Graduate Writing center

In general, the title should describe the topic or scope of the study, and it should be self- explanatory to the readers of the field. Note that there are distinct preferences in titles across different disciplines. Further, each journal publishes author guidelines, which may limit what you can do.

Ask yourself…

• Is the title attractive?
• Is it succinct yet strong and clear?
• Does it indicate the topic of your study?

Examples of Titles

Abstracts can include the description of what was done or provide the main findings. Those journals that require structured abstract have subheadings similar to those in a paper: Background, purpose, method, results, and conclusion.

Ask yourself…

• Did I include the research aim or question?
• Is the significance of the study clearly stated?
• Is there a word count that the journal requires?

Note that while the abstract can start with the present or present perfect tense, there is a strong tendency to use the past tense in sentences describing methods and results, and the present tense in the conclusion section.

In the introduction, state the importance of your study and discuss the general surrounding issues. It should provide a wide overview of the topic you studied as well as relevant background information. Following a brief summary of the literature and research on the subject you researched, you propose the problem statement. Don''''t try to include a detailed history of your research topic. Instead, describe what the current understanding of your topic is.

Ask yourself…

• Does the introduction interest the readers?
• Do I have a line of logic that leads the reader to the problem statement?
  • Have I provided the context to the readers?
  • Is the significance and the purpose of the study clearly stated?
  • Have I stated the research gap?
• Have I followed an inverted triangle structure?

Note that you do not want to overuse citations as the main purpose of the introduction is to set the context of your study. Avoid tedious length in introducing the study.

Common errors in writing the problem statement includes

• Misleading the readers so that they would think we already know the answer. Why study if you know the answer already?
• Addressing irrelevant issues. Do not include just because it is interesting. Share what is relevant.
• Overusing quotations and references. This keeps readers from following the logical flow of ideas.
• 4. Making statements with no evidence to back them up. The problem should be written using appropriate theory and literature.
  • For dissertation writers:
    The content described in the introduction stretches to include a detailed, comprehensive review of related literature. Think about what we already know, what we do not know, and what we want to know about the problem. Develop a theoretical framework that you can use to guide your research. Identify key variables for study and suggest relationships among them if you are completing a quantitative study. If you are conducting a qualitative study, identify the concepts or topics
    If you are conducting a quantitative study, pinpoint significant variables and suggest relationships between them. Identify the concepts or subjects if you are doing a qualitative investigation.

A well-designed research study leads to the expectation that the results will be reliable and valid. In the Methods section, your descriptions should be precise and thorough. Here, it is common to have subsections such as participants or subjects, materials, instruments, procedures, and/or definitions employed. Remember that you are describing what you did, so you need to write this section in a past tense.

Ask yourself…

• Did I include all the methods used in my study?
• Did I include enough details (so other researchers can replicate my research)?
• Are methods logically organized and presented?

Note that you should state how and when the data were collected in this section. To keep track of your work, you can create a visual organizer which shows the process of your data collection.

In the results section, you describe the findings of your study based on the data gathered from the approach or procedures you used. This section should simply state the facts in a logical order, without any claims or bias.

Ask yourself…

• Did I report the main findings?
• Did I explain the data in figures and tables?
• Are the results logically grouped and presented?

Note that you do not provide conclusions or compare the results with other studies in the results section. One of the most typical mistakes made by inexperienced writers is that they include data in the Results section but do not provide results. Examples of data could be quotes from the participants or the actual numbers that you derived from the survey you used. Data is usually presented in tables and figures. Results are statements that summarize or explain what the data demonstrate.

In this section, you need to show how the data you obtained answers your research question and the implications of your findings.

Ask yourself…

• Did I answer the question posed in the introduction in the beginning of the discussion?
• Did I explain the significance of the findings?
• Have I compared/contrasted the results to previous studies?
• 4. Did I include limitations and future research questions? (optional in some fields)
• 5. Have I followed a pyramid structure? (optional in some fields)

Again, in general, results sections consist of factual statements and their interpretation, while discussion sections consist of claims that might be made. When addressing causality, proposing explanations, generalizing to a larger population, or providing reasons why particular occurrences occurred in the study, you can use qualifiers (e.g., seems, appears, possible, probably, likely).