What is the purpose of your paper?

"We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acic (DNA). This structure has
novel features which are of considerable biological interest."
(Francis Crick and James Watson,
introducing their seminal 1953 Nature paper on the double helix)

One of the most common faults of research papers is that they fail to communicate a sense of purpose,
and how they extend the boundaries of knowledge. The most important thing that a writer can do when
thinking about writing is to write a purpose statement, covering:

• What is the significance of the paper?

• Why is it important and original?
• Who will be interested, who is the intended audience?
• What next: what are the implications for practice, what are the further research questions?

The purpose statement belongs close to the start of the article, but should also be central to the article's
composition. It will help you develop the article's structure, and provide a focus as you weave in salient
facts and discard others. All subsequent points should be related to the development of this purpose
statement.

Examples of purpose statements

The aim of this paper is to develop a holistic model of customer retention, with specific emphasis on the
repurchase intentions dimension, incorporating service quality and price perceptions, customer
indifference and inertia. The holistic approach in the study reported here is distinct from most past studies
on this topic that focussed on a single determinant of customer retention, namely service characteristics.
The hypothesized relationships are tested using data from a large-scale survey of the telecommunication
industry.
(Chatura Ranaweera and Andy Neely,"Some moderating effects on the service quality-customer
retention link", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 23 No. 2)
Are most leadership behaviours universal? Or, are there exceptions across country and corporate
cultures? This study aims to answer these important questions. Our aim is to highlight any generalizability
concerns that may arise due to American-centric researchers and their leadership theories. By taking a
global perspective, researchers and managers can be more confident with their understanding of what
leadership means and how leadership works in various national settings.
(Karen Boehnke, Nick Bontis, Joseph J. DiStefano and Andrea C. DiStefano, "Transformational
leadership: an examination of cross-national differences and similarities", Leadership and Organizational
Development Journal, Vol. 24 No. 1)
In this paper, we will critically reflect on the assumptions and assertions of the human resource-based
view of the firm. The human resource-based view of the firm is limited in its unambiguous, instrumental,
and rationalistic conceptualization of the relationships between the HRM practices, the HR outcomes in
terms of knowledge, skills and commitment, and the success of the organization. Our critique is directed
towards the utilitarian and formal/technical assumptions of this view, since it reduces human beings to
"human resources". In our opinion, this view represents the "standard system-control frame of reference
of much management thinking" (Watson, 2002, p. 375). We argue that such a conceptual model does not
do justice to the complexity of human beings and their functioning in organizational processes. In
particular, the approach neglects the ambiguities, irrationalities, and emotions that characterize the usual
practice in organizational change (Carr, 2001; Downing, 1997).
The purpose of this article is to sketch the outlines of a more differentiated approach towards the
contribution HRM can make to organizational change, an approach which corresponds to a process-
relational perspective, and one which "acknowledges the pluralistic, messy, ambiguous and inevitably
conflict-ridden nature of work organizations" (Watson, 2002, p. 375). Such a conceptual model pays more
attention to both the rational and instrumental considerations and the emotional needs and desires that
influence processes of organizational change. We base our approach on the core elements of the
relational theory of emotions (Burkitt, 1997). This view helps us in understanding the complex functioning
of human beings in the processes of organizational change (see, for example, Albrow, 1992; Ashforth and
Humphrey, 1995; Downing, 1997; Duncombe and Marsden, 1996; Fineman, 2000; Pedersen, 2000 ).
According to the relational theory of emotions, the actions and intentions of a person do not only stem
from their rationality, but they are always and inextricably bound up with the emotions he or she has.
Furthermore, emotions are viewed as being both individual characteristics and features of the power-
based relationships between people involved in organizational change. In particular, we will focus on
emotions as elements of implicit, so-called "hegemonic", power processes, which function as subroutines
in the daily practices of organizations. Hegemonic power processes may induce the organizational
members to consent to prevalent organizational views and to accept their insertion into organizational
practices, despite the possible disadvantages these practices might pose for them (Benschop and
Doorewaard, 1998; Doorewaard and Brouns, 2003).
(Hans Doorewaard and Yvonne Benschop, "HRM and organizational change: an emotional
endeavour",Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 16 No. 3)

Purpose statements and thesis statements

Sometimes, you may wish to write a paper which develops a particular thesis, in which case your
statement of purpose will be more a "thesis statement" – one that does not merely state coverage but
which also sets out an argument.

The following is an example of a "thesis statement" from a practitioner article about the survival of high
tech companies, expressed in succinct and rather journalistic fashion.

