Research articles provide a method for researchers to communicate with other researchers about the results of their research. An objective of organizing a research paper is to allow people to read your work selectively. Those interested in your research may be interested in the methods, a specific result, the interpretation, or perhaps a summary of the paper to determine if it is relevant to their studies.
A standard format is used for articles, in which the author presents the research in an orderly, logical manner. This does not necessarily reflect the order in which you did or thought about the work. This format includes introduction, the main body, results, conclusion and the literature cited. The arrangement is fairly standard and serves to organize the contents of the manuscript:
Ø Title
Ø Author name(s) and address(es)
Ø Abstract
Ø Introduction
Ø Main body of manuscript
Ø Conclusion/Summary
Ø References Cited
Ø Illustrations and Figure captions
Ø Tables
Many journals require the following sections, submitted in the order listed, each section to start on a new page. There are variations, of course. Let us consider an outline of a research paper.
OUTLINE
These are the first stages of writing a research paper. We provide only some general guidelines the order of which should be the following:
Writing an Outline
1) State the specific topic to be researched.
2) Identify the focus of the task (i.e., the purpose and the audience), e.g.: Compile a report on_________to be presented to________________.
3) Choose and organize the questions by their relevancy to the task.
4) Conduct a preliminary research on the topic guided by the chosen questions and key phrases from the task, e.g.: “the effects of …”; “the positive and negative role of…”
5) Summarize the findings in chart form.
6) Organize the information from the chart in a logical order to address the task/focus.
7) If necessary, rethink and redirect the research information to maintain the focus.
8) Add additional details and supporting evidence necessary to complete the task.
9) Begin writing the first draft.
Before starting the research you should also think about the way you organize your ideas. Organizing before you write gives your ideas a structure that you can follow:
TOPIC/SUBJECT
↓
KEY IDEAS
↓ ↓ ↓
IDEA #1 IDEA #2 IDEA #3
(1ST SUBTOPIC) (2ND SUBTOPIC) (3RD SUBTOPIC)
↓
CONCLUSION
TITLE
The title is the first thing that the reader will see and this will often determine whether they will read further. You naturally want to capture their attention, so the title needs to encompass the subject of the article. For example, the title “Philological analysis of the text” tells nothing.The title should be appropriate for the target audience so that not only specialists but also the general public will understand the content of your work.
The best way to convey the main idea of your article to the reader is to use key words. From a good title, one can state the hypothesis being tested, and perhaps the results of the study.
Try to also make your title interesting. The more specific the information you give in the title, the more likely someone will read your article. On the other hand, avoid long titles that are too ponderous to read. You should, however, avoid literary or journalist sensationalism in your title.
According to Margaret Cargill and Patrick O’Connor,there are several ways of writing the title including the noun phrase, the statement or the question. The traditional way to write titles and headings is as a noun phrase: a number of words clustered around one important “head” noun. In some cases titles containing noun phrases are not very effective. They can contain words general in meaning, be uninformative, sound ambiguous, and, consequently, this style of title writing is not always good for academic writing.Statement titles are only suitable for papers that address a specific question and present a non-complex answer. In these conditions, the sentence form is a good option to replace titles that begin with vague terms such as “The effects of …”. When there is no simple answer to be presented, it can be effective to write a title as a question. Let us consider some general tips on how to write a good title of a research article [M. Cargill, Patrick O’Connor, p.62-63]:
A note on style of a title:
Ø Provide as much relevant information as possible but be concise.
Ø Use keywords prominently.
Ø Choose the format of your title: noun phrase, statement or question.
Ø Avoid ambiguity in noun phrases.
Ø Capitalize all words in your title except prepositions, articles and conjunctions.
Ø Spell out all numbers.
Ø Italicize the names of the researchers.
Abstract
An abstract is a concise single paragraph summary of completed work or work in progress. K. Carpenter in his guide for scientific paper writing “How to write a scientific article” says that“an abstract is published together with your research paper, giving the reader an opportunity to “preview” of what is to come. Sometimes it is called a summary. In a minute or less the reader can learn the rationale behind the study, general approach to the problem, pertinent results, and important conclusions or new questions. An abstract also allows other researchers to quickly scan the large scientific literature, and decide which articles they want to read in depth”[2].
