Erg on April 2011

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/erg-on-april-2011 1/12

USPI/ Sc ho Pus Bulle tin Ergon April 2011 1

Message from the Unit

Publication is the end product of research. It is

important to do good quality research in order for

one to write a good paper that will be accepted by a

good quality journal. However, doing research is not

everyone’s cup of tea. No research journey is a bed

of roses, as Prof Joan Kosta notes in this issue.Particularly at the beginning of our career, we

struggle in doing research but at the end we findouselves with tremendous academic satisfaction.

A research study is never complete if its findings

are not published. One needs to think through the

story that one wants to convey in a manuscript. A

novice writer will always ask, “where and how do I

even begin to write?” There must be something thatyou find interesting in your study that you want to

share with the community, and this is where you start

thinking about that little discovery of yours and howyou are going to share that with the community

through your writing. There are some strategies for

better academic writing. As Professor Bill Templersays in this issue, reading is indeed an important

prerequisite for writing well.

Then, once a paper has been through many

rounds of revision and can truly be considered

written, one has to decide where to submit the paper

for publication. One needs to know which journal

one should select; one must study the detailed scope

of the journal and their particular procedures on howto submit. For this entire process the article in this

issue by Professor Ken Hyland is enlightening.

The journal impact factor and ranking of the

journal in that particular field of study and much

other information can be obtained from the ISI Web

of Knowledge. Bear in mind that the higher the

impact factor of a journal, the higher the rejection

rate and thus the harder it is to get published in that

journal. But do not be despair. With good quality

research, proper guidance, sheer determination and

with a vast amount of experience and over time, onewill definitely get there and be an accomplished

Tier I journal author! So, look out for SchoPus talks,

writing workshops, editing services and otheractivities that will help you to be an accomplished

author. We are here to assist and empower you.

Prof Dr. Sarinah WY Low

Head, SchoPus

Contributions to this issue

The April 2011 issue of Ergon comprises five articles.

Each article pinpoints several essential elements we

need to bear in mind in producing and publishing

quality research output. Professor Joan Kosta,

visiting professor at UKM, shares her ‘rocky research

journey’ with us. Her eloquent writing reveals the

core of research that is at bottom shared by all

academic desciplines: we must ask ‘why’ we write

and we must commit ourselves to our topic. In his

discussion devoted to the theme ‘research requires

resources’, Professor A. S. M. A. Haseeb from the

Engineering Faculty argues that balanced and rich

resources must be an integral part of a research

university. According to him, these resources are (i)

people, (ii) physical facilities, and (iii) a conductive

research environment. Professor Bill Templer,

formerly affiliated with the Faculty of Education,

proposes several ‘strategies for better academic

writing’. Most important, we must read extensively

in order to learn to write well, for we ‘notice’ through

reading specific language strategies scientists use for

academic writing. Reading may also help reduce

unnecessary gramamtical mistakes. Associate

Professor Saidur Rahman from the Engineering

Faculty encourages us to ‘write a review article’,

specifically in the field of science and technology.

By succinctly explaining what a review article is, he

also point to the meaningfulness of publishingreview articles as a means to lead us not only to

become prominent in our field but also to increase

chances of our further academic commitment.

Professor Ken Hyland from the University of Hong

Kong, who gave a series of talks to the UM academic

Vol. 3 No. 1, April 2011

Issue 4ISSN 2180-2122

BULLETIN FOR THE UMACADEMIC COMMUNITY

Scholarly Publication Support UnitUnit Sokongan Penerbitan Ilmiah

ERGON

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011


April 2011USPI/ Sc ho Pus Bulle tin Ergon 2

community on ‘writing for publication’ in October

2010, summarizes his lectures. He emphasizes that

chances of publication greatly increase with better

planning and suggests four strategies: (i) explicit

understanding of our own paper, (ii) consideration

of our audience, (iii) having a particular journal in

mind, and (iv) knowing the expectations and

requirements of the targeting journal.

Dr Toshiko Yamaguchi

Editor-in-chief of Ergon

My Rocky Research Journey

I never was interested in research. My dissertation

was a nightmare, complete with topic changes,

advisor changes, lost materials, subjects backing out

at the last minute, and the hundred other things that

can go wrong during the long process. Even my

dissertation topic in speech –language pathology was

not one to which I was truly wedded; I dropped it

as soon as it was completed, when I finally found

an area I did love, an area in which I have spent most

of my career. I believe that part of my distaste

stemmed from my phobic reaction to anything

mathematical. My dissertation was thwarted three

times by new statistics advisors who disagreed with

the statistical choices proposed by each of the

advisors. In the end, after changing major statistical

analyses three times over the course of two years, I

returned to the original plan from the original

advisor. At that point I knew that I had neither the

interest nor the desire to continue on a research path.

It was some time later in my career thatconducting research began to hold an appeal. As an

administrator and clinician I had no need to

participate in research, and was content to read and

follow the work that was specific to areas in my field.

