Research Papers:

Compact Session

Dr. Iram Maqsood

Postdoctorate fellow,
School of Pharmacy,
Department of Pharmaceutics,
University of Maryland,
Baltimore, MD 21201.
+1 (443) 794-3120
 Writing a research paper: the steps

▪ Step 1: Find a topic

▪ Step 2: Do the research
▪ Step 3: Write it up
▪ Step 4: Revise

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 Step 1: Find a Topic

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 How do I find a topic?

▪ Choose a topic because it interests you.

▪ Ask questions of the topic.
▪ Propose a few likely answers to the questions you
have raised.
▪ Choose the best of the answers you have proposed and
use it to write a speculative paragraph.
▪ Be prepared to toss the speculative paragraph out:
regard it as no more than a hypothesis or a forecast of
your eventual answer.

▪ Save detailed reading until after you have finished this

process.

4 Taylor 2009. A Student’s Writing Guide. 22-23.

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Step 2: Do Some Research

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 Do the research

▪ What are the best ways to find information about the

topic?

▪ How do you grow your research tree?

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 Writing up: structure

▪ Introduction
▪ Theoretical background/literature review
▪ Main argument/results/discussion
▪ Conclusion

7 Image: www.bslscaffolding.com
 Introductory paragraph: shape

General Statement(s)

Detail or Commentary
related to the general
statement(s)

More specific detail

or commentary

Thesis Statement

Adapted from Swales and Feak. 2011. Creating Contexts. 3.

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 Introductory sentences: hook your reader

▪ The two-step approach:

▪ issue that engages your target audience

▪ second sentence: modulate to the specific focus of the study

▪ The Artic has become the focus of attention because global

warming is expected to be the most severe at extreme latitudes.
The thick organic soils of the tundra contain large stocks of
carbon (C), and these soils may act as either a source or a sink
for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).
− Weintraub and Schimel. 2003. “Interactions between Carbon and
Nitrogen Mineralization and Soil Organic Matter Chemistry in Arctic
Tundra Soil,” Ecosystems 6: 129-43.

Schimel. 2012. Writing Science. 42-3.

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 S
Introductory sentences: target your audience

▪ Maintaining linguistic diversity and developing positive

attitudes toward European languages has become a major
educational goal in Europe. Specifically, students are
expected to become plurilingual and to learn two
European languages in addition to their national language
- Busse 2017 - Plurilingualism in Europe: Exploring Attitudes Toward English

▪ Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), the first observer

of bacteria, would be surprised that over 99% of microbes
in the sea remained unseen until after Viking Lander
(1976) set out to seek microbial life on Mars. (Generalist
journal)
− Azam and Worden. 2004. “Microbes, Molecules, and Marine Ecosystems,”
Science 303: 1622-24.

Schimel. 2012. Writing Science. 40-1..

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 S
Writing Task: Introductory Paragraph

▪ How do you introduce your research?

▪ What is your first sentence? Does it hook your reader?
▪ How have you structured your first paragraph?
▪ Is your thesis clearly stated at the end (last or second-to-
last sentence) of your introductory paragraph?

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 Tenses in a research paper

▪ Introduction?

▪ Literature review / theoretical background?

▪ Methods?

▪ Results / discussion?

▪ Conclusion?

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 Tenses in a research paper

▪ Introduction? / Literature review / theoretical

background?
▪ Background information, i.e. generally accepted facts: present tense
▪ Explaining importance of research: present tense
▪ Reporting recently studies: present perfect tense

▪ Methods?
▪ Describing what you did: past simple tense
▪ Describing diagrams and figures: present tense

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 Tenses in a research paper

▪ Results?
▪ Detailing results obtained: past tense
▪ Referring to figures, tables, graphs: present tenses

▪ Discussion?
▪ Explaining significance of your results: present tense (sometimes
hedging)
▪ Summarising findings: past tense combined with present tense to
interpret/ explain findings

▪ Conclusion?
▪ A combination

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 Revising Your Text

▪ Problem 1: Structural Issues

− Solution: Clear Structure
• Paragraphs, Argument, Information Flow

▪ Problem 2: Writing Issues

− Solution: Smooth Writing
− Transitions, Information Flow, Sentence Structures
− Avoid the first person (mostly)

▪ Problem 3: Language Issues

− Excellent vocabulary choices
− The thesaurus is not always your friend.

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 Writing Task: Self-Assessment of Structure

▪ Read through your paper, reading only the first

sentence of every paragraph.

▪ Could you follow the main argument of your paper this

way?
▪ Did any paragraph seem not to follow logically from the
topic of the previous paragraph?
▪ Mark any paragraph that seems:
a) out of place
b) to go off on a tangent and away from the main
argument

16 Image: www.bslscaffolding.com
 S
Writing Task: Self-Assessment of structure
2

▪ Choose one of your paragraphs and analyze the structure

of your argument.
▪ Does it follow one of the paradigms we have just
discussed?

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 Smooth Writing

▪ Old to New Information Flow

▪ Signposting Language

▪ Fewer than 50% passive sentences

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 Old to New Information Flow

For many people the purpose of museum displays is to

provide the public an opportunity to view treasures from the
past. Museum exhibitions also serve to educate people
about science, culture, or nature. The goal of museum
displays for curators, however, is often directed at
presenting collections of objects that when placed together
tell stories. These stories or narratives can be quite
powerful in terms of communicating ideas and creating new
knowledge about the display topics. This construction of
knowledge is of great significance to the evolution of ideas
and scholarship.

