The Art of Research Paper Writing - NTU Singapore | NTU · research participants is rather small...

TheArtofResearchPaperWriting

LukeLuLanguageandCommunicationCentre

SchoolofHumanities

WiththankstoDr.SujataKathpalia

Overview

•  Why/What’sAcademicWriting?

•  Structureofresearchpapers

•  Featuresofacademicwriting

•  Citationandreferenceconventions

WhyAcademicWriting?•  Wewritearesearchpapertoshareourfindingswithothers.

•  Whenwepublishapaper,weenteranongoingconversationwithothers.

•  Theseconversationsstretchbackyearsandhappenglobally.

•  Asbeginners,youarethenewestarrivalinjoiningsuchconversations.

Theneedforacademiccommunication

Also…Learninghowtowriteaboutresearchinadisciplinedwayisareflectionofyourunderstandingoftheories,formulationofhypotheses,performanceofexperiments/collectionofdata,andanalysisofdata.

Inanyformofcommunication…

Wechangethewaywewrite/speakaccordingto:•  Audience•  Purpose

•  Genre/context

What’sAcademicWriting?

•  AudienceGeneral?Specialist?

•  PurposeInformative?Persuasive?

•  GenreResearchPaper?Newsreport?

Comparisonoftexts

Whichtextbelongstothegenreofacademicwriting?

Text1Intheirtheoreticalanalysisoftheplanningfallacy(asco-relationaltofrequentlateness),KahnemanandTversky(1979)suggestedthatpeoplecanusesingularanddistributionalinformationwhenpredictingtaskcompletion.Inmostcases,peopleshouldderivetheirpredictionsfrombothcase-basedanddistributionalinformation.However,theexistenceoftheplanningfallacyimpliesthatpeopletypicallyadoptaninternalperspectivewhenpredictingtheirowncompletiontimes;theyseeminglyfailtoconsidersuchrelevantdistributionalinformationastheirpreviousexperienceswithsimilartasks.

Text2Sowhatisitthatcausessomepeopletoconstantlymisstrains,makeittotheweddingjustafterthebride'sshownupandregularlypissofftheirfriends?Andwhyisitsohardforustofix?Oneofthemostobviousandcommonreasonsthatpeoplearefrequentlylateisthattheysimplyfailtoaccuratelyjudgehowlongataskwilltake-somethingknownastheplanningfallacy.

Text3OMGI’ml84my830tut.OMGOMGOMGOMGIoversleptAGAIN!!!!Sianz…

Text4OMGI’mlateformy830tut!!!Ioversleptagain… sian…

Structureofaresearchpaper

•  Titleandabstract•  Introduction•  Literaturereview•  Methodsandmaterials•  Resultsanddiscussion•  Conclusion•  References

Titleofpaper•  IsE-learningEffective?Incomparisontowhat?•  IsE-learningaseffectiveasconventionalclassroom

pedagogy?Inwhichcontext?•  IsE-learningaseffectiveasconventionalclassroom

pedagogyforGeneralPaper?AcomparativestudyoftwoJuniorCollegesinSingapore.

Introduction:Swale’sCARS(CreateaResearchSpace)Model

MOVE1:Establishingtheterritory(backgroundinformation)MOVE2:Establishingtheniche(showagapinpastresearch)MOVE3:Occupyingtheniche(stateobjectiveandscope)

Establishingterritory(background)•  Generaltospecific

Traditionally,GeneralPaperinJuniorCollegeshavebeentaughtinconventionalclassroomsettingsinvolvingteacherinstructionandfacilitation.Withtheincreasedprevalenceofcomputersandinternetaccessinthehome,theremightalsoexisttheneedforE-learningmaterialsandtoolstosupplementorevenreplacetraditionalpedagogyinJuniorColleges(Toidietal2012).