The limited research in which I did engage related

to clinical practice and administrative models: onlyprojects that appealed to me on a personal basis. In

time, I became aware of research that looked at

human behavior and cultural phenomena in relation

to language learning. This area was new to me, but

particularly intriguing, as I had always been

interested in anthropology and cultural issues. I

attempted a new research approach by looking at

the effectiveness of interdisciplinary support groups

for spouses of stroke patients, to help them gain

better acceptance of the disability and their new role

as caregivers. I was drawn to the impact of family

members’ on patient recovery. It was the beginning

of a desire to conduct research, but of a different kind

that I had done in graduate school. I believed that I

had made a mistake in career choice, as I was

fascinated by different areas of inquiry that I did not

think possible in my field. What I discovered was

that there were many types of inquiry that allowed

me to pursue research in my own field, using a

variety of models.

This revelation was long before I ever thought

about using qualitative research. My first real

qualitative study was completed as part of a grant

project when I considered the impact of environment

on second-language learning in adult populations.

The grant enabled me to investigate Japanese college

students (in Japan) in their attempt to learn English.

I used a natural environment model with measurable

criteria to determine changes in speech behaviors,

and became hooked on the process. Several similar

studies followed and I began to look for ways in

which to combine both quantitative and qualitative

research.

In the early 90s I was part of a project that

focused on “Teacher Research.” Learning about this

type of research fit nicely with my interests, and I

embarked on a three- year project that used a Teacher

Research Model to track the development of

students’ clinical skills, particularly development of

student clinicians’ interpersonal skills. Interestingly,parts of this study were recently replicated in an

Action Research Project by a colleague at UKM to

improve students‘ clinical interpersonal skills early

in their course of study.

Because of my fascination with human

behavior, communication interaction and

Contents

Message from the Unit 1

Contributions to this Issue 1

My Rocky Research Journey 2

Research Requires Resources 3

Strategies for Better Academic Writing 6

Writing a Review Paper 8

Where shall I send this? S ubmitting 10for publication

The people of Ergon 12

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



intercultural differences, and in connection with mywork as a speech-language pathologist who

primarily treats adults, I have focused on families

of patients with communication disabilities,

particularly elders. Using qualitative research

enables me to combine my training as a clinician

and as a counselor of patients and families withcommunication disorders to investigate such diverse

areas as cultural aspects of disability, attitudes about

elders’ disability, specific issues relating to elders and

caregivers, feeding and bathing behaviors, and

clinical training. I have been fortunate to be able to

merge my various interests and abilities and engagein research that I care about and enjoy. I am currently

completing an analysis of Japanese caretakers of

elders, using a qualitative, ethnographic research

model. This investigation was combined with a

quantitative component that provided some rich data

concerning attitudes about elders’ disability. Basic

behaviors of a counselor require one to be a good

listener, to be mindful, and to be non-judgmental.

These are qualities also required of a researcher who

employs qualitative methodology, for example,

when conducting interviews or observational

studies.

Academics use a variety of research methods

that are dependent upon their field and interests. It

is worthy of note to explore the different approaches

used by colleagues across disciplines. Sometimes

looking at other fields and methodologies allows you

to expand your horizons and interests. It also opens

opportunities for interdisciplinary research. This

certainly has been my experience. Yao (Presentation,

UKM, 2010) cogently verbalized my motivation for

pursuing qualitative research when he stated, “you

don’t take what we see on the surface as the reason

for behavior. To understand behavior you have to

understand why.” Qualitative research helps

understand why. I have attempted to understand

the why of patients, of families, of students, and of

professionals. I truly enjoy my research activities and

am always eager to work with a variety of academics

and other professionals to understand behaviors.

I began this column by sharing my aversion to

research and the reasons for my avoidance. What a

mistake that was early in my career! My suggestion

to young academics who are just beginning theirresearch careers is to choose any research topic of

interest using methodology of their preference. The

major requirement is to commit to a topic and to stay

focused. I would also strongly recommend finding

research partners who have skills in areas in which

they are lacking. Finally, commitment is crucial. It is

quite easy to give up if you have had a rejectedmanuscript. I have abandoned many projects

following negative comments, and in retrospect,

made significant errors in doing so. I should have

taken the suggestions given to me, checked my

personal disappointment, asked for help, and pushed

on. Many of those rejected projects would have been

of value had I persisted.

