meljun cortes how to start your research article

8/10/2019 MELJUN CORTES How to Start Your Research Article

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How to start

Research

rticle

MELJUN CORTES


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Title

Title - include all important

concepts studied in 10-12 words

Authors name and institutional

affiliation (Department, College, JRU)

Running headshortened

version of title, max 50

characters


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Introduction

Describe what you hoped to achieve accurately, clearly state

the problem being investigated. Summarize relevant research

to provide context, with in-text citations. Explain what

findings of others, if any, are being challenged or extended.

Explain your conceptual framework. Describe the experiment,

hypothesis/es, research design or method.

Move 1: Establishing a research territory

Move 2: Establishing a niche Move 3: Occupying the niche


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Introduction


Useful Devices in Expressing Centrality: The increasing interest inhas heightened

the need for

Of particular interest and complexity are..

A central issue inis

Thehas been extensively studied inrecent years.

The relationship betweenhas beeninvestigated by many researchers.

Many recent studies focused on

Thehas become a favorite topic foranalysis.

The possibility ofhas generated wideinterest in..

The development ofhas led to the hopethat

Showing that

the general

research area

is important,

central,interesting,

problematic, or

relevant in

some way(optional)


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Introduction


Suggested Patterns for Tense Usage (ReviewingLiterature)

1. Past Tenseresearcher activity as agent;

reference to single studies.

Edralin (1998) investigated the causes ofThe causes ofwere investigated by ( ).

2. Present Perfect Tenseresearcher activity

not as agent; reference to areas of inquiry

The causes ofhave been widely

investigated (Edralin, 1998; Tullao, 2000).

There have been several investigations into

the causes of . . . ( ).

Several researchers have studied the causes

of . . . ( ) .

Citing /

reviewing

the mostrelevant

items of

previous

research in

the area (a

must)


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Suggested Patterns for Tense Usage

(Reviewing Literature)cont.

(In nos. 1 and 2, focus is on what

researchers did)

3. Present Tenseno reference to

researcher activityreference made

to state of current knowledge; focus

is on what has been found

The causes of . . . are complex ( ).

Bankruptcy appears to have a

complex set of causes ( ).

Introduction

Move 1: Establishing a researchterritory

Citing / reviewing

the most

relevant items of

previous

research in the

area(a must)


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Introduction

Move 2: Establishing a Niche (aMust)

Indicating a Gap in the previous research

Indicating a gap usually through the use of a negative subject:

However, little informationlittle focuslittle research

little worklittle attention

few attemptsfew investigationsfew studiesfew scholars

No studies have been made on

None of these studies

Cited research has tended to focus on, rather than on

These investigations have emphasized/focused on, asopposed to


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Introduction

Move 2: Establishing a Niche (aMust)

Raising a Question about it

However, it remains unclear whether

It would thus be of interest to learnhow

The results of previous studies suggestthat further investigations are neededin order to


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Extending Previous Knowledge orContinuing a Line of Research

Previous research shows that RaschAnalysis is a useful technique forvalidating multiple choice tests. Thispaper uses Rasch analysis to

These recent developments incomputer-aided design appear to haveconsiderable potential. In this paper, weshow

Introduction

Move 2: Establishing a Niche (a Must)


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d


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1. Use English prose, not jargon in your field.

2. Open with a statement about people (or animals)instead of other peoples research.

3. Gradually lead your readers into the formal ortheoretical statement of the problem, instead ofintroducing your problem or theory at the start.

4. Use examples to simplify the abstractness orcomplexity of unfamiliar conceptual or technical terms.

Introduction

Other Useful Strategies in Writing theIntroduction


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Examples of Opening Statements:

Poor: Recently, Ekman (1972), Izard (1977), Tomkins (1980)and Zajonc (1980) have pointed to psychologys neglect

of the affects and their expression. [Fine somewhere inthe introduction, but not in the opening statement.]

Better: Individuals differ radically from one another in the

degree to which they are willing and able to expresstheir emotions.

Poor: Research in the forced-compliance paradigm hasfocussed on the effects of predecisional alternatives andincentive magnitude.

Introduction



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Poor: Festingers theory of cognitive dissonance hasreceived a great deal of attention during the past 20years.

Better: The individual who holds two beliefs that areinconsistent with one another may feel uncomfortable.For example, the person who knows that he or she enjoyssmoking but believes it to be unhealthy may experiencediscomfort arising from the inconsistency or disharmony

between these two thoughts or cognitions. This feelingof discomfort was called cognitive dissonance by socialpsychologist Leon Festinger (1957), who suggested thatindividuals will be motivated to remove this dissonancein whatever way they can.

Introduction



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An example in which the technical terms aredefined only by the context:In the continuing search for the biological correlates of psychicdisorder, blood platelets are now a prime target of investigation.

On particular, reduced monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in theplatelets is sometimes correlated with paranoidsymptomatology, auditory hallucinations or delusions in chronicschizophrenia, and a tendency towards psychopathology innormal men. Unfortunately, these observations have not alwaysreplicated, casting doubt on the hypothesis that MAO activity is,in fact, a biological marker in psychiatric disorder. Even the

general utility of the platelet model as a key to central nervoussystem abnormalities in schizophrenia remains controversial.The present study attempts to clarify the relation of MAOactivity to symptomatology in chronic schizophrenia.

Introduction



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6. Citations: Either by enclosing their last names andthe year of publication in parentheses, or by usingthe names in the sentence itself:

It was reported that MAO activity in somepatients with schizophrenia is actually higher thannormal (Tse & Tung, 1949, p. ).

Tse and Tung (1949) report that MAO activity in

some patients with schizophreniais actually higher than normal (p. ).

7. Criticizing previous work (Indicating a gap): Criticize

the work, not the investigators or authors.

Introduction



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Introduction


8. Ending the introductionGive a brief overview of yourown study, thus providing a smooth transition into themethod section.

Because this sex difference remains elusive, it seems

desirable to test Zannasparental-role theory ofemotional expression in a more realistic setting.Accordingly, in the study being proposed here, we willexpose men and women to filmed scenes designed toevoke either negative or positive emotions and willassess their reactions when they think that they arebeing observed by one or both of their parents. Wealso intend to examine the relation of emotionalexpression to self-esteem.


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References:

Swales, J. M. & Feak, C. B. (1994). Academic writingfor graduate students: Course for non-native

speakers of English. Ann Arbor: The University of

Michigan Press.

Bem, D. J. (2000). Writing the empirical journal.http://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/dbem/writingarticle.

html
http://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/dbem/writinghttp://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/dbem/writing

meljun cortes how to start your research article

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