“Now answer me, is there any category beside literature sociology?” ask Bambang Purwanto to the students of the doctoral program in the Department of History UGM. They explained their plan for the dissertation proposal in front of him. Bambang views their research proposal still has some weakness and is less contextual. This was delivered at the public lecture about dissertation writing themed “From Research Question Proposal to Thesis Writing” on Wednesday (19/04) in Meeting Room I, Poerbatjaraka Building, FIB UGM.
This event was held by the History Doctoral Program UGM. However, the participants come from almost all the majors of the Doctoral Program at FIB UGM. They are from Major Linguistics, Anthropology, Literature, and History. Bambang Purwanto becomes moderator as well as facilitator at this event. Meanwhile, the main speaker was Katharine McGregor from University of Mellbourne.
According to Katharine, the most early step in the research is choosing the specific topic. Furthermore, she explained the topic selection can be based on passion. When the researcher has more passion on its topic, then the research would be more interesting. “Though this looks trivial, this will be very significant,” she said.
On this occasion, Katharine explained about the research methodology specifically. Each participant was given the opportunity to express their difficulties on their dissertation research. Katharine McGregor and Bambang Purwanto responded to each participant’s difficulties one by one. Bambang Purwanto explained to the participants that the understanding of the context is very important. For example, in researching a text, the researcher must look at the context in which the author has made the work. Also, the context that the author intended to be conveyed to the reader. “So we have to look at the context first, that’s what’s important,” he said.
At the end of the public lecture, Katharine challenged all participants to make a presentation about her design. Each of the 32 participants was given five minutes for that. The presentation material includes three things. First, why do research related to the theme. Second, how the researcher will conduct the research. The second point is related to the source and the method that will be used. Third, each researcher must explain the correlation of his research–which the researcher is involved in–with real life.
According to Bambang Purwanto, this forum was very important to discuss the work of each doctoral student at FIB UGM. On the other hand, the public lecture by inviting Katharine McGregor was carried out as an effort to maintain the quality of the Doctoral Program at FIB UGM. “Because we also have certain standards for students,” he said. (Sej/Bagus)