Example of a thesis statement

Our premise: only high-tech companies that align their business models with the hypercompetitive future
– one in which horizontal, not vertical, business models offer strategic advantage – will succeed. Those
that don't will falter.
(Vivek Kapur, John Peters and Saul Berman, "High-tech 2005: the horizontal, hypercompetitive
future",Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 31 No. 2)

A thesis statement should be precise, and focussed enough for all related points to be considered in the
article. As with a purpose statement, it should be kept in mind at all points during the writing of the article,
and may well change as the writing progresses.

In many cases, a series of hypothesis statements will be developed, perhaps as a result of a literature
review.

The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Maddison has useful handouts on thesis statements:

• Thesis and purpose statements

• Developing a thesis statement

They are aimed at undergraduates, but are clearly set out.

The introduction

The purpose statement sits withing the introduction: what else should of the introduction contain? The
latter's purpose is not merely to set out the paper's main aims, but also to provide context: why the topic is
important and what it contributes to the body of knowledge, background to the research, what the
structure of the paper will be, what made you decide to research this topic/write the article?
Look at the following articles and the way that they set out their introductions and provide a context for the
purpose statement.

Examples of introductions
In "HRM and organizational change: an emotional endeavour" (Hans Doorewaard and Yvonne
Benschop,Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 16 No. 3), the authors preface their
purpose statement with a paragraph about the importance of the human-resource based view of the firm
for the organization as a whole and for the field of organizational change.
Victor H. Vroom, in "Educating managers for decision making and leadership" (Management Decision,
Vol. 41 No. 10), provides a particularly strong example of an article which states why the research was
important to him, starting with an account of how he became interested in follower behaviour and
participation as a graduate student.
"Children's visual memory of packaging" (James U. McNeal and F.Ji Mindy, Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 3) starts by reminding us how biassed consumer research is to the verbal rather
than the visual, as a jumping off point for his own research.
"On the use of 'borrowed' scales in cross-national research" (Susan P. Douglas and Edwin J.
Nijssen,International Marketing Review, Vol. 20 No. 6) considers the use of a research tool, and starts by
describing the interest that there has been in cross-national and multi-country research, as a preface to
describing the ways in which constructs and scales are transported without due consideration of
equivalence.
Clyde A. Warden et al., in "Service failures away from home: benefits in intercultural service encounters"
(International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 14 No. 4), provide a novel way of setting the
context by quoting a service encounter from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.

How long should the introduction be?

Opinions vary over this – some say 500-700 words, others two pages. All in all, the introduction should be
long enough to develop the purpose statement and set out the background to the topic, but should not
overwhelm, or be out of proportion to, the rest of the paper.

When should the introduction be written?

There is a school of thought which says that the introduction should be written last, along with the
conclusion. However, the purpose statement should be the kernel of the work and should be written first,
and it is also useful to set out the context of the article. It is probably wise to write the introduction first,
because the introduction sets out your stall, as it were, and then revisit it as you write.

ays of organizing a paper

One of the most difficult aspects of writing anything is the organization of material, and research papers
are no exception. This section presents some very general tips on creating a structure.

Organization can be represented as a flow chart of processes which consider a series of ever decreasing
perspectives on the article:
The article's purpose was considered in the previous section. It should always be the cornerstone of the
article and should be borne in mind at all points to prevent aimlessness.

What are the main ideas?

Brainstorm the main ideas relevant to your article. Include within this ideas from the literature, which may
be background material or which may also be used to develop hypotheses.

Having done this, look at the main themes that emerge in your notes and group them into major sections.
You could try using some organizational device such as colour coding your notes, or index cards. The
following questions may be important:

• Why is the topic significant?

• What background material is relevant?
• How is it relevant to my thesis/purpose statement?
• Which are the more important points?

How can these ideas be grouped?

It is a good idea to create an outline of your paper before you start generating the text, so that you have a
blueprint. This could be a very rough draft or it could be a series of notes on index cards. Either way, you
should by this stage have the main headings, and the main topics within the headings, so that you know
where your article is going.

Writing a paper is like stringing pearls to make a necklace. There is an optimum order for these pearls to
form a paper, and some pearls are better left out.
(Kwan Choi, Editor, Review of International Economics, "How to publish in top journals")

There are a number of ways of organizing your material.

John A. Sharp, John Peters and Keith Howard refer to the "stimulus-response" pattern of writing, quoting
Monroe, Meredith and Fisher's 1977 book The Science of Scientific Writing:
Question-Answer
When you generate a question in writing, the reader will expect you to answer the question soon.
Problem-Solution
If you present a problem the reader will expect a solution or an explanation of why no solution is
forthcoming.
Cause-Effect, Effect-Cause
Whether you have mentioned a cuase first or an effect first, once you have mentioned one, the reader will
surely expect you to mention the other.
General-Specific
When you make a general statement, the reader will expect to be supplied with specifics, which clarify,
qualify or explain the general statement.
John A. Sharp, John Peters and Keith Howard, in The Management of a Student Research
Project (Gower, 3rd ed., 2002)

If you look at Emerald articles, you will see a number of different structures, for example:

• describing the development of a research project, from literature background to methodology to

findings and discussion
• chronological, describing developments over a period of time
• developing a number of hypotheses, and using these to develop a thematic structure for the
article.

