Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
9 of Writing a
Research Paper
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Explain the criteria for choosing a research topic;
2. Write a literature review on a topic that has been decided;
3. Identify the steps necessary to write a good research paper; and
4. Use the right format to effectively write a research paper.
INTRODUCTION
At some point in your tertiary education, you may be asked to write a research
paper. Those who have done so know that this is no easy task. Even those who
write well are usually able to produce a good research paper only after many
attempts and much practice. However, this should not intimidate you. Most
university students are unprepared to write a research paper simply because they
have not had the opportunity to do so during their secondary school days or
when they were in college. They do not know the components of a research paper
and are unsure and bewildered when assigned to write one.
This topic attempts to remedy the situation. It provides you with an overview of
the fundamentals of writing a good research paper, highlighting its major
elements and explaining some of these elements in detail. In addition, it includes a
list of dos and donts applicable to most research papers. Finally, the topic also
offers some tips and strategies on how to get the grade that you are aiming for.
Writing research papers is an essential skill, not only for students and academics
but also for people working in organisations and institutions, who may need to
present ideas to others in decision-making positions. In todays increasingly
competitive society, all organisations and businesses need to innovate. To do that,
they need ideas. The best ideas, however, can go nowhere unless they are shared
and turned into reality. This is where research and research papers come in to
allow ideas to be shared, so that they can be implemented and translated into
reality.
You need to substantiate your claims when you write a research paper. Look at
the following sentence:
This sentence is just an opinion unless you are able to back it up with other
sources that support the statement. For instance, you could cite articles that
explain why women are no longer contented to be just housewives. Or, you could
highlight cases of women with high profile jobs as proof that they are no longer
contented with being mere housewives.
All this is research and a crucial part of writing a good research paper. Remember
that you may come across a lot of facts but only some of these facts will be
relevant to your paper. It takes skills to separate the chaff from the grain, and
write a good research paper.
ACTIVITY 9.1
Some of you may have had the experience of writing research papers.
Share this experience with your friends.
If any man wishes to write in a clear style, let him first be clear in his
thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style let him first possess a
noble soul.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
As the above quote shows, clarity in writing is very important. This is especially
true when writing a research paper. Remember that if the paper fails to
communicate its message well, then the research no matter how well done will
have little impact.
There is an old piece of advice that says: Write like you speak. This is good
advice to get you started on writing. However, when writing formal research
papers, you need to write a little differently. A good research paper is usually
written in the third person. This means that it is not presented from the
standpoint of I or you but rather from the standpoint of a narrator. The
writing of the paper is facilitated by using the outline for organisation and the
note cards for the recollection of facts.
Tip:
Give yourself time to work on a research paper. A good reserach paper does
not come out perfect the first time for anyone. Even the best writers have to
struggle to organise their papers and everyone needs to go through several
revisions before they reach the final product. So, do not feel bad and do not
skimp on revisions!
Next are key steps you can take to guide you in writing a good research paper.
Besides fufilling course requirements, the topic should be doable. A brief hunt on
the topic in the library and on the Internet will provide clues as to whether it is
doable or not. Be sure that the topic you choose has enough resources available.
You should decide on your topic as early as possible; brainstorm with your
lecturer for topic ideas if necessary.
Selecting a good topic is not easy. It must be narrow and focused enough to
be interesting, yet broad enough for there to be adequate information for
your research.
(ii) Have you read a newspaper article or seen a TV broadcast recently that
excites your curiosity or makes you angry or anxious?
(iii) Do you have a personal issue, problem or interest you would like to
know more about?
(iv) Do you have a research paper due in a class this current or the
following semester?
(v) Is there an aspect of one of your courses that you are interested in
learning more about?
(e) Be Flexible
It is common to need to modify your research topic during the research
process. Keep in mind the assigned length of the research paper or project.
These steps to choosing a research topic are summarised in Figure 9.1 below.
ACTIVITY 9.2
1. In your opinion, what is the best way to brainstorm for your topic
ideas?
Remember that the whole idea of writing a research paper is to provide new
ideas, or fresh insights, on a topic. Your research must provide evidence to prove
your hypothesis. How you go about collecting this depends on your research
methodology. Choose your methodology carefully you can carry out laboratory
testing, surveys, close textual analysis, psychoanalytic search, etc. Do read up on
what other researchers have said about your topic.
Bear in mind that your work is supposed to be new, not a repetition of other
peoples work. In the end, the best research papers combine good research with
original thinking. Try to maintain a critical attitude towards what you are reading
or examining; do not accept an argument just because it has ended up in print.
Ask yourself if you agree with it or not, and why.
