Research writing document for undergraduate.

Research writing

1. ENGLISH FOR WRITING RESEARCH/ RESEARCH PAPER

2. Why is it(or this class) important?

3. It helps you strengthen your research.

4. HOW?

5. Engineers have to write Research Papers (or Proposals, Reports, Thesis, etc.) in standard English language to establish themselves in the international competitive markets. Thus, English language has become the medium of expression for delivering contents or information. Aimed at researchers who wish to write a research paper in English.

6. Once you have accepted that English language is needed as a medium of expression, then, you need to follow some conventions of writing in it.

7. Secondly, The useful phrases will help you to structure your paper. Publishing your research in an international journal is key to your success in academia. Papers written by non-native researchers are often rejected due to problems with English usage and poor structure and contents. If you have ever had your paper rejected due to poor English, poor structure or poor readability, this class will certainly help you.

8. You will get the idea about how to write a paper which is easy to read. Write concisely with no redundancy and no ambiguity, and you will make less mistakes in your English. How to choose the correct tenses Identify the correct style -personal or impersonal Avoid ambiguity. To use minimum number of words required

9. Get guidelines on how to improve your writing skills and level of readability What and how to write in each section of your paper The rules of good writing in English : clarity, logic, conciseness(no redundancy), no ambiguity, and the highest level of readability

10. Conventions According to Heaton(1988) there are five areas or components that should be considered or taken into account while writing in English. They are:

11. Components of composition in English Language use COMPOSITION Mechanical skills Treatment of content Stylistic skills Judgement skills

12. Language use The ability to write correct and appropriate sentences( grammar ) Article , Preposition, Tense , voice(A/P), conditionals, reporting , s-v agreement etc. Mechanical skills The ability to use correctly those conventions peculiar to the written language-e.g. punctuation, capital letters , spellings, format, structure, etc.

13. Treatment of contents The ability to think creatively and develop thoughts, excluding all irrelevant information Stylistic skills The ability to manipulate sentences and paragraphs; and use language effectively; Judgment Skills The ability to write in an appropriate manner for a particular purpose with a particular audience in mind, together with an ability to select, organise and order relevant information. Always think about the referee and the readers

14. We will look at writing research paper from the perspective of these five elements

15. IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH ARTICLE Provides a document that contains sufficient information to enable readers to: assess the observations you made; repeat the experiment if they wish; determine whether the conclusions drawn are justified by the data

16. TITLE AUTHOR ABSTRACT KEY WORDS I NTRODUCTION (What question was asked?) M ETHODOLOGY (How was it studied?) R ESULTS ( What was found?) D ISCUSSION ( What do the findings mean?) GLIMPSE OF WHAT A RESEARCH PAPER LOOKS LIKE

17. CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES

18. Table furniture (commonality) -topic Chair Bench Duster Rose flower ( commonality)-topic Tulip marigold TITLE OR TOPIC

19. When we comment on topic or when we say something on that topic, it becomes title . For example, Uses of Furniture for Household purpose Title Usefulness of Flower

20. Language use: grammatically correct Mechanical skills: no use of full stop (.) Treatment of contents: Reflects the essence of the paper Stylistic skills: it must flow into a coherent order so that it forms an organic whole. Judgment Skills: reader can understand what is your research paper all about Title

21. WHAT WORDS SHOULD YOU CAPITALIZE? Capitalize each initial letter , apart from articles(a, an, the) and prepositions (e.g. on, by, in, of). For e.g. Specifying and Evaluating Educational Software in Primary Schools.

22. How should you punctuate your title? Titles never end with a period (.), but if they are questions, then there should be a question mark at the end. For e.g. Does the ocean- atmosphere system have more than one stable mode of operation?

23. The two parts of the titles are separated by a colon. Some journals require capital letter after a colon, as in the example. For e.g. The role of medicine : dream, mirage or nemesis.

