Sunday, October 3, 2010

Using theory as a starting point...

I've just had time to reread the research proposal last week. I'm automatically drawn to anything that uses theory as a starting point, so I was hooked by the Haraway. However, what made the research proposal successful, I thought, was branching from theory into something more concrete -- and personal -- to the author. The fact that the introduction alone makes reference to 7 authors (or author teams) (not including Haraway) shows that the student has a strong background in the subject, yet clearly recognizes where his or her research is needed.

I like the way s/he uses uses cyborg theory as a jumping-off point for discussing disability studies. I do find that in my own research proposal (which I will write about soon, I promise, but I am a bit nervous about putting it in print for all to see -- feels so final!) I've started with some theory and used it to jump into a topic which is kind of evolving as I study it.

I often feel like I should be writing more, but as usual I've exhausted the word limit so I'll quit rambling and let someone else have a turn.

2 comments:

  1. I agree with much of what you said here; theory can be a great jumping-off point, and often becomes the place where you land at the end of your project. One thing I noticed in at least one of the proposals is that such detailed research roadmaps run the risk of ending up being 99% inaccessible jargon, and it seems like taking theory as a starting point can be, if you can write clearly and elegantly about it, a way to ease a general audience into a description of a topic that is likely actually quite specified.

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  2. Shawna, I wouldn't worry too much about having your ideas "final" in order to commit them to print. I too was concerned that I didn't have a firm enough grasp on what it was I wanted to study but I had a general idea, so I blogged about it and got some great feedback from Prof. Grimes which is going to help tremendously in finalizing my method and proposal.

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