Dr. Dana Williams spoke about research and methodology. She explained that the purpose of Freshman Seminar is to encourage students “to pursue a lifetime of independent discovery” and “cultivate a commitment to academic excellence”.
She went on to explain the basic components of research. These are the statement of a problem in order to advance knowledge, solve the problem, or inquire. She reminded students that when researching they must ask themselves if their question is specific enough, broad enough, and doable in the time allotted. She also reminded students to find out the current state of research on the topic, including thinking about what has already been said and whether the student’s research will reveal something new on the subject.
Moving on to methodology, she advised students to conceptualize a research design, listing examples such as reference period, retrospective, and prospective. Next, she advised students to determine the method of data collection. Finally she asked students to choose a disciplinary approach; the different types include discipline-specific, multi-disciplinary, and interdisciplinary.
Next, Dr. Williams asked students to decide on a method of presentation, suggesting either an expository report, and informational presentation, or a persuasive scholarly paper and to display this presentation using PowerPoint, charts, graphs, tables, video, music, handouts, or a mixture of these.
Dr. Williams asked students to articulate a thesis and provide detail and, finally, to draw conclusions about what has been revealed, what limitations students encountered, and what future studies should happen.
I found Dr. Williams’ presentation to be the most organized and easy to follow. I really appreciated her straightforward method, and I especially liked that she listed our objectives for the day, as I have been very confused in previous lectures. She was clear, concise, audible, and overall a great lecturer.
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