24. What type of words should you try to include? Where possible use the- ing form of verbs rather than abstract nouns. This will make your title more readable as well as making it 2-3 word shorter. Abstract Nouns The Specification and the Evaluation of Educational Software in Primary Schools Verbs Specifying and Evaluatin g Educational Software in Primary Schools

25. Should you use Prepositions? Most title of more than about five words require prepositions. The table below explains the typical meanings of prepositions in titles, and gives some examples with and without prepositions. 9+ MEANING FOR/INCORRECT ENGLIST GOOD ENGLISH by How something is done. Fast Computing machines equation of state calculations Equation of state calculations by fast computing machines. for For the purpose of Depression measure inventory An inventory for measuring depression from The origin of Antonio Gramsci prison notebooks selections Selections form the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci

26. Summary: How can you assess the quality of your title ? You need to check that your title is: In correct English- in terms of syntax, vocabulary, spelling and capitalization Understandable (no strings of noun) Eye – catching and dynamic (through) effective use of vocabulary and even punctuation

27. Sufficiently and appropriately specific Reflects the content of the research Expressed in a form that is acceptable

28. SELECTING APPROPRIATE TITLE Should give the glimpse of overall contents of the research Every word in the title is important. So the key is to devise a title that: will immediately make sense Is short Has a definite and concise indication of what is written in the paper itself. It is neither unjustifiably specific nor too vague or generic

29. How can you generate a title? Think about the following questions: What have you found that will attract attention? What is new, different and interesting about your findings? What are the 3-5 key words that highlight what makes your research and your findings unique?

30. Author By-Line Name of the author followed by institutional affiliation/s Examples: V. KUMAR and DINESH CHANDRA Department of Electronics and Instrumentation, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad-826004, India

31. Name, designation(credibility) Language use: Mechanical skills: Treatment of contents: Stylistic skills: (unconventional orthography is not accepted) Judgment Skills: members of specific discourse community) AUTHOR

32. SUMMARY- summarizes the content area of the paper (what aspect , information from within the text) Abstract_ Information about each key component of the paper in condensed form background Methods Results conclusion It is called an independent element ABSSTRACT ? OR EXECUTIVE SUMMARY?

33. Q . What information belongs in an abstract? 1. A primary purpose of the abstract is to convey information and to do so accurately. 2. Your abstract should offer a succinct summary of what the reader can expect to get out of reading your full article.

34. 3 . What is the problem (or research question) your paper is going to address and why is it important? 4. How did you go about collecting the data that empower you to speak to that problem? 5. What did you find? 6. What is the key message the reader should take away from your article?

35. Provide a clear indication of what the reader can expect from your paper. Indicate why the reader should care to read further. List the key methodological details required to understand both how your study addresses the research question and what to expect of the results Describe the results that directly answer the research question. Information that should be included in your abstract

36. Summarise the paper with the take home message of greatest importance. (Title, abstracts and authors by Kevin W.Eva ) Most journals expect abstracts in the 150- to 300- word range. Most professional writers and editors recommend sentences in the 15- to 20- word range

37. Language use: Mechanical skills: Treatment of contents: Stylistic skills: Judgment Skills Abstract from five dimentions

38. What tenses should you use? The most commonly used tenses in abstracts are the PRESENT SIMPLE(we show/investigate) and the PAST SIMPLE(we showed). Some authors also use the present perfect (in the active or passive) to describe what they achieved during their research. We have found/devised/developed a new approach to x A new approach to x has been devised.

39. Present simple ( established knowledge) Present perfect (past to present background information) Past simple(your contribution)

40. What should you not mention in your Abstract? You should try to avoid: Background information that is too generalist for your readers Claims that are not supported in the paper Terms that are too technical or too generic – this will depend on your audience Definition of key terms Mathematical equations

41. Generic quantifications (e.g. many, several, few, a wide variety) and the overuse or unjustified use of subjective adjectives(e.g. innovative, interesting, fundamental) Unnecessary details that would be better located in your introduction, such as the name of your institution, place names that readers will not have heard of .

42. References to other papers. However, if your paper is based on an extending or refuting a finding given by one specific author, then you will need to mention this author’s name

43. How can you ensure that your Abstract has maximum impact? There are two main ways to do this. Firstly, put the information in the best possible order Secondly, be as concise as possible.

44. Example, (The numbering is mine) (1)The lifetime of a cellular phone battery may be subject to the number of times the battery is recharged and how long it is charged for. To date, there has not been an adequate analytical model to predict this life time. (2) In this work an analytical model is developed which describes the relationship between the number

45. of times a battery is recharged, the length of time of each individual recharge , and the duration of the battery. (3) This model has been validated by comparison with both experimental measurements and finite element analysis, and shows strong agreement for all three parameters.(4) The results for the proposed model are more accurate than results for previous analytical models reported in the literature for 4G cell phones.(5) The new model can be used to design longer lasting batteries .