Whatever your method of organization, it needs to be logical and appropriate to your material.

How can the main sections be broken into sub-headings?

By this stage you will know what your main sections are; the next task is to structure your material within
the major sections. Here, the task is basically very similar to organizing material into main headings:
select, and group, the main ideas within the sections. You will probably want to organize material into
subheadings within the main sections: subheadings help you develop the logical flow of your material,
and also act as sign posts to your reader.

Here are a couple of examples of articles which make particularly good use of headings:

• "A comprehensive system for leadership evaluation and development" (Larrson et al., Leadership
& Organization Development Journal, Vol. 24 No. 1).
• "Children's visual memory of packaging" (James U. McNeal and F. Ji Mindy, Journal of
Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 3).

Note that Emerald requires that headings be short, clearly defined and not numbered.

Are there smooth transitions between paragraphs?

Lastly, check that within sections there is a smooth flow of ideas. If the purpose statement is the
foundation of the article, its paragraphs are the bricks that make its construction sound. Paragraphs are
described in the "Use the paragrah effectively" section of our How to... write more simply guide, and
should always be concerned with the development of a topic or theme. Paragraphs should also develop
and flow from one another, without too many awkward breaks in the sense, or non sequiturs with abrupt
changes in topic without explanation.

he body of the paper

The body of the paper is where you recount the interesting facts of the research, after you have set the
scene and before you sum up the latter's implications.

John A. Sharp and Keith Howard, in The Management of a Student Research Project(Gower, 2nd ed.,
1996, p. 195), propose the following logical order for a research report:
 1. Introduction
2. Survey of prior research
3. Research design
4. Results of the research
5. Analysis
6. Summary and conclusions

A similar approach could be taken in a research article.

Emerald articles containing research usually follow a similar structure:

• Literature review
• Research methodology or approach
• Findings

Literature review

It is important to remember that an article is not the same as a dissertation: you should not cite all
possible references on the topic but only those that are relevant to your research or approach. The
literature review is not exhaustive; it is part of the setting of context. Bear in mind the following:

• Quote those papers from which your own research follows.

• Make it clear what the position was prior to your own paper, and how your paper changes it.
• Make sure that the papers you cite are relatively recent.
• Cite only your own articles in so far as they are directly relevant to your research/approach.
• Cite papers of potential referees, explaining the significance of the work to your own analysis.
• Once you have decided which articles are really important, create a "package" and have the
articles to hand as you write.

A common approach is to use the literature to develop a series of hypotheses, which are in turn used to
develop a new framework or as a determiner of the research objective.

Example
"Children's visual memory of packaging" (James U. McNeal and F. Ji Mindy, Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 3) is an example of an article which takes such an approach.

Research methodology/approach

If you have done empirical research, you need to state your methodology clearly and under a separate
heading. The methodology should:

• indicate the main methods used

• demonstrate that the methodology was robust, and appropriate to the objectives.

Focus on telling the main story, stating the main stages of your research, the methods used, the
influences that determined your approach, why you chose particular samples, etc. Additional detail can be
given in Appendices.

Examples
Efthymios Constantinides, in "Influencing the online consumer's behaviour: the Web experience" (Internet
Research, Vol. 14 No. 2), presents the results of a review of the issue of online customer behaviour from
48 academic papers. He describes the majority characteristics in terms of time of publication, journal, etc.
rather than giving a detailed list.
"Some moderating effects on the service quality-customer retention link" (Chatura Ranaweera and Andy
Neely, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 23 No. 2), describes the
stages in research, the methods (including prior studies and their impact on use of the methods), the
sample and how it was selected, and a brief description of the instrument (greater detail is given in the
Appendix). Again, the focus is on the main details in so far as they lend weight to the credibility of the
research.
Clyde A. Warden et al., in "Service failures away from home: benefits in intercultural service encounters"
(International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 14 No. 4), describe the pretest, including the
research that influenced the approach, and the actual survey, with essential details of the instrument,
measure, and participants.
James U. McNeal and F.Ji Mindy, in "Children's visual memory of packaging" (Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 3), describe the two studies they did to test the hypotheses developed through
their literature survey. The first was a content analysis of cereal packets; the method of determining the
packages is described, as is the coding criteria for content analysis. The second was a study of children
drawing cereal boxes; the rationale for use of this technique is given, and the sample, procedure and
coding approach are all described.

In the case of a theoretical paper, where you are not actually reporting on research which you did, but
perhaps putting together other people's research and developing it into a hyphothesis or framework, you
will still need some sort of section on methodology which details the criteria you used in selecting your
material. Alternatively, you will need to show how researches in literature lead you to derive new
conclusions.

Findings

As with the methodology, focus on the essentials, the main facts and those with wider significance, rather
than giving great detail on every statistic in your results. Again, tell the main story: what are the really
significant facts that emerge? Your section on results may well include one on discussion of the
significance of the findings.

Examples
Efthymios Constantinides, in "Influencing the online consumer's behaviour: the Web experience" (Internet
Research, Vol. 14 No. 2), summarizes the main issues of web experience for the online consumer under
the main headings which they found to be important in the literature, in such a way both researcher and
practitioner can get a good idea of the main themes.
In "Some moderating effects on the service quality-customer retention link" (Chatura Ranaweera and
Andy Neely, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 23 No. 2), the authors
describe their results, and the statistical tests they ran, in sufficient detail to give several pages of
discussion on their results.
Clyde A. Warden et al., in "Service failures away from home: benefits in intercultural service encounters"
(International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 14 No. 4), start their discussion of results by
stating what they included in the analysis – only those service failures that were equally represented in
both cultural settings. The statistical tests (ANOVA, Chi-square) are discussed in relation to how they
impact on the study's overall objectives. The results are linked back to the hypotheses.
James U. McNeal and F. Ji Mindy, in "Children's visual memory of packaging" (Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 3), present the results of their study summarized according to relevance to visual
memory. There is also an extensive discussion section.

Appendices

The purpose of an appendix is to contain material which is important to give a full understanding of the
topic of the paper, but which is too cumbersome to be given in the text; to do so would disrupt the
reader's train of thought. If material is relatively short, it can be integrated into the text. If in doubt, study
the examples given, and also other examples from the journal you are hoping to publish in.

ng the conclusion

"It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests
a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material."
(Francis Crick and James Watson
concluding their seminal 1953 Nature paper on the double helix)

The conclusion should summarize the main state of play at point of writing and look forward to the future.
Here are some do's and don'ts:

Do:

• summarize and conclude, restating the main argument, and presenting key conclusions and
recommendations
• state how your findings/new framework, etc. apply to the world of practice
• state what are the implications for further research
• say to what extent your original questions have been answered
• state the limitations of your research.

Don't:

• start a new topic or introduce new material

• repeat the introduction
• make obvious statements
• contradict anything you said earlier.

As Emerald's philosophy is based on the idea of research into practice, most journal editors and
reviewers are particularly keen on a statement of implications for the practitioner. This statement, along
with one describing the implications for further research, should be within the conclusion somewhere,
either within a section heading "Conclusion" or "Discussion", or in a separate section. Obviously in some
cases it may not be possible to make such statements, but all research papers should state implications
for research, and most papers will have implications for practice.

Examples
Dean Neu et al., in "The changing internal market for ethical discourses in the Canadian CA profession"
(Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 16 No. 1), close a review of ethics in the accountancy
field with a summary of the key findings of their analysis, a discussion of how the work complements
existing work, the limitations of the research, and summary remarks on the contemporary dilemmas of
accountants: "We would like to close by suggesting that we have entered a period in which accountants
are being forced to live a twin life, one that encompasses the globally competitive, but equally integral,
moral individual."
Allen Edward Foster and Nigel Ford, in "Serendipity and information seeking: an empirical study",
(Journal of Documentation, Vol. 59 No. 3), summarize findings in bullet points, then talk about the need
for further triangulated studies.
"On the use of 'borrowed' scales in cross-national research" (Susan P. Douglas and Edwin J.
Nijssen,International Marketing Review, Vol. 20 No. 6) also has a lengthy section on the implications for
further research.
Clyde A. Warden et al., "Service failures away from home: benefits in intercultural service encounters"
(International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 14 No. 4), conclude their research on
intercultural exchanges in the area of service by summarizing their findings, and their are sections on the
management implications (apologizing for poor service) and business strategy implications (need for
training).
In "Transformational leadership: an examination of cross-national differences and similarities" (Karen
Boehnke et al., Leadership and Organizational Development Journal, Vol. 24 No. 1), there is a section
"Discussion" on their research findings which is full of obversations for practice; the "Conclusion" starts:
"One executive's remark can summarize the content of all the reports: 'key learnings from this experience
were that a clearly focused, committed organization with strong visible leadership can accomplish what
might otherwise be seen to be the impossible!'".