Field of Science and Research
Active Vocabulary
to do / to carry on / to carry out / to conduct research
to contribute to / to make a contribution to
to influence/to affect / to have an effect on / upon
to study / to make studies / to investigate / to explore
to put forward an idea
to suggest an idea / a theory / a hypothesis
to advance / to develop/to modify a theory
to predict / to forecast / to foresee
to accumulate knowledge
field of science / research
a new area of research
current branch / field of research
latest/recent achievements / developments / advances
a(an) outstanding / prominent / world-known scientist / researcher
Tasks
A. Answer the questions:
1. What is your field of science / research?
2. What are the current issues in your field of science / research?
3. Have new areas of research appeared in recent years?
4. What is your particular area of research?
5. What are the latest achievements in your field of science / research?
6. Have many fundamental discoveries been made in your field of science / research?
7. Can you name some outstanding researchers in your field of science? What contribution have they made?
8. Do achievements in your branch of science/research influence everyday life? In what way?
9. What further developments can you predict in your field of science/research?
B. Complete the sentences which contain the words from the Active Vocabulary Section. Speak about your field of science/research.
1. I do research in the field of ... .
2. It is the science / a comparatively new branch of science that studies ...
3. The field of science / research that I'm concerned with gathers knowledge about ...
4. Major developments include advances in ... .
5. Remarkable advances have been made in ... .
6. The branches of science contributing a lot to progress in my field of research are ... .
7. My current field of science / research is ... .
8. It's difficult / not difficult to foresee / forecast / predict ... .
C. Work in pairs.
Ask for and give information on your field of science and research.
D. Act out the situation.
Two students are discussing the progress made in their fields of science and its influence on life today.
2. Research Problem
Active Vocabulary
to be due to
to arise from
to increase considerably
to be the subject of special / particular interest
to be studied comprehensively / thoroughly / extensively
to be only outlined
to be mentioned in passing
to be concerned with / to be engaged in the problem of
to deal with / to consider the problem of
to be interested in
to be of great/little / no interest/importance / significance / value / use to take up the problem to work on the problem
to follow / to stick to the theory / hypothesis / concept to postulate
to differ / to be different from a lot of / little / no literature is available on the problem the reason for the interest in the problem is ...
Tasks
A. Answer the questions:
1. What is your research problem?
2. What is of special interest in the problem of your research?
3. What is the subject of your research?
4. Why has the interest in this problem increased considerably in recent years?
5. Do you follow / stick to any theory / hypothesis / concept? What is it?
6. What concept is your research based on?
7. How does your research differ from other studies of the same problem?
8. Is there much literature available on your research problem?
9. Is your research problem described comprehensively / thoroughly / extensively in literature?
10. Is the problem only outlined or mentioned in passing?
11. What are the main aspects of the problem that have been considered?
B. Complete the sentences which contain the words from the Active Vocabulary Section. Speak about your research problem.
1. At present / now / currently I am studying the problem of ...
2. The problem I am studying is concerned with ... .
3. There is a lot of/little / no literature on the problem of ... .
4. The literature available on the problem only outlines/mentions in passing/ thoroughly/extensively/describes such aspects as ... .
5. We have taken up the problem of ... to ... .
6. In solving our problem we follow the hypothesis that ... .
C. Work in pairs.
Ask for and give information on your research problem.
D. Act out the situation.
Two students are taking part in an international conference. There they get acquainted and talk about their research fields and research problems.
3. Historical Background of Research Problem
Active Vocabulary
at that time / in that period / as early as 19 ...
by that time
since that time
in recent years / recently / lately
over the last / past few years
in the 1970s / throughout the 70s / in the early 1970s /
in the late 1970s / from 1970 to 1980
the first studies / investigations on the problem
to be the first / to pioneer / to initiate
to date back to / to go back to
to pay attention to
to observe / to consider
to find / to discover
to show / to demonstrate
to assume / to suppose / to make an assumption
to explain / to account for
to confirm / to support
to give rise to
to believe / to think / to expect
to remain unsolved
to be poorly / well understood
to require further effort / study
to point out the shortcomings / weak points / drawbacks
to stimulate interest in
to add greatly to our knowledge of
to lay the foundation for
Tasks
A. Answer the questions:
1. Has your research problem attracted much attention in recent years? Has it been widely studied?
2. What aspects of the problem have been considered over the last few years?
3. Who was the first to recognize / point out the problem?
4. What aspects of the problem did researchers concentrate on at that time?
5. When were the first studies on the problem made? In what years?
6. What time / years do the first studies / observations/investigations date back to?
7. When was the problem first studied intensively?
8. When did the interest in this problem increase?
9. Is the problem well understood at present?
10. What aspects of the problem still remain poorly understood / unsolved?
11. Could you point out the gaps or shortcomings in the earlier studies of the problem?