To make research more effective and less time-consuming, you can do three

things:
● Plan your research before your start
● Set up and follow a research schedule
● Immediately prepare source information

What is the research statement?

● The research statement is the most important sentence in the work.
● If someone asked you, “What does your paper say?” your answer would be
your thesis statement.

A good research statement usually includes:

● Main idea of the work
● The problem of the work
● Purpose of the work
******************************************************************

● The thesis statement is not a fact nor a question, but your view of the topic
and what you want to say about it
● From the thesis, it should be clear what the paper will do.
● It should be understandable and manageable.
What is the research question?
What is the hypothesis?
● This is a great way to focus your paper and your purpose will determine the
type of question that you ask / hypothesis to be tested.

Following criteria should be considered:

1. The question / s should be important, relevant, and interesting.
2. The question should be simple and sufficiently specific to be answered.
3. The question should be measurable, and feasible to be worked out.
4. Make clear to what extent the research question has been addressed by
others.
5. State the research question, research aim or hypothesis clearly.

Research question:
research process:
What are the steps in the research process?
1. Make sure what you are planning to conduct and subsequently to write
2. Making a literature search and identify your topic and / or topic’s problem
3. Formulate the topic’s problem statement
4. Create the topic’s research question and / or topic’s hypothesis clearly
5. Making an extensive literature review
6. Developing the objectives.
7. Consider the ethical issues
8. Determine a study population (inclusions and exclusions criteria)
a.Related to the researcher
b.Related to the participants

9. Determine the sources of data collection

10. Determine the methods and tools for data collection.

11. Make a plan for data collection and its further steps

12. Analyzing the data

13. Presentation of the results
14. Discussion of the results
15. Finalize the writing of your project
16. Submit the thesis / project
Research proposal
● A research proposal is simply a structured, formal document that explains
what you plan to research (i.e. your research topic), why it’s worth
researching (i.e. your justification), and how you plan to investigate it (i.e.
your practical approach).
● The purpose of the research proposal is to convince your research
supervisor, committee or university that your research is suitable and
manageable.
● A good dissertation or thesis proposal needs to cover the “what”, the “why”
and the “how” of the research.

What
• Your proposal needs to clearly articulate your research topic. This needs to

be specific and unambiguous. Your research topic should make it clear exactly what you plan to

research and in what context.

• you need to indicate what makes the research is unique? What gap in the current
literature does it fill? what value will it add to the world if you manage to find answers to
your research questions?

How?
● How will you undertake your research?
● Is your research design appropriate for your topic?
● Is your plan manageable given your constraints (time, money, expertise)

Some important questions you’ll need to address in your proposal:

● Will you take a qualitative or quantitative approach?
● Will your design be cross-sectional or longitudinal?
● How will you collect your data (interviews, surveys, etc)?
● How will you analyze your data (e.g. statistical analysis, qualitative data analysis, etc)?
How is a research proposal structured?
There are eight “essential ingredients” that typically make up the structure of a research
proposal:
1. A descriptive title or title page.
2. A rich introduction and background to the proposed research.
3. A discussion of the scope/limitations of the research.
4. An initial literature review covering the key research in the area.
5. A research question / s and / or Hypothesis or both.
6. Aim/ s and objectives.
7. A discussion of the proposed research design (methodology).
8. Time frame.

Academic writing
❖ Collected information should serve the purposes of the task

❖ In academic writing: it is not good to state something without evidence (citation).

8 principles to be considered:
1. Clear Purpose: persuasive – analytical and informative
2. Reader Engagement: flow – fluency - sequence
3. Clear Point of ViewFocus and logical Organization
4. Strong Support and Effective Use of literature
5. Clear and Complete Explanation
6. Writing Style: lay out – grammar - structure
7. Follow the instruction o the guide and the instructor

Funnel shape:
● In academic writing, follow the principle of the funnel shape.
● In the funnel shape, as you go down, as you go more deep, focused, and
concentrated.
What distinguishes academic writing from other forms of writing?
● Objectivity.
● Criticality.
● Formal English.
● Clear focus.
● Effective structure.

Objectivity:
● Academic writing should be objective and therefore needs to be written in
the third person (i.e. ‘it is thought that . . .’).

Criticality:
● Academic writing exhibits criticality.
● In other words, in academic writing, you are doing something more than just
describing a topic or imparting information; you are using that information
by analyzing it in relation to a question, In academic writing you are using
that information by weighing it up against other information, evaluating its
importance or validity, and integrating it into your own argument.

Formal English:
● Academic writing is written using formal English.
● Formal English does not include colloquial words or phrases.

Clear focus:
● Effective academic writing is also characterized by being sharply focused on
the question.
● Academic writing is more purposive than discursive.

