Writing Up Research

Information convention
Presented by:
Mortadha Ali Jawad

Supervised by
Professor Dr. Zohra Seifoori

May 2021

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 Purpose
This presentation aims at providing an overview
of the information convention used in stage II of
writing a research, which is called literature
review.
Literature review is an organized collection of
references or citations to other works which are
listed at the end of the research.

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 Functions of Literature Review
Literature review has three important functions:
• It continues the process started in stage 1
(establish a setting for the research topic)
• It reassures reader that you are familiar with
the important research carried out.
• It established your study as one link in a chain
of research that enhances knowledge in your
field.

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 Information Conventions
Ways for citing other authors
Writers cite other authors in two ways:
1. The first is called information prominent
citation because information is given primary
importance: the author’s name(s) and date of
publication are in parenthesis at the end of the
sentence. Example: (Smith, 1968)
2. The second way uses numbers between
parenthesis (1,2,8,9), called reference number.
This citation is called author prominent.
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 Ordering of Citations

There are various ways to order citations:

- Chronological order. For the literature review
which describes the history of research in a
certain area.
- Different approaches. Used when we have a large
number of citation, as in a thesis and dissertation.
- Distant to close. Citations are arranged from those
most distantly related to the study in question to
those mostly closely relate.
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 Language Conventions
Citation focus and verb tense
This is to determine which verb to be used in each
citation.
- When the focus of the study is on information, the
citation should be written in the present tense. The
present tense is used when the information cited is
generally accepted as scientific fact.
- The present perfect tense is used in citations where
the focus is on the research area of several authors.
It is called weak author prominent.
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 Continued
- In general statements that describe the level of
research activity in an area, the present perfect is
used. Example:
[level] + [verb (present perfect)] + [topic]
Little research has been done development in…
- Tense in author prominent citations is in the simple
past tense. Example
[Author] + [reference] + [verb (past)] + [that]
Allington 1983 found that …
showed

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Progression of tenses in stage II
Literature Review

Citation form Tense

Beginning citation: Simple present

information prominent
And
Weak author prominent
Present perfect
General statement

Later citations:
Author Prominent Simple past

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION