Basic Orientations to Write Academic Papers
0. REFERENCING
2. ABSTRACT
4. METHODOLOGY
1. TITLE
Every information that you use from any source must be referenced
a. Referencing while writing the first draft of your paper
b. Referencing properly and precisely
a.1. Create a list to insert the complete references without alphabetical nor chronological order
a.2. While writing the text or selecting the information that you will use, put the short reference in brackets beside de information
(Author's surname, year of publication)
"According to author's surname (year of publication)..."
You always have to list your references precisely!
If you do so, you'll avoid future "headaches"
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 or quotation from a certain chapter or page, then you must indicate the chapter and/or the page number as well:
(Johnson, 1999, p. 148)
Whether you just mention or use the list of complete references you must follow...
the alphabetical order
and the chronological order
The complete title is comprised by title and subtitle
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 (or what you did in the work)
Your title should attract the attention of your readers.
The abstract is the last thing you write in your paper, because you must have it complete before.
TITLE (attracting the readers' attention): subtitle (explaining your title and expressing the dependent and independent variables, or what you did in the work)
The abstract is comprised of the the text and the key-words:
The key-words:
A key-word can be composed by more than one word (such as primary reinforcer)
The absctract:
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
3. THE INTRODUCTION
3.1. Paragraph 1: The introduction of the subject
3.3. Provide the justification for your work
You have to justify the relevance of your research - "So what?" and "Who cares?"
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,
2. Link your argument to some larger matter that readers already deem important.
Give examples or show facts that comprise a big part of the population.
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...
Present the subject
Do it CLEARLY, ATTRACTIVELY, AND OBJECTIVELY
Begin it by attracting the reader
Then introduce the subject clearly and objectively
3.2. The presentation of the theoretical context Immediately connect to it
5. THE LITERATURE REVIEW
0. The presentation of key-terms and concepts of your work. Do it through the text
b. Provide similar and differents perspectives from other authors
a. Provide definitions and explanations of your key-terms and concepts
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.
2. Present recent researches in the field
You should fairly present the:
c. and discussions of the works you cite
b. results
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.
Summarize the research and explain the main viewpoint of the work you are citing
Then, in the discussion, make sure that you:
• Decide whether previous research results are valid;
• Critically evaluate previous research;
• Discuss the relevance of previous research to your area of study.
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:
Dependent variables
Non-dependent variables
You must follow a funnel of information, from the most general to the most specific ones.
One more time, refer to a specific person or group who you are talking with
a.Present data
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.
a. methods
Play the "believing game"
• Determine the strengths and weaknesses of previous research;
Select the detail that are relevant to your own perspective and observations.
Remember to use two voices: yours and theirs
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.
If you stop after the “they say,” your readers won’t know what you are bringing to the conversation.
1. The subject/ participant and its characteristics
What are the relevants characteristics of the object/ 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 animals (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 (people) 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?
In each step indicate the purpose of the methods that you used;
Explain it to your readers.
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. they may influence people and organisms.
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:
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.
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 may be together
You can use graphs and tables
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?
Make your own arguments
Expressing a critical view about someone else’s work is an integral part of the scientific process
2. Disagree - and explain why
3. Agree and Disagree
Science writers frequently agree up to a point and then express some disagreement.
1. Agree, but with a Difference
5. Anticipate Objections
Plant naysayers in your text
There areother perspectives (and thus other data) that you need to acknowledge. Present them.
6. Say Why It Matters
Consider both the practical applications and the impact on future scientific work.
4. Provide a conversation between different authors
If, in your analysis, you find that differents authors say things that can be connected in the same idea, express and explain it.
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.
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.
Never leave gaps about the discussions of your results and avoid repeating data
Express your opinion with originality about the investigated subject.
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Be humble and show the limitations of your study or
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 literature review 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 of how other researchers might continue to explore the issue.
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?
Do not forget to align these contributions to the goal of your essay
Who should care about your research, and why? How your research affects the assumptions we make about human behavior.
General objectives
Specific objectives
You have to bring it back in the discussion
Why is the report being produced?
Express the purpose of the report and possible outcomes.
Express the context in which the work arised
Major ideas (what you are going to talk about in the whole paper in other paragraphs or sections):
2. The 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 in 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:
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
3. The methods
Counterargument the critics of your work
Present data to support your claims?
Search articles and book that talk about your subject.
Look for arguments that are similar to yours.
Count them
Use excel
Make statistics
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