46. Validity of the model. Does it really do what you say it does? The problem that this paper is trying to resolve set in the context of the current situation. Why did you carry out your project and why are you writing this paper? What research gap in the current knowledge do you hope to fill? Now match the numbers with the related information about the abstract

47. Implications and future work. What does this all mean? What are your conclusions and recommendations? What do you plan to do next? New solution given by authors of the paper. What is the innovative contribution of your work? What did you do and achieve? What makes it different from previous research? Results. What is new compared to previous results?

48. Below is the structure of the above abstract and the questions it aims to answer. The numbers refer to the numbers in the abstract. 1 The problem that this paper is trying to resolve set in the context of the current situation. Why did you carry out your project and why are you writing this paper? What research gap in the current knowledge do you hope to fill?

49. Cont… 2. New solution given by authors of the paper. What is the innovative contribution of your work? What did you do and achieve? What makes it different from previous research? 3. Validity of the model. Does it really do what you say it does? 4 . Results. What is new compared to previous results? 5. Implications and future work. What does this all mean? What are your conclusions and recommendations? What do you plan to do

50. What style should you use: personal or impersonal? Style 1 I found that x=y (for humanistic field) Style 2 We found that x=y(for all fields) Style 3 It is found that x=y(very common) Style 4 The authors found that x=y (least common)

51. ABSTRACT WRITING KEY SKILLS Background/context (10% to 25% of the whole abstract) Research problem/aim-the gap you plan to fill Methods Results Implications and/or conclusions

52. Stating the aim of your paper and its contribution 1.The aim of this study is to study/evaluate/validate/determine/examine/analyze/calculate/estimate/formulate…. 2. This paper examines/seeks to address/focuses on/discusses/investigates how to solve … Language Focus for writing abstract

53. X is the main/leading/primary/major cause of… Xs are a common/useful/critical part of…. X is essential for a wide range of technologies. Recently , there has been renewed interest in… Establishing why your topic(X)is important

54. Words Functional (article, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection, etc.) Content (noun, adjective , verb , adverb) KEY WORDS

55. We use content words in key words because they give meanings in isolation also. The researcher presupposes that the reader may have some concept to understand the paper which is expressed through the key words

56. What question was asked? Problem that triggers you. What problems were invested and what hypothesis were tested It should clearly establish the significance of the present work. The reader must know the problem that you have come across. define the subject of the paper Explain the gaps in existing knowledge and the purpose of the research undertaken INTRODUCTION

57. Tell readers why you have undertaken(done) the study Keep it short Explain why it is important Convince them that it is better than what has gone before Try as hard as you can to hook them in the first line

58. HOW WAS IT STUDIED? You have gone through some procedures to find the solutions of your problem. And those procedures should be mentioned. Why? Because the other researchers may apply your procedure and get the same result or different? The reader must know what procedures you have gone through. You must express the procedures explicitly. METHODOLOGY

59. Describe what was done and how provide an idea about the materials and methods used what was studied

60. What was found? How do you present the result? through figures by using words by using both(eclectic) Findings of research are based on the analysis of data as per research objective/s They are the summarized version of analysis, and written precisely in points or short paragraphs. For example, The cooperative interaction was found the most in poem. RESULTS

61. Language use: Mechanical skills: Treatment of contents: Stylistic skills: Judgment Skills RESULTS FROM FIVE DIMENTIONS

62. What do the findings mean? Most vital component “Interpreting research findings is one of the essential skills to be developed while learning research”. “In discussion, the researcher writes the interpretation of the findings in his/her own words” - Dr. Binod Luitel , Associate Professor, Tribhuvan University DISCUSSIONS

63. Language use: Mechanical skills: Treatment of contents: Stylistic skills: Judgment Skills Discussion

64. Discussion should bear some linkage with the theoretical background that is presented prior to the analysis of data in research paper.

65. Condensed form of your finding Restate the finding or the essence of the paper using different words. You are not going to introduce any new ideas CONCLUSIONS

66. Language use: Mechanical skills: Treatment of contents: Stylistic skills: Judgment Skills CONCLUSIONS IN TERMS OF:

67. Plagiarism intellectual theft In-text citation(within the text) work citation(at the end of the paper) 1.Direct quoting 2. Paraphrase 3. Ideas or thoughts APA/MLA