University of Algiers 2 Research Methodology 3LMD

Department of English Ms. Daghi

Research Reporting (technical considerations)

Research, which is an investigation for certain answers and solutions to problems, is

known for its “social value” (Dornyei, 2007, p. 277).

The social value of research refers to the ultimate goal behind doing it which lies in
the improvement of all human life domains. This means that research has a positive
aim and impact on improving the life of humans and making it better.

Researchers’ tasks to achieve research social value:

Since research has a certain value in society, the researcher’s main tasks are;
research doing, research reporting and research sharing.

In order to achieve the first task, research doing, the researcher has to pass by the
different stages of the process (we have studied during the first semester).

Regarding the researcher’s second task, research reporting, there are some
technical considerations that every researcher has to be aware of in order to facilitate
sharing the research findings which is the third task.

According to Dornyei (2007), reporting the research findings implies using academic
writing and adopting and respecting certain guidelines of a style manual.

Academic writing: it is to write with respecting some characteristics. Dornyei (2007),

in his book, has established some principles of academic writing that researchers must
respect when reporting their findings. We mention two of them which are;

Reader-friendliness: knowing your reader helps choosing the appropriate language to

relevant research population. Being conscious of the reader of your research permits
the use of the language that maximizes comprehension.

Accessible language and style: writing the report requires using simple, clear and
straightforward language.

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 Another principle of writing the research report is adopting and following the
guidelines of a certain style manual.

Style manual (guide): it represents a set of guidelines, principles and regulations that
researchers must follow when reporting their findings. It is a guide offering codes for
every facet of writing up a research report; punctuation, text format, report structure,
in-text citation, listing references/bibliography…

The use of a style manual is intended to ensure consistency of the research report.

It is worth mentioning that there are different style guides among which researchers
adopt the suitable one for their research discipline, i.e. researchers must be aware
which style manual is appropriate to the field of their research (egs, APA manual used
for humanities studies)

With regard to book styles, Dornyei, (2007) has noted that some book publishers
adopt one of the common guides, while others develop their own style manual and all
the books and journal published by these publishers must follow this style.

To accomplish the value of research in society, the researcher’s third task is

communicating (sharing and publishing) the research findings with a wider
community. Respecting the guidelines of a style guide helps ensure the function of
academic writing which leads to the standardization of the research report which by its
turn facilitates the communication and the comprehension of the results.

Reference:

Dornyei, Z, (2007). Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.