[Grad2021] [Turnbull Zemi] Zemi: Thursday, 13:00-15:00

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Hi everyone

Sorry for the English, but I don't have time to translate, except for
the schedule itself.  If you have questions, email me.

Because of entrance examinations, classes will not be held Wednesday
to Friday.  Friday's classes are moved to Tuesday, which conflicts
with Zemi for several members.  For this reason I am scheduling Zemi
on Thursday, 13:00-15:00, as mentioned last week.

学群入試のために水曜日〜金曜日は休講です。金曜日の講義は火曜日に移るの
で数人のメンバーの授業が火５６のゼミにぶつかります。したがって臨時に２
８日（木）13:00-15:00に開催します。学類生とＭ２の発表を行います。下記
の事項を参照してください。（英語で書き、すみません。emailで質問を。）

This week's agenda follows.

1.  Presentation by undergraduate student.

2.  Lecture by me on literature reviews.

3.  Presentation of literature reviews by 2d year master students.

Outline of my lecture:

- Purposes of literature review (also, literature survey):

  a.  Comparison to author's research for originality

  b.  Prepare author in breadth and depth for Q&A

- Breadth: reading for your literature review should help prepare
  you for the following topics:

  a.  What is the background and significance of this research
      theme?  How does your research advance its objectives?

  b.  What research obstacles does your methodology help to
      overcome?

  c.  What theories (models) have been used to understand this
      research theme?  How does your model relate to them, and how
      is it original?  Why did you choose it?

  d.  What is your data source, if an empirical research?  What kind
      of data would be needed to confirm your theory, if pure theory?

  e.  What kinds of analysis of similar research problems have been
      used, including narrative, logical, mathematical, and
      statistical methods?  Why did you choose the kind of analysis
      you conducted?

- Depth: being able to trace your research agenda to its "roots", for
  each of the topics in "Breadth".  By "agenda" I mean a *line of
  development*, a series of related research questions that build on
  each other, and are developed in a collection of research papers
  that (usually) cite each other.

  1.  The root of a research agenda is usually the "textbook
      treatment" of the area.  You may, but don't necessarily need to,
      cite an actual textbook.  For the master level, it's generally a
      good idea.  Doctoral dissertations usually trace development of
      their research area back to seminal papers preceding the
      textbooks, and so often do not mention textbooks.

  2.  The agenda itself is frequently generated by a "seminal paper"
      which makes a clear break from the textbook treatment, for the
      purpose of this research area.  Seminal papers can usually be
      recognized as the target of a cluster of citations, and by the
      fact that in a series where Paper A cites Paper B which cites
      Paper C, all of them cite Paper 0 (the seminal paper).

  3.  Other papers you should cite are those with clarify the agenda
      or generate research questions whose answers are needed to
      define your own research question.  Some of these may also be
      seminal.

Typically you will take an historical perspective on the literature
survey, and so generally will cover each topic a, b, c, d, e in the
order 1, 2, 3 above.  Note that although typically a single popular
textbook will cover all of the topics a - e in "Breadth", it is rare
that any single paper will serve to define a stage in the research
agenda for all of them.  It's also rare that you need to cite
completely different sets of papers for each topic in "Breadth",
because methodological and analytical innovations are frequently
driven by the need to address new data or research questions.