0

ResearchWritingHandbook
forKolejMatrikulasiLabuan

Thiscompilationwasalsoderivedfrommaterialscompiledby ChuanLingHue BrianChang JunainahMukhter VisitaBongot

This handbook and the accompanying webpage were compiled by Azzad Mahdzir of Kolej MatrikulasiLabuan. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and to adaptthework You must attribute the work in the manner specifiedbytheauthororlicensor(butnotinany way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar licensetothisone. http://progressivelessonplan.tumblr.com proglessonplan@gmail.com
2009byAzzadMahdzir.Somerightsreserved. 1

Chapter1Introduction
Beforewestart Atopicshould... makeyoulearn personally,mattertoyou keepyouinterested,stimulated besomethingthatyouhonestlywanttolearnmoreof o orcouldbesmallbutsignificant

Howtobuildatopic??
Topicsshouldnotbetoogeneral Themorespecific,thebetter Topicsshouldnotbearepetitionofotherpeopleswork.Ifanyonecan simplyaccessthetopicinWikipedia,whybotherrewriting? SleepingHabits toogeneral SleepingHabitsamongKMLStudents o Refrainfromreferringtothisprojectasafolioorscrapbook. Becauseitisnot. o Nothingistaboo.(Crosscheckwithyourmentor)

Theme Problem Topic Obj.

Theme Education >

Answer the questions listed in 1.1 1.3. As a researcher, the answers to your questionsarewhatyouneedtoconsider onwriting.

Problem > Problem(s)within > > thetheme(s)

Topic > Objective SleepingHabits > Referto1.3 amongKMLStudents

2

Diagram1:theequivalenceofintroductionparagraphinessay&researchintroductory

1.1 BackgroundofResearch Generaloverviewoftopic Commonbeginnings:Startwithaquestion,currentissue,quoteorstory (anecdote)oranycombinationofQIQS.

BackgroundofResearchshouldbewritteninacontinuousparagraphform

1.2 StatementofProblem Whatinterestsyouthemost?/Why? Couldyourelatethisissuewithyourpersonalsurroundings;personallife/ family/community/location? Whataretheissuesthatneedtoberesolved?

Commonbeginnings:"Thispaperexamines...,""Theaimofthispaperisto ...,"and"Thepurposeofthisresearchisto..."
StatementofProblemshouldbewritteninacontinuousparagraphform

Students sleep in class and lecture hall Students skip classes to sleep in hostel

1.3 ResearchObjectives Inspecific,listwhatyouwanttoknowaboutthistopic Inspecific,whatareyourgoals?

3

A. Whytheysleep. Donotbetoogeneralormerelyrepeatingotherswriting B. Studentssleepbecausetheyarebored. Donotconfuseobjectivewith hypothesis Morespecificandachievablethroughsurveyquestions: A. ToinvestigateKMLstudentssleepinghabit B. Toexploreimpactsofstudentssleepinghabitontheirclass attendance C. Tosearchtheimpactsofstudentssleepinghabitontheiracademic achievement Objectivescanbewritteninpointforms.

Chapter2 LiteratureReview
WHATisLR? Reviewofthecriticalpointsofcurrentknowledgeonaparticulartopic. Useofonlypublishedmaterial Combinationofmultiplesources. Newinterpretationofoldmaterial. Traces intellectual progression of the field, including major debates (i.e.oldtheory:sunorbitingearth newtheory:earthorbitingsun) Referencesarethenlistedattheendofyourreport WHYLR?4importantfunctions: 1. ContinuestheprocessstartedinBackgroundofStudy(referto1.1,p.2) 2. Assure readers that you are familiar with the important research in yourtopic 3. Establishthevalidityofyourresearch Contribute to the development of knowledge of your topic (i.e. other researcherscouldbenefitfromyourresearch)
4

