Haydon School English Faculty

English Language | AQA B

ENGB4 – Investigating Language

Title:

Good practice is to have a two part title. The first part acts as the main title and the second gives a more specific insight into the area of the work. These are normally split with a colon. E.g. Growing Up With Potter:How language changes from Philosopher’s Stone to Deathly Hallows reflect a more sophisticated audience.

Name:

Candidate No.:

Teacher:

Haydon School: 12924

Submission Date:

Word Count:

1Front Matter[1]

1.1Abstract

Summary of your report

1.2Key Words

Typical academic writing will identify up to 5 ‘key words’. These words are identifiers that captures the essence of the report and can be used for cross referencing in searches.

1.3Contents

1Front Matter

1.1Abstract

1.2Key Words

1.3Contents

1.4List of Tables and Figures

1.5Acknowledgements

1.6Abbreviations

1.7Definitions

2Introduction

3Methodology

3.1Design

3.2Participants / Data (delete as appropriate)

3.3Ethics

3.4Methods

3.5Procedure

4Analysis

4.1Research Question 1

4.2Research Question 2

4.3Research Question 3

5Conclusion and Evaluation

6Bibliography

7Appendices

1.4List of Tables and Figures

1.5Acknowledgements

Under this heading, credit can be given to those who have supported you in the research (including giving advice) as well as acknowledging sources of your data and subjects who have given you permission to use them as part of your research.

1.6Abbreviations

If the nature of your report demands a lot of abbreviations, then they should be listed here alongside the full definition.

1.7Definitions

If there are any words which may be considered unfamiliar to the reader then they can be defined here.

2Introduction

Guide Word Count: 400 words

Explain the background and context to your investigation.
Place it within a field of academic linguistic research (language / power etc.) and look into key researchers in the field.
Discuss your reasons for wanting to explore the topic
Discuss the aims of your research, is it exploratory, are you looking to prove or texts existing theory? Are you highlight inconsistencies / inherent issues / provide a means of classification or find exemplification. Are you looking to recreate (in a different context) an existing study?
What is the style of your research – longitudinal, diachronic, synchronic, empirical, objectivist?
Brief reference to what data / methods you will use. Is it discourse analysis (spoken) or textual analysis (written), what variables exist?
What is the specific question / hypothesis (with subordinate sections) that you are attempting to address?

3Methodology

Guide Word Count: 300 words

This refers to the approach that you are taking. Whilst you need a clear methodology prior to undertaking your research, often you will write up this section towards the end of the research project

3.1Design

Here you justify the approach that you have taken. Your methodology is the overall approach (i.e. case study research, action research, ethnography, comparative research, evaluation, experiment, longitudinal, cross section research, mixed methods). Each will look to meet differing aims depending on a theoretical perspective / epistemology – yours will typically be Positivism as you are being objective.

3.2Participants / Data (delete as appropriate)

Did you take a representative sample? How were they selected? Was it random or selective? How did you ensure the participants / data would meet the aims of the research?

3.3Ethics

How have you addressed ethical issues and what steps have you taken to ensure you work within ethical guidelines?

3.4Methods

Explain your data gathering tools (tests, questionnaires, experiments, focus groups, textual analysis, statistical analysis, surveys, corpus analysis)

3.5Procedure

How did you gather the data? Give time-frames and working procedures. How did you analyse the data?

4Analysis

Guide Word Count: 1400 words

Details of your findings will go here, usually this is broken down into subsections or into typically 3 subordinate questions under the main overarching question. For instance your first subordinate might be concerned with Semantic fields, the second with syntax etc.