A Strong Partner for Sustainable Development

Module 4
English 119

TECHNICAL WRITING

College of Education
BSEd-English
 1st Semester AY 2020-2021

TECHNICAL WRITING

Ricen V. Balinsay
Instructor 1
A module prepared by MARIA CONCEPCION J.
CAYAON, College of Education

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

I.Title Page i

II.Table of Contents ii

III.Instruction to the User iii

1v. Topic: The Research Proposal

Chapter Overview 1

Instruction to the User 1

IV.
Learning Outcomes 1

Time Allotment 1

Pre-test 1

Discussion 1

9
Evaluation
10
References
V.

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INSTRUCTION TO THE USER

This module would provide you an educational experience while

independently accomplishing the task at your own pace or time. It aims as
well to ensure that learning is unhampered by health and other challenges. It
covers the topic about Communication Models, Communication Ethics, and
Communication and Globalization.

Reminders in using this module:

1. Keep this material neat and intact.

2. Answer the pretest first to measure what you know and what to be
learned about the topic discussed in this module.
3. Accomplish the activities and exercises as aids and reinforcement for
better understanding of the lessons.
4. Answer the post-test to evaluate your learning.
5. Do not take pictures in any parts of this module nor post it to social
media platforms.
6. Value this module for your own learning by heartily and honestly
answering and doing the exercises and activities. Time and effort were
spent in the preparation in order that learning will still continue amidst
this Covid-19 pandemic.
7. Observe health protocols: wear mask, sanitize and maintain physical
distancing.

Hi! I’m Blue Bee, your WPU Mascot.

Welcome to Western Philippines University!

Shape your dreams with quality learning experience.

STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY!

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TOPIC 5: THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter focuses on the formulation of the research proposal. The discussion includes
the elements and how-to’s of a research proposal, content of the research paper and its
format.
INSTRUCTION TO THE USER
The fifth chapter of this course aims to introduce you on how to write the research proposal
using the WPU format. For clarifications and questions as well as consultations regarding your
research topics, do not hesitate to pm your instructor. Happy learning!

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this chapter, the students must be able to:

• Determine the proper format and wordings of the proposal proper

• Prepare a full blown research proposal

TIME ALLOTMENT
The chapter will be given a minimum of three (18) hours.

DISCUSSION
At this stage of your academic life, it is expected that you have already read a lot of
research papers because you have been doing this since your junior high school. Here
are the contents of the research paper where some are required to be found in your
proposal.

1. Background of the Study

2. Statement of the Problem
3. Objectives
4. Reflexivity (Optional)
5. Significance
6. Scope and delimitation
7. Operational definition of terms
8. Conceptual framework
9. Review of related literature
10. Methodology
11. Results and discussion
12. Summary, conclusions and recommendations
13. Bibliography
14. Appendices

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I-The background of the study or introduction

This section must contain the following:

-An introduction of the communication or media concern that the thesis seeks
to discuss.

-An introduction and explanation of the chosen cases

A good opening must-have

1. Clarify the subject you are going to write about.

e.g. Through the years, people have found various ways of communicating
political thoughts and ideas to others. Speeches, books, letters and articles
are among the older ways. More recently, radio, TV , songs and films have
been the vehicles for political expression. Now there is the Internet. One
other way that political messages have been conveyed is through a means
often regarded, erroneously, as entertainment meant only for children
rather than for the serious communication it often was: nursery rhymes.
(An Expose of Mother Goose, Hilda Waldstein)

This opening points call on readers to view the nursery rhymes in a

more serious light instead of looking at it as amusement.

2. . State your position on the subject you have chosen.

 The compulsion to gamble has often been the topic of psychological and
sociological studies, especially as more states set up lotteries and
gambling casinos as well as off-track betting. The psychology of the
gambler has also spurred the imagination of creative writers. Two of
Russia’s foremost authors, Pushkin and Dostoevsky, each produced short
works whose subject are gambling. The works are not only similar in
subject matter, but also in the development of their major characters
and in the approach both authors take describing the workings of the
mind of a gambler.

 The paper will obviously be one of comparison and contrast regarding

characters in two literary works. The author, however, will not take sides
but seems to promise an even-handed approach.