Samples&Wheretogetthem? GoogleBookshttp://books.google.com Book,bookarticle ProjectGutenberghttp://www.gutenberg.org orchapter Anylibrarybooks Searchengineswww.google.com,www.bing.com, www.ask.com Internet Researchcentreswww.merdeka.org(Malaysia) Researchtoolwww.answers.com BBCNewswww.news.bbc.co.uk Newspaperarticle TheMalaysianInsiderwww.themalaysianinsider.com ERIC:EducationResourcesInformationCentre www.eric.ed.gov GoogleScholarhttp://scholar.google.com NSTA:NationalScienceTeachersAssoc. Journalarticle www3.nsta.org/freearticles HighWirePress:FreeOnlineFulltextArticles http://highwire.standford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl EncyclopaediaBritannicawww.britannica.com Answers.comwww.answers.com Encyclopaedia article MSNEncartahttp://encarta.msn.com InfoPlease.comwww.infoplease.com/encyclopedia UnitedNationsDevelopmentProgram:Human DevelopmentReporthttp://hdr.undp.org HIV/AIDSdata:www.unaids.org Reportsfromgov., org.,corporate, DepartmentofStatisticsMalaysiawww.statistics.gov.my conference NationalArchivesofMalaysiawww.arkib.gov.my Arkibssearchengine:http://compassweb.arkib.gov.my NationalLibraryofMalaysiahttp://mylib.pnm.my TIMEMagazinewww.time.com Newsweekwww.newsweek.com Magazine /Periodical ColorsMagazinewww.colorsmagazine.com ReadersDigestwww.rd.com InternetArchive:Audiowww.archive.org/details/audio CDROM,DVD InternetArchive:Education ROM,Audiobook www.archive.org/details/education Featurefilm,televisionprogram,documentary,shortfilm. Motionpicture/ InternetArchivewww.archive.org Video TEDwww.ted.com Thesis& Bachelordegree,masters,PhDdissertations dissertation www.ohiolink.edu/etd
5

Typesofsources

AlwaysprioritizesourceswithAuthorsNameandDateofPublication. Do not lose the basic information of origin of source. Complete the InformationChart(Tunceren&Cavusgil,2006)

HowtowritebasicLiteratureReview?
www.nationalgeographic.com

1. LRshouldbewritteninacontinuousparagraphform.Subtopicsare encouraged. 2. Eachsubtopiccanbewrittenbasedonkeywordstakenfromresearch objectives(referto1.3,p.2) 3. HereisasampleofbasicLRusingdirectcitation:

4. BasicLRshouldhaveanoutlinebasedonObjectives(referto1.3,p.2)

6

Diagram2:Highlightedkeywordsandthebreakdownofobjectives

5. Onceobjectivesarehighlighted,thesekeywordscanbeexploredin moredepththroughreading.Asaresearcher,askyourself;whatdoyou meanbythesekeywords? 6. Inyourresearchcontext,askthesequestions: Youarenotsurveyingall3000KMLstudents,so,whoarethey? Howmany?etc. Whatisagood/badsleepinghabit?Howaboutdaynaps? Testyourself! Whatdoyoumeanby Classattendance? .................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................. Academicachievement?Whichsubject?Whichlevel?Whatisthebest measurementofacademicachievement? .................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................

7

Diagram3:OverviewofLiteratureReviewwritingprocesses

Text Direct Literature Review Indirect

Image& Diagram Paraphrase

2TypesofLiteratureReview Directcitation Indirectcitation Intextcitationtakendirectly Authorsideabeingsummarizedor fromthesource.Mustinclude paraphrasedorsynthesizedby quotationmarks[...] researcher.Noquotationmarksneeded.

Singleauthor Direct

Thisbringstoaconclusionthat...itispossiblegeneticsof bothparentscouldbeacauseofsleepdisorder(Pauling,2005) Pauling(2005)discoveredapossiblegeneticcauseofsleepdisorder.

