Writing your First Research Paper

Lets start on how to introduce an academic essay or short paper.

• State the aim of the research and the research questions or hypotheses.
• Establish the context, background and/or importance of the topic.
• Present an issue, problem, or controversy in the field of study.
• Define the topic and/or key terms which are being used in the paper.
• State the purpose of the essay of the coverage and/or the structure of the writing (Overview of the dissertation)
• Explain the significance or value of study.
• Give a brief review of the relevant academic literature.
• Provide a synopsis of the research design and method(s).
• Explain the territory (establishing importance of the topic, reviewing what has been established in the previous work).
• Introduce a niche (indicating a knowledge gap)
• Listing a new research purpose, listing questions.
• Introduction should be less complex.
  The prime purpose of the introduction should be as follows:
  Why it is important
  What the topic revolves around
  How the writing is organised

Referring to Sources

Inform what is already be known, what work has been done before, and/or idea and models have already been developed.

A note on the literature review: It is the purpose of the literature review of a paper. In a systematic way, outline the key ideas and theories that helps us to understand the topic of the research.
Review should be evaluative and critical of the studies or ideas and also being relevant to the current work.

A note on referencing style: Referring to other resources.
In some cases, individual author is important, the author’s name will be the main subject of the sentences
Authors name shall only be mentioned in brackets (………….) or via number notation. Maybe included in the footnotes and end-notes.
For majority of the examples, Harvard in-text referencing system has been used.

A note on verb tenses: For general reference to the literature, present perfect tense (have/has+verb participle) tends to be used.
For previous work, simple past tense is most commonly used.
Cases involving where a specific date or point in time in the past form a part of the sentence.

While referring to the words of the author, the present tense is often used id the ideas are still relevant, even if the author is no longer alive.

Describing Methods
In the methods section of research article, writer give an account of how research has been carried out.
Methods section should be clear and detailed enough for another experienced person to repeat the research and reproduce the results.

The methods section will tend to be much more extensive.

Note that for most of the functional categories in this section, the verbs are written in the simple past tense.

Reporting Results

The standard approach to this section involves is to present and describe the results in a systematic and detailed way.
While reporting the qualitative results, the researchers will highlight and comment on the theme that emerge from the analysis.
In text bases studies, this may comprise quotation from primary sources.
In quantitative studies, the result section is likely to consist of tables and figures, and writers comment on the significant data shown in these.

Highlight statement or statements, which points out and describe the relevant or significant data.

All figures and tables should be numbered and given a title.
More elaborate commentary on the results is normally restricted to the Discussion section.
In research article, author may comment extensively on their results as they are presented, and it is common for the Results section to be combined with the Discussion section under the heading:
Results and Discussion

Discussion Findings

considering both sides of an issue, or question before reaching a conclusion; b) considering the results of research and the implications of these. Discussion sections in dissertations and research articles are probably the most complex sections in terms of their elements. They normally centre around a ‘statement of result’ or an important ‘finding’. As there is usually more than one result, discussion sections are often structured into a series of discussion cycles. Note when offering explanation the language used is very tentative or cautious.

Writing Conclusions

Conclusions serves two function.
1. Summarize and bring together the main areas covered in the writing
2. Final comment include making suggestion for improvement and speculating on future directions.
Conclusion tend to be more complex and will also include the section on the significance of the findings and recommendation for future work.

Being Cautious

Avoid expressing absolute certainty, where there may be a small degree of uncertainty, and to avoid making over-generalizations, where a small number of exception might exist.

Being Critical

Classifying and Listing

Classifying is also a way of understanding difference between things.
In writing, classifying is often used as a way of introducing a reader to a new topic.
We list things we want to treat and present a series of item or different pieces of information systematically

Compare and Contrast
By understanding similarities and difference between two things, we can increase our understanding and learn about both.

Defining Terms

Many disagreements(academic, legal, diplomatic, personal) arise as a result of different interpretation of the same term. Hence it becomes very important in academic writing , to give definitions of key words and phrases in order to demonstrate to their tutors that they understand the term clearly.

Giving Examples
Writer may give specific examples as evidence to support their general claims or arguments.
It is important to note that when statements are supported with examples, the explicit language signalling this may not always be used.

Signalling Transition

Writers are also expected to indicate to the reader when they are moving from one topic to another, or from one section of text to another.
These are known as transition statements and example of these, together with some previewing statements, are given below.