3. Relate your subject to something current or well known.

 In the 1990s two of every three new workers are women. By the year 2000,
experts project that 80 percent of women from twenty-five through fifty-
hour years of age will be employed and comprise nearly half (47%) of the
paid labor force. With such a large number of women in the workforce,
many of them mothers, employers need to take into account some of these
women’s needs. Some employers have already done so. They have started
by acknowledging that, besides having to work, many have family
responsibilities. To ease the burden, especially that of child care,
employers have started assisting their employees by offering a variety of
benefits.

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  That a large part of the workforce in this country consists of women who
also have child-care responsibilities is certainly well known. Statistics at
the beginning of the passage serve to emphasize the familiar idea.
However, because such information comprises proportionately less than
half the passage, the paragraph amply illustrates a research paper
beginning with what is current and well known.
4. Challenge some generally held assumption about your
topic
 If you worked hard until 65 years old, you could look forward to spending
your last few years comfortably retired on a company pension plus
government help from social security. No more getting up early and
spending the day away from the home you worked hard to buy and
maintain for your wife and family. Now there was time to fish or read or
talk politics with cronies at the courthouse square. That was the “ideal,”
the picture sold to the public though the media and word of mouth: a
dominantly male, small-town, imaginary kind of life. Today we know
better. Retirees may be of any age; they are as often female as male.
Moreover, with companies increasingly cutting off or misusing pension
funds – or even firing workers just before they are due to retire – many
may not have incomes that were counted on; they often have ever-
mounting and overwhelming medical bills; and many choose to lead active
involved lives – even to the point of starting new careers. (Redefining
Retirement, Gene Dana).

The paragraph start by sketching a traditional view of retirement,

especially as promulgated until relatively recently in various media and
among large segments of the working public. It concludes, however, by
pointing out present realities and shows how elements that will follow in the
research paper are at odds with that view.

5. . Show something paradoxical about your subject or

about the material you will present.

Television is certainly one of the most influential forces on society in this last
half of the twentieth century. Yet although it is called “educational” it teaches
little. Though it is called the “real”, it is fakery of the worst sort. Though it is
said to embody American values, its programming choices have worked to
destroy them. As so well illustrated in the novel, Being There, what television
has actually encouraged is illiteracy, violence, passivity and complacency.

 The paradoxes of television are introduced here as a way of developing

the paradoxes the reader will encounter in the research paper about the
novel.

6. . Use a brief quotation if you can find one that is

applicable or provocative or that makes a general
statement about your topic

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  A look at the 1990s U.S. Census Bureau figures is enough to set the stage
for an examination of the changing lifestyles of members of the 500 tribes
and bands of Native Americans in this country.
 As Hodgkinson wrote: “Of the 1.9 million, about 637,000 are living on
reservations or Trust Lands. However, 46,000 live in the New York/Long
Island/ New Jersey/ Connecticut Combined Metro Area ),87,000 in the
Los Angeles CMC; 15,000 in the Chicago CMA ; and 40,000 in the San
Francisco CMA; just to name the largest. A minimum of 252,000 Native
Americans lived in cities in 1990. (Changing lifestyles among Native
Americans, Jackson Robertson)

Given the widespread stereotypical views about Native Americans, this

quotation of statistics sets the stage for the subject and the thesis of this
research paper.

8. State some striking facts or statistics you discovered about your topic

 A 1991 estimate is that a least five percent of young women in the United
States between 15 and 25 are sufferers of bulimia, an eating disorder in
which a person alternately binges and purges to lose or maintain weight
in order to be thought slender enough to be “socially acceptable.” It is a
disorder sufficiently widespread.

 The student who opened her research paper thought that number
instead of percentage would be more striking.

9. Place your subject in time by giving some historical or chronological

information.

 For as long as there have been liars, there have been attempts to find the
truth. Those on trial in ancient China were made to chew rice powder
while testifying. If the powder was dry when the suspect spat it out, he
was judged guilty because it was assumed that nervousness over telling
lies had dried the saliva in the suspect’s mouth. Other ordeals were set
up for suspected liars in order times, including being subjected to
boiling water or red hot stones.
 Finally, with the invention of the modern polygraph in 1921, it seemed
that there was at last a foolproof way of finding out if people answering
questions were lying or being truthful.
 (Polygraph Tests and Employment Practices, Ronnie Londner)

 Instead of incorporating the thesis statement, the author thought of

including the strange history of lie detection.

