1 Principles of Writing
2 Importance of publishing the findings of your research“Publish or Perish” is an old saying in the academic circles. Its implication is that the primary motivation for academics to publish is to serve themselves; to save their own careers. Whilst the converse of this statement might be true that lack of publication does not serve the career of the average researcher or academic, in most cases there are higher motivations and responsibilities that results in the publishing research findings. We had previously discussed some of these motivations but in short, they are:
3 It is essential to share the results of our findingsIt is essential to share the results of our findings. Research costs money and those who supply the money must get something of value in return. It is through research that the totality of the human body of knowledge increases. We must as “pampered” and “privileged” individuals in the society, and in the name of progress, discharge our obligations towards our kind. Human knowledge belongs to all humanity, it must be shared and made available publicly.
4 Knowledge is the only commodity in the world that actually increases in value and extent only when shared. The researcher’s duty is to increase knowledge. We must share our experiences with our colleagues to assist them in their quests. We must expose our work to critique by those who can evaluate our work in terms of value, interest and accuracy. We must publish so that we can give credit to those whose work has been instrumental in us arriving at our findings. We must publish as researchers’ professional value can only be evaluated in terms of their output.
5 Principles of Writing Unity Coherence Support Effective ParagraphsWord choice
6 Unity If you advance a single point and stick to that point,You will have unity in your paper.
7 Unity Goal Goal To achieve unity is to have all the details in your paper related to your Goal.
8 Unity paragraph level Unity is important in:A paragraph is unified when all of its sentences work towards the same end. paper level An essay is unified when all of the paragraphs illustrate, clarify, explain, support and/or address the idea expressed in the essay's thesis statement.
9 Coherence readers may just give up if they find our writing hard to follow If we are writing to entertain our message may be lost they may have no choice but to struggle for comprehension
10 The parts must be logically connectedCoherence A Key Question is: does what we’ve written approach the subject in a logical way? The parts must be logically connected
11 Coherence Common mistakes: trying to force pieces togethere.g: “The women loved to cook, and there were three of them.” no relationship exists between two parts of a sentence e.g: “The women loved to cook, and the sky was very dark that day.” Leads to Confusion
12 methods can be used to organize our writingCoherence chronological order problem and solution methods can be used to organize our writing cause and effect topical arrangement
13 Support If you support the point with specific evidence,You will have support in your paper.
14 Support clarify address the idea explain illustrate Use examples
15 Support Your paper should include vivid details Consider your audience
16 Effective Paragraphs 1. A topic sentence A main idea is expressed, often as a generalization 2. An explanatory sentence The meaning of the generalization is elaborated on and explained 3. An illustration The application of the generalization is shown by example 4. A conclusion This rounds off the points made in the paragraph and lead into the following paragraph
17 Word choice Rudyard Kipling: “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Joseph Joubert: “Words, like glass, obscure when they do not aid vision.”
18 Word choice Word choice involves several considerations: GrammarSimplicity & Variety expressions with double meanings sentence length
19 Types of Manuscripts General: original research, letters to the editor, short communication, editorials, reviews, case reports. Special: technical briefs, methodological papers, application of information technology, research letters, blogs, poetry, cartoons, photographs.
20 Types of Articles Magazines (computational Intelligence Magazine)Research results may be published in many ways. These are some of the more traditional ones: Conference Papers (Paper or Poster) Journals (Full papers – Original or Review, Letters, Research Notes) Technical Reports Thesis/Dissertation (Masters/PhD) Research Reports Research Monograph Book Chapters (Books) Magazines (computational Intelligence Magazine)
21 Conferences and Conference PapersAlmost every discipline has a number of conferences associated with the work in it. Conferences may be: Commercially or trade oriented Professionally/scholarly oriented, or Research oriented. Commercially oriented conferences are really trade shows, we will not discuss them here.
22 Professional/scholarly conferences provide opportunities for high level professionals and scholars in a given field to get together and exchange ideas, methods and techniques attend tutorials or to establish collaboration for the future or to “compare notes”. Usually a set of “proceedings” are published which contains the copies or abstracts (sometimes full text) of the various or all of the presentations. Whilst researchers might benefit from attending a number of these conferences, they are not where research or at least first hand research is discussed.
23 Research oriented conferences are the venues where a dynamic discipline exposes the world to the research work-in-progress or emerging research directions. Research oriented conferences usually are in the form of a series of paper presentations by the researchers conducting the research or their close associates. These papers are usually peer-reviewed and although accommodation is usually made that the work is still in progress or that stringent validation may not have been performed on the results, nevertheless, effort is made that only robust and high quality work is presented. The reputation and the quality of a conference is only a function of the quality of the peer-review performed.