One of the places to do research is the library. Do not be intimidated if the library
on your campus or in the city is big and unfamiliar. Even the most experienced
researcher needs help sometimes, particularly when handling specialised sources
such as government documents. The good news is you can ask the library staff for
such assistance. When you are lost, as we all are sometimes, ask the nearest
librarian for help. Sometimes, just standing around and looking confused is
sufficient to summon aid.
When you are doing your research, it is important to be creative. Below are some
tips to help you get started:
(c) Look At the Most Recent Books and Journal Articles First
These resources will usually contain a bibliography and notes that list earlier
works on the subject. This can be an invaluable, time-saving step in locating
supplementary resource material.
(e) Make a Careful and Complete Notation of the Source of Your Material
This is necessary to avoid problems in the future when and if you need to
look up a citation that you should have noted and completed.
SELF-CHECK 9.1
How would you go about, starting out on your research project?
(b) Books
Use your librarys computer access system or card catalogue to search for
books on your subject. A good place to start with is the OUM Virtual System
(VLS) Headings for ways to cross-reference your search for books. As soon
as you switch on your computer in the Virtual Library System and perform
the necessary steps, you will see hundreds of books on display. Some books
are available in their entirety while others only partially. If you wish to
check these books out, just inform the librarian on duty.
There are many useful websites that can get you started in searching for
information you need to write your research paper. Although some of the
Uniform Resource Locators (URL) are for specific information sources, most
provide you with hot-linked lists that will get you to where you might
want to look for information. It is important to note that URLs change
frequently. If they do not work, double-check the URL or contact the
organisation sponsoring the page.
When using Internet articles, put in the name of the author, date, and title of
the web page, the URL and the date you accessed the articles.
Every reference in your main text must appear in the list at the end of your
paper and every reference in the list must be mentioned in your main text.
SELF-CHECK 9.2
(a) Start with an introduction in which you establish your topic and state your
thesis statement. A thesis statement is a sentence that explicitly identifies the
purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas it is the crux of the
research paper everything else is included to support it;
(b) Move on to the body of your paper where, in a clear and logical manner,
you prove your thesis statement, step by step to convince your reader; and
(c) End with a conclusion where you do not just restate your thesis statement,
but give new findings and fresh insights as well.
Introductions which tend to be too general, and trite conclusions can ruin a paper.
Remember, these act as orientation marks for your reader. You tell him at the start
where you are heading, guide him along the way and tell him when you have
arrived. Bad organisation can cause you to lose your reader halfway through the
paper, so try to pick the best path to prove your thesis statement and guide him
along carefully.
(a) First, you should not write in a colloquial style unless absolutely necessary;
a professional, authoritative tone is important in academic writing.
(c) Third, make sure each paragraph has a central idea and connect the
paragraphs clearly.
(d) Fourth, avoid using the same words; look for synonyms to make your
writing more interesting.
(e) Fifth, and most important, check and double check your paper for
grammatical, punctuation, spelling and other errors.
There are some general house rules for writing style. For instance, titles of films,
books, TV shows and magazines are written in italics (thus, Utusan Malaysia);
titles of individual articles or entries and songs are put in quotations (for example,
Widuri). With the exception of such titles, keep capitalisation of words to a
minimum. Use quotation marks for short quotations and block quotes for ones
over three lines in length.
ACTIVITY 9.3
Example 1:
as one writer puts it the darkest days were still ahead (Weston 1988: 45).
Alternatively, the authors surname may be integrated into the text, followed
immediately by the year of publication in parenthesis, as in Example 2.
Example 2:
Adnin (1990: 564) has argued that
If there is more than one reference by the author in the same year, they are
generally labelled in order of publication with a lower case letter, as in Example 3.
Example 3:
Other researchers face this problem (Adnin 1996a: 89, Ali 1994: 102) while
Adnin (1996b:6) recognised
If the authors name is unknown, you should give the title of the article, book or
webpage, as in Example 4.
Example 4:
the worst election loss in the partys history (Utusan Malaysia 4 May, 2004: 10)
The references made in the text are listed in alphabetical order by author(s) at the
end of the paper. If the author is unknown, use the title.
Example 1:
as one author has put it the darkest days were still ahead [1]
this has been well documented in the literature [2 6]
The authors name can also be integrated into the text, as in Example 2.
Example 2:
Adnin [2] has argued that
However, there are variations to the in-text citation format:
Either square [ ] or curved brackets ( ) can be used as long as it is consistent.
Superscript is sometimes used rather than brackets, for example, was
discovered1.
References are listed in numerical order at the end of the paper, as in Example 3.
Example 3:
1. Adnin S. A., Aliana S. A. Tourism Management. Malaysian Tourism Board
Journal. 2004; 88 90.
A good way is to prepare cards with the full details of each source.
The cards can then be sorted when you are writing your reference list/
bibliography.