Indirect Twoauthors Arecentstudyfoundapossiblegeneticcauseofsleepdisorder(Pauling&Liu, 2005). PaulingandLiu(2005)discoveredapossiblegeneticcauseofsleepdisorder. Threeandmoreauthors Paulingetal.(2005)discoveredapossiblegeneticcauseofsleepdisorder. Arecentstudyfoundapossiblegeneticcauseofsleepdisorder(Paulingetal.,2005). etal.=abbr.Latinetalii(andothers)

8

Multiplepublications,sameauthor Recentstudieshavefoundapossiblegeneticcauseofsleepdisorder(Pauling,2004, 2005a,2005b). Pauling(2004,2005a,2005b)hasconductedstudiesthathavediscoveredapossible geneticcauseofsleepdisorder. Multiplepublications,differentauthors Recentstudiesfoundapossiblegeneticcauseofsleepdisorder(Alford,1995; Pauling,2004,2005;Sirkis,2003) Citationwithnoauthor Thisbringstoaconclusionthat...itispossiblegeneticsofbothparentscouldbea causeofsleepdisorder(Importanceofsleep...2008) onlywritethefirst3
wordsofthearticlestopic

Citationwithnodateofpublication Jonesbroughttoaconclusionthat...itispossiblegeneticsofbothparentscould beacauseofsleepdisorder(n.d.). nodategiven Citationwithrepublishedsourcepublication Jonesbroughttoaconclusionthat...itispossiblegeneticsofbothparentscould beacauseofsleepdisorder(1969/1996). Citingfactsalreadycitedbyotherauthor Usephraseslikeasquotedby,asmentionedby,ascitedby,asreferredby Accordingtoa1997studybytheNationalSleepFoundation(asquotedby Teli,2002),teenagersfromages15to25areathighriskforextremetiredness. Thisisbecauseofchangesinsleepcycles,poorprocessesingettingsleepand behavioursthatencouragesleep. Citingmorethan40words Placedirectquotationslongerthan40wordsinafreestandingblockoftypewritten lines,andomitquotationmarks. InasketcharticleinTheBostonGlobe(Howtonap...2008),ithasalsoreported that: Ourbodiesareprogrammedfortwoperiodsofintensesleepiness:in themorning,fromabout2to4a.m.,andintheafternoon,between1 and3p.m.Thismiddaywaveofdrowsinessisnotduetoheatortoo manyfriesatlunch(itoccursevenifweskipeating).Rather,itarises from an afternoon quiet phase in our physiology, which diminishes ourreactiontime,memory,coordination,moodandalertness.
9

Image :anyimage(i.e.pictures,painting) Diagram :anythingnumericalandgraphical(i.e.barchart,piechart, graphs)

Image1:TypicalstudentstwobeddormitoryinMatrikulasi

Source:http://aloppz.blogspot.com/2008/07/learnliveloveib.html)

Diagram4:Besttimetonap

Source:TheBostonGlobe

10

VerbsforParaphrasing 1. Verbthatpresentsaparaphrase:Reportingverb Presenttenseideasfeelclose/immediatelyrelevanttoacurrent situation Pasttenseideasfeellessimmediate.Affectthetenseofthe2ndverb Heindicatesthatreadingforleisurecanimprove a. peoplesreadinesstosleep. Heindicatedthatreadingforleisureimprovedpeoples b. readinesstosleep. Heindicatedthatreadingforleisurehadimproved c. peoplesreadinesstosleep. 2. Manyreportingverbsarefollowedbythat. that+subject+verb Expressionstointroduceparaphrases that... Ellis compares ... Ellis states says contrasts indicates identifies suggests describes implies discusses argues writes AccordingtoEllis...

Source:Tunceren&Cavusgil(2006)

EstablishingCredibilityofExperts Inacademicwriting,supportyourexplanationsandclaimswithideasand informationfromexpertsonyourtopic. Experts:a)receivedacademicdegreeorb)haveextensiveexperience orc)haveextensiveobservationonthetopic. Provideinformationaboutexpertsqualificationsorcredentialsto showreaderswhytheyaretrustworthy.

11

WeakExample

StrongerExample

InformationaboutMednickandherteamscredentialsareprovided.They seemtobeareliablesource.

