Armenian Independent University - Summer School - June 28 to July 9, 2021


Syllabus: Introduction to Research Skills


Course description: This course aims to introduce the students to basic research skills. It is mainly targeted at Bachelor and Master students and those that aim to start their Ph.D. The course will introduce general research processes, including developing research problems, conducting a literature review, developing and testing hypotheses with an emphasis on experimental methods.

Afterward, the course covers specific topics related to writing scientific work, particularly how to structure scientific work, properly cite literature, and communicate quantitative information. Moreover, some techniques will be introduced to students: developing academic writing, including hands-on techniques for paraphrasing, building arguments, writing an abstract, introduction, and formulating research questions.

The course will also introduce students to essential soft skills for academic and non-academic careers, such as public speaking and time management.


Course language: The course will be taught in English and Armenian. Please check the language of instruction on each topic.


Requirements: English language proficiency level: at least intermediate (B1).


Course Plan:


  1. Introduction and overview (June 28), all instructors, English

    1. Welcome to AIU Summer school

    2. Overview and outline of Research Skills course

  2. Research Process (June 28 - 29), Anush Ghambaryan, English

    1. Science as a vocation and profession today

    2. Scientific problem and scientific research

    3. Scientific research stages

3.1. Literature review and hypothesizing

3.2. Methods and study implementation

    1. Reliability and validity issues

    2. Experiments

  2. Helpful resources for research (June 30), Narine Yegoryan, English

    1. From research ideas to keeping up to date

    2. Available resources for literature search

    3. Available data sources

  3. Writing Scientific Work (June 30 - July 1), Narine Yegoryan, English

    1. Structure and content of scientific work

    2. Citing literature

    3. Communicating Quantitative Information

    4. Managing Writing Behavior

  4. Introduction to Key Concepts: Plagiarism, Critical Thinking, Paraphrasing (July 2), Nona Atoyan, English

    1. What is plagiarism, how to avoid it

    2. Key techniques of paraphrasing, the principle of 4Rs

    3. What is critical thinking, and why do we need it?

  5. Advanced Academic Writing (July 5), Nona Atoyan, English

    1. Writing academic titles, abstracts, and introductions

    2. Defining concepts and formulating research questions

  6. Public speaking (July 6), Lusine Abgaryan, Armenian

  1. Stages of public speaking

  2. Ethics and technique of public speaking

  1. Time management (July 7), Lusine Abgaryan, Armenian

  1. The effects of poor time management

  2. Mane methods of time management

  1. Creativity in 21st Century (July 8), Anna Konjoryan, Armenian

  2. Preparing a CV (July 9), Anna Konjoryan, Armenian