12 Portfolio examination
In the module Levels of Linguistic Analysis, you will learn to conduct scientific research in linguistics. An important aspect of this is learning to present your results. Therefore, the module examination will be a report of your work in the form of a portfolio. The portfolio exam comprises three parts:
- literature review,
- research report, and
- critical reflection.
In the following, I will outline the expectations of the form, structure, and contents of what a portfolio should include.
12.1 Literature review
Length: c. 700 words
The literature review—or ‘previous work’—is typically a section in a scientific paper that provides an overview on the state of research on the topic at hand. Authors use this section to summarise key findings on the subject they are researching, as well as pointing out potentially unanswered questions which they intend to address. Find and summarise the main points of 10 research papers, published in scientific journals, collections, conference proceedings, or other academic sources, that provide the basis for your work. It is important that the most recent studies on the subject are included. Use in-text citations to refer to your sources and compile a bibliography according to conventional linguistic practice. Write no more than 700 words (not counting the bibliography).
12.2 Research report
Length: c. 700 words
The second part of the portfolio corresponds to the body of a scientific paper, i.e. everything in between the introduction and the conclusion. It needs to include the following:
12.2.1 Hypothesis
What is your research question (what you want to know) and hypothesis (what you expect)? Your hypothesis must be falsifiable.
12.2.2 Data
Describe your dataset(s) and the corpus/corpora they come from: token size, the text types included, when it was developed, and by whom. Specify if you use a subset of a corpus. Provide an in-text citation when you first mention it, and include the reference in your bibliography.
12.3 Critical reflection
Length: c. 700 words
The critical reflection is not a section found in research articles—as the heading suggests, this is the place where you critically reflect on your work: what are its limitations? Which conclusions can you (not) draw from your results, what remains unclear? Write no more than 700 words.
12.4 How to hand in
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Deadline: 21.08.23
- If you hand in on time, you will receive quick grading within 2 weeks and full feedback on request.
Delays: Communicate the reason and length of the delay with me. Give me a short progress report, too. If I hear from you first only after the deadline has passed, there is no extension.
Failing registration or submission will not cause a 5.0, but require you to retake the course.
Sumbissions: Via email, in PDF format.
If you have an annotated data set or use your own corpus data entirely, send it to me as CSV, XLSX or ODS format.
12.5 What makes a good paper
In your portfolio, your task is to develop an interesting research question, find literature about a linguistic phenomenon, and extract data that you then analyze and interpret. You are free to pick any linguistic phenomenon as long as you demonstrate that you understood and are able to apply the empirical techniques we have introduced in the lecture and in the seminar. In general, the more specific you are about it the better.
Form: A good paper adheres to general conventions for writing papers (see below), and also linguistic conventions (cf. tip of the day #5).
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Language: A good paper is written in an academic style. The more academic language you have read, the easier this will be for you to emulate. Of course, you should also follow proper spelling and punctuation conventions. Use clear and concise language and build up your arguments logically and easy to follow.
Terminology: Naturally, you should use linguistic terminology correctly, i.e. in accordance with convention. One of the most common mistakes, however, is not identifying the right places to use terminology, which is often a sign of bad literature research or a lack of linguistic knowledge. If a structure has a name in linguistics, use it. For example, an adverb referring to time is a temporal adverb; an adjective appearing in front of a noun is an attributive adjective, etc…
Operationalization: You need be able to make the linguistic concepts you discuss measurable. In most cases, this comes down to the question of, “how can I count occurrences of x”. If you use counts, you need to make sure these counts represent your phenomenon. If you code data, you need to take decisions that are conceptually motivated.
Methodology: Your paper should make use of the empirical methods we have learned over the course of this semester. A good paper not only gathers valid corpus data reproducibly, but also describes them with the right metrics. An excellent paper is also aware of statistical significance.
Line of argument: A good paper builds up a compelling line of argument that is aware of limitations, without sacrificing the meaningfulness of the study. Common mistakes are on both extreme ends of a scale: either completely refuting the validity of the applied method or data; or over-generalizing results and accepting a hypothesis without sufficient evidence.
12.6 Typography
Stay consistent! That is almost the only rule. Below are some conventions you should stick to.
Page formatting:
- Separate title page
- Includes the title of your paper, your name, Matrikelnummer, course ID, instructor, semester, and date.
- Separate table of contents
- Separate bibliography
- Page numbers start on page 1 of the Introduction
Text formatting:
- Reference to words and phrases in text: italics
- emphasis in examples: bold
- emphasis in direct quotes: underlined
- examples consecutively numbered (unique number for every example)
- tables and figures should be numbered 8
- Tip: if you are tempted to include screenshots, think again :)
Citation and bibliography style: Please use the following style sheet.
- Unified Style Sheet for Linguistics
- .csl file for use with Latex/Bibtex, or other automatic bibliographing tools
12.7 Appendix
It is good practice to append queries, and scripts you have used. For longer analyses, researchers might even create a repository on Gitlab, Github or Bitbucket with all the files in it. In your case, this either does not apply or is probably overkill. Your only concern should be: is my data analysis reproducible given my explanation? If you want to attach your queries or whole data sets, put it in an appendix. If it exceeds 3-5 pages, put it in a file and email or upload it.
12.8 Declaration
Finally, some bureaucracy. As a last section, you have to add a declaration of academic integrity (Eigenständigkeitserklärung), in which you testify that you did not plagiarize anything and that you have not handed in the same paper anywhere else. The template is in German version since it is German bureaucracy. If there is anything you don’t understand, let me know.