Effective structure:
● Academic writing should be structured effectively.
● The content of a piece of academic writing is well organized and accessible.

Writing style:
1. Structure and lay-out.
2. Page numbering.
3. The chapters and sections: reflect the global structure of a text – headings - sub headings
- sub subheadings.
4. Syntax: arrangement - grammar - composition - sentence structure - word order -
language rule.
5. Connect your sentences by using the sentence connectors (linking words).
6. Use of words: the use of dynamic, precise, clear, and simple words makes your text more
comprehensible and readable.
7. Avoid informal or spoken language in scientific texts.
 8. Use key words consistently Particularly in paragraphs in which you define or identify an
important idea or theory, be consistent in how you refer to it.
9. The accurate use of the tense
⮚ Simple present: is in general used to describe an action that occurs now or on a regular
basis.
⮚ Past tense: emphasizes the completed nature of a past activity or event.

Present perfect tense:

⮚ is used to describe unfinished actions that started in the past and continue to the present.
⮚ Its use is limited to the introduction , literature review to indicate that research in the area
is still continuing or still has immediate relevance.
10. Passive voice
⮚ Passive voice emphasizes what was done and is generally conceived to be more objective
⮚ It seems to be more scientific
⮚ It is also considered to be impersonal, wordy, and often boring.
11. Paragraphs
❖ Are the smaller units of a text
❖ The topic of the paragraph becomes manifest in the first or last sentence of a paragraph.
❖ This sentence is also called the topic sentence.

Writing style:
❖ To establish coherence within a paragraph, make sure that each sentence is related to this
topic sentence.
❖ This can be achieved by repeating key words or phrases or using parallel structures or
linking words.

What are the standard components of any written work?

Organize the parts of a written project work?
Appendices – title page – abstract – references – results – list of contents – discussion –
conclusion – list of figures – Introduction – Method - Review of literature- limitations –
Abbreviations – Acknowledgments – list of tables – conclusion
● All reports have a number of commonly recognised components; these are
● The beginning
● The middle
● The end.
What are the elements of:

The beginning The middle The end

❖ Title page ❖ Main body ❖ Limitations

❖ Summary or abstract ❖ This include subheading ❖ Conclusions

❖ Acknowledgments and substructures ❖ Recommendations

❖ Contents ❖ Review of literature, ❖ References and / or

methods, results and
❖ Glossary Bibliography
discussion are
❖ Introduction ❖ Appendixes
components of the
middle

The order of the steps while working in the project shouldn’t be similar to the order of the
chapters for binding of the thesis for its submission.

• What is the first chapter to be read

But
• the last chapter to be written?

How to make notes and collect information?

● An important part of the research and planning process is taking notes of the
information and ideas that you find.
● As you read a source, marking and writing down the important things that
you read will help you to remember them and understand them better.

Where to take notes ?

● On photocopies or printed Internet documents
● On a computer file
● In a notebook
● On note cards
Define Plagiarism:
● using someone else's text without acknowledgment.
● plagiarism, whether you meant to do it or not. For students, plagiarism often means a
failing grad.

To avoid plagiarism:
● Write in your own words and refer adequately to the literature.
● Do not copy entire phrases/paragraphs from existing texts.

Quotation:
● is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted
expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source,
● it is indicated by quotation mark
Rephrase:
● To say or write something again in a different and usually clearer way
● Express (something) in a different way especially to make the meaning clearer

Define citations – what are their types?

• A citation is a reference to a source used in academic writing that acknowledges and credits
the original author. It helps readers locate and verify the sources and adds credibility to the
work.

• There are different types of citations, including:

1. in-text citations,
2. parenthetical citations,
3. footnotes/endnotes, and
4. bibliographic citations.

The specific citation style used determines the format and arrangement of the citation
elements. It's important to follow the appropriate style guide for accurate and consistent
citation formatting.

Citations:
1- Harvard
● The previous studies showed that there is no effect of exercise on the mental stress
response (Gladwell et al 2017, and Alamari 2018).
2- Vancouver
● The previous studies showed that there is no effect of exercise on the mental stress
response (1,2).
Review of literature:
● Golden chapter in the work.
● It does provide a detailed overview about research topic.
● It is the starting point in the work in order to build a background about the topic.
● It is an essential chapter to make a mind mapping and create the library of the work.
● Writing in headings and subheadings and sub-sub headings is allowable and quite
preferable.
● The use of linking words, rephrasing the statements are vital key components of this
chapter.
● Don’t forget the citation while writing this chapter.

linking words:
● What are the linking words?
● Enumerate them and how they are used.
Sources of information:
● Books
● Journals
● Chapter from books
● Websites
● Collection of information

Information can be collected by one or more of these methods:

● Experimentation
● Questionnaire
● Interview
● Letter
● Telephone call
● Search on the internet.

