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Writing Technique for Academic Papers (Ideas) (2. DISSERTATION STRUCTURE…
Writing Technique for Academic Papers (Ideas)
0. PRE-WRITING: READING FOR AND PLANNING YOU PAPER
0.1. WRITE BEFORE YOU READ
When you prepare to write an essay or research paper, it is a good idea to
start to write on the basis of the knowledge that you already possess
, instead of starting by reading material in order to add new information. You always know something about the subject in advance.
In this case, speed-writing works very well on the the process of writing before you read.
The first pages of a text are often the ones which are the most difficult to write, and you achieve a positive psychological effect by writing down your thoughts and ideas in the beginning of the process. As soon as you have written a couple of pages, the writing comes along a lot easier.
Based on your immediate knowledge of the subject, begin to
write down everything you may come up with
, and subsequently, use this text to choose exactly which books and chapters are relevant to your research paper.
When you read a lot before you start writing, your text tends to become overly referencing, since you might feel that it would be a shame not to put all this reading into use by drawing parallels to all of the texts you have read. The result may be that the paper becomes less focused as well as boring to read.
2nd: use textbooks and articles to refine your ideas and references your knowledge.
1st: write your thoughts based on what you know about the subject.
You may read a lot about the subject, but keep in mind that the
flow of the text is more relevant
than the quantity of references that you use.
0.2. SPEED-WRITING
Speed-writing (also termed free-writing or non-stop-writing) is a writing technique which is used to
start the process of writing
. The method is particularly
efficient when you are about to commence writing an essay or research paper
.
Speed-writing means
writing anything about a specific subject
or on the basis of a question,
without stopping.
The advantage of speed-writing is that it gives you an opportunity to part from your self-criticism and use only your creative and productive resources.
Speed-writing often brings forward new and unexpected thoughts and ideas.
It is interesting to notice that speed-writing often results in
surprisingly coherent sentences and paragraphs.
The ideas you have written down in connection with speed-writing are often more coherent and to the point than the ideas which are formed on the basis of for example a brainstorm.
Speed-writing often produces sections you may use, almost without adding any corrections, in your draft.
Furthermore, it gives your text a personal touch. Speed-writing is
written in your own words
and is not influenced by the formulations of the syllabus books
If you subsequently want to work more with your speed-written text,
it is important to put some structure into it
. Speed-writing results in an unstructured piece of text. With this unfinished text you may:
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Use speed-writing to
fill the gaps in your writing template on Excel.
Write everything that pops up in your head without worrying about spelling and typing errors.
Do not go back and correct the written text
. Instead of changing the text you have written,
write something else – something new.
Remember that the text is only meant to act as a draft for your own use, and no one else has to see it.
The purpose of speed-writing is to
write down your knowledge in a continuous manner
without censoring the content.
However, speed-writing may also be
applied later in the writing process
, if you stop short or if you need to write something straight from the shoulder.
1. REQUIREMENTS FOR ESSAYS AND RESEARCH PAPERS
1.1. General ideas
As a minimum, most papers must
bear evidence that students have read, understood and gained a broader perspective of the syllabus
- as is the case for oral exams as well.
Furthermore, it is a common requirement for research papers that
students must show that they are able to use core concepts and methods of the subject independently
by applying them to a “piece of real life” or by putting concepts into new contexts or drawing new lines between theories.
The important thing is that the student shows that he/she is able to
put forward a problem and research it in an independent manner
, and that he/she is able to discuss this in an academic way, i.e.
put forward independent claims
and substantiate these using academic backing established on the basis of recognized methods.
1.2. Cheating
If you do not indicate all sources when using them, it is considered to be exam cheating.
You must refer not only to the sources from which you copy tables, models or other data directly, but also to the sources that inspire your opinion or back your claims.
Research papers
must be well documented.
Sources of concepts, theories and argumentation of which you are not the author must be
thoroughly referenced
to enable the reader to know whether you are putting forward your own points of view or you are referencing or have been inspired by scientific texts
Cheating is a very serious matter from the University’s point of view, and it is
severely punished
. If you are caught using sources which have not been referenced, your exam will be suspended, and moreover you risk being expelled from the University and/or having all or some of the other exam results from the same examination period annulled.