Dr. Professor Joan C. KostaVisiting Professor, National University of Malaysia

(UKM), Audiology and Speech Sciences

Research Requires Resources

The importance of research universities as powerful

catalysts for economic growth is now universallyrecognized. Research universities with higher global

ranking are also recognized as symbols of national

prestige and pride. For aspiring, rapidly developing

nations, this pride is an additional reason to establish

world class research universities. In order to meet

their national needs and to get recognition at the

international stage, research universities around the

globe are therefore putting enormous effort to

improve the quality and quantity of their research

output. To be judged for quality, research efforts

must lead to outcomes that are open for peerappraisal and are publicly verifiable. Various criteria

are used to judge the quality of research output. One

widely accepted principal measure is research

publications in internationally-esteemed, high

quality journals. Research effort aiming at high

quality publications, particularly in science andengineering, is resource intensive. There were times

in the past when great advances in research could

be made with meagre resources. But those days are

gone. Science and technology have now reached

such a level of complexity that it is very difficult—ifnot impossible—to make any recognizable researchprogress at the international level without adequate

resources. To achieve quality research output and to

compete with the best in the world, modern research

universities need hosts of manifold resources. These

include human resources, physical facilities, and a

conducive research environment.Many studies are available in the literature on

the role and importance of different resources on

research output. Some references are listed in the

bibliography at the end of this article. It is not myintention here to give an exhaustive list of required

resources. What follows is rather a highlight of some

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



that seem relevant in the current context. While someof the issues discussed relate to science/engineering,

most others are general.

Human Resources

One of the preconditions for high quality research is

to attract “the best and the brightest minds” at all

levels: faculty members, post doctoral fellows,

graduate students and technicians. Quality research

needs highly intelligent individuals with a strong

dedication to scholarly pursuit, a glowing spirit of

innovation, and willingness to work hard. Personal

characteristics that are often considered vital for a

successful researcher can make a long list. These

qualities include diligence, broad-mindedness,

resourcefulness, proactive nature, perseverance,determination, patience, passion, endurance,

responsibility and honesty.

Merely recruiting the best people is not enough.

There should be continuous efforts to elevate the

scientific and intellectual level of researchers. Faculty

members should concentrate their efforts on a

specific research theme, particularly in cutting-edge

areas, for a prolonged period of time to broaden and

deepen their scientific base. Such focussed efforts are

necessary for making any breakthrough. In this

context, it may be mentioned that currently there areinstances where graduate students propose researchtopics on which adequate in-house expertise may not

be available, yet supervisors with expertise in an area

far from the students’ proposed research topics are

available to supervise them. Such lack of a specific

expertise can be unhelpful in two ways. On the one

hand, students cannot get the best guidancenecessary to conduct quality research. On the other,

supervisors, hopping from one topic to another, are

bound to dilute their effort. This distraction cannot

help the supervisor to concentrate and build a deepscientific/intellectual base that is necessary for

making any significant contribution that can berecognized internationally.

To conduct high quality research, graduate

students require very strong knowledge at both

background and advanced level. Undergraduate

programmes are not designed to provide this.

Independent literature study by the students may

not be adequate either. To fill the gap, research

students need to take advanced graduate level

courses. In the US, it is generally compulsory evenfor PhD students to take graduate courses. This

requirement may be a reason why US research

universities remain the best in the world. Nowadayseven a number of UK universities are requiring their

PhD students to take courses/modules.

An adequate number of post-docs is necessary

to assist faculty members in research supervision,

particularly in a large group. A rule of thumb often

used in the US universities stipulates that thereshould be one post-doc for every five/six graduate

students. This is to ensure effective supervision and

to maintain quality.

With the increasing complexity of scientific

tools, the role of laboratory technicians becomes ever

more important. In a research university, technicians

are required to assist in research. They must have

the knowledge and skill to operate and maintain

sophisticated equipment. They must be able to

develop and adopt optimized procedures to achieve

the best result in a specific situation. In some

instances, they are also required to participate in

interpreting the results. It is, therefore, no wonder

why many laboratories in the best research

universities employ university graduates or even

PhD holders as technicians/technical officers.

Physical Facilities

Though a faculty may boast the best of human

resources, it is not possible nowadays to achieve highquality research output in science and engineering

without cutting-edge laboratories, computational

facilities and library resources. The quick advance

of technology coupled with the rapid obsolescence

of scientific equipment makes it essential to invest

periodically in the creation of state-of-the-art

research facilities. However, just acquiring ultra-

modern facilities is not enough. There has to be a

system in place for their proper maintenance and

efficient use. As mentioned earlier, the availability

of qualified technical personnel is of paramountimportance. Reference may be made in this

connection to a recent speech by the Pro-Vice

Chancellor (Research and Research Infrastructure)

of Monash University, Australia which highlighted

how important it is to establish the very best

infrastructure to achieve the very best research

output. Monash University has made huge

investments over the last five years to establish

cutting-edge laboratories. At the same time, it also

ensured good maintenance contracts and hired

technicians who are regarded the best in the field.In order to optimize their use, some costly

laboratory facilities may be centrally placed. Some,

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



however, may be best managed in the form ofdistributed facilities. Whatever form of management

is used, it must ensure users full access to the

facilities. An adequate stock of equipment may be

necessary to cater to a growing number of users.

Feedback from users and their participation in the

management of the facilities are of great importance.Graduate students should be sufficiently trained

so that they can work with the equipment

independently, even during the evenings and nights

in order to maximise the return from investment.

Modern library facilities are an essential element

of quality research infrastructure. In addition to journals, advanced level books should be collected

by the library on a regular basis. There should system

in place that allows very quick acquisition of copies

of papers, theses, reports etc. which are not available

in the library, and the availability of this system

should be widely publicized.

