Defining your terms

•  There are a lot of definitions out there - they do not all agree, but you have to make a decision you can explain and defend.
•  A postgraduate research student must be able to take responsibility for their own understanding of and definition of key terms.
•  While you have to be able to define terms in your own words and not hide behind what a dictionary or other authority says, at the same time your definition should bear some relationship to both derivation and other contemporary usage.
•  Usage is at least as important for determining meaning as derivation - you need to be familiar with both.
•  Make use of dictionaries, encyclopaedias and journals in the field and what you can find on the Worldwide Web!
•  Before you can answer a question, you need to know what your question means, and what are the indicators of that meaning. If you ask the question "What is mission?" you need to know what you mean by "mission" and what indicators provide evidence of that meaning of mission.

EXAMPLE: "What is missiology?" Check out what these people think:

•  J Andrew Kirk,. “Missiology” in S B Ferguson and D F Wright, eds., New Dictionary of Theology, Inter-Varsity Press, 1988, 434-436.

•  Scott Moreau, “Missiology” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Revised Edition, forthcoming, 2000.  Available at http://www.wheaton.edu/Missions/Moreau/Articles/Missiology.htm

•  Scherer, J A. “Missiology as a discipline and what it includes” Missiology 15(4) 1987 507-522.