Library Research Skills: Research as Inquiry for Approach 2

• Review topics of interest covered in lectures

• Review examples of research questions in textbooks

• Explore formal and informal resources for current and critical issues in Translation Studies – including core journals and academic blogs and portals

  • Core Journals in Translation Studies 
  • What's Trending in Translation Studies? 
  • ARTIS: Advancing Research in Translation & Interpreting Studies 
  • New Voices in Translation Studies 
  • Translation Studies Portal 

Use tertiary sources:

• Identify scholars relevant to your topic
• Define and describe terms and concepts relevant to your topic
• Identify elements to focus on, for example - medium, genre, language pair, source/target title, author/translator
  • Subject-specific encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc

Use general research databases and resources

• Establish background knowledge of the primary source or concept to be investigated
  • Research Databases (including GoogleScholar)
  • Source & Target Texts 
  • Reviews

Checkpoint: What are the specific elements of your general research topic

Is humour translatable?

• Ask questions: who, what, where, when, how, why
• Identify elements to focus on: medium, genre, period, language pair, source/target title, author/translator, research areas, theoretical framework

Complete a mind map

Use a mind map to:

• Describe what you have already discovered about your topic in your preliminary search.
• To identify gaps in your research
• Plan your literature search
• Identify search terms
• Define and refine a research question

Create an online mind map using Exam Time

Using The Map (pg. 28-29) define the process and aim of your research question

• Step 1: I am working on a comparison of a translation to its source text
• Step 2: I want to know about the English translation of a modern Arabic  novel – “The Yacoubian Building”
• Step 3: I want to understand what procedures and strategies the translator used to translate cultural elements like humour from Arabic into English
• Step 4: I want to contribute to the development of an understanding of the translation of the Arabic / English language pair, especially in translating humor

What strategies does the translator use to translate humour in “The Yacoubian Building”?

Include in your research log or diary, a repository of search terms from your preliminary research and mind map in preparation for the next stage of the research process – identifying, locating and evaluating resources on your specific research question

Known-Items:

• Bibliographic details of articles, chapters in books, books, etc
• Names of relevant scholars, authors and translators

Concepts:

• Keywords/synonyms that describe or identify elements of the research question

Original

• Has someone already answered your research question?

“So what” factor

• Is it relevant?
• Is the answer obvious?
• Why would other scholars find your project compelling?
• Will the answers add to the knowledge base and affect future research in your discourse community?

​Feasible

• Is there enough information on the topic?
  • Too little? You may have to broaden your topic and use less specific search terms.
  • Too much?  Narrow your topic and focus on a specific aspect
• Is there enough time to cover the information required to answer the question(s)?
  • Narrow your topic according to the time allotted and the expected length of the paper.

Accessible

• Are the resources, required to answer the research question(s), available to you?
  • Anticipate what kind of sources you would need  and  their availability – for example, primary resources (example of source and target texts to analyse)