Don’t forget
Collected information depends on the topic and / or its related research question and hypothesis.

General instructions:
Before starting the written task
● Look at any instructions have been given about the task
● Consider the assessment criteria while you are planning to start
● Ask friends in your subject area to see the previous written tasks; try to work out why
they got the grade that they did
● Keep in touch with your tutor and ask for examples of poor / good written works.

When you have collected and evaluated your information, what are the
elements of the checklist that needs to be evaluated?
When you have collected and evaluated your information, use the checklist below:
● Relevant to the topic?
● Relevant to your aims?
● Relevant to your reader?
● Up to date?
● Accurate?
● Correctly referenced?
● Supported by evidence?
● Necessary?
● Evaluated for opinion or bias?
Title
● Title should be clear, concise, relevant and shouldn’t be similar to another work
● Providing a subtitle is a good way of providing more details about the contents
● It should be the most prominent words in the task
● It should be as precise as possible, contain some key words about the topic
● It should reflect the general field of the paper

Title page
Insert title page
- Every written paper should have a title page that tells the reader or any body else what
the report is about
- A good title page will include the following information:
● The title.
● The name and logos of the organization who authorised the report.
● The name of author(s) and his/her/ their position of the author(s) within the organization.
● The date of the issue of the report.

Summary or abstract
- The abstract briefly summarizes the context, research aim or question,
methods and materials, main findings and conclusions
- It should inform the reader about the highlights of your work
➢ It has two functions:
● for a summary or outline of the content that the recipient is about to read or
has just read.
● The purpose is to provide a concise overview of the report, especially if the
recipient does not plan to read the entire document.
- It does highlight the background, aim, method, results main conclusions.
- It should be concise - shouldn’t be more than one page - the usual no is 250
or 300.
- Don’t introduce any matter which is not covered within the text of the report.

Abstract:
First paper to be read
But
The last to be written
How to write an abstract and what is the layout of its presentation?
 - Structured Vs non structured
Almost, the structured abstracts are more favorable for the writers

List of Contents:
● It is an essential component of any scientific work.
● It should be on a separate sheet of paper.
● It should list the various sections of the report in order in which they appear.
● The headings on the contents page should be identical to those used in the text.
● The headings on the contents must be identical with appropriate page (and/or) paragraph
number alongside them.
● Page numbering should be simple and consistent.

Glossary:
● It is necessary when you have used a good deal of specialized or technical vocabulary.
● Make sure your definitions are up to date and precise.
● List the words alphabetically and place it at the beginning.

Ethics and study forms:

In a project, ethics and study forms play a crucial role in ensuring ethical conduct, participant
safety, and legal compliance. Here are some common ethics and study forms used in project
management:
● Information sheet
● Risk assessment form
● Ethical approval sheet
● Consent form
 Methodology:
Materials and methods
❖ Study area: location
❖ Period of the study: interval
❖ Participants: age – sex – occupation – education – other information
❖ Inclusion and exclusion criteria
❖ Type of study: descriptive – case control- cross sectional ………etc
❖ Tools and procedures: trade name – manufacture – date of manufactory
❖ Protocol: all the steps in details
❖ Data analysis: procedure – package used
True or false:
● Methodology chapter is written in review study research work.
● Why methodology chapter should be written in review study research work.

Methodology chapter
Methodology chapter is written in review study research work:
Consider:
1. Sources: Journals - websites
2. Key words
3. Limited to humans or both humans and animals were involved
4. No of full texts have been used
5. No of abstracts
6. No of English Language texts – translated ones.

Results:
● Results is the chapter of the main outcomes of the study obtained according to the
methods section
● There is no interpretations about the results in this chapter
● The interpretation may be subject to discussion.
● Title of the figure is below
● Title of the table is above
● Don’t insert the figure of the table before its presentation
● Significance marks
● No of the candidates

Results:
What are the types of data?
● Quantitative: How much (continuous – discrete)
● Qualitative :what type (nominal – ordinal)
Quantitative
● Discrete: number of children – number of asthma attacks per week
● Continuous: blood pressure – height – age
Qualitative
● Nominal (unordered): sex– blood group
● Categorized (ordinal): pain level and intensity- grade of breast cancer

How to present the results in an academic paper?

