Chapter 5

Communication for Academic Purposes

Principles of Research Writing

Essentials of Research Writing

Research is a systematic and scientific way of investigating and gathering information to

answer a particular problem, establish facts and reach conclusions. Conducting a
research can be done in any fields such as arts, humanities, social sciences, natural
sciences, technology and health sciences. Any research begins with a topic. For most
student researches, clarifying a topic through a question form is especially useful.

Qualities of Effective Researchers

1. They must be organized especially with time.

2. They must be highly motivated and creative.
3. They must read often to get new ideas and identify knowledge gaps.
4. They must be effective communicators.
5. They must be participative and collaborative.
6. They must be analytical and critical about matters relevant to them, to others, or
to the society.
7. They must be open-minded and good listeners.

Parts of a Research Paper

1. Title Page – contains an informative title (i.e., describes the content of the paper),
name of authors with their addresses or affiliation, and date submitted.
2. Abstract – contains the summary of the findings and conclusions. It briefly
presents the context of the study, research questions or objectives, methodology,
major findings, conclusions and sometimes implications. An abstract does not
contain any citation and a great deal of statistical results.

● Background/Motivation: Why was the research conducted?

● Aim/Purpose/Problem Statement: What is the purpose of your research?
● Methods: What methods or techniques did you use?
● Results: What are your most important findings?
● Conclusions: What are your most important findings?

3. Introduction – explains the current state of field and identifies research gaps. It
also presents your research focus in a way that it addresses the identified gaps
and puts the research topic in context.
4. Literature Review – contains the summary and synthesis of all available sources
directly related to your study. It is divided into two sections: related concepts and
related studies. Related concepts explain some of the fundamental concepts
 needed by readers to better understand the study. In this section, some concepts
and theories are defined, explained and elaborated. Unlike related concepts,
related studies are based on previously conducted studies directly related to the
paper. Both the related concepts and studies will help the writer explain the
phenomena that may arise in the study. This section ends with a paragraph that
synthesizes all of the studies presented and puts the study in context. Hence, the
last paragraph may include the topic and specific research problems. Its length
may range from two to three pages. Note that in some cases, the literature
review is integrated into the introduction section.
5. Methodology – contains how you proceeded with the conduct of your research.
This section contains the context and participants, instruments used,
data-gathering procedure, and data analysis. The context and participants
section explains the number and demographic profile of participants involved as
well as the place where the study was conducted. The Instrument section
presents tools used in gathering data. These may include questionnaires,
interviews, focus group discussions and tests among others. All of the
instruments used should be described in detail and on how they are validated.
Finally, the data-gathering section presents the details on how the data were
collected whereas the data analysis section presents how the data were
analyzed, qualitatively or quantitatively.
6. Results – factually describes the data gathered. It usually contains tables and
graphs that summarize the collected data. Along with the tables and graphs are
their respective interpretations. The flow of the results section should follow the
flow of the research questions/problems/objectives. It is expected that for each
research problem or objective, corresponding results are presented.
7. Discussion – presents the why’s of the results. This section provides an
explanation of all the results in relation to the previous studies presented in the
literature review. In this section, you need to restate your research problems or
objectives in the first paragraph as well as the major findings. The succeeding
paragraphs should explain whether your study supports or rejects previous
findings and explain the reason for this claim. You should also state the new
findings that you have uncovered. Similar to the flow of the results, this section
follows the flow of your research problems or objectives.
8. Conclusion – contains the restatement of major findings, limitations of the study,
recommendations, and implications. Note that in some cases, the conclusion is
integrated into the discussion section.
9. Reference – contains the different sources you used in your study. These may be
academic books, journals and other online sources. Its format depends on the
school, teacher or field of study.

Steps in Writing a Research Report

1. Preparation

a. Identify the context.

 b. Identify the purpose.
c. Identify the audience.
2. Generating and Focusing Ideas

a. Choose a topic. Specify it.

b. Check your library or online catalog for relevant resources and/or references.
c. Prepare a preliminary bibliography.

3. Outlining and Thesis Statement Writing

a. Construct a tentative thesis statement.

b. Construct a tentative outline.
c. Continue generating ideas through reading and discussing with colleagues.
d. Finalize the thesis statement.
e. Finalize the outline.

4. Drafting

a. Write the first draft of the body.

b. Write the first draft of the conclusion.
c. Write the first draft of the introduction.
d. Write the first draft of the introduction.
e. Write the first draft of the abstract.
f. Prepare a draft of a reference list.
g. Put together all parts.
h. Continue generating ideas through reading and discussing with colleagues.

5. Providing Feedback

a. Provide self-feedback
b. Seek feedback from your peers
c. Seek feedback from your teacher/s

6. Revising

a. Consider your own feedback and your peer’s and teacher’s as well.

7. Editing/Proofreading

a. Correct the diction or word choice, run-ons and fragments, subject-verb

agreement, pronoun usage, prepositions, dangling and misplaced modifiers,
transitions, verb tense, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and other
grammatical and typographical errors.

8. Finalizing
 a. Finalize all parts of the paper.

9. Publishing

a. Submit the paper to your teacher.

b. Seek advice from your teacher on how you can publish your work online or
better still, to a reputable journal.