Research Environment

Studies have revealed that the environment of an

organization has a decisive impact on the

productivity of individual researchers. It has

been found that a highly productive researcher

can perform poorly when he/she moves to a less

favourable environment. Research environmentencompasses all levels: individual group,

departmental/faculty, university, and even

national level.

A conducive research culture is the one that

values scholarship, sincerity, devotion and hard

work. It appreciates and cultivates curiosity,

creativity and genius. In a successful university, the

organizational culture is understood, valued and

shared by everybody. It promotes personal

relationship among colleagues who exchange

encouragement and stimulation among each other.Co-workers talk to each other about their work and

celebrate each other’s achievements. Frequent

communications among colleagues are a

precondition for such an enabling research culture.

It is therefore highly important to create

opportunities for colleagues to talk to each other.

Sometimes simple steps can make a big difference.

For instance, a daily fixed tea/coffee time at the

department where colleagues can gather and chat

can contribute significantly to create a positive

environment. It is not only the intra-universityculture but also the inter-university or cross-institutional environment across the nation that

is important.

In order to stay motivated and to move forward,researchers need periodic recognition for their

success. Monetary reward is used as a form of

recognition. But other forms of rewards have also

proven to be effective. In fact, studies show that

simple praise can be the most cost effective form of

recognition. Appropriate forms of recognition bymanagement and peers should be built into the

organizational culture.

Since graduate students are the front-line

workers in a research university, it is highly

important to have an environment where they can

give their feedback and make suggestions for

improvement. Some research universities ensure this

by including student representatives in appropriate

formal committees at the department/faculty level.

Research is a twenty-four-hour job for researchers.

In the best universities of the world, researchers and

graduate students often work overnight to maximise

the usage of equipment, to meet the deadlines for

submitting project reports, conference papers, theses

etc. It is therefore important to create an environment

where graduate students feel motivated and

comfortable to work after office hours.

It is well known that with continuous pressure

on researchers to perform, there may be instances

where un-ethical practices creep in. If not tackled,

such corner-cutting practices can be very detrimental

to a university. Hence, there should be conscious

effort at all levels to promote good research practice.

Ethics in research should get top priority right

from the beginning. Research integrity should be

emphasized at the individual and institutional levels

to eliminate fabrication, falsification, plagiarism,

inappropriate authorship etc. The environment in a

university should ensure objectivity, openness, and

truthfulness in order to promote ethical practice.

A research environment as described does not

occur automatically; it has to be established, nurtured

and built up with continuous effort. Researchers

do deserve an environment where they can givetheir best.

Conclusions

There is always room for improvement for any

dynamic organization. This is more so for a research

university that aspires to be among the best in the

world. In order to achieve quality research output,

to secure a top global position and to retainthat position, one has to make sustained, well-

coordinated efforts to acquire and efficiently manage

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



all necessary resources. Research requires resourceson all fronts including human resources, physical

facilities and a conducive research environment.

Indeed, high quality research requires high quality

resources. There is no alternative. To obtain these

resources, obviously a huge investment is necessary.

The good thing is that investment in research doespay back many fold in the long run.

List of Recommended ReadingMaterials

Altbach, P. G. (2009). Peripheries and centers:research universities in developing countries.Asia Pacific Education Review, 10(1), 15-27.

Bland, C. J., & Ruffin, M. T. (1992). Characteristics of

a productive research environment: literaturereview. Academic Medicine, 67(6), 385-397.

Ferguson, K., Masur, S., Olsen, L., Ramirez, J., Robyn,E., & Schmaling, K. (2007). Enhancing theculture of research ethics on universitycampuses. Journal of Academic Ethics, 5, 189-198.

Grigore, L. N., Candidatu, C., & Blideanu, D. C.(2009). The mission of universities in theprocesses of research – Innovation anddevelopment of entrepreneurial culture.European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies(1), 5-17.

Harris, E. (2004). Building scientific capacity indeveloping countries. EMBO Reports, 5(1),7–11.

Maes, K. (2010). Advice paper: Universities, Researchand the ‘Innovation Union’. League of EuropeanResearch Universities.

Ministry of Human Resource DevelopmentDepartment of Secondary & Higher Education.(2005). Report of the Task Force for Basic ScientificResearch in Universities. New Delhi: Governmentof India.

Salazar-Clemeña, R. M., & Almonte-Acosta, S. A.(2010). Developing Research Culture inPhilippine Higher Education Institutions:Perspectives of University Faculty. Retrieved21 December 2010,: from http://portal.u n e s c o . o r g / e d u c a t i o n / e n / f i l e s /5406211870006385Rose_Marie_Clemena.pdf/Rose_Marie_Clemena.pdf

Smith, I. (2010). Speech by Pro-Vice Chancellor(Research and Infrastructure), MonashUniversity. Retrieved 2 December 2010,: from

http://www.monash.edu.au/research/infrastructure/

Yamamoto, S. (2001). Basic Research and the Role ofUniversities in Japan, Workshop on Basic Research.Oslo, Norway.