Establishingniche(researchgap)

Inpreviousresearch,muchattentionhasbeendevotedtotheeffectofE-learningforsubjectssuchasMathematicsandChemistry.LessstudiedishowE-learningmightalsobeeffective(ornot)forGeneralPaper,asubjectthathastraditionallyreliedonclassroominstructionalactivities.

Occupyingniche(objective)

•  ThisstudythereforeaimstodemonstratetheeffectivenessofE-learningforGeneralPaperthroughacomparativecasestudyoftwoJuniorCollegesinSingapore.

LiteratureReview

•  What?Tothoroughlyexaminepublishedworkonthetopic.Thisisinordertodemonstratethatyouhaveanunderstandingofthefieldandhowyourownresearchfitsintothecurrentconversation.•  Where?Option1(partofintroduction)Option2(aseparatesectionafterintroduction)

Methodandmaterials

•  Todescribethematerialsinthestudy.

•  Todescribethestepsyoufollowedinconductingthestudy.

Tofacilitaterepeatabilityandfalsifiability

ElementsofMethodsection

•  Descriptionofmaterialsandparticipants

•  Descriptionofproceduralsteps

•  Methodofanalysis

LanguagefeaturesinMethodsection

Typically…•  PasttenseToshowtheexperiment/datacollectionhasbeencompleted.•  PassivevoiceToshowthattheresearchactivityismoreimportantthantheresearchers.•  OrganisationSignalmarkers(egFirstly;thesolutionwasthenadded…)usedtoshowsequenceofsteps.

ResultsandDiscussion

•  Whatdidyoufind?Presentthedata•  Whatdoyourfindingsmean?Commentonandinterpretthedata

ElementsintheDiscussionsection

1.  Pointthereadertothedata(referringtotable,figure)

Donotmakethereaderhuntforthedata2.  Presentthefindings(spottrendsorregularities

inthedata)Donotsimplyrepeatorreportallthedatainwords.3.  Commentonfindings(interpretthedatafor

readers,relatingittoyourresearchquestion)

AttestwasusedtocomparetheLabQuizAverageofthevarioussections.TheresultsofE-learning(SeeTable1)werecomparedwithtraditionalclassroominstruction.(pointreadertodata)Therewasnostatisticaldifferenceintermsoftestscoresforthetwogroupsofstudents.(presentfindings)

Thettestthereforeshowsthatthereisnoevidencetosuggestanysignificantdifferencebetweenthequizaveragesforthetwogroups.Inthiscase,E-learningwasnomore(orless)effectivethantraditionalclassroominstruction.(commentonfindings)

ConclusionElements:1.  Mainpurpose/hypothesisofstudy

2.  Reviewofkeyfindings

3.  Somecommentsonfindings

4.  Limitationsofstudy

5.  Implicationsorapplicationsofstudy

6.  Recommendationsforfutureresearch

Elements1,2,3Insummary,IinvestigatedtheeffectivenessofE-learninginGeneralPapercomparedtotraditionalclassroomteaching.ThemaingoalwastodetermineifE-learningmightbeasuitablecomplementorreplacementforclassroominstruction.Theresearchwasconductedwith50studentsacrosstwoJuniorColleges.AnalysisofthedatasuggestsnoevidencethatE-learningwasmoreorlesseffectivecomparedtotraditionalclassroominstruction

Elements4,5,6Itmustbeadmittedthatthegeneralisabilityofthisstudyislimited.Thechosensamplesizeforresearchparticipantsisrathersmall(thoughstillusefulasapilotstudy).Theimplicationsofthesefindingsarenonethelessimportant,asschoolscontinuetostrugglewithconstraintsoncurriculumtimeandE-learningbeingsuchanenticingpossibilitytoshifttimeforlearningtostudents’homes.Futureresearchmaythereforeconsiderenlargingthepoolofresearchparticipants,aswellasinvolvingschoolsteachingtheIntegratedProgramme.

Abstract

Anaccuratesummaryofthecontentsofthepaper

•  Itisamini-report.•  Itisself-contained.•  Itisconcise(250words).•  Itshouldbethelastthingyouwrite.•  Itappearsatthebeginningofthepaper.

