Pathology of “Problem expression” in historical research:Case study: Master dissertations in History

One of the main components and in fact the basic element of research through which the researcher explains the research problem is "problem expression”. Due to the lack of a correct definition of "problem expression" and its confusion with other components of research, such as the title, subject and main question of the research, it is often ignored in historical research. This problem can be mostly attributed to the inadequacy and incorrect definition of the basic concepts of research in the methodological research texts, in particular, historical research that its reflection can be seen in the dissertations of history students. This study seeks to examine the pathology of lack of transparency or deficiency in the concept of "problem expression" in dissertations and historical researches. The findings of this research show that due to the lack of correct definition of “problem” in the methodological research texts in history, has led to serious shortcomings in academic dissertations in the field of history. In this research, , however, it has been tried , based on the library resources , dissertations collection (GANJ) from IRANDOC site and using descriptive-analytical method as well as statistical method to analyze the Pathology of “Problem expression” in historical research by case study of history dissertations of Ferdowsi University graduate master degree students.