24 Conference papers are usually limited in terms of page numbers allowed (usually a maximum of 5-8 pages) and the presentation slides used during the actual talk would not be published nor acceptable in lieu of a full-length paper. Each conference usually has its own styles, rules and requirements pertaining to how a paper is prepared, reviewed, published and presented. Of course all the rules of good writing style (to be discussed shortly) pertinent to journal papers also apply to conference papers.
25 Research Poster Posters are typically shown during conferences, either as a complement to a talk or scientific paper, or as a publication. They can be a good introduction to a new piece of research before the paper is published. Poster presentations are often not peer-reviewed, but can instead be submitted, meaning that as many as can fit will be accepted.
26 Journal Papers Each discipline has a number of “journals” where the findings in the discipline are published. These come in two general categories: Peer reviewed Non- peer-reviewed A peer-reviewed journal is one in which the articles submitted for publication are sent to a panel of expert “peers” in the discipline to read and evaluate the suitability of publication of the material presented. Only peer-reviewed publications are of significance as scientific research publication. We shall not discuss non-reviewed publications.
27 Peer-reviewed journals:Reviewed journals again fall into two categories: Archival journals Non-archival journals Archival journals are those that are usually reviewed most stringently and usually only contain the “confirmed” and “principle” findings of the discipline. Those that establish or extend the foundation for the discipline. Non-archival journals publish those papers, that whilst important, report on the “newest”and most significant “current” developments in the field. Yet the work may need further qualification.
28 Archival journal A journal published mainly for archival purposes, as opposed to one intended for distribution to retailers and individual subscribers, usually priced for the library market with little or no attempt to market it to a wider audience.
29 The most prestigious and significant peer-reviewed journals usually do not have a page limit and allow the article to be as long as it is necessary for it to convey the message (within reason of course). This is particularly the case with archival journals. Archival journals are usually identified by the terms such as: Transactions on…., Annals of…., Archives of…, Non-archival journals usually are termed: Journal of…, ….. Journal, Communications of the …,
30 Review Articles Review articles do not cover original research but rather accumulate the results of many different articles on a particular topic into a coherent narrative about the state of the art in that field. Review articles include: Abstract Introduction, Main body, references.
31 Letters Letters (also called communications, and not to be confused with letters to the editor) are short descriptions of important current research findings which are usually fast-tracked for immediate publication because they are considered urgent. Letters or communications include: Abstract, Introduction Main body, Conclusion, References.
32 Research notes Research notes are short descriptions of current research findings which are considered less urgent or important than Letters.
33 Technical Reports
34 Theses In the centuries past, theses were the primary means of exchange of scholarly ideas. Scholars/researchers wrote a number of these, each dealing with the way they viewed a particular aspect of their work and thus reported not only their findings but also what they knew about the subject at hand. Principia Mathematica is one such thesis. In recent years the meaning of the word has somewhat changed and the role a thesis played previously is now played by another artifact called a research monogram. A thesis today is a major written work reporting on an identifiable piece of research conducted by a candidate for a higher degree.
35 A thesis today, therefore, is a right of passageA thesis today, therefore, is a right of passage. It is an unabridged documented evidence that the candidate is capable of conducting independent research and of reporting its findings. Whilst a thesis is the usual requirement for PhD degrees, sometimes other lower degrees such as the MBA, JD, MD or DDS or at times some MSc or MA degrees also require a thesis. I also know that at least one BSc program also requires a full length thesis. Many require mini-theses. However, many non-doctoral “theses” are not necessarily research oriented or for the purpose of research training; at least in the sense of our discussion here.
36 A research oriented thesis however is a valuable artifactA research oriented thesis however is a valuable artifact. Theses are retained in the libraries of universities where they were submitted and are made available in full or abridged format as the original report of a research project. Although it is true that the thesis written by most researchers ends up NOT being their most significant contribution, it is NOT true that theses are not significant contributions. In fact many theses have become major pieces of research in a discipline. For example De Borglie’s thesis on particle wave theory won him the Nobel Prize Petri’s thesis on Petri nets and Lotfi-Zadeh’s thesis on Fuzzy logic are amongst the two greatest contributions of all times.
37 Theses are largely free from page limitation. Mine was over 400 pagesTheses are largely free from page limitation. Mine was over 400 pages. They usually contain a wealth of background or general information (pertinent to the topic) and are extremely useful for quickly learning a lot about a given subject matter. They must contain a sizeable literature review and they must provide easy to follow evidence and description of the method used, data collected, controls placed, etc. As such well-written theses tend to be excellent sources of learning how to design and conduct research. Although a thesis is much longer and has different organization and is of a much greater detail than a journal paper and may describe a more extensive project, nevertheless the style of writing to follow is the same as a journal and therefore a well-written thesis is a good source for learning the style of research writing.
