Digital Humanities Research Methods for Thesis Writing

Introduction

Digital Humanities is an interdisciplinary study subject area that includes the combination of different different academic disciplines into one. It is a combination of different field studies such as sociology, economics, languages, etc,.

Digital Humanities uses different digital methods to deeply study the humanities subjects such as history, literature, etc,. This Digital humanities method of research writing in thesis writing is specifically beneficial for those students who have an interest in both humanities and computer technology. The Digital Humanities method of research writing helps the students to analyse the data and information digitally. As a  result, the students will be able to view and study the subject in a different perspective and will prove useful to apply for research-based roles and job opportunities.

Topics to learn while pursuing digital humanities in research writing

As digital humanities is a combination of both humanities and computer technology, following topics are to be studied by the students if they are pursuing digital humanities in research writing:-

1. Coding for Humanities:- In this course, the students will have to learn the basics of programming languages. Most students choose Python as their basic programming language as it is a powerful programming language and user-friendly.
2. Collecting and Analysing Data:- The students can cover the digital humanities data collection and its analysis in one module.
3. Introduction to Humanities:- The students who are familiar with the IT part of the course are advised to take the introductory course on humanities for easy application.
4. Individual Work Placement:- The students will be offered a placement upon the completion of the course in places like museum, gallery, libraries, etc,.
5. Individual Dissertation:- It is advisable to the students to carry out a research of about 10,000 to 12,000 words under the supervision of a guide.

Methods required in digital humanities thesis writing

There are many methods through which a student can approach his/her thesis writing. These methods fall into two different categories:-

Extrinsic or Contextualist Approaches

Extrinsic or Contextualist Approaches examine the contexts such as the background information provided by the student in literary texts, artwork, ideas, etc,. These approaches assume that there is a friendly relationship between nature and the work of art. Under this approach there are many other different approaches mentioned below:-

1. Many studies are biological in nature as the texts or ideas are generated by an individual mainly focused on the life of the artist/author. A so-called influence study can also be a part of the approach where the impact on an individual’s work or idea is focused upon. The students can also use the comparative approach where two or more works of the same author/artist can be compared so that the students can come to a conclusion about the research approach.
2. There are works which can be produced within an institutional context so as to be productive towards the social and political conditions, which surround the artists to determine whether the conditions have directly or indirectly affected the artworks.
3. Another approach which can be taken into consideration is a history-of-ideas approach. This approach explains the texts and artworks in the context of the characteristics of an age. These ideas or contexts can be scientific or religious in nature. 
4. One of the approaches is concerned with the analysis of myths, iconography, folklore, etc, which can occur as an individual work or a group of works. This approach often focuses on the historical origins of the stories mentioned above and the reappearance of these stories in one way or another throughout the history.
5. Another approach also known as the reception theory, challenges the researcher in order to understand the intentions of the authors/artists when they had created their works/artworks. 

Intrinsic or Isolationist Approaches

Intrinsic or Isolationist Approaches focuses solely on the materials which comprises only texts, paintings, photographs, films, etc,. The factors outside the mentioned contexts are not taken into account. There are many different approaches under this Intrinsic or Isolationist Approaches mentioned below:-

1. Structuralist approach is a type of approach which focuses on the structure of the literary language and their complicated relationship within each other. These structures can be both mythic and grammatical in nature,
2. The next approach is similar to the above approach known as the semiotics approach. Semiotics is the study of signs which has divided the signs into three different kinds of signs. “Iconic” sign, resembles what the sign stands for, “Indexical” sign, resembles how the sign is associated with some object and “Symbolic” sign, differentiates between the connotation and denotation.
3. Another approach known as the Post Structuralist approach emphasises on the patterns and structure in any literary language. It enlightens the research student by focusing on different theories such as psychoanalysis, enlightenment, etc,.

Reasons to study digital humanities method of research writing

Digital humanities have opened up different opportunities for the students to develop a perspective of their own and write a research paper on the same. The following point consists some good reasons as to why students should choose digital humanities of research writing:-

1. Career choices:- A degree in digital humanities research writing can provide the students with opportunities of a wide variety of careers in places such as libraries, museums, etc,.
2. Unique field:- The combination of humanities research and computer technology is very unique which will help the students with exciting discoveries in their thesis writing.
3. Learning hard skills:- If a student is well-versed with the traditional humanities skills, the student is much likely to grasp the theoretical use of humanities, but with the digital humanities degree, the student will be able to apply the practical skills such as collecting and analysing data and coding.

Conclusion

Digital humanities method of thesis writing will not only help the students to achieve success but also will help the students to gain knowledge on different study fields and subjects and will expand their knowledge power by following the above mentioned methods on how to write a thesis research paper.