BAD OPENING
 Don’t repeat the title.
 Don’t tell what you propose to do in the paper.

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  Don’t feel compelled to repeat the thesis statement completely in the
opening of the paper.
 Don’t ask question
 Don’t give a dictionary definition
 Don’t write a cute or folksy opening.

II-Statement of the Problem

1. Research Question
2. This section must not only be a listing of the problem and objectives. Instead, it
must link the problem to the arguments presented in the background of the
study. (100-word-paragrh)
3. The research problem itself must be a clearly articulated research question.

What is research question?

 It is the question one is trying to address through research;

 It is where the research project starts and signals how and where it ends.

Characteristics of a good research problem

 Specific in focus and scope

 Formulated clearly
 Empirically answerable
 Feasible within one’s resources and one’s timeframe
 Original enough for the scope of the project
 Inviting fresh insights
 Ethical

III- The objectives of the study

 Specific and clear;

 Focus and scope;
 Achievable considering time and resources;
 Help answer research question;

IV- Significance of the study

 This must state why the study is being done.

 It must draw arguments from the background of the study, the related
literature, the study framework to explain
1) how the study can illuminate specific communication or media
concern
2) why the chosen cases can best address this concern.
 It must provide a preview of the implications and recommendations.

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 Opening statement

Body of your intro

expound or provide brief info on
topic/subject

Conclude introduction by
answering why it is
urgent/necessary to pursue
research. transistion to problem
statement.

Accumulating Evidence Approach

A. General statement about the topic/issue.

B. Series of Referenced statements about the current knowledge of the topic.
C. Statement about gap in knowledge – leading to the rationale for the proposed study.
D. Purpose statement and research question.

Historical perspective approach

A. General statement about the topic/issue.

B. Description of the emergence of a body of evidence about the topic.
C. Identification of the next steps in extending the body of evidence.
D. Rationale or justification for studying particular step.
E. Purpose statement and research questions.

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ACTIVITIES/ EXERCISES 1
Based from the research topic you have chosen, please do the following:

1. prepare background of your study

2. formulate four research questions and four objectives of your
research.
3. Give four reasons why your study is significant. It must be in article
form.
Deadline: Jan 18, 2021
v- Scope and delimitation

Scope sets the boundary and parameters of the study that you are going to operate. For
example, you want to study the effects of COVID 19. That study is too broad. You
should determine the scope of your study. In this case the audience might ask you,
“Effects of COVID-19 to what? To who?” So why not limit your study on the “effects of
COVID 19 among small entrepreneurs of ____ (location), or perceived effects of
COVID 19 in the reading habits of selected elementary pupils of San Juan Elementary
School, school year 2019-2020. These examples are clearer and define what is in the
domain.

Limitations refer to the extensity of matters and occurrences in a study. The

limitations sometimes affect the end result and conclusions that can be drawn. In this
example “Perceived effects of COVID 19 in the reading habit of selected elementary
pupils of San Juan Elementary School SY 2019-2020S” it is clearer that the study is
limited only among the selected pupils of SJES. Whatever findings the researcher may
have drawn is not true to all pupils of SJES or in other elementary schools in Aborlan
because results may vary if all students or all elementary schools in Aborlan are
included in the study. Further, limiting your study will help you to finish your research
on time.

VI- operational definition of terms

An operational definition allows the researchers to describe in a specific way what

they mean when they use a certain term or definition of word in their research. It
also refers to the statement of procedures the researcher is going to use in order to
measure a specific variable. (onemindtherapy.com › research › operational-
definition- Mar 1, 2018)

In the WPU Research format, these are alphabetically arranged for easy reference.

VII- Conceptual Framework

A conceptual framework refers to the working model for your study. The model
outlines your study variables their positions and directions of effects. It provides you
a clear direction of your study.

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The figures below show samples of conceptual framework.

