ENB4: Language Investigation

1. ENB4: Language Investigation Writing your Conclusion and Evaluation

2. Conclusion • What were your overall findings? Explain the conclusions you are able to draw from your analysis. Summarise your main findings. • Explain why/ how you found what you did. • You should be able to answer your title from the evidence in your analysis. • Do your findings agree with any studies referred to in the introduction? Does your data have the usual characteristics of its genre? • You have to take account of the context of your data, and also the linguistic issues which impact on your data. Does what you found support accepted theory? If it doesn’t, is that because the theory is flawed or because of the context of your data…? Can you suggest a new theory?

3. Conclusion cont… • How accurate was your hypothesis? • Be open-minded – don’t make your results ‘fit’ your hypothesis. • If your results weren’t as you expected, explain why you think this is. • Remember your project is a SMALL SCALE project so be tentative in your discussion e.g. the results seem to show… there is a tendency for… • Remember, any conclusions you reach will be limited to the data you have explored. You cannot talk about all newspapers based on two or three articles. • Remember, there are always more questions to ask (unless you’re carrying out a huge research project) and you should acknowledge this – and in your evaluation you could say what else you’d like to find out.

4. Conclusion cont… • Relate to your hypothesis, returning to the question you asked at the beginning. • Your conclusion must flow naturally from your analysis and must refer back to your area of focus and your Question / Hypothesis. • The examiner will expect this to be the end point of a journey - they will expect to see that you have learned something along the way and that you knew more about language than when you started. • Draw your conclusions summarise what you have found out and offer explanations of why you have found it.

5. Evaluation • Essentially this is to evaluate the whole process; the quality of your data, the extent to which your findings are applicable, what else you could do if there were time to backup or extend your study. • What have you learned from undertaking this investigation? • What would you do differently if you could do it again? • Were there, on reflection, any problems with your investigation? • What further investigation would be useful to explore the topic in greater detail? • What have you learnt that would be useful for projects in the future? • Analyse your project self-critically – were your methods of analysis successful? Were there any limitations of your data? What worked and what didn’t work? Why?

6. Bibliography • This must come after the conclusion, but should not be included in the word count. It is important you acknowledge the books you use, and there is a conventional way to write the list at the end of your study. • Author’s Surname, Initial (Date published) Title. Publisher e.g. Hoskins, B (2007) Language and Mind. Routledge: London

7. Appendices • This must include the data. Number the pages of the data or give each text a number or letter to distinguish them ie. Appendix 1. • If you have spoken data, you must number the pages of the transcription and also number the lines – every tenth line will do. You must also submit the tapes with your investigation. Label the tape with your name, Thomas Rotherham College and the Examination Centre Number. The tape can be put inside a plastic wallet and attached as a page of the appendices. • You can include extra analysis in your appendix (for example parts of your analysis that you didn’t include in the main body, perhaps because the they weren’t do interesting).

8. Format of Work • Submit your work in a simple form as a booklet, so that the moderator and examiner can turn the pages easily. You must fasten the pages together. You can punch holes in the pages and secure with treasury tags – or use a lightweight project cover that holds the pages together.

9. Style of Writing • Your report is a formal academic report and analysis whose purpose is to share understanding and information between people with specialist interest in language. So, maintain an appropriately formal style, making appropriate use of specialist terminology • Ensure accuracy and relevance – use standard conventions of spelling, punctuation and grammar.