PLAGIARISM
You might be accused of plagiarism if you:
• Use other people’s ideas without acknowledgement;
• Copying another student’s work;
• Copy the work of others word for word;
• Using words or sentences from other people’s work. Even if you have changed the order it will still be plagiarism;
• Do not correctly reference your sources;
• Submit work you have asked someone else to write for you.
Tips to
help you avoid plagiarism:
•
Do not copy down
information word for word;
• Use a different coloured pen to copy quotes or when writing any other information down word for word. It will help you to identify the extent to which you are copying;
•
Accurately reference
your sources;
• Write your notes in your own words. Read a passage and then cover the page and summarise out loud in your own words, then make your own notes;
•
Avoid using too many quotations;
• If you omit words from a direct quote indicate this by using three dots inside parentheses (…).
• Use
your own words
, no matter how poor you believe your written skills to be;
1.3. Source Referencing
When you write the main body and introduction of your research paper, it is important that you make frequent use of source references.
Source references act as
documentation in terms of the origin of your knowledge,
and they offer the readers an opportunity to test the argumentation and conclusions of your paper.
If you correctly mention the source references,the readers are able to clearly
distinguish between the author’s own thoughts and analyses the author has found elsewhere.
This is called
intellectual honesty
It is a good idea to reference sources, while writing the research paper.
If not, you may have trouble remembering where you found the information.
STANDARDS FOR SOURCE REFERENCES
If you mention the author in the text you need only cite the year of publication:
“Johnson (1999) mentions…“.
You need to bring the
full reference in the list of references.
In the paper you have to refer to the author(s) of the works and the year in which the works were published, either
in brackets or in footnotes
: “(Johnson, 1999)”. *
Source references
must be as precise as possible
. If you refer to a basic concept which is dealt with in the work in its entirety, then you must make a
reference to the title of the work in its entirety
However, if you use a concept from a certain chapter or page,
then you must indicate the chapter and/or the page
number as well:
“(Johnson, 1999, p. 148)”. **
If you
refer to the same work several times,
and perhaps even the same section of this work, you need only to refer to a previous reference. The rules are the following:
Reference to the
same page in the same work as in the previous reference:
• Latin: ibidem or ibid.
Reference to the
same work/author as in the previous reference:
• Latin: idem or id
Reference to a
work/article which has already been quoted
:
• Latin: op.cit. (reference to works)
• Latin: art.cit. (reference to articles)
Source references must be unambiguous and follow one standard. If you use the Latin references,
you must do so in a consistent manner
– otherwise you should consistently use Danish, English, German, French, etc.
List of references
The list of references should
solely list the works which have been referenced in the research paper.
It should not comprise a long list of books you did not use, but found important in terms of the subject.
The references are listed
alphabetically
according to the authors’ surnames. If the same author is mentioned in connection with several works, these works are listed in
chronological order.
There are several standards for referencing in use but you should always include the name of the authors, the title of the book or article and in the latter case the name of the journal, the publisher and the year of publishing. Different standards are available at the webpage of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: www.ifla.org/I/training/citation/citing
If you want to know about ABNT (Brazil) standards, see this link:
http://www.studium.iar.unicamp.br/biblio/guia.html
1.4. APA (
American Psychological Association
) Standards for academic papers
Format:
Font:
Arial
Size 14 for titles
Size 11 for the normal text
Times New Roman
Size 16 for titles
Size 12 for the normal text
Line spacing
Use
simple
line spacing
Line spacing: 2,0
Margins
Superior, inferior and right: 2,5 cm
Left: 4 cm
Subtitles:
Abstract, Index, Methods, Results, Discussions, and References
They must be written in
bold
in
UPPERCASE
They must be in the center of the page
Subject, enviroment (context), and materials and instruments
They must be written in
bold
They must be aligned on the left of the page
Alignment:
Cover and abstract:
Justified
Normal text:
Aligned on the left
Page number:
All the pages must be numbered
Cover:
Name of the authors
Discipline
City where the work was made
Course (program)
Date (Month and year)
Name of the institution
Title
Your title should attract the attention of your readers.