Presentation of Qualitative data
1- Tables form: to classify them into categories and then count the number of observations in
each category of the variable and present the numbers and percentage in a table.
2- Graphical form:
A- Bar chart: with nominal data, the bars may be in any order that seems sensible to research, but
with ordinal data they should be arranged from lowest to highest
B- Pie chart : Sectors of a circle ,with areas proportional to class frequencies , used to present
data in nominal classes.
Presentation of Quantitative data
1- Frequency tables form: The variable may be classified into group intervals. The number of
intervals should be reasonable. A table of this kind is called a frequency distribution
Presentation of Quantitative data
1- Histogram: Replace the bar charts
2- Frequency plygone

Discussion:
● Chapter of argument – discussing advantages and disadvantages – comparison –
evaluation of causes or effects – evaluation of problems
● The structure should be logic, and acceptable
● It should discuss the results and make an argument where it is needed
● It should mention the previous results and make a comparison.
● In the discussion, you give interpretations of your results by relating and comparing them
to each other
● As well, interpret the results by putting them in a broader context of the literature (what
 did others find that relate to your subject?) You should also discuss the consequences of
your findings for the aim/research question/hypothesis (do the outcome support or oppose
the hypothesis?
● It is preferred to write it in a form of headings and subheadings and sub sub headings way
● Expression of opinions should be in a tentative language.

➢ It is possible that
➢ It is likely that / assumed that
➢ It is probable that
➢ It is unlikely that
➢ It is improbable that
➢ These findings suggest that
➢ These findings suggest that
Conclusions:
- Should link what you were trying to do as stated in the introduction with your findings as
presented in the main body
- Should flow naturally from the main body evidences and arguments
- No surprises in conclusions should be obtained
Conclusions should always be:
● Clearly and simply stated
● Objective and not exaggerated
● Written with the likely impact on the reader clearly in mind
Limitations:

Limitations:
● Identifying the limitations are of importance to illustrate weakest points in the work that
might influences that results
● Moreover, is to draw the recommendations for the future work
● Limitations should be inserted at the end of the discussion but before the conclusion

Recommendations:
● Recommendations look to the future; so any comment not concerned with the future has
no place as recommendation
● Recommendations should follow logically from your conclusions; no surprises
● Should be concise, specific, realistic and to the point
● Read the recommendation in isolation and they should make sense
● If not making sense, re-draft the recommendations again until they do
Introduction:
• The first chapter to be read
But
• the last chapter to be written
It is the section that tells the reader what it is all about
A good introduction should include everything that the readers will need to know before moving
on to the main body
In the introduction, you indicate:
● what has been studied
● why it has been studied
● how it has been studied.
● Certain essential preliminaries in the introduction should be available: aims and scope;
the aims should be clarified very well.

Introduction contains
1. The background of the study
2. Problem statement
3. Research question or hypothesis
4. Aim of the study
5. An outline of the approach take

Introduction:
● The scope of the work should link between the theory background, previous research work,
your approach based on your hypothesis or a research question(s)
● The background tells the story how you have come up with your research question.
● It includes a literature review to make clear to what extent the question has been addressed
by others
● The background in introduction usually ends with a problem statement that sets the scene
for your specific question
● Research question that will be answered in your thesis or paper should be stated in the first
sentence of the subsequent paragraph
● To formulate a good question, some considerations should be followed.

Appendixes:
Appendixes are useful as a way of:
● Some people will need to refer to them
● Amplifying and/or substantiating findings in the main body
● Presenting documentary evidence to support arguments in the main body
● Presenting detailed results of experiments or investigations and summaries of results
obtained elsewhere
 ● Presenting statistical or comparative information
● Illustrate relationships or relative proportions by means of charts or diagrams
● Explaining systems or procedures by flow charts and / or words
● An appendix is useless unless it is clearly referred to in the main body of the text and in
contents page
● Tell the readers why they may wish to refer to it

References:
● It provides all information about books, or journals or websites which have been
specifically mentioned in the text, or from which extracts have been quoted
● How to write the book, a chapter from a book, journal, and website? How to organize
them?
Bibliography:
● A bibliography is a list of sources or references that are used or consulted in the creation
of a written work, such as a research paper, essay, or book. It provides detailed
information about each source, allowing readers to locate and verify the information used
in the work
● Gives full details of every publication referred to in the text; Unlike reference section, it
may also include books and journals not referred to
● It does include further and recommended readings.

Summary:
● Failure to prepare is prepare to fail.
● Build your vocabulary and have a good language.
● Learn the linking words and their uses.
● Determine your purposes of the task precisely.
● Making a mind mapping is crucial for you to perform the work successfully.
● Determine the sources of information, and thereby the methods of collection.
● Planning and preparing the components, their headings and subheadings of the task is
important
● Follow the common academic standards and principles in your writing
● After the first draft, re-read the work and subsequently re-write it again (proof reading)
● To be an effective researcher and writer, keep reading and writing.