FOUR RULE OF THUMB

The four rule of thumb when you want to do a research:

1. There is never a short cut when doing a research. You should not rush into this. You have to
read, read, read, read, read, read and read a whole lot before you could even begin your first
sentence.
2. You have to show evidence that there is a problem. This is done by providing scholarly
academic references/citations. The references/citations must be current ones, within five years
(2009-2014). Kindly search for more up-to-date references. References must be witten using
the American Psychological Association (APA) style. If you are not sure what it is, kindly read
up.
3. You have to show evidence that your study is indeed significant/important. This can be done
by looking at who are the stake holders who will benefit from your study. For example, students
- what or how do they benefit from the findings of your study?; teachers - what or how do they
benefit from the findings of your study? educations ministry? curriculum developers? book
publishers? etc.
4. You have to make sure that your study is a contribution to your discipline, your field, to your
country. It has to have an added knowledge to your discipline, your field, to your country. The
study should not be something so common that everyone is doing the same topic.
NOTE:
Action Research or Kajian Tindakan is not allowed in KRL 3043. Kindly carry out an actual
study.
The proposal which you submitted prior to this course was a group assignment. Please get
permission from all your groupmates first before sending it in to me. This is to ensure no
duplicated or plagarised work being sent in, okay.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In The Statement of the Problem, you have to state clearly what the problem is in your country,
and show clearly the evidence (by academic references/citations) that there is a problem in your
country that makes you decide to carry out this research. Is there a problem of so and so in your
country? How do you know that there is a problem? - definitely not only through your own
experience or your colleagues.. you have to cite references to back up what you say. What or
which difficulty in so and so? How do you know? Show references.