It is preferable to write your abstract after the rest of the paper is completed. After all, how can you summarize something that is not yet written? Economy of words is important throughout any paper, but especially in an abstract. However, use complete sentences and do not sacrifice readability for brevity. You can keep it concise by wording sentences so that they serve more than one purpose. Summarize the study, including the following elements in any abstract. Try to keep the first two items to no more than one sentence each[3].
1) Purpose of the study - hypothesis, overall question, objective.
2) Model system, applied approach or key term and brief description of it.
3) Results, including specific data - if the results are quantitative in nature, report quantitative data; results of any statistical analysis should be reported.
4) Important conclusions or questions that follow from your research.
A note on style of an abstract:
Ø Your abstract should be one paragraph, of 100-250 words, which summarizes the purpose, methods, results and conclusions of the paper. It should be very concise.
Ø An abstract should stand on its own, and not refer to any other part of the paper such as a figure or table. At the same time what you report in an abstract must be consistent with what you reported in the paper.
Ø It is not easy to include all this information in just a few words. Focus on summarizing results - limit background information to a sentence or two, if absolutely necessary. Try to stick to the key terms and retain the necessary concepts.
Ø As a summary of work done, it is always written in past tense.
Ø Correct spelling, clarity of sentences and phrases are just as important in an abstract as they are anywhere else.
Ø Do not use abbreviations or citations in the abstract. It should be able to stand alone without any footnotes.
Introduction.
The purpose of an introduction is to acquaint the reader with the rationale behind the work, with the intention of defending it. It places your work in a theoretical context, and enables the reader to understand and appreciate your objectives.
The abstract is the only text in a research paper to be written without using paragraphs in order to separate major points. Approaches vary widely, however for our studies the following approach can produce an effective introduction:
1) Background and review. Describe the importance (significance) of the study - why was this worth doing in the first place? Provide a broad context.
2) Approach. Defend your approach/key term/concept - why did you use this particular approach? What are its advantages? You might comment on its suitability from a theoretical point of view as well as indicate practical reasons for using it.
3) Phenomenon. Describe the linguistic phenomenon you investigate (e.g. relative clauses): define the category, describe its features (e.g. inflectional variation).
4) Preview/explicit hypothesis. State your specific hypothesis(es) or objective(s), and describe the reasoning that led you to select them. This may include a preview of you most important results[4].
A note on style of an introduction:
Ø Use past tense except when referring to established facts. After all, the paper will be submitted after all of the work is completed.
Ø Organize your ideas, making one major point with each paragraph. If you make the four points listed above, you will need a minimum of four paragraphs.
Ø Present background information only as needed in order support a position. The reader does not want to read everything you know about a subject.
Ø State the hypothesis/objective precisely - do not oversimplify.
Ø As always, pay attention to spelling, clarity and appropriateness of sentences and phrases.
THESIS STATEMENT
A thesis is one sentence that states the main idea of an essay. In order to write a thesis statement, we need to address three questions:
1) Why are we writing?
2) Who is our audience?
3) What is the main point we want our readers to know?
The first question is usually answered by an infinitive, such as to show, to explain, to prove, to inform, to persuade. When we answer the second question, we decide if our audience knows much about the topic. If they know very little about it, more details will have to be given.
A good thesis statement has several characteristics. A thesis
Ø states a narrowed subject;
Ø has a controlling idea which expresses the author’s attitude about the topic;
Ø often suggests a method of organization;
Ø may include a modal auxiliary such as should, could, would, or might;
Ø is always a sentence – not a question!
Ø is not a simple statement of fact;
Ø does not “announce” the writer’s intention;
Ø begins with a real subject.
In the thesis sentence below, the controlling idea is underlined:
- The serious economic situation can be seen as a result of three primary factors. [M. Blokh 2000]
The thesis statement should come at the beginning of the paper. It will introduce the readers to the topic you intend to address, and gives them a hint of what to expect in the pages that follow. Thesis statements should avoid words and phrases such as, “In my opinion...” or “I think that...”. Start your thesis by taking a stand immediately; be firm in your statement. You will either be given your topic for your paper or you will choose it yourself. In either case, after the topic is chosen, write a thesis statement that clearly outlines the argument you intend to address in the paper. The thesis statement will be the center of your paper. It should address one main issue. Throughout the paper, whatever you write will be focused on the thesis statement. As your paper develops, you may find you will want to, or need to, revise your thesis statement to better outline your paper. As your paper evolves, so does your thesis. In other words, when writing your thesis statement, keep your paper in mind, and when writing your paper, keep your thesis statement in mind. Your paper will defend your thesis, so write your paper accordingly.