38 Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Scene setting/backgroundSurprisingly, the sections (chapters) of a typical thesis may have the same titles (and contain in expanded form, the same material) as those of a journal paper. In general the following is a typical arrangement for a thesis: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Scene setting/background Chapter 3: Literature review Chapter 4: The Hypothesis Chapter 5: Methodology and research design Chapter 6: Conduct Chapter 7: Results Chapter 8: Analysis Chapter 9: Findings and impact of work Chapter 10: Conclusion and future work
39 Research Report A research report is also a report written usually without a page number limitation or many other restrictions for the purpose of documenting and publishing research work where details of the work that are not otherwise available in the journal paper are required. A research report is usually shorter than a thesis but longer than a typical archival paper (approximately pages) and contains the details of the methodology, information on equipment, data collected in raw or semi-processed form, and any other piece of information needed to adequately understand or to reproduce the work.
40 IT IS USUALLY A LOT EASIER TO WRITE THESES OR RESEARCH REPORTS THAN IT IS TO WRITE JOURNAL OR CONFERENCE PAPERS.
41 Research Monograph A research monograph is a book written by the researcher and published by a publisher for the purpose of general sale. It is usually free from most stylistic and logistics limitations otherwise imposed on publications destined for journals or conferences. A monograph is a specialist work of writing on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, usually by a single author.
42 General Structure Title Abstract Introduction Methods (Proposed Model)Results Discussion Acknowledgements References
43 A research article (a journal paper, a conference paper, a research report or thesis) is written for the purpose of communicating the findings of research conducted, in a manner that is clear, easy to read and to use. This means that apart from the fact that the paper should be written in clear and understandable language, be well laid out and follow the style requirements of the publication, it should also follow a particular structure identified through years of experience writing and reading papers to be suitable. Such structure should be sufficiently concise but at the same time adequately detailed. It should contain both general discussion and specific treatment of the new material without confusing the reader.
44 It should have predictable and suitable sections with the right headings and content organized in a logical and predictable order. In contrast to style, most journals do not dictate a particular structure. There are however default formats explicitly or implicitly for each journal and for many types of research reporting. Some disciplines even have their own recommended format for the structure of papers written.
45 Title page Abstract Introduction Related work Method Results Discussion Conclusion References Appendices Footnotes Tables Figures This is one popular format. Other variations exist (IMRAD style - Later)
46 The title page contains the title of the article, the list of authors, their affiliations, and a running head. A running head is a concise version of the title of the paper that is to appear on the header of each page of the paper when published in the journal. An abstract is a very much condensed summary of the paper. It should not exceed 150 words (some standards vary) and should contain all elements of the research report so it can adequately introduce the paper so that a potential future reader would be able to –by reading the abstract – decide whether the paper is going to be useful for his or her work or not.
47 The “Introduction” section states the research problem in general terms and discusses what the research entails, why it should be done, how it would be done, how it would help, and what questions it would answer. Some formats include the “Related Work” section in the introduction. Under those circumstances, the introduction would also state whose work has been influential in this area in the past. Whose research we are extending, where did they left off and why is it necessary to extend the work. Also a mention sometimes made of work that is tangential to ours: work that is not directly related but is either similar and can shed light, or work that looks similar but is not - in which case a discussion is needed why this work is not related or included.
48 The “Method” section contains the discussion of the approach taken to answer the research question discussed. It usually contains five sections: Hypothesis (eses) Measures Subjects Apparatus/set-up or environment Procedures
49 The “Results” section is to tell the reader what was found in the study. A statistical description of the result is usually needed as well as appropriate statistical tests. Here we must report all our findings in a concise manner (usually statistically). If any inferences are made in this section (intermediate inferences) then such inferences must also be reported clearly. Usually tables and figures are used in this section to illustrate the results in a concise manner. The “Discussion” section is where the researcher interprets and evaluates the results. The interpretation should logically follow from the presentation of the results. Otherwise the results section would need further adjustment. Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis (Next Class)
50 The “conclusion” section briefly restates the findings and relates them to the previous work. It also discusses any open questions or future research that might follow this work. The “References” section provides the reader with all the information needed to seek out and obtain all original sources used in the research. If the researcher has not sought out and obtained the paper himself (may be he or she was given a copy by an advisor or colleague), this is the time to seek out and ensure availability of all references. Make a physical print out of all on-line references that are likely to be more transient than your paper and keep them in order to supply copies upon request.
51 Structure of Research Papers (IMRAD)Introduction: - High level problem statement mid-level problem statement “research gap” goal of this study “Sandwich technology” Methods: - setting, population, procedures/ statistical analyses, etc. - reproducible Results: - Data (without interpretation) Discussion: Interpretation of data put in context with existing research limitations summary statement
52 Structure of Research Papers (IMRAD)IMRAD: Introduction, Methods, Results And Discussion Recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) 1978
53 What is the “Best” order?Title Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion Acknowledgements References
54 Writing the manuscriptThe hardest part is getting started
55 You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be greatYou don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. Get going!