I have done what i am supposed to do: search and read related journal, preparing my proposal,start my roundtable with Miss Fatemah( my supervisor), try hard to grasp the concept of fermentation and sort of previous studies done by other scientists etc.
Till today, Miss Fatemah has briefed me about the protocols and what i need to do for my final year project and what i can do now is to further enrich myself with the know-how in probiotic, diary chemistry, functional food's fields.
All these final year project has made me think of the option on whether to continue my postgraduate education or not.
So, have been searching for the right information regarding this and suddenly bump into a comment given by Mr Azarimy , a architecture lecturer from UTM Skudai.
His reply in LYN helps me to get what really a Master in research all about.
For research based programmes, it is highly recommended that u obtain honours in ur degree. some universities take honours into consideration during an application for a research degree.Source: azarimy
Research degree (masters):
generally ur application to the course comes with a topic proposal, a focused field of what u wanted to research. some schools require just a page of proposal, some require an extensive research being done prior to application. a research degree will produce a thesis written on the research that u have done during the course of ur study.
topics can range from qualitative or quantitative study, an basically u need to be very fluent in academic writing (which is quite different from a general degree's dissertation way of writing). u'll spend a year or sometimes more just reading, cross-referencing, testing, searching and writing on one particular subject. first u come up with a hypothesis, then a research to prove ur hypothesis.
that's roughly what a research masters is all about.
and u dont go researching things that have been done before. no sir.
i have a basic method of explaining level of studies here:
i. primary school - basic of all learningii. secondary low - wider scope of learningiii. secondary mid - wide focus on a group of subjectsiv. secondary high - deeper knowledge on a wide range of subjects
v. diploma - basic applied skills on a specific fieldvi. degree - skills and knowledge on an specific, established fieldvi. degree + honours - skills & knowledge, with an academic discussion contributing to the body of knowledge
vii. masters (taught course) - advanced study on a specific, established field; with basic focus on new, unexplored areas of study.viii. masters (research) - advanced study on a specific field, focusing on unexplored areas in a field of knowledge.
ix. phd - generally creating a new field of knowledge that have never discovered before in the world.
To continue or not is a dilemma! the time to decide will come when i finish my degree first =)
