Chandigarh: The Postgraduate Department of English at Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV College for Women, Chandigarh, in association with Mahatma Gandhi National Council for Rural Education (MGNCRE), Ministry of Education, Government of India, organised a workshop series on Research Methodology in blended mode to reinforce research aptitude among the students in view of NEP 2020.
During the inaugural session, Principal Dr. Nisha Bhargava highlighted the significance of this endeavour, she asserted that research expands our knowledge base and propels humanity forward. She appreciated the collaborative initiative undertaken by the Department to reinforce the research endeavours in the institution and expressed gratitude to Mr. Samarth Sharma, MGNCRE, for his consistent support to the institutional growth.
The eminent resource persons for the series included Panjab University’s Department of English and Cultural Studies’ Prof Akshaya Kumar (Chairperson), Prof Deepti Gupta, Dr. Meenu Gupta and Prof Aneel Kumar Raina (Retd), Dr. Neeraj Kumar Singh, Deputy Librarian, AC Joshi Library, Panjab University and Prof. Dilip Barad, Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University, Gujarat.
In the inaugural lecture ‘An Introduction to Research: Emerging Areas in Academic Scholarship’, Prof Akshaya Kumar introduced the participants to the latest and emerging trends in research. Dr. Neeraj delivered a very informative and enlightening talk on ‘Open Educational Resources and Research’.
Dr. Meenu Gupta dealt with the nuances of technical writing of dissertation for Postgraduate students. In the workshop on ‘Research Ethics’, Prof Deepti Gupta highlighted the problem of plagiarism in research and also gave hands-on training to the budding researchers on attribution while referring to the online knowledge repository.
Prof Aneel Kumar Raina deliberated on the strategies of writing ‘References and Bibliography’ and apprised the young scholars of the rationale behind citing sources, whether online, digital or printed.
The series culminated with a session titled ‘Research Publication: Guidelines for Beginners’ by Prof Dilip Barad. Around 95 students and faculty members of the Department of English benefitted from this workshop that proved to be a fruitful endeavour to initiate the young learners into critical thinking and innovative perspectives.