Professor A. S. M. A. HaseebDepartment of Mechanical Engineering

University of Malaya

Strategies for Better AcademicWriting

“There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”—Louis Brandeis

You know the discourse of your scientific discoursecommunity well. Nonetheless, writing a paper in

English may seem a challenge, and it should. Irevamp and revise my own papers many timesbefore I feel they’re OK for submission. Includingthis one you’re reading.

I want here to first discuss some more globalstrategies for writing an article in your field. And ina second section to comment briefly on a few specificproblems for writers of international English inMalaysia and the region.

Strategies for Writing

First and foremost, read carefully several of thepapers you are citing as references that are mostsimilar to your own study, and written by nativespeakers in the Global North or Australia/NZ. Orseveral similar studies that you really like and haveinfluenced your work. Try to imitate the styleand organization. This is ‘applied proactiveintertextuality.’

Whenever submitting to a specific journal, lookat 4-5 papers published by the journal carefully.Choose journals from different Quartiles (Ergon, 2[1],

p. 5). Study the organization. Get a small notebookand begin to write down expressions you notice youwould like to use, ways of organizing data, headings.If the article is in your own sub-discipline, entiresentences can be culled which can be used as patterns(not for plagiarism of course) in your own work. Thisis a kind of ‘article templating’ or modeling youshould develop.

The Noticing Hypothesis

In all reading, some research indicates you may learnabout language by ‘noticing’ something in grammar,style, rhetoric, organization, which you mightotherwise just have ‘read’ for information and

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



brushed over, not really ‘noticing’ the language. Sopause to N O T I C E some of the specific languagethe writer uses to report on and review the literature,and make that part of your own toolkit of usefulphrases. But learning is not acquisition. You may‘know’ some grammar rule, but still don’t apply it

when you actually write. All of you should readKrashen & Brown, “What is Academic LanguageProficiency?” (2007): http://tinyurl.com/23srsqs

So: acquisition of Academic English in yourdiscourse community, with all its rhetoric, is the goal.Acquisition means control becomes almostautomatic. Noticing is a step toward learning ‘about’language.

The ‘Noticing Hypothesis’ in languageacquisition is much discussed, with conflicting views.Some psycholinguists think it may of course enhanceyour metalinguistic conscious knowledge of

grammar and grammar rules, but not concreteacquisition and actual language production (Cross,2002 http://tinyurl.com/253k4rh ). For your ownacademic writing, I think conscious focused‘noticing’ of form and other aspects of discourse inan academic-scientific paper can improve yourwriting, and your revision. Have a set of full modelsin front of you that you read and reread, until thatdiscourse sinks in subconsciously, and consciouslythrough ‘noticing’ as well. Concentrate on somemodels for sections on Methodology, Findings andDiscussion. Read and re-read. This is proactive

energizing intensive input.

Daily writing, rewriting, ideaincubation

Write a bit every day, maybe start a science personal journal. Rewrite and revise, “there’s only greatrewriting.” Let your ideas incubate, rest your mind(Krashen & Brown, 2007), rewrite. “Writing is 1percent inspiration, and 99 percent elimination”(Louise Brooks).

Read, read, read!

Colin Binns in Ergon (2[1], p. 4) recommends “Write,Write, Write!,” meaning you learn to write better bywriting. OK, but I (and linguists like StephenKrashen) would recommend more strongly “read,read, read,” even the same exemplary or favoritepapers or authors again and again. And while youread: “notice, notice, notice.” This is a prime modeof intensive academic reading.

More generally, the best way to improve youroverall English writing and speaking and listening, aswell as general reading, is to read extensively.Extensive Reading (ER) should be done at a level of

General English you feel is quite easy, to make itespecially easy and more pleasurable. Read an easynovel, short stories, Readers’ Digest. Read simplerarticles about your own field. But keep in mind the‘5-finger rule’: if there are more than five words on apage you don’t know, the material may be too hard

for your recreational reading. Reading material thathas a vocabulary of about 3-4,000 headwords maybe quite comfortable for many of you.

Extensive Reading and VOA Special

English

You can also read the superb website VOA SpecialEnglish: http://www.specialenglish.com All itsarticles, on 14 different topic areas every week,from science and medicine to history, entertainmentand American literature, are short, from 500 to 1,400words, with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 headwords,so quite easy. You can also listen to the texts beingread, and even download these recordings onMP3. And there’s a huge archive of some 6,000 texts,open access.

Extensive Reading of easier material forrecreation will improve your grammar, yourspeaking, your listening, andyour writing (academicand general) – in part subconsciously (see Krashen,The Power of Reading, 2004; Krashen & Brown, 2007).You may not think so but that is often what islacking: you’re not reading enough General Englishat a fairly easy level for recreation. Much researchsubstantiates this.

Listen Extensively!

Extensive Listening is also good medicine forimproving your English writing. If you listen , youwill find VOA Special English is slower, read at 90words per minute (instead of 120 wpm, a morecommon speed, especially in the media). But this isalso good for sharpening your aural comprehension.