Sinclair M 2007 Editorial, A guide to understanding theoretical and

conceptual frameworks Evidence Based Midwifery 52, 39 2007 The Royal
College of Midwives.

ACTIVITIES/EXERCISES 2 (deadline- January 25)

1. Discuss the scope and limitation of your study.
2. Prepare the operational terms to be used in your study. At least
six terms or more.
3. Prepare the conceptual framework of your research. Discuss the
relevance of dependent and independent variables.

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VIII-Review of related literature (RRL)

A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other

sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing,
provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to
the research problem being investigated.
(https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview#:~Nov 1, 2020
IX-Methodology

This chapter describes and explains the logic behind the gathering and analysis of data.

In WPU format, this is found in chapter III. It discusses the time and locale of your study which is
sometimes supported by a map to show the place of your study. It also discusses your research
instruments (survey questionnaire), how you are going to gather your data and what kind of statistical
tools will be used in your study to interpret your data.

In the proposal stage, this is written in the future tense but change to past tense after the study
has been conducted.

X- The research instruments

This refers to the survey questionnaire, interview schedule or exam that you are
going to use to get the necessary data which will answer your statements of the
problem.
For example, if your research objective is to find out the perceived effects of COVID
19 in the reading habit of the 3rd year BSED students of WPU, then your research
instrument must be about it also in such a way that objectives will be met. Discuss
also how many parts are your instruments. If you adopt the questionnaires in other
researches, you have to cite also the source.

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ACTIVITIES/EXERCISES 3 (Deadline January 28)
1. Prepare at least 15 literatures related to your study. Your literature
must be five years back.
2. Prepare your methodology in an article form.
3. Prepare your research instruments. Be sure that it will answer the
objectives of your study.
4. Prepare the bibliography/ research references following the APA
format.
XI-RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design is the framework of research methods and techniques chosen by a

researcher. It explains the type of research (experimental, survey, correlational,
semi-experimental, review) and also its sub-type (experimental
design, research problem, descriptive case-study).(www.questionpro.com)
In other words, it refers to the overall strategy being utilized in carrying out research
that defines a concise and logical plan to tackle established research question
through the collection, interpretation, analysis, and discussion of data. Wikipedia
Sample of research design
This sample was taken from the slideshare of one of the faculty of Lyceum of the
Philippines-Cavite.
The study used a descriptive survey method used to assess socio-demographic
profile such as sex, age , parents’ educational attainment, parents’ occupation, size
of income, the top three expressed career choices; preference of students in choosing
a career and anticipated problem that affects the career choice of senior high school
students of SPCNHS school year 2010-2011. Descriptive research is a purposive
process of data gathering, analyzing, classifying, tabulating data about prevailing
conditions, practices, processes, beliefs, trends and cause -effect relationship and
then accurate and appropriate interpretation about such data with or without aid
of statistical treatment.

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EVALUATION/POST TEST
Submit your full blown proposal on or before 2nd week of February 2021.

REMINDER:

FEBRUARY 20- Proposal presentation via zoom (Attendance is a must)

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REFERENCES
https://studylib.net/doc/8312010/scope--limitations--and-delimitations

http://opcpaperhkr.web.fc2.com/work/page-1471.html

https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview#:~

LUCIA P. TANGI, JI19 Thesis Proposal

https://neuconte1983.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/thesis-sample-chapter-3-research-
instrument/

http://researchwriting.blogspot.com/2007/03/sample.col

http://www.clet.ait.ac.ph/e121meth.htm

DISCLAIMER

This module is prepared for instructional purposes only based on our course syllabus. The
teacher who prepared this does not claim ownership on this module but patterned the ideas
from different authors and references.

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 Congratulations for completing this
module!

Student’s Information

Name: ________________________________ Program:______

Year and Section:______________________________________
Contact No.:_________________________________________
E-mail address:_______________________________________
Facebook Account:_____________________________________
Messenger Account:____________________________________

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 Vision 2020
WPU: the leading knowledge center for sustainable
development of West Philippines and beyond.

Mission
WPU commits to develop quality human resource and
green technologies for a dynamic economy and
sustainable
development through relevant instruction,
research and extension services.

Core Values (3CT)

Culture of Excellence
Commitment
Creativity
Teamwork

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