Let us say you are writing a philosophy paper. Your thesis statement might include two opposing arguments, with the hint that you intend to argue or prove one side of the argument. Many thesis statements are written in such a way as to try to prove an argument or point of view, but challenge yourself; make your thesis statement a statement of how you plan to disprove an argument. Maybe you want to attempt to show your readers why a specific point of view does not work.
Your thesis statement should address one main issue. It takes a point of view or an argument, and the paper is the development of this argument. If your thesis statement is too simple, obvious, or vague, then you need to work on it a little more. You should try to write it in a way that will catch your reader’s attention, making it interesting and thought-provoking. It should be specific in nature, and address the theme of the entire paper. The thesis statement may be written to try to convince the reader of a specific issue or point of view. It may also address an issue to which there is no simple solution or easy answers; remember, make it thought-provoking. Many thesis statements invitethe reader to disagree.
Do not be alarmed if you find yourself midway through your paper and wanting to change your thesis statement. This will happen. Sometimes a writer will start out thinking they know exactly the point they want to make in their paper, only to find halfway through that they have taken a slightly different direction. Do not be afraid to modify your thesis statement. But if you modify your thesis statement, be sure to double check your paper to ensure that it is supported by the thesis. If you have changed your thesis statement, it would be wise, even advisable, to have a third party read your paper to be sure that the paper supports the thesis and the revised thesis describes the paper.
Material and methods
This section should include the following parts:
1) Subjects, corpus and materials. Describe the data you investigate. If you conduct an experimental or questionnaire study, characterize your subjects and describe the materials you have used. If you conduct a corpus study, characterize the corpus (its size and kind). Do not present the results of your study at this stage.
2) Procedure. Describe the way you have collected the data. How did you search for particular constructions in the corpus?
3) Coding. Describe how you have categorized the data. Give an overview of all the categories and explain how you assigned a particular instance to a particular category.
A note on style of describing materials and methods:
Ø Use third person passive voice when writing up the methods. It is awkward or impossible to use active voice when documenting methods without using first person, which would focus the reader's attention on the investigator rather than the work.
Ø Use normal prose in this and in every other section of the paper – avoid informal lists, and use complete sentences.
Ø Label all your examples in numbers.
Main body
The “body” of your paper contains the evidence, analysis, and reasoning that support your thesis. Often the topic of the paper is divided into subtopics. Typically, each subtopic is discussed in a separate paragraph, but there is nothing wrong with continuing a subtopic throughout multiple paragraphs. It is good practice to begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the subject of the new paragraph and helps transition between paragraphs. A topic sentence will help keep you focused while writing the paragraph, and it will keep your reader focused while reading it.
Probably the most serious “crime” when writing the main text of your research article is to steal other people’s ideas, or what is commonly called plagiarism. It is important to know what previous research has found out about the topic, but you have to state and make it clear when you are referring to other people’s ideas, either by direct quotes or by paraphrasing their main findings or arguments:
Direct quotes:
- The historical processes of grammaticalization and syntactization derive from a number of psychological and social-communicative processes that have been well studied. [Tomasello 2003, p. 15]-[op. cit.:M. Blokh 2000]
A note on style of quotations:
Ø Avoid making your study an assembly of quotations by using too many of them. You should only refer to a quotation if it goes in accordance with your line of argumentation.
Ø Avoid long quotations. If the quote is longer than 3 lines, set it apart from the main text (make an extra paragraph).
Ø Avoid footnotes. All references within the text as well as the sources of direct quotes are made explicit in the text itself (author’s name: page).
Ø Use footnotes for:
· Cross-references within the text (e.g. see § 1.2 above).
· Additional information that is important to know (e.g. contrary positions in literature).
RESULTS
The purpose of a results section is to present and illustrate your findings. Make this section a completely objective report of the results, and save all interpretation for the discussion. This section should include the following:
Ø Summarize your findings in text and illustrate them, if appropriate, with figures and tables.
Ø In text, describe each of your results, pointing the reader to observations that are most relevant.
Ø Provide a context, such as by describing the question that was addressed by making a particular observation.
Ø Analyze your data, then prepare the analyzed (converted) data in the form of a figure (graph), table, or in text form.
Whattoavoid:
Ø Do not discuss or interpret your results, report background information, or attempt to explain anything.
Ø Do not present the same data more than once.
Ø Do not repeat the same information.
