Writing a Full

Research Paper Part I

Ms. Maria Zaheer

5 th March ’17

This session will give you as young researchers some tips on the first part of the paper that is:

Introduction Research questions

Literature review

Purpose of the study.

The researcher formulates the research questions as well as the objectives of the study.

A literature review is conducted to familiarise the researcher with the content and the concepts related to this study.

CONCEPTUAL PHASE

Structure of a Research Paper

How do I start the Introduction?

What type of sentence should I begin with?

What type of information should be in my

Introduction, and in what order?

How do I end the Introduction?

The purpose of the Introduction is to stimulate the reader’s interest and to provide pertinent background information necessary to understand the rest of the paper.

You must summarize the problem to be addressed, give background on the subject, discuss previous research on the topic, and explain exactly what the paper will address, why, and how.

Besides motivating a reader to read your manuscript and to care about your results.

the Introduction is useful also to the journal’s reviewers and editors in judging the importance of your manuscript.

This section deals with five language areas :

TENSE PAIRSSIGNALLING LANGUAGE

PASSIVE/ACTIVE USEPARAGRAPHING

USEFUL LANGUAGE

Grammar and Writing Skills

Read the Introduction below. Don’t worry if the subject matter is not

familiar or if you have difficulty understanding individual words, especially technical terms like polylactide.

Just try to get a general understanding at this stage and familiarise yourself with the type of language used.

Let’s start by looking at a sample

There are a few tips that can help you write a strong introduction, arousing interest and encouraging the reader to read the rest of your work.

Keep it Short Define the Problem Move from general to specific: from the

problem in the real world to the literature to your research.

Write in the present tense except for what you did or found, which should be in the past tense.

Organization

Literature review

My teacher says I have to write a literature review, what do I do?

So basically I just read the articles and summarize each one separately?

This sounds like a lot of information, how can I keep it organized?

One way that seems particularly helpful in organizing literature reviews is the synthesis matrix.

As you write your review, you will work horizontally in the row belonging to each point discussed.

As you combine the information presented in each row, you will begin to see each section of your paper taking shape.

Remember, some of the sources may not cover all of the main ideas listed on the left, but that can be useful also.

The gaps on your chart could provide clues about the gaps in the current state of knowledge on your topic.

How to use it?

Here is an example from the literature review: “World War Two and its Effect on Women.” This excerpt synthesizes information without summarizing.

While the articles used in this research agree that women made many advances during the Word War II period, it is crucial to realize that not all these changes were welcomed. In most cases women faced discrimination from just about everyone around them. Women in the workplace were often placed in positions of inferiority or treated as being less physically able to do the same work the men did. Many women were often not trained because they were viewed as temporary employees who were only there for the duration of the war (Bruley, 2003, pp.221-222). Women were very rarely given equal pay as men, even though some of them did the same work. Women in the military faced not only mental abuse but also physical harm from their male counterparts. According to Cornelsen (2005), there were many instances where female aviators were injured or killed due to being made to fly ill-maintained aircrafts or aircrafts that had been sabotaged. (p.114)

After your chart is complete, notice patterns of information. You may find that your sources, at times, discuss very similar material, or that they sometimes deal with completely different aspects of your topic.

These patterns can be useful in creating a thesis statement that can guide your writing and keep you focused as you begin your draft.

What is a Research Question?

How Do You Formulate A Good Research Question?

A research question guides and centers your research.

It should be clear and focused, as well as synthesize multiple sources to present your unique argument.

Even if your instructor has given you a specific assignment, the research question should ideally be something that you are interested in or care about.

Be careful to avoid the “all-about” paper and questions that can be answered in a few factual statements.

What is a Research Question?

Choose a general topic of interest, and conduct preliminary research on this topic in current periodicals and journals to see what research has already been done.

This will help determine what kinds of questions the topic generates.

Once you have conducted preliminary research, consider: Who is the audience? Is it an academic essay, or will it be read by a more general public?

Once you have conducted preliminary research, start asking open ended “How?” “What?” and Why?” questions.

Then evaluate possible responses to those questions.

How Do You Formulate A Good Research Question?

Why are social networking sites harmful?

A clearer question would be the following:

How are online users experiencing or addressing privacy issues on such social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter?

In essence, the research question that guides the sciences and social sciences should do the following three things:

1) Post a problem.2) Shape the problem into a testable hypothesis.3) Report the results of the tested hypothesis.

What is the purposes of the study?

Why do I need to do it?

How do I write it?

A purpose statement is a declarative sentence which summarizes the specific topic and goals of a document.

It is typically included in the introduction to give the reader an accurate, concrete understanding what the document will cover and what he/she can gain from reading it.

What is the purposes of the study?

The purposes of the study should explain the final conclusions that the research study hopes to reach.

Purposes should be written as statements.

When writing the Purposes section, it is best to start with the general purpose of the study:

The overall purpose of this study is to examine the effect of telling stories on nursery children's literacy skills.

The purposes of the study

Writing a statement of purpose will do 4 things to help you:

You will get more interested in your project. 

It will keep you from getting overwhelmed and panicky at all the information you may find. 

It will help you develop a Thesis Statement, which comes later on in the research process.

It saves you valuable time and effort.

Why do I need to do it?

Some common introductory phrases for purpose statements include: "The purpose of this paper/letter/document is

to..." "In this paper, I will describe/explain/review/etc.

the..." "My reason for writing is to..." "This paper will discuss the..." "The purpose of this paper is twofold: to ___ and

___"

This paper will describe four common causes of co-worker conflict in organizations and explain how to use a five-step procedure to constructively manage this conflict."

Critique: Very specific about what aspects of conflict will be discussed. Very precise about how much information will be given. Very clear about what the reader will learn.

Example of an effective purpose statement:

Critique: Very specific about what will be discussed (planning strategies), and what the outcome will be for the reader (how to improve employee productivity).

"This report will explain how supervisors can use four planning strategies to improve employee productivity in the workplace."

Now its your turn

To be effective, a statement of purpose should be:

Specific and precise - not general, broad or obscureConcise - one or two sentencesClear - not vague, ambiguous or confusingGoal-oriented - stated in terms of desired outcomes

Rate your learning: In pairs write down the following in relation to this sessions training

Two thing you have

learnt from this session

Two things you would like to know about

Two things you

feel you need to improve

Set your self two targets that will help you improve