ABC of Project Writing for Researchers and Students of the Humanities

Akoda, Winifred. Makurdi: Aboki Publishers, 2017

Preface

Project writing is a basic requirement for the graduation of both undergraduate and postgraduate students of any institution of higher learning. However, having coordinated and observed numerous defence panels as a long-established academic, I have noticed the sharp decline in the performance of students in their project/research work particularly in the last decade. Essential areas of project writing suchas Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Scope of Work, Statement of
Problem, Literature Review and References are almost always incorrectly or poorly written. In addition, new areas/sub-headings that are irrelevant on their own-as they are already subsumed in the existing areas mentioned – are added to the project work. For instance, a sub-heading such as Limitations of the Study is subsumed in the Methodology while the Justification of the Study, another unnecessary sub-heading, is incorporated throughout the work in areas such as Introduction, Objectives, Statement of Problem and Literature Review under the disguise of the word, “Rationale”.

In the light of the above, this book hopes” to enlighten students on how to enhance their project work by examining the proper methods and stages of project writing and highlighting some common mistakes that students and researchers make in relation to the areas earlier mentioned. It is also important to note that while this book may prove useful to all researchers and students of the humanities, its emphasis is on historical research/project writing and as such the examples and exercises provided are taken from the postgraduate theses of historians from the University of Calabar and some other Nigerian universities. It is, therefore, my hope that this book will, as a whole, benefit all students and researchers of humanities in Nigerian tertiary institutions.