On Friday and Monday, 23^rd & 26^th January, 2026, Dr. Fouzia Hadi Ali, Associate Professor Director of the Career Counselling and Placement Centre University of the Punjab, delivered a talk on “Introduction to Research Methodology” to the participants of the 39^th SMC.

Across both sessions, the focus stayed on the craft of framing research. Participants worked from first principles to identify a problem, convert it into a clear problem statement, and shape a precise research question. The SCQA model was used as the organising frame, with careful distinction between general and specific research questions so that scope and relevance are maintained. Group work translated these ideas into practice. Each group developed a problem statement and research question on an assigned topic and presented it for peer and instructor feedback against the SCQA criteria.

The second part turned to the tools of inquiry. Dr Fouzia introduced the purpose of a literature review, methods for locating credible sources, and filters to keep the review aligned with the problem under study. She outlined basic analytical expectations for policy research reporting and explained APA 7^th edition for in-text and end-text citations, with examples from journals, newspapers, and official documents. The session closed with academic integrity; definitions of plagiarism and self-plagiarism, common Al detection flags, and a walkthrough of a Turnitin report so that participants understand overall similarity and single-source thresholds and the practical steps to keep work original.