A note on style of results:
Ø As always, use past tense when you refer to your results, and put everything in a logical order.
Ø In text, refer to each figure as “ figure 1 ”, “figure 2”, etc.; number your tables as well.
Ø Place figures and tables, properly numbered, in order at the end of the report.
Ø If you prefer, place your figures and tables appropriately within the text of your results section.
FIGURES AND TABLES
Here is a list of tips how to organize figures and tables section:
Ø Either place figures and tables within the text of the result, or include them in the back of the report (following Literature Cited) - do one or the other.
Ø If you place figures and tables at the end of the report, make sure they are clearly distinguished from any attached appendix materials.
Ø Regardless of placement, each figure must be numbered consecutively and complete with caption (caption goes under the figure)
Ø Regardless of placement, each table must be titled, numbered consecutively and complete with heading (title with description goes above the table).
Ø Each figure and table must be sufficiently complete that it could stand on its own, separate from text.
DISCUSSION
The objective here is to provide an interpretation of your results and support for all of your conclusions, using evidence from your experiment and generally accepted knowledge, if appropriate. The significance of findings should be clearly described[5].
Interpret your data in the discussion in appropriate depth. This means that when you explain a phenomenon you must describe mechanisms that may account for the observation. If your results differ from your expectations, explain why that may have happened. If your results agree, then describe the theory that the evidence supported. It is never appropriate to simply state that the data agreed with expectations, and let it drop at that.
Ø Decide if each hypothesis is supported, rejected, or if you cannot make a decision with confidence. Do not simply dismiss a study or part of a study as “inconclusive”.
Ø Research papers are not accepted if the work is incomplete. Draw what conclusions you can based upon the results that you have, and treat the study as a finished work.
Ø Explain all of your observations as much as possible.
Ø Offer alternative explanations if reasonable alternatives exist.
Ø
A note on style of discussion:
Ø When you refer to information, distinguish data generated by your own studies from published information or from information obtained from other students (verb tense is an important tool for accomplishing that purpose). Refer to work done by specific individuals (including yourself) in past tense. Refer to generally accepted facts and principles in present tense. For example:
- Doofus, in a 1989 survey, found that … was correlated with...[M. Blokh 2000]
- The division between these two subordinate clausal connections was employed by N.S. Pospelov (1950) for the introduction of a new classification of complex sentences.[M. Blokh 2000]
- Language is a means of forming and storing ideas as reflection of reality and exchanging them in the process of human intercourse.[M. Blokh 2000]
Ø The biggest mistake that students make in discussions is to present a superficial interpretation that more or less re-states the results. It is necessary to suggest why results came out as they did, focusing on the mechanisms and theories behind the observations.
Conclusion
The purpose of a conclusion is to “wrap up” the discussion of your paper. Especially if the paper is a long one, it is a good idea to “re-cap” the main ideas presented in your paper. If your paper is argumentative, you would likely want to re-enforce the standpoint introduced in your thesis statement; however, rather than repeating your thesis, offer closing statements that make use of all the information you have presented to support your thesis. Try to “echo” your thesis so that your reader understands that you have fulfilled the “promise” a thesis statement implies, but give your reader a sense of closure rather than simply restating everything you said above just ending it[6].
After summing up your main points/thesis you might
Ø Comment on the significance of the topic in general: why should your reader care?
Ø Look to the future: Is there more work to be done on the topic? Are there predictions you can make about your topic?
Ø Ask something of your reader: Is there something your reader can do? Should do?
REFERENCES
In this section list all literature cited in your paper, in alphabetical order, by first author. In a proper research paper, only primary literature is used (original research articles authored by the original investigators). Be cautious about using web sites as references - anyone can put just about anything on a web site, and you have no sure way of knowing if it is truth or fiction. If you are citing an on line journal, use the journal citation (name, volume, year, page numbers). Some of your papers may not require references, and if that is the case simply state that “no references were consulted”.
There are several possible ways to organize this section. Here is one commonly used way:
1. In the text, cite the literature in the appropriate places:
The first scholars who identified the succession of such sentences as a special syntactic unit were the Russian linguists N.S. Pospelov and L.A. Bukhovsky [M. Blokh 2000].
2. In the References section list citations in alphabetical order.
1) Austin J.L. How to do things with Words? –Oxf., 1962.
2) Chomsky N. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. – Cambr., Mass., 1965.
3) Halliday M., Hasan R. Cohesion in English. – Ldn., 1976.