Listening to 30 minutes of VOA Special English,with world news (10 minutes) and two features(19-20 minutes) every day, you will have about 2,500words a day comprehensible aural input. If done fora week, this is 17,500 words input. This amounts to75,000 words a month, about 900,000 words [!] a year.You can also listen to http://www.eslpod.com. Tryit. Make it a habit.

Grammar problems?Read carefully, trying to notice especially how tenseis used, word order. Many Malaysian scientists writean English marred by incorrect international usage

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



of prepositions (it may be OK here in spoken Englishor even Manglish) , the lack of the definite article‘the’ where it is needed, and vice versa the use of‘the’ where most metropolitan native speakers wouldnot include it. Look at the use of all prepositionsas you (re)read. Concentrate on noticing which are

used when.Here a sampling of just a few errors: “They lack

of exposure on this.” “I want to emphasize on thisfact.” “They are interested into the problem.” Orcertain phrasal verbs: “He voiced out his opinion” istypically Malaysian. Make sure a plural subject hasa plural verb form, a very common error. Make sureall plural nouns have a plural form. Make suresentences average about 18-20 words. VOA SpecialEnglish averages 15 wps. This article before youaverages 12.37 wps. Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/7e7sxo

OWLs

Make use of the editing services your faculty mayoffer, perhaps even free of charge. And finally:become familiar with some online writing labs,there are many. Familiarize yourself with Garbl’sWriting Center: http://garbl.home.comcast.net/~garbl/Another great site is PurdueUniversity Online Writing Lab, or OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/. Have fun, notice

more, spur real acquisition.

Bill Templerformerly Faculty of Education

University of Malaya

Writing a Review Paper

Academic promotion, the seeking of knowledge, thefinding of new ideas, creating international linkages,international reputation or ranking, and professional

satisfaction are the factors that drive scientists towrite scientific papers. While there are many rewardsfor having research disseminated in a scholarlyoutlet, the preparation of a good research report isnot a trivial task. A systematic approach is neededto develop the skills required to write a good pieceof work. Based on experience, it was found that journals which publish review papers have a quitehigh impact factor. Therefore, the main focus will begiven on writing a review paper that can be preparedwith the resources that we have in University ofMalaya.

Types of contributions

Scientific research can be carried out based onexperiemntal investigation, computer modeling orsimulation, field/survey work and theoretical work.

Depending on the quality and length of amanuscript, it can be:

• A full length article• Short communication/brief note/view point/

technical note• Data bank• Review article

A full length article

The majority of research articles published fall intothis category. These articles contain a comprehensive

investigation of the subject matter. Full-length

articles (7500-9000 words) describe original research.

Such papers are almost always divided up into four

major sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and

Discussion and Conclusions.

Short communication/brief note/viewpoint/technical note

These are shorter research articles that are not ascomprehensive in scope as full-length researcharticles, but nevertheless contain information thatmakes a significant contribution to the literature.They may be only 2–4 pages in length (usually <3500words), may include just 1-2 tables and figures, andmay mix methods, results, and discussion into asingle section.

Review article

As the focus of this article is how to write a reviewpaper, it will be discussed in detail in the followingsections.

What is a review article?

Review article is an article which summarizes theliterature on a topic, critically evaluates the researchon that particular topic, and presents that researchin a new outlook.

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



Features of review articles

A single feature makes a good review article: theintegration of many articles. Some journals mayallow 50 articles to be summarized in one reviewarticle. However, some journals may require

summarizing 200-300 articles. Therefore, the numberof articles sufficient to be treated in a review dependson the type and nature of journals along with that journal’s policy. A review article displays thedirections of current research in the field andsummarizes the major conclusions.

Purpose of writing review articles

• To present the most up-to-date information ona topic.

• To present a critical, thoughtful discussion of acollection of primary articles on a particulartopic.

• To present the history of a topic.• To highlight the challenges in a particular topic.• To compare and contrast research on a

particular topic.• To supply the needs of the profession.• To provide the reader with a handy guide to a

particular topic.

Benefits of writing review articles• Increase the number of citations.• Display prominence in the field.• Increase one’s chance to become a referee.• Increase one’s chance to become a member of

editorial boards of journals.

• Increase one’s chance to be invited to write morereviews and chapters in books.

• Increase one’s chance to be invited to write abook.

Useful databases for writing a reviewpaper

Sciencedirect, Springer, Taylors and Francis,Multiscience, Inderscience, Pro-Quest DigitalDissertation, Oxford University Press, MIT press,Scopus, IOP (Institute of Physics), ACS (AmericalChemical Society), and many more.