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 Signposting Language

Highlighting Being more Giving an Adding a Changing

important specific example similar direction
points point
Importantly, In particular For instance… Similarly, … …, however,…
…
More More For example… Likewise, … Rather, …
importantly, specifically…
…
In fact, … In terms of… …, namely,… Conversely, …

It is also …, such as, …

important to
highlight…

http://owll.massey.ac.nz/pdf/studyup-essays-2-handout.pdf
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 Signposting Language

Acknowledging a Following a line of Summarizing

counter argument reasoning

Although, … …, therefore, … Finally, …

Even though, … Consequently, … Lastly, …

Despite, … As a result, … …overall…

It is also important to As a consequence, …

highlight…

http://owll.massey.ac.nz/pdf/studyup-essays-2-handout.pdf
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 Practice signposting!
Identify the signpost and change it

▪ Several respondents indicated speakers of British English

were easier to understand despite the fact that they might
have had little exposure to it.

▪ This might be because learners believe they are going to

be more exposed to it and should therefore be able to
respond promptly.

▪ Although there are some linguistic errors I pay attention

to, the main concentration of the course is to force
students to analyze texts

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 Practice signposting!

▪ English educators need to reconsider our means of

language teaching in order to reflect how English is
currently being used around the world, and, equally
importantly, to meet the changing needs of today’s
English learners.

▪ In the Netherlands, for example, interest in learning

English was sometimes explicitly linked to different levels
of contact with the use of English in media.

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 Practice!

▪ Read through one of your own paragraphs to see if the

structure is clear and the writing is smooth.

▪ Next, trade your writing with someone in the room to see

how they have handled structure and style. Do you have
any suggestions? Can you learn anything from them?

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 Passive to active

▪ A number of things are indicated by these results.

▪ The results were reported by Thomas et al.
▪ Cell division was observed in the sample.
▪ It was concluded that the water is contaminated.
▪ The book was written by Smith.
▪ In this study, seven samples were subjected to
comparative analysis.

▪ Change each sentence into the active voice? In each of

these sentences, is active or passive voice better?

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 Making Excellent Vocabulary Choices: Verbs

▪ Favour multi-syllabic verbs

▪ Limit use of one-syllable verbs (do, get, give, go, have,

let, make)

▪ and one-syllable phrasal verbs

− look up to → respect
− give out → distribute
− take on → accept
− leave out → exclude
− get on with → begin
− hang around → loiter

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 Better verbs

− to back up
− to find out
− to think about
− to mix up
− to look into

▪ To confuse
▪ To support / reinforce
▪ To investigate
▪ To establish / learn
▪ To consider

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 Hedging

Compare the two texts below. What differences do you see? What is
the function/purpose of each word in Text B?

A. Extensive reading helps students to improve their vocabulary.

B. Research conducted by Yen (2005) appears to indicate that, for a

significant proportion of students, extensive reading may contribute
to an improvement in their active vocabulary. Yen's (2005) study
involved learners aged 15-16 in the UK, although it may be
applicable to other groups. However, the study involved an opt-in
sample, which means that the sample students may have been
more 'keen', or more involved in reading already. It would be useful
to see whether the findings differ in a wider sample.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-centre/develop-
academic-voice/caution-hedging
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 Hedging

Compare the two texts below. What differences do you see? What is
the function/purpose of each word in Text B?

A. Extensive reading helps students to improve their vocabulary.

B. Research conducted by Yen (2005) appears to indicate that, for a

significant proportion of students, extensive reading may contribute
to an improvement in their active vocabulary. Yen's (2005) study
involved learners aged 15-16 in the UK, although it may be
applicable to other groups. However, the study involved an opt-in
sample, which means that the sample students may have been
more 'keen', or more involved in reading already. It would be useful
to see whether the findings differ in a wider sample.
verbs
adjectives
nouns
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-centre/develop-
academic-voice/caution-hedging
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 Hedging: Appearance, Possibility, & Description

Appearance Possibility Description

appears to might can be described as

has the appearance of may could be considered to
be
is similar to could is sometimes labelled

shares characteristics can can be equated to

with
appears to be in line has the possibility of the term is often used
with to mean
has the potential to the term is often used
to refer to
is able to this may indicate that

this may suggest that

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-
centre/develop-academic-voice/caution-hedging
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 Hedging: Quantifiers, Frequency, Context,
Evidence

Quantifiers Frequency Context Evidence

some sometimes In the context Based on

of…
a fraction rarely in certain As indicated by
situations
a minority/ tends to In some groups According to
majority of
a proportion of usually

to some extent generally

on the whole

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-
centre/develop-academic-voice/caution-hedging
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 Sources
▪ Caplan. 2012. Grammar Choices for Graduate and Professional
Students. University of Michigan Press.
▪ Lin, Yii-Jan. 2016. The Erotic Life of Manuscripts. Oxford.
▪ Misra, J. and Lundquist, J. 2017. “How to Slam-Dunk a Revision,”
Insider Higher Ed.
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/01/12/how-get-most-
out-revising-your-publication-essay
▪ Schimel, J. 2012. Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited
and Proposals That Get Funded. Oxford University Press.
▪ Swales, J.M. and Feak, C.B. 2009. Telling a Research Story: Writing a
Literature Review. University of Michigan Press.
▪ ___. 2011. Creating Contexts: Writing Introductions Across Genres.
University of Michigan Press.
▪ ___. 2012. Academic Writing for Graduate Students. Third edition.
University of Michigan Press.
▪ Taylor, G. 2009. A Student’s Writing Guide: How to Plan and Write
Successful Essays. Cambridge University Press.
▪ http://owll.massey.ac.nz/pdf/studyup-essays-2-handout.pdf

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Thank you very much