Power Tips for Writing a Research Report

1. Fifty (50) to seventy five (75) percent of the paper should be devoted to results
and to results and discussion.
2. Be sure to cite all your sources whether they are paraphrased or directly quoted.
3. Use direct quotation sparingly. Paraphrase as much as possible.
4. Strictly follow the required documentation and citation style.
5. Topics should be relevant interesting, current and manageable in terms of
resources, skills needed and time. They should not be too sensitive and
controversial as well.
6. Research questions should directly address the given topic or thesis statement.

Activity

A. Write T on the blank if the statement is true and F if it is false.

1. One skill that an effective researcher must possess is critical thinking.

2. There is a big difference between the traditional version of the research
writing structure and the modern one.
3. The title should gain the attention of the readers.
4. It is not deemed important to exclude the name/s of the author/s and his/her
affiliation in the paper.
5. The abstract provides relevant findings of the research conducted.
6. The problem statement should appear first in the introduction.
7. The use of hedging devices can soften the claim of the argument.
8. The list of references may not be included in the parts of research paper.
9. Research writing should adhere to appropriate conventions.
10. Just like other forms of writing, the research paper follows certain steps.
11. A research report has a format similar to that of an academic essay.
12. The abstract should be writing prior to writing a conclusion.
13. An informative title is preferred when writing a research report.
14. The conclusion contains the details of the findings obtained from the study.
15. Gathering references can be done recursively.
16. It is better to have as many direct quotations as possible.
17. Majority of the paper content should be devoted to the literature review.
18. Survey instruments should be aligned to the research questions.
 19. Tables and graphs for the data gathered are presented under the introduction
section.
20. The discussion section presents the procedure undertaken to complete the
study.
21. The introduction contains the purpose and current state of the field of study.
22. The literature review contains the explanation of relevant concepts and
related studies.
23. The methodology contains the description of participants and instruments.
24. The title and thesis statement are written differently.
25. Two different documentation styles can be used in one research report.

B. Write five qualities every researcher should have in order to write an effective
research paper.

1. __________________________
2. __________________________
3. __________________________
4. __________________________
5. __________________________

C. Arrange the following steps in their correct sequence by writing 1-10.

1. After I submitted my paper to my teacher, I uploaded it on my blog.

2. I chunked general ideas into smaller ones.
3. I asked my classmates’ and my teacher’s comment to improve my paper.
4. I checked my paper’s grammar, punctuation marks, spelling and
capitalization, among others.
5. I identified the characteristics of my target audience, my purpose and the
situation in which I would use my paper.
6. I improved my paper based on the comments of my teacher and my
classmates.
7. I organized my ideas.
8. I looked for sample research paper to check the structure and tyle of writing.
9. I selected one possible topic and narrowed it down to a topic specific enough
for my document.
10. I prepared the first draft of my paper.

Selecting a Topic

Selecting a. research topic can be a daunting task because it must be an informed

choice, which is very crucial especially to students. However, it can be easy because
any topic will serve your purpose depending on your interest; usefulness, value/impact,
and relevance of the topic; availability of resources; and most importantly, your ability to
write about it and finish it within a given time.
 1. Am I really interested in the topic? Is it useful to my field of interest?
2. Is it relevant? Will it impact me, others, or the society?
3. Are sources available and accessible?
4. Will there be enough time to write about it?

Strategies in Generating Ideas for a Research Topic

1. Using a Personal Experience - This refers to the use of your own personal
stories, particularly your experiences, your advocacies, and your cultural
background, among others in your academic studies.
2. Freewriting – this refers to writing continuously without giving attention to
grammar, style, coherence, punctuation marks, or even penmanship. The
purpose of this is to free yourself from a “writer’s block” (a common condition
when writers cannot think what to write about).
3. Listing – this refers to listing down key terms related to your interest of study.
4. Webbing or Clustering – this refers to creating a web or cluster of ideas around a
primary idea. You can start with writing one topic in mind at the center of the
paper. Then, generate a multitude of ideas related to the topic.

Some topics to avoid

1. Too broad (e.g., parliamentary system – What about it? What is your focus?)
2. Explanation of a process (e.g., ways of protecting a student from bullying)
3. Biography or autobiography
4. Trivial
5. Questions on morality and religion
6. Too little information (Note: Always consider the availability of resources in your
library).

Strategies in Narrowing Down a General Topic

Once you have decided on your general topic, you need to narrow it down into a more
specific and focused one. You can still use the aforementioned strategies in generating
ideas for a working topic when you narrow down your topic. However, the most common
strategy in refining the focus of your general topic can be done through the inverted
pyramid.
In using the inverted pyramid as a strategy in narrowing down your topic, you must first
write your general topic on the topmost part. Then, continue writing downwards the
pyramid by focusing on what you specifically want to write about your topic as you get to
the base of the pyramid.

Activity

Write T on the blank if the statement is true and F if its is false.

1. Any topic is appropriate for research writing.

2. Personal observations a jumpstart the selection of a topic
3. Conversations can be a resource for identifying a research topic.
4. In asking critical and relevant questions, one can form an argument, which can
eventually become a thesis statement.
5. Topics that have limited references may be avoided.
6. The inverted pyramid is one common strategy in narrowing down a topic.
7. Choosing a topic is a very crucial stage in the research writing process.
8. There are rules to follow in generating ideas for topic selection.
9. Time is a big factor in refining your research focus.
10. Your research topic can “make or break” your grade.