It should be noted that University of Malayaspends about RM13 Million/yr for variousdatabases, including those mentioned above. Theabove list is not exhaustive but I strongly feel that itdefines a comprehensive set of databases which cansupport scientific writing. From my experience, Istrongly feel that these databases are extremelyuseful for writing scientific papers, especially areview paper as a review paper does not require anyexperimental facilities to generate data. Theopportunity to write review papers should be fullytapped and utilized since normally a journal whichpublishes a review paper has a high impact factor.Table 1 shows a list of journals which publishedreview papers and those journals’ impact factors. Itcan be seen from the table that the impact factors ofthese journals are very high and thus they fall intothe Tier 1 category. This information is based on the JCR report 2009. One can explore a suitable journallisted in Table 1 for a sample paper.

We now come to the question: how does onewrite a review paper? This is explained in thefollowing section.

Table 1 List of Journals that publish review articles

Serial Title of the Journal Impact factor Tier Discipline

Number

1 Progress In Energy And Combustion 11.024 Q1 Energy and Fuels

Science

2 Renewable & Sustainable Energy 4.842 Q1 Energy and Fuels

Reviews

3 Critical Reviews In Environmental 7.091 Q1 Envorinmental

Science And Technology Sciences

4 Progress In Materials Science 15.769 Q1 Materials Science,

multidisciplinary 5 Annual Review Of Materials 7.911 Q1 Materials Science,

Research multidisciplinary

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



Structure of typical review article

• Title• Abstract• Introduction• Body and discussion• Conclusions• Recommendation for future work• Acknowledgments• References

Any sample paper published in any of the journalsin Table 1 will help one to see the details of a reviewpaper.

A few practical tips

• A postgraduate student during h is/herliterature review stage (first six months) mayprofitably focus on review articles

• Those who have completed a Master or PhD cancompile and produce number of review papersbased on subtopics/objectives

• While preparing an original paper, a reviewpaper can also be produced using the litertureencountered in original research. This willprovide double benefits/outputs

• One can be appointed part-time/full-time RA

to produce a review article• A review article should fill a gap in the literature(i.e. something new in the literature, no one haswritten it before)

• No original experiements or simulations mustbe reported in a review article

Associate Professor Saidur RahmanDepartment of Mechanical Engineering

University of MalayaEditor-in-Chief of International Journal of Mechanical

and Materials Engineering

Associate Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Renewable Energy Research andEngineering e-Transaction

Where shall I send this?Submitting for publication

The expression ‘publish or perish’ has never beenmore true than it is today. Universities in manycountries now require staff to publish in major,high-impact, peer-reviewed Anglophone journals as

a pre-requisite for tenure, promotion and careeradvancement. As a consequence, participation in thisglobal web of scholarship is now an obligation andacademics find themselves having to navigate the

dangerous waters of the international publicationprocess. With financial incentives for academics anda massive increase in submissions from writers inChina and Iran, competition is now very fierce andrejection rates as high as over 90% for manyprestigious journals. The challenges of writing for

publication are therefore considerable, but thechances of getting a paper accepted are greatlyincreased with some planning and research toidentify your target readership and preferred journal. Essentially this means considering fourkey things.

Know your paper

First you need to have an explicit understanding ofyour paper so that you know who might be most

interested in reading it. To accomplish this fit witha particular journal, summarize core aspects of thepaper with a series of one-sentence responses toquestions such as:

• What is the topic of the paper?• What is your main point?• What theoretical/methodological approach

does it use?• What issues does i t address in the prior

literature?• What is novel in the paper?

• Who will it most interest?

Simple answers to these questions will not only helpyou to target an appropriate journal, but also to seeany obvious flaws or weaknesses in it. Some of themain reasons for rejection are that the researchquestions have already been addressed in priorstudies, so that the paper makes no originalcontribution, that it does not have an obvious point,that wrong methods have been used, or that it lacksanalysis, argument, context, critique, evidence,literature, methodology, rigour or significance. You

should carefully scan your paper for these faults.

Know your audience

One of the most important findings of research intosuccessful writing is that writers consider theirreaders, even before they begin to write. We needto consider what interests them, what they know anddon’t know, what they are looking for in a paper,and how they expect it to be presented. This is wherereading is important, not just the reading you do to

understand your subject and develop your literaturereview, but reading to see what makes a successfulargument in your discipline, whether claims aremade boldly or hedged, and what weight is given

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



to quantitative data. The conventions of academicwriting differ hugely across disciplines and so norules apply across the board; arguments that succeedin physics won’t work in cultural studies. A paperwill only find its way to publication if it frames ideasand uses arguments which readers are likely to find

familiar.Successful writers also know the market for the

paper in the sense that it is relevant to the audienceand timely in its appearance. These two factors maybe more important than originality in getting a paperpublished, and while such decisions clearly involvea knowledge of the field and its current literature,they also relate to the question of finding the rightniche for the topic. In other words, the author of asuccessful paper knows what the reader knows andbuilds on this to take the reader somewhere new:to something they don’t know but can accept based

on what they do know. Writing for a particularaudience therefore involves making decisions abouttheir degree of specialised knowledge, whether theyare practitioners, students, or researchers, andwhether they are likely to be hostile or accepting ofyour ideas.