Subtitle
The subtitle is a metacommentary of your title, that is, it clearly and objectively explains your title and also anticipate what your text is about.
Your subtitle must contain the
dependent and independent variables
All the items must be centered on the page
References:
General rules to write the references:
All the references must be listed in
alphabetical order
according to the authors' surnames
If the same author is mentioned in several works, the references must
also be listed in chronological order.
The rows below the first one must be aligned after the third letter (about 0,7 cm) of the first letter of the first line;
Put
all and only
the works that you cited in your text.
Types of references
Articles (from journals):
AUTHOR'S SURNAME. (dot) Author initials. (year of publication). Name of the article.
Name of the journal, Volume
(in italic) (issue). first page-last page.
Chapter of a book:
AUTHOR'S SURNAME. (dot) Author initials. (year of publication). Title of the book. In "initial of the book's organizer (org.).
Name of the book
(in italic). Edition's number, first page-last page. City where the work was printed: Name of the press.
Books:
AUTHOR'S SURNAME. (dot) Author initials. (year of publication).
Name of the book
(in italic). City where the work was printed: Name of the press.
Information obtained from electronic media:
AUTHOR'S SURNAME. (dot) Author initials. (year of publication). Name of the article (or website). [On-line] Available on: website's complete address. Accessed on "date of access"
2. DISSERTATION STRUCTURE
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• Introduction - outline of the aim of your dissertation, the main research in this area and its significance which supports your reasons for investigating the subject.
Introduction of the subject
and the Aims
Justification of your research
• Literature Review - discuss the most important/relevant and up-to-date research linked to your research and introduce arguments supporting or opposing research opinion.
• Methodology - a description of the research methods you used
• Results - state the main findings
• Discussion - discuss the main findings, analysing results against the research covered in your literature review. Do the findings agree or disagree with those findings?
• Abstract - briefly outline the content of your dissertation and the main conclusions
• Conclusions / Final considerations
• Title Page
• References - a list of authors or sources cited directly in your text.
• Bibliography - a list of the general reading material you have used during your research of this topic .
• Appendices
2. THE ABSTRACT
Describing data requires more than simply report - seeing numbers and conclusions. Rather than jumping
straight to the punch line— to what X concluded— it with data on is important first to describe
results and data
Keep in mind that qualitative data must be described with precise words.
methods,
the hypotheses,
The may be written together.
conclusion
The subject
the aim of the study
The abstract is the
last thing you write
in your paper, because you must have it complete before.
It must have between 15 and 20 lines at maximum
The abstract must
look like a rectangle
The key-words:
You have to jump one line after the abstract
You have to write at least three key-words separated by semicolon (;)
Every first letter of the word must be written in uppercase.
A key-word can be composed by more than one word (such as
primary reinforcer
)
3. THE INTRODUCTION
You must follow a funnel of information,
from the most general to the most specific
ones.
You
sets forth what you plan to say in your essay.
3.1. Paragraph 1: The introduction of the subject
Present the subject
Do it CLEARLY, ATTRACTIVELY, AND OBJECTIVELY
Begin it by attracting the reader
Then introduce the subject clearly and objectively
Major ideas (what you are going to talk about in the whole paper in other paragraphs or sections):
2. Literature review (development):
B. Recent researches in the field
A. The prevailing theories
C. Defining concepts
3. Results
1.For the introduction section
B. The justification for your work:
A. Presentation of the theoretical context:
C. Your specific contributions the the development of the field of study
(
identify gaps
that you can help to fill)
D. The aim of your work.
General objectives
Specific objectives
4. Discussion:
5. The final considerations:
3.2. The presentation of the theoretical context
Immediately connect to it
Why is the report being produced?
Express the purpose of the report and possible outcomes.
Express the context in which the work arised
3.4. Your specific contributions the the development of the field of study
Try to
identify gaps
— areas that have not been explored in previous research.