Adaptedfrom:Tunceren&Cavusgil(2006)&Mednick,et.al(2002)

LRStructure Themechanismofessayformatscanbeusedinwritingthesubtopics.They are: a. Processessayformat b. Division&Classificationessayformat c. Causes&Effectsessayformat d. Comparison&Contrastessayformat e. Problem&Solutionessayformat

12

 Diagram5:AsampleflowofsubtopicsforChapter2

13

Avoidingplagiarismsomeexamples

Originalpassage1

According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation costs U.S.businessmorethan$100billionayearinlostproductivityanddamage to workers' health and safety. An estimated 80,000 drivers a day, for example,dozeoffwhilebehindthewheel(Russo,2006).
Russo,F.(July6,2006)APlaceforthePowerNap.TimeMagazine. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1209960,00.html.Retrieved30Oct,2009

Unacceptableparaphrase
AccordingtotheNationalSleepFoundation,sleepdeprivationcostsU.S.business morethan$100billionayearinlostproductivityanddamagetoworkers'healthand safety.Anestimated80,000driversaday,forexample,dozeoffwhilebehindthewheel (Russo,2006).

Reasons?Wordforwordcopying Unacceptableparaphrase
AccordingtotheNationalSleepFoundation,sleepdeprivationcostsU.S.business morethan$100billionayearinlostproductivityanddamagetoworkers'healthand safety.Anestimated80,000driversaday,forexample,dozeoffwhilebehindthewheel (Russo,2006).

Reasons? Still wordforword copying. No quotation marks. Not listed in Reference Unacceptableparaphrase
AccordingtotheNationalSleepFoundation,sleepdeprivationcostsU.S.business morethan$100billionayearinlostproductivityanddamagetoworkers'healthand safety.Anestimated80,000driversaday,forexample,dozeoffwhilebehindthewheel (Russo,2006). Reference Russo,F.(July6,2006)APlaceforthePowerNap.TimeMagazine. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1209960,00.html.Retrieved30Oct,2009

Reasons?Stillwordforwordcopying.Noquotationmarks.
14

Acceptableparaphrasewithquotations
The National Sleep Foundation (as mentioned by Russo, 2006) claimed that sleepdeprivationcostsU.S.businessmorethan$100billionayearinlostproductivity anddamagetoworkers'healthandsafety.Roughly80,000driversfellasleepwhile driving,ondailybasis. Reference Russo,F.(July6,2006)APlaceforthePowerNap.TimeMagazine. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1209960,00.html.Retrieved30Oct,2009

Reasons? Authors name & year of publication are written; wordforword quotationsaremarked;&sourcelistedinReference. Acceptableparaphrasewithoutquotations
Russo, a Time Magazine journalist (2006) echoed a report by National Sleep Foundation(inUSA)whichclaimedthatlackofsleepalsogivesmorethan$100billion annual loss to corporate America. Not only it is unhealthy, but lack of sleep also increasesdangerandinefficiencyamongworkers. Reference Russo,F.(July6,2006)APlaceforthePowerNap.TimeMagazine. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1209960,00.html.Retrieved30Oct,2009

Reason? Authors name, year of publication and credential are written; wordforwordquotationsaremarked;&sourcelistedinReference.

Originalpassage2

Maryhadalittlelambwithfleeceaswhiteassnow.Everywherethat Marywentthelambwassuretogo.Hefollowedhertoschooloneday, whichwasagainsttherules.Itmadethechildrenlaughandplaytoseea lambatschool.

Goose,M.(1968).Maryhadalittlelamb.Imagination,FL:GladandBigPublishing.
15

Unacceptableparaphrase
Marypossessedasmalllambwithwoolaswhiteassnow.EverywherethatMary went the lamb went too. He even followed her to school once, even though it was againsttherules.Butallthechildrenlaughedandplayedtoseethelambatschool.

Reasons? synonymsinsertedforauthor'swords theauthor'soriginalsentencestructureandtoneisstillthere thepassageisnotcitedinanyway distinctivephrasessuchas"whiteassnow"shouldbeinquotation marks

Acceptableparaphrase
According to Goose (1968), Mary had a lamb that followed her wherever she went.Althoughpetswereforbiddenatschool,itfollowedherthereoneday,muchto theamusementofMary'sfriends(p.5).