Know the available journals

It is also important to target a particular journal toachieve a good fit between your paper and target

audience. Even better, it is advisable to have a journalin mind before you start writing and write for thatparticular journal. This means researching theavailable journals to ensure that the paper bothaddresses the relevant audience and is presented inthe appropriate way. This is because:

• each journal has a slightly different readershipwith different interests

• each journal has distinctive ‘genres’ of writingthat they prefer to publish

• each journal has preferred topics, methods,

theoretical preferences and specialized areas• each journal has different format requirements

The likelihood of a successful submission will beincreased if you make a serious effort to conform tothese – or at least anticipate the ‘mind set’ of theeditorial board.

Researching journal webpages can help giveyou an idea of the academic level at which the journal is pitched, an understanding of the sort ofpapers it publishes and a familiarity with itsintended readership. A few hours of intensive

surfing of publishers’ web sites getting to know therequirements and kinds of submissions they arelooking for can therefore help avoid a rejection beforereviewers have even seen the paper. Information

on journals can be found directly from the publishers’websites, but in addition you can search for journalsthrough these websites:

Thompson ISI website journal pagehttp://www.isinet.com/journals/

ISI Master Journal Listhttp://science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/

Genamics JournalSeekhttp://journalseek.net/hum.htm

Science Direct– 1800 Elsevier journalshttp://www.sciencedirect.com/

Know the journal

When you have identified what seems to a potential

journal for your research, you might look at backissues to establish the relevance and suitability ofyour paper for that journal. You can get a feel for thetype of papers it publishes, the stance or approach itfavours, the background knowledge and orientationof its readers, and the composition of its editorialboard. As editors often send papers to be refereedby members of the board who may be in the referencelist of the submitted paper, it might be a good ideato anticipating the views and possible responsesof these people to your paper. Important places tolook are:

• Look at the journal description to discover if itwelcomes your kind of research

• Discover the scope and requirements• Look at the instructions for authors to format

and submit it appropriately• Look at back issues for the type of papers a

journal publishes• Look at the table of contents to see who

publishes in the journal (authors of publishedarticles are often chosen as referees forsubmissions in the same area).

• Look at who the editors are and who is on thereview board (do you identity with them andsee them as a possible community?)

• Discover how often it is published, the speed ofpublication and what access readers have

• Look at where it is indexed and at its ‘impactfactor’

One obvious advantage of targeting a specific journalis that you can avoid having a submission returnedto you as the manuscript is improperly formatted,uses the wrong referencing conventions, is too long

or too short, or because the topic is not appropriatefor the journal. My co-editor and I at the journalApplied Linguistics reject over a third of allsubmissions before they are even sent out for review

8/6/2019 Erg on April 2011



because authors haven’t taken the trouble to readthe journal or its requirements. It is therefore a goodidea to scan the notes for contributors which will tellyou what the journal wants in terms of formatting,word length, referencing style, submissioninformation and so on. Many journals now use an

electronic submission system such as EES (ElsevierElectronic Submissions) or Manuscript Central. Bothhave similar submission procedures which youneed to follow.

One way to weigh up the possible chances ofsuccess in getting published in a particular journalis to consider its prestige in the field. Obviously, thegreater the prestige of the publication, the greaterthe competition there is to publish in it and the lesschance there is of being successful. Some features ofa journal which contribute to its prestige are thestatus of the publisher and the eminence of its

editorial board, its high rejection rates, its policy of

double blind peer review (neither the author orreviewer is aware of the identity of the other) and itseasy access to readers though international and rapidonline and paper distribution. The most widelyacknowledged measure of prestige, however, is theimpact factor, or the number of citations to that

journal compared with the papers it has publishedover a period. Both the impact factor and itsranking can be found on journal websites or bychecking the Science Citation Index (SCI), availableonline through the Web of Science at http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/isi_web_of_knowledge/.

Which lists the top 3700 journals across 100disciplines. While keeping these things in mindwhen submitting your paper may not guaranteethat you get it published, it will certainly improve

your chances. Good luck!

Professor Ken HylandDirector, Centre for Applied English Studies

and Chair of Applied Linguistics

University of Hong Kong

The People of Ergon

Head of the Unit:Prof. Dr. Sarinah WY Low

(Faculty of Medicine)

Editor-in-chief:Dr. Toshiko Yamaguchi

(Faculty of Languages and Linguistics)

Editorial board:Prof. Dr. Seik Weng Ng

(Faculty of Science)

Prof. Dr. Raja Mazna Raja Hussain(Academic Development Centre)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Saidur Rahman Abdul Hakim(Faculty of Engineering)

Mrs. Ai Peng Koh(Central Library)

Clerical assistant:Ms. Farhana Zaulkifli

We can be contacted at [email protected] or7967 7812.

Published in Kuala Lumpur by theScholarly Publication Support Unit of theUniversity of Malaya

From the Unit

We offer editing service. If you are interestedto useour service, please contact 7967 7812 forfurther information. Submission procedures: A

final draft should be double-spaced in 12-pointfont and sent to [email protected]. A fee ischarged to the author.

Documents

Erg on April 2011