Quality Research Papers: For Students of Religion and Theology

The book arrived in good condition. The author should seriosly consider rewriting the book or have it removed from being vendable because it is unclear and on the fence in that author has no understanding of subject.

Books like these are tediously boring. At least most of them are. But this book was actually quite interesting. Nancy Vhymeister discusses how to choose a topic, write a thesis proposal, conduct research, take notes, create bibliographies, contruct footnotes and end notes, and she also introduces the student to software and internet websites which will provide the most help. She even has a final chapter about how to prepare a final project for the Doctor of Ministry degree. I'm not looking forward to all the other books in this genre that have been assigned to me, but I am happy to report that this one was helpful and held my interest.

I am a seminary student in the process of writing a master's thesis, and Nancy Jean Vyhmeister has been very helpful.

This book turns out to be a very good handbook. Definitions of how to go about doing research for a disortation are concise and very descriptive. For instance Chapter III Choosing a Topic, helped me to understand how to narrow down the topic so it can be specific. According to Vyhmeister, when a topic is specific, it becomes easier to research the disortation. The author says that "it goes from impossible to feasible." (17) The chapter on Planning Research is also very helpful. This book covers all of the examples necessary to write a very good paper. Case studies, designing programs, and sampling are also covered in great detail. This is an excellent handbook for the doctoral student.

Nancy Jean Vyhmeister has written a thoughtful, considerate, and readable technical manual on the art of writing quality research papers. The two chapters: "Theses and Dissertations" (XVIX), and "D.Min. Projects" (XX), are especially directed to graduate students in theology. Quality Research Papers, itself, serves as an illustration of its substantive content. It is the type of reference that a D.MIN. candidate, and other thesis/dissertation writers, would be well advised to have readily available, so as to be reminded about and to be able to check upon the details of their graduate compositions. The concluding sentence: "May your D.Min. Project bring satisfaction to you and glory to God" (2001:200), is truly a two way blessing. Vyhmeister in offering her blessing was also blessed by meeting her goal of producing a manual and a model. For a text originally written in Spanish in 1980 (2001:ix), and published in English translation in 1989, it is still au courant. Vyhmeister pays introductory homage to the work of Kate L. Turabian's The Chicago Manual of Style, as an essential source for those who need: "even more detailed instructions" (2001:ix). She is particularly considerate in describing what `research' is and what `research' is not (2001:1-5). The key, according to Vyhmeister, is for the dissertation writer to focus in as objective a way as is humanly possible on the subject matter under consideration and present the truth with all due humility. In a step-by-step process, Vyhmeister leads her reader through the basic steps of discovering pertinent resource materials, choosing a topic, "defining the problem" (2001:23 - 25), to writing an outline. Tried and true index cards are described as part of the methodology of developing a working memory of salient points from the multiplicity of texts read over an extended period of time. The details of documentation, the effective organization of information, formatting, the inclusion of charts and graphs, and the process of revision are covered. Throughout, the reader is reminded that time - much time - is needed. The need to provide adequate time should not be underestimated. "The thesis will dominate your life" (2001:186). Time management is essential. She wrote: "It is imperative to develop - and follow - a chronogram that allows time for reading and corrections. This goes for both you and your adviser!" (2001:187). Finally, Vyhmeister reminds the dissertation writer to remember: "often only the first and last chapters of a dissertation or project are read. Thus, everything of vital importance must be in those two chapters: where you intended to go and what you found when you arrived there" (2001:194 - 195). The hard work of what goes in between provides the credibility.Quality Research Papers conveys style, grace, sensitivity, integrity, simplicity, comprehensiveness, and an unmistakable appeal to the quality of excellence. In the background are reverberations from the host of inter