to look for more numerical or statistics-based data rather than descriptive information. If something can be timed, measured, or quantified in other ways, it will likely fall under quantitative research.
In the next section, we'll look at some examples of these types of research, but first, let's ask ourselves:
Why is Careful Composition Important?
It helps the writer articulate complex thoughts, ideas, or opinions in an effective and easily understandable way.
It helps to ensure that the written piece is structured in a way that flows logically.
Good composition can help readers make their own connections and draw their own conclusions.
It can help writers to improve other writing skills such as spelling, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
It can create a more aesthetically pleasing result in many cases (for example, poems can be composed and laid out in many different ways, creating different visual impacts).
Fig. 2 - Just as we like to look at aesthetically pleasing artwork, we also enjoy reading aesthetically pleasing written compositions.
Research and Composition: Examples
So, we know a bit about the 'what' and 'why' surrounding research and composition. Now, we're going to look at each topic in more detail.
Research
As we mentioned, there are two types of research Qualitative and Quantitative. So, what kind of research methods can we use for each?
Qualitative research methods include things like interviews, observation, and focus groups. Some Surveys and questionnaires can also gather qualitative data if they ask for more detailed input about a topic.
Some examples of quantitative research methods include Surveys, polls, and questionnaires.
When it comes to resources to support research, there are a few different places you can look:
Print resources: books, printed research papers, textbooks, newspapers, magazines, journals, etc
Digital resources: websites, online journals, online magazines, digital archives, search engines, etc
Search engines are software programs that allow users to type in a keyword or query, and then methodically search through all the resources on the internet for relevant information. Some useful examples of search engines for students include Google Scholar and your school's own library database.
Sources
Whatever resources we choose to use in research, it is vital that we keep track of the sources from which we get our information. These sources can either be primary or secondary. What does this mean? Let's have a look:
A primary source is when information has been recorded directly by a person who has experienced it or has recorded the first-hand experiences of someone else.
Some examples of primary sources include diary or journal entries, news reports written by reporters who witnessed an event (or directly recorded eyewitness testimonies), speeches, and audio, video, or photographic files.
What is a secondary source, then?
A secondary source is any document that analyzes, evaluates, or comments on a primary source.
Some examples of secondary sources include journal articles, books or textbooks about different subjects, academic essays, news reports offering an interpretation or analysis of an event, and documentaries.
Whenever you use a primary or secondary source in your research, it is mandatory that you reference these sources accurately. Referencing enables the readers of your work to learn more about the topic, as they can then follow your references to the sources used. It also helps to ensure your work remains free of plagiarism.
Ethical Considerations
When carrying out any kind of research, you must ensure your data collection methods are as ethical as possible. Some potential ethical issues that might arise during the Research Process include:
Bias: not all information available out there is impartial/ purely factual.
Lack of confidentiality or anonymity: identifying information about participants needs to be kept strictly confidential unless consent is obtained for this information to be shared.
Taking advantage of participants: if you're surveying, observing, or interviewing people, you need to ensure you're not taking advantage of your participants.
Unclear intent: make the point of your research clearly known to all parties involved.
Lack of consent: ALWAYS obtain complete and specific consent from participants.
This is not an exhaustive list of possible ethical issues but should give you an idea of the things to think about before engaging in research.
Composition
The composition you create when writing depends very much on the type of writing you are doing.
Some key types of writing include:
Technical writing
Analytical writing
Creative writing
Personal writing
Persuasive writing
Descriptive writing
There are also several different types of essays:
There are articles on each of these essay types and writing types on the Vaia platform if you want to dive in a little deeper!
A narrative essay will include three key components: the background information, a complication or conflict, and finally a resolution, and will also have characters and a sense of setting. In contrast, a synthesis essay will have an abstract (a brief summary of what the essay is about), a thesis statement (a claim about an idea or hypothesis), and a discussion of data and evidence gathered during the research phase. A synthesis essay will end with a conclusion.
The Composition Process
There are several parts to the composition process, and you must dedicate enough time and effort to each of them to ensure your final composition is as compelling and effective as possible. These steps are:
Planning: thinking about what you want to write about, the points you want to make, and the evidence you're going to use
Drafting: writing a rough version of the completed document, ensuring all necessary information is included and that the basic structure of the composition works
Editing: going through your composition with a fine-tooth comb to identify and correct any content errors, structural issues, redundant words, syntactical problems, etc
Proofreading: going through the edited piece once more to ensure there are no remaining grammatical or spelling errors (or any other errors that you didn't notice during Editing)
Referencing and citations: giving credit where credit is due – always cite and reference your sources to avoid plagiarism. References should include in-text citations when you have quoted or paraphrased someone else's words, as well as a complete reference list at the end of your written work.
Fig. 3 - Drafting, editing, and proofreading can help you to fine-tune your written work.
Further Resources for Research and Composition
The sections above briefly describe different aspects of research and composition, but if you want to dive deeper into these topics, there are many articles on the Vaia platform that might be of interest.
Research
For more information on research, check out these articles:
Composition
For more information on the different facets of composition, check out these articles:
Research and Composition - Key Takeaways
- Research and composition are two key components of effective writing.
- Research refers to the systematic investigation of a topic using a range of resources.
- Composition refers to how the components of something are arranged or structured.
- The two key types of research are qualitative and quantitative, and there are many research methods including surveys, interviews, observation, polls, etc.
- The key steps of the composition process are planning, drafting, editing, proofreading, and referencing/ citations.
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