Nancy Vyhmeister's Quality Research Papers is fast becoming a standard reference textbook for writing research papers in the field of religion and theology. It takes the student from the beginning assignment of a paper through the research phase to the finished paper. This second edition gives improvements and added material for such things as the expanding field of online research and doing church-related research in a professional manner. Resources for doing research are updated throughout the book.
Vyhmeister's work is a classic work for doctoral students of theology and appears in multiple languages. It now appears in its third edition. It clearly lays out each of the necessary components for researching and preparing research papers, dissertations, theses, and D.Min. projects. Chapters are short and easily referenced. Though the work is written for doctoral students, she assumes little knowledge which I often found helpful. Though the work was updated in 2014 in an attempt to adjust to the rapidly changing research methods of the Information Age, it still feels a little dated. In her chapter on note taking, the author admits she has never used a computer for note taking. Nonetheless, this is a helpful primer and reference tool for writing research papers. I wish I read it during my Masters work.
Vyhmeister and Robertson do a great job explaining every little step of the research process; this ocassionally makes the reading a bit tedious, but it also makes it incredibly comprehensive. The authors did what they set out to do, and as a student, I appreciate that. I'll be using this book as a permanent reference any time I write a research paper.
Probably one of the best books on the subject. It is very thorough, redundant at times but not without merit and very practical. It offers many clear examples.
A super practical, step-by-step guide to doing research
This is the clearest and best resource I’ve read on the topic. Aimed a theological research, this book does a great job of instructing on how to write book reviews, general academic papers, and dissertations.
This is by far the most helpful resource I’ve encountered on the process of actually doing good, solid research. The author is very engaging in her writing style, yet very helpful in her material.
I really can’t express how practical and helpful this book is and how useful it will be when it comes time to write my thesis.
Nothing extraordinary. An acceptable primer for the research process without being buried in deep technicalities. It is also a good quick reference type of book when you are hung up on an issue.