how to write a great research paper

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How to write a great research paper

Presentation by: Seyed Hamid Hashemi Petrudi

PhD student of POM at University of Tehran

[email protected] - [email protected]

Contents

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Why writing a research paper?

What is the structure of a research paper?

What is the publishing process?

How can I improve my written reports?

Some key terms


Requirement for successful graduation

Requirement for being a valuable Brand

to get reward/ award

to be recognized

To disseminate knowledge

It gives you an academic profile

Publications enhance your CV and may help in gaining employment

…

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Whats the difference?

Contents

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A significant point: paraphrasing

Some key terms

The structure of a research paper

Title

Authors’ name and Affiliation

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Literature review

Methodology (materials and methods)

Results and Discussion

Conclusions and further work

Acknowledgement

References

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Readers

High

Low

Title

The title should contain three elements:

the particular aspect or system studied

the variable(s) manipulated

Your contribution (sometimes)

Methods (sometimes)

Do not be afraid to be grammatically creative

Some titles:A study of the Baldrige Award framework using the applicant scoring data

A fuzzy multi criteria approach for measuring sustainability performance

of a supplier based on triple bottom line approach

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Affiliation

The author affiliation should consist of the following, as applicable, in the order noted:

company or college (with department name or company division)

postal address

city, state, zip code

country name

telephone, fax, and e-mail

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Abstract

The abstract is a one or two paragraph condensation (150-200 words)of the entire work described completely in the article.

The abstract should be a self-contained unit capable of beingunderstood without the benefit of the text.

It should contain these four elements:

An introduction (one to two sentences);

The purpose of the study (the central question);

A brief statement of what was done (Methods);

A brief statement of what was found (Results);

A brief statement of what was concluded (Discussion, in part).

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Abstract (cont.)

The Abstract SHOULD NOT contain:

lengthy background information

references to other literature

abbreviations or terms that may be confusing to readers

any sort of illustration, figure, or table, or references to them

Two types of abstract (according to requirement of journals):

Structured

Unstructured

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Abstract (cont.)

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structured

Unstructured

Keywords

Metadata (title/author details/abstract/keywords) is a vital part of any paper. The Keywords field is essential in that this is the most frequently searched field ifsearch results need to be narrowed, i.e. if the original search has produced toomany records.

the keywords should: contain ALL the essential words/terms from the title and abstract; Additional keywords from the full text can be added if the author(s) feel(s)

they are relevant, but only if they add significantly to the likelihood of thepaper being retrieved

ALL keywords should be in lower case (apart from abbreviations or propernames)

keywords should preferably be separated by semi-colons and end with a fullstop

Normal phrases should not be hyphenated (knowledge-management) Plurals are preferred (supply chains versus supply chain)

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Introduction

Your chance to convince readers of the importance of your work

Describe the problem. Are there any existing solutions? What aretheir main limitations? And what do you hope to achieve?

Provide a perspective consistent with the nature of the journal

Introduce the main scientific publications on which your work isbased.

(Editors hate references irrelevant to the work, or inappropriate judgments on your own achievements)

Never use more words than necessary

Excessive use of expressions such as “novel”, “first time”, “firstever”, “paradigm‐changing”(use these sparingly!)

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Introduction (cont.)

Introductions usually follow a funnel style, starting broadly andthen narrowing. They funnel from something known, to somethingunknown, to the question the paper is asking.

provide sufficient context and background for the reader tounderstand and evaluate your research

define terms which your reader may not know. Remember otherstudents are your audience

In the introduction we need to emphasis on our contribution andour new approach or idea, by concluding the gap that our studywould bridge it

The introduction may ends with the “road-map” paragraph. Thisparagraph outlines the remaining sections of the paper.

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Literature review

A literature review is an account of what has been published on atopic by accredited scholars and researchers.

Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literaturereview lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas:

information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently,using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of usefularticles and books

critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis toidentify unbiased and valid studies.

Its preferred to use a table for representing previous studies on a subject

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Methodology

This section should tell the reader clearly how the results wereobtained

Details, details, details ‐a knowledgeable reader should be able toreproduce the experiment

Reviewers will criticize incomplete or incorrect descriptions

Explain why each procedure was done, i.e., what variable were youmeasuring and why? Why you used that technique?