ElementsofAbstract1.  Whatwasdone?(researchbackground)

2.  Whywasitdone?(researchobjectives)

3.  Howwasitdone?(researchmethod)

4.  Whatwasfound?(keyresults)

5.  Whatisthesignificanceofresearch?(implications)

Mid-termtest

Top3scoreswinprizes

FeaturesofAcademiclanguage•  Complex

•  Formal

•  Objective

•  Explicit

•  Concise

1a.LexicalcomplexityThroughAffixesandwordcombinations(especiallytechnicalvocabulary)

•  Antidisestablishmentarianism=28letters,5affixes(anti-dis-establish-ment-arian-ism)

•  Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis=45letters,6words(pneumono+ultra+microscopic+silico+volcano+koniosis)

“afatallungdiseasecausedbyinhalingveryfinesilicadust”

1b.GrammaticalcomplexityVerb-based Nominalized(madeanoun)

Ireadthedatacarefully. Theanalysisofthedatarevealed…

Ifoundthattherewerealotoferrorsandtheseoccurredfrequently.

Arecurrenceofsystematicandrandomerrors.

2.Formality

•  ThedorsalsideandheadoftheEmperorPenguinisblackandsharplydelineatedfromthewhitebelly,pale-yellowbreast,andbright-yellowearpatches.

OR•  TheEmperorPenguinhasbeenhotinthenewsandeventheboxoffice.Ifyou’renotsurewhatthislordlypenguinlookslike,ithasablackhead,bright-yellowspotsaroundtheears,andabigol’whitebelly.

3.ObjectivityWhattoavoid Example

Biasedstatements Ourstudyaimstoinvestigatetheignoranceofundergraduatesontheharmfuleffectsofcaffeine.

First-personpronouns Inmyopinion,thisisaveryinterestingstudy.

Emotionally-loadedwords Thefindingsofthisstudyareawesome.

4.ExplicitnessWITHOUTsignalmarkers WITHsignalmarkers

Theenergyneedsofarestingseaotterare3timesthoseofterrestrialanimalsofcomparablesize.Theseaottermusteatabout25%ofitsbodyweightdaily.Seaottersfeedcontinually,atnightaswellasday.

Theenergyneedsofarestingseaotterare3timesthoseofterrestrialanimalsofcomparablesize.Tosupportsuchahighmetabolicrate,theseaottermusteatabout25%ofitsbodyweightdaily.Therefore,seaottersfeedcontinually,atnightaswellasday.

5.Beconcise

•  Solutionofsodiumhypochloriteindihydrogenmonoxideeffectuatedsuperlativeandefficaciousbroad-spectrumbactericidalactivity.

OR•  Bleachinwaterkillsgerms

Citationsandreferenceconventions

•  In-textcitations

•  Referencelist

In-textcitations•  Information-prominentcitations(toindicatestateofknowledge;presentorpresentperfecttense)

“Chalkboardsarenolongeracceptedbyteachersasanaidforclassroominstruction(Diputs2006)”•  Author-prominentcitations(torefertosinglestudy;presentorpasttense)

“Diputs(2006)foundevidencethatteachersnolongerwidelyacceptedchalkboardsasanaidclassroominstruction.”

•  AmericanPsychologicalAssociation(APA)Lu,L.(2018).WriteLikeaBoss.Singapore:RubbishBooks.

•  ModernLanguagesAssociation(MLA)Lu,Luke.WriteLikeaBoss.Singapore:RubbishBooks.2018.Print.•  AmericanChemicalSociety(ACS)Lu,Luke.WriteLikeaBoss;RubbishBooks:Singapore.2018.•  AmericanInstituteofPhysics(AIP)L.Lu.WriteLikeaBoss(RubbishBooks,Singapore,2018)

That’sall!

Thankyouforbeingattentive.