3.5. The aim of your work.
Express the:
General objectives
Specific objectives
Dependent variables
Non-dependent variables
3.3. Provide the justification for your work
You have to justify the relevance of your research - "So what?" and "Who cares?"
a.Present data
You work must have some relevance based on facts.
By expressing data, you present real and consistent fact
Then you are able to argument the relevance of your work by articulating with the data
b. "So what?"
"So what?" means
the real-world applications and consequences of those claims—what difference it would make if they were accepted.
Appeal to something that your audience already figures to care about.
To do so, you must:
1. Identify an interested person or group,
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2. Link your argument to some larger matter that readers already deem important.
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c. "Who cares?"
Identify a person or group who cares about your claims.
You can
name specific people or groups
Then
establish a contrast between what others say and what you say...
4. METHODOLOGY
Look at the methods used and consider:
• Reliability of evidence/results;
• Validity;
• The control of variables;
• The adequacy and accuracy of techniques used;
the quality of data varies depending on how they were collected.
• Sample size;
• The purpose of the methods that you used;
Explain it to your readers.
In order for readers to evaluate a method, you’ll need to
indicate its purpose.
What do you have to inform to make your reader understand your ideas?
3. Procedures
The description of procedures in the research must be:
In the past tense (since you are describing what you have done).
Expressed in indeterminate subject
Clear and objective
Avoid imprecise, vague and ambíguous words.
Logical
They must follow chronological order
The criteria for finish the experiment or the session (to move to the next step).
What the participants should do in each session to change to another
Detailed
Tell the number of times you made the experiment
Who the subjects were.
How the materials were.
How the place was.
1. The subject/ participant and its characteristics
Subject
: for non-human organisms
Participant
: for human organisms
What are the relevants characteristics of the participant that you researched for your paper?
The relevance of characteristic means that they could change the results of your research if you did not respect them.
For the subjects (pigeons, mice and monkeys) (see p. 200)
Age and sex
Deprivations period before the experiment
Weight
Breed and origins
Does the subject have a previous experience with the task in the experiment?
If so, what is it?
Number of subjects
For the participant (pessoas) see p. 200)
Scholarity
Socioeconomic level
Age and gender
Number of partipants
Does the subject have a previous experience with the task in the experiment?
If so, what is it?
2. The material/ equipment that you used and the characteristics of the context / environment
The resources:
Mention and, if relevant, describe the equipments and materials the you used in the experiment.
The people and organism respond to the details of the environment, it is important to say the materials you used that made part of it.
Make an effort to the describe the information clear and precisely.
Express the measures, and colors of objects and objects and environments.
You may put photos, protocols and additional information as attachments at the end of your paper.
The environment:
5. THE RESULTS
In the results, you have to present:
The description of your data, telling your reader what they mean.
The data you collected
You can use graphs and tables
They must be horizontally centralized on the page.
Every
graph
must have:
Subtitles, when necessary.
The Y axis must have about 80% of the size of X axis
Name of the axis
All the elements in the graph must be easily visualized.
Title
Name
(Image 1; Graph 1; Graph 2; etc.) and
description
of what they expose.
These information must be aligned with the borders of the image
After inserting the graph in your text,
make a description of it,
commenting the results.
Every
table
must have
Only horizontal lines
They should not contain vertical lines
The table and its data must be centralized
Title above the table
It must be aligned with the table's margins
7. CONCLUSION/ FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
3rd. Mention all the resources you used and what which provided to the research
CONNECT IMMEDIATELY
You have to talk about
your methods
Paragraph 1:
Tell what the
readings
provided you
Paragraph 2:
Tell what the
pratical procedures
provided you
5th. Tell how your research could improve and continue
What methods you could use? How could you solve the problems of your research?
What would you change in your research?
In addition, you might offer recommendations for how other social scientists might continue to explore an issue, or what actions policymakers should take.
4th. Talk about the limitations of your research (and methods)
CONNECT IMMEDIATELY
Tell what your lacked in your methods (what they failed in) and in the results
Focus:
Methods
Results
Did new problems arise?
1st. Tell what the work allowed to do or understand
The first paragraph of the discussion must succinctly present:
The analysis of the research
and the contributions of the research
Tell that it helped to understand a problem or the point that you analized.