Experimental procedures and results are narrated in the past tense(what you did, what you found, etc.) whereas conclusions fromyour results are given in the present tense.

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Methodology (cont.)

Mathematical equations and statistical tests are consideredmathematical methods and should be described in this sectionalong with the actual experimental work

Describe all of the techniques used to obtain the results in aseparate, objective Methods section

If any of your methods is fully described in a previous publication(yours or someone else’s), you can cite that instead of describingthe procedure again

You should describe your research design accurately

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Results and discussion

What are results? "Just the facts”

The Results section DESCRIBES but DOES NOT INTERPRET the majorfindings of your experiment

Do not “hide” data in the hope of saving it for a later paper

Use sub‐headings to keep results of the same type together

Present the data using graphs and tables to reveal any trends thatyou found

If you make good use of your tables and graphs, the results can bepresented briefly in several paragraphs

Integrate visuals with text: the text offers claims and generalstatements that the visual details support

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Results and discussion

What's the Discussion? Interpretation…

Interpret your results

This is your chance to demonstrate your ability to synthesize,analyze, evaluate, interpret, and reason effectively

Your readers are looking for well-supported opinions, not for leapsof fancy or mere repetitions of your findings

You need to compare the published results with yours

Trends that are not statistically significant can still be discussed ifthey are suggestive or interesting, but cannot be made the basis forconclusions as if they were significant

Often the results are combined with the discussion section in the research works.

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Conclusion

Tells how your work advances the field from the present state of knowledge

Do NOT repeat the Abstract, or just list experimental results

Provide a clear scientific justification for your work, and indicatepossible applications and extensions

Conclusion includes study practical implications/recommendations/future works

It is important that all of the significant findings are summarizedand united in the significant conclusions

It is important to remember that this paragraph should not present new information

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Acknowledgement

The acknowledgments are given at the end of a paper and should ata minimum mention the sources of funding that contributed to thepaper.

You may also recognize other people who contributed to the paper or data contained in the paper, but at a level of effort that does not justify their inclusion as authors

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References

All reference works cited in the paper must appear in a list ofreferences that follow the formatting requirements of the journal inwhich the paper is to be published

You may not include references that were not cited in your paper.

Adding more references of the journal will enhance your chance!

Please use more valid references

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Some key terms

Publishing process

Finding relevant/suitable journal or conference

Preparing manuscript

Preparing cover letter

Preparing any needed draft like biography of authors, etc.

Submission

Handling and respect to reviewer’s comments

Reviewers’ recommendations

Accept/revise and accept/revise and review again/reject

Try another journal

This process needs another session

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Contents

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Some key terms

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the technical name for using someone else’s wordswithout giving adequate credit. Plagiarism is:

Using someone else’s ideas without acknowledging the source.

Paraphrasing someone else’s argument as your own.

Presenting someone else’s line of thinking in the development of anidea as if it were your own.

Arranging your ideas exactly as someone else did—even though youacknowledge the source(s) in parentheses.

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How to avoid plagiarism?

To avoid plagiarism, you should:

Never use someone else’s ideas without acknowledging the source.

Never paraphrase someone else’s argument as your own.

Never present someone else’s line of thinking in the developmentof an idea as if it were your own.

Never arrange your ideas exactly as someone else did—eventhough you acknowledge the source(s) in parentheses.

Ways to avoid plagiarism include always documenting quotations, opinions, and paraphrases and recognizing the difference between fact

and common knowledge.

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An example

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Contents

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Some key terms

Impact Factor (IF)

[the average annual number of citations per article published]

For example, the 2008’s impact factor for a journal is calculated asfollows:

If A= the number of times articles published in 2006 and 2007 werecited in indexed journals during 2008 And

if B= the number of "citable items" (usually articles, reviews,proceedings or notes; not editorials and letters‐to‐the‐Editor)published in 2006 and 2007

Then 2008’s impact factor= A/B

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H index

In other words, a scholar with an index of h has published h paperseach of which has been cited in other papers at least h times

A h-index of 20 means the researcher has 20 papers each of which hasbeen cited 20+ times.

An alternative to total citations which can be disproportionatelyaffected by a few very highly cited papers.

Please visit these websites for finding journals

www.scimagojr.com

www.webofknowledge.com

www.journalseek.net

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