Acceptableparaphrasewithquotations
In a scene more suited to film noir than the nursery, we learn of Mary, a girl possessedofadoppelgangerintheformofayoungsheep.Thisubiquitoussheep,pale as a proverbial ghost with "fleece as white as snow," relentlessly pursues Mary wherever she goes. She cannot even get away from it by taking sanctuary at school, where the lamb appears one day, frolicking with Mary's school chums. Mary suffers severedisciplinefromherteachers,asitwas"againsttherules"tohavesuchacreature atschool(Goose,1968,p.5).

ExceptionsWhenDocumentingIsUnnecessary 1. Proverbs 2. Wellknownquotations 3. Commonknowledge Whenindoubt,fullydocument!Itsbettertoovercitethanundercite.

16

TipsonAvoidingPlagiarism
1. Startyourresearchandwritingearly. Ifyouprocrastinate,bettertotalktoyourprofessorandaskforan extension.Thisiswaybetterthanplagiarizing. 2. Makeclearnotes. a. Identifyyourideas b. Identifyyoursummariesofothersmaterial c. Identifydirectquotes 3. Doublecheckallcitationsandreferencesbeforeturningyourpaperin. 4. If,afteryouturnedyourpaperin,itcomestoyourattentionthatyou inadvertentlyplagiarized,talktoyourprofessor. Bettertoacknowledgetheunintentionalmistakebeforehand. ResourcestoHelpAvoidPlagiarism RandallLibrarysAssignmentCalculator http://randall3.uncw.edu/assignmentcalc RandallLibrarysPlagiarismGuide http://library.uncw.edu/web/research/topic/plagiarism.html UNCWWritingCenterhttp://www.uncw.edu/stuaff/uls/writing.htm Whenindoubt,askforhelp!

17

Chapter3Methodology

Diagram6:Methodsofdatacollectionanddegreeofinvolvementofresearcher

Adaptedfrom:Worsley1977,ascitedinMcNeill&Chapman(2005)

3.1 Researchsample(who?) Whoorwhatyouareresearchingon.Describetheirprofile(age,origin, ethnicity,gender,etc.)&allcriteriausedwhyyoupickedthem.Howmany?

Researchsampleshouldbewritteninacontinuousparagraphform

3.2 ResearchInstrument(what?) a. Questionnaire o Surveysifused,statewhichtypeofquestionusedforeachobjective o Interviewifused,includetranscriptionofyourinterviewandinclude date,time,venueandanythingrelatedtoyoursession b. Observationifused,includerecordofyourobservation;date,timeand venueofyoursessionifavailable Researchinstrumentshouldbewritteninacontinuousparagraphform 3.3 ResearchProcedure(when,where,how?) When,whereandhowtheinstrumentwasimplementedindetail. Researchprocedurecanbewritteninacontinuousparagraphform/flowchart
18

Chapter4Findings: Results&Analyses
Usually,findingsarepresentedinchartsandthesechartsareanalysed. Testyourself!Sketchthegraphs/chartsaccordingtotheirlabel.
Singlelinegraph Multiplelinegraph Pairedbarchart Singlebarchart

Piechart

Stackedbarchart

Flowchart

Bargraph

Table

Populationchart
19

Bubblediagram

Triplebarchart

Whatisatrend? Changesormovementsinfactsandfiguresoveraperiodoftime.

Diagram7:Sleepinghoursspentbyrespondents
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 12hours 34hours 56hours 78hours 8+hours

Howtowrite&presentdiagram
a. b. c. d. Underlinekeywords Circlethebiggest,thesmallest Usearrows.Makenotes Stableorunchangingparts,suddenincreases,etc.