Tell if the hypothesis that you exposed in the beginning of the text was confirmed
Tell if your general and specific goals were accomplished
2nd. Present an abstract of the results
Show you results briefly, without much details.
Do not make citations
6th. Tell the contributions of your research
Express why your study was important the the scientific society?
CONNECT
Do not forget to align these contributions to the goal of your essay
Who should care about your research, and why? Since the social sciences attempt to explain human behavior, it is important to consider how your research affects the assumptions we make about human behavior.
8. APPENDIX
The appendix is the last part of your report and it is optional. Here, you usually provide:
Instructions and protocols
Raw data
Drawnings
Complementary informations that is not pertinent in the main text
Usually, the secondary information is not necessary to make the reader understand the idea of the text. If it is so, you should re-write the main text.
Pictures and images
You have to write "Appendix" in the vertical and horizontal center of the page
Only this page must benumbered
6. DISCUSSION
In the discussion, you have to make an
analysis of your results
in relation to:
2. Your hypothesis
3. The literature review
Do you data converge or diverge with what other authors have said?
Making your own arguments
It is the part of scientific writing where you express your own opinions.
One challenge is that the statements of other scientists about their methods and results usually must be accepted.
When developing your own arguments— the “I say”— you will often start by assessing the interpretations of other scientists.
Expressing a
critical view about someone else’s work
is an integral part of the scientific process
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Interpreting data and the literature
In science, as in other disciplines, you’ll often start with work done by others, and therefore you will need to critically evaluate their work.
To that end, you’ll need to probe how well their data support their interpretations. Doing so will lead you toward your own interpretations— your ticket into an ongoing scientific conversation.
Here are some questions that will help you read and respond to scientific research.
What other experiments could test the conclusion?
Is the sample size adequate?
Do other findings verify (or contradict) the conclusion?
Is the experimental design valid?
Has the data’s variability been adequately considered?
Were the proper controls performed?
How well do the
results support the stated conclusion
?
What are the
limitations of the methodology
?
How fairly have the results been interpreted?
Are other techniques available?
Can the results be generalized beyond the system
that was studied?
What are the
broader implications of the work
?
Why does it matter?
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What questions arise from the work?
What are the
work’s practical implications
?
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Which experiments should be done next?
How well do the methods test the hypothesis?
The following questions also work for your research.
Making analysis:
When you make an analysis, you
interpret different ideas or data
according to your repertoire.
1. Your general and specific goals of the research
You will end up discussing all the work and not only the results.
Your discussion must comprise all the results. There must be no "gap" in your discussion.
However, avoid repeating the data (results) in the discussion. Do it just when it is really necessary.
3.5. THE LITERATURE REVIEW
In the literature review, you explain what "they say" in more detail by summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting, but
always explaining the viewpoint to which you are responding.
1. Present the Prevailing Theories (other's hypothesis)
Describe prevailing theories and hypotheses
By doing so, you place your the work in a context, in a conversation with another author.
You may wish to
offer new reasons to support these ideas
, or you may wish to
call these standard views into question, or both.
To do so, you must first
introduce and identify these widely held beliefs
and
then present your own view
.
Remember to use two voices: yours and theirs
If you stop after the “they say,” your readers won’t know what you are bringing to the conversation.
Similarly, if you were to jump right to the “I say” portion of your argument, readers might wonder why you need to say anything at all.
2. Present recent researches in the field
You should fairly present the:
a. methods
b. results
Summarize the research and explain the main viewpoint of the work you are citing
Then, in the next(s) paragraph(s), make sure that you:
• Determine the strengths and weaknesses of previous research;
• Decide whether previous research results are valid;
Select the detail that are relevant to your own perspective
and observations.
• Critically evaluate previous research;
• Discuss the relevance of previous research to your area of study.
c. and discussions of the works you cite
Play the "believing game"
0. The presentation of key-terms and concepts of your work. Do it through the text
a. Provide definitions and explanations of your
key-terms and concepts
b. Provide
similar and differents perspectives from other authors
You have to bring it back in the discussion