Make sure you keep track of the information sources you use and record the
necessary details in full, even if you are not sure whether you will actually
be using the source. This saves time as it is often difficult and time
consuming to find detailed information at the last minute.
Citing your sources is a form of honesty in which you admit an idea is not your
own. When you use ideas or even sections of writing you got from somewhere
else but do not clearly mark them as not your own, you are committing
plagiarism, which at some universities is an offence worthy of expulsion.
Not citing your sources can hurt your paper as, for instance, when you refer to
statistics without stating the source. To the reader, these could seem as made-up
numbers if you do not say where you got them. You can provide a bibliography
of the sources you use, but it is important to detail in the text where each idea or
quotation comes from.
9.3.5 Presentation
A well-researched paper loses much of its impact on readers if it is not well
presented. To present your paper well, you must write it clearly. Your sentences
need to be clear and concise. The paragraphs and sentences should flow easily
and this can be achieved after some practice. Always make sure the paper is
cleanly typed or printed without any missing pages or errors. If you have any
figures or illustrations, make sure they are clearly labelled. Adding illustrations to
your paper is important if you want to make specific arguments about a visual
text, but images inserted just for appearances sake would not serve any purpose.
In the end, it is your words that count.
Other things to consider are your sentences. They should be checked for possible
errors in syntax, punctuation and style. This is not difficult with the spell-check
function in your word processor but you should also do it manually because no
matter how good your spell-checker is, there are always a few things that a
machine will fail to pick up or miss or not recognise, for example, the wrong use
of a word.
If your research paper has fulfilled all these characteristics, you have yourself a
good research paper.
(a) Start with a paragraph that summarises the key results in the context of the
question(s) you asked in the introduction. In laymans terms, explain why
the results are important.
(b) Compare and contrast your study with others in the literature review. What
contributions did your paper make?
(c) List the limitations of the study and suggest other studies that might resolve
them.
(d) Discuss the implications of your study in other fields such as culture and
religion.
(e) Hypothesise and speculate on the data. If possible, provide a model for what
the data might suggest.
(f) Proofread, check your references, do a final literature search to add new
information and hold a discussion with your instructor again before you
submit your paper.
In the course of doing your research, you will be inundated with facts but only
some of these facts will be relevant to your paper. It takes skills to sort out the
necessary information from the trivial and the irrelevant.
ACTIVITY 9.4
In writing your paper, how do you distinguish between relevant facts
and unnecessary information?
Incident notes should specify the people involved, the place, event, date and time.
Summary notes should recapitulate general information in concise phrases and
sentences that can later become a part of the body of the paper. Facts should be
written in the writers own words.
(a) Be accurate and honest when you take notes. Take care that you do not
distort the authors meaning.
(b) Remember that you do not want to collect only those things that will
support your thesis and ignore other facts or opinions. The reader wants to
know the other side of the question too.
(d) Note methods and procedures and do not be afraid to criticise them.
Check out the sample Table of Contents (Figures 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4) and comment on
them in your next tutorial session.
To recapitulate, Table 9.1 summarises the steps that you need to take to come up
with a good research paper:
Steps Activity
Step 1 Choose a topic.
Step 2 Find information.
Step 3 State your thesis statement.
Step 4 Make a tentative outline.
Step 5 Organise your notes.
Step 6 Write your first draft.
Step 7 Revise your outline and draft
Checklist One*
Checklist Two**
Step 8 Type final paper.
*Checklist 1:
Is my thesis statement concise and clear?
Did I follow my outline? Did I miss out anything?
Are my arguments presented in a logical sequence?
Are all sources cited to ensure that I am not plagiarising?
Have I proved my thesis with strong supporting arguments?
Have I made my intentions clear in the paper?
**Checklist 2:
Did I begin each paragraph with a proper topic sentence?
Have I supported my arguments with documented proof or examples?
Are there run-ons or unfinished sentences?
Are there unnecessary or repetitious words?
Does one paragraph or idea flow smoothly into the next?
Are there any spelling or grammatical errors?
Are the quotes accurate in source, spelling and punctuation?
Are all my citations accurate and in correct format?
Have I made my points clear and interesting but remained objective?
ACTIVITY 9.5
1. When you write a research paper, you cannot run away from doing
a fairly comprehensive literature review. Imagine that you are
planning to research bullying in schools. State the steps that you
would take in order to produce a good piece of literature review.
There are eight steps in writing a research paper: choose a topic, find
information, state thesis statements, make an outline, organise notes, write the
first draft, revise the outline draft and finally write the final paper.
Among the tips and guidelines in writing a research paper are to read a lot
around the area of interest, organise the discussion, categorise the information
and develop note-taking skills.
Argument Outline
Background information Presentation
Brainstorming Referencing
Electronic citation Research paper
Government publication Supporting information
Journal article Source citation
Note-taking Thesis statement
Opposing information Topic