Identifytrends.Atrendistheoverallideaofthegraphof: a. whatishappening/whathappened b. themainchangeovertime c. themostnoticeablefeatureaboutthegraph d. thepatternovertime

20

Use one graph for one question (for survey questionnaire). Discuss the graph.Analyseandsynthesise(similartoMUETWritingTest,Question1). Firstsentence:Describethegraph.Youcanusedifferentwordsorword forms,butbecarefultogivethefullinformation. Commonbeginning:"Thegraphshows" Secondsentence:Statethetrendortrends.Mentionbothtrendsorkeep theotheroneforconclusion. Commonbeginning:"Overall..." ANALYSESDiscussionofmajor,significanttrends Includefiguresandtrends;thehighest,thelowest,themostsignificant, fluctuations,plateauetc.Pickthemostsignificant:thebiggest,the smallest,themainpoints,themaintrends.Groupsimilarthingstogether. SYNTHESESSupportingthediscussion Synthesisethetrendsbasedonobservationorinterview Ifyoucannotfindfactualproof,supportwithreadinginLR Belogical.Donotinventbutbefactual Wordlength Writeshortparagraphs,around150words.
Resultsarebestpresentedviacharts AnalysesandSynthesesarebestpresentedatthebottomofthecharts

21

SomeDOsinwritingaboutdiagrams Youmaydiscussallyourgraphsrelatedtoeachotheratthesametime,in thesameparagraph Youcananalyzeyoursurveyquestionsbasedoneachofyourobjectives SomeDONTsinwritingaboutdiagrams Donotwriteabouteverythingonthegraph. DonotdescribetheXandYaxis. Donotdiscussthelines. Thelinewentup, Thebarwentdown. Discussthepattern. Thenumberofpeoplegoingtoworkbytrainincreasedgradually. Oilproductionshotupin1965 Donotuseshorthand: Womenwentdown. Menwentup. Writeabouttherealdata: Thenumberofmenatuniversityfelldramatically, Thepercentageoffemalestudentsgettingadegreerosesuddenly. Dontuse: Ifeel,asIhavewritten,asyoucansee,etc. Keepitacademic: ________________________________________ Includeconnectors:but,so,also,and,for,since,because,although. However,avoidbeginningyoursentenceswiththem.

22

Chapter5Conclusion
Thischaptersummarizesthewholeresearch.
Diagram8:theequivalenceofconcludingparagraphinessay&researchconclusion

5.1 SummaryofFindings Summarizebasedonobjectives/keyfindings 5.2 ResearchLimitation Considerwritingaboutcriteriathathavebeensetfortheresearch; researchduration,numberofsample,researchobjective Studentswereselectedbasedontheirethnicitysinceeachethnic showsdifferentrespondtotheissue. Donotdiscusslogisticslimitation. Therewasnointernetconnectiontoreviewliteratureonline. Printingwasexpensive;therefore,welimitsamplestoonly40 students. 5.3 Recommendationforfutureresearch Considerwritingaboutbothdifferentperspectivesofresearchand recommendlogisticsstrategies.
Chapter5canbewritteninbothparagraphandpointforms
23

References
&SourcesofCompilation

Chapter2 UWMadisonWritingCenter.(2009)WritersHandbook http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/index.html.TheUniversityofWisconsinMadison. Retrieved30Oct,2009 Palmer,L.(2009)Plagiarism101.SlidesforPlagiarism101WorkshopatUniversityofNorthCarolina Wilmingtonhttp://library.uncw.edu/web/faculty/palmerl/plagiarism101.ppt. Retrieved30Oct,2009 Tunceren&Cavusgil.(2006)CollegeWriting4.Massachusetts,NY:HoughtonMifflinCo. Russo,F.(July6,2006)APlaceforthePowerNap.TimeMagazine. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1209960,00.html.Retrieved30Oct,2009 Chapter3 McNeill,P.&Chapman,S.(2005)ResearchMethods.3rdEd.Routledge:Oxon Chapter4 Gilhooly,V.(2008)BusinessEngilshCharts,Graphs&Diagrams.LearnwellOyWebsite: www.thelanguagemenu.com.Retrieved20Feb,2009 Caprette,D.(Aug2007)WritingaboutGraphs.RiceUniversity.Website: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html.Retrieved20Feb,2009 Coverartworkcontainssamplesfrom http://blaberize.com/2009/10/15reallycoolworldmapwallpapers Thisguidebookcanalsobedownloadedat http://progressivelessonplan.tumblr.com
24