CSEM03 REPLI

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CSEM03REPLI

• Writing a research report

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Objectives

• At the end of this session you will be able to
• Differentiate between journalistic writing and
  academic writing
• Identify the required structure of an academic
  research paper
• Identify how to write critically
• Appreciate the ethical issues in writing research

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Guide to the process of writing a critical review
of the literature

• Choose a topic to review
• Be clear who you are writing for, who your
  audience is
• Produce a guiding concept or build a theoretical
  structure that can explain facts and
  relationships between them
• It may lead to the formulation of a theory

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Structure of a scientific research paper

• Title
• Authors (your name)
• Abstract
• (normally about 100-200 words)
• Introduction
• Describe the problem youre investigating, why it
  needed to be investigated (including key
  citations)
• Point out problems, infer hypotheses,
• Method
• Subjects (or data)
• Design
• Method (if scientific)
• Results
• Descriptive statistics,
• These describe the data you have collected
• inferential statistics
• these allow you to infer whether any differences
  were found between the groups
• Discussion

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A review paper

• Title
• Authors (your name)
• Abstract
• (normally about 100-200 words)
• Introduction
• Put your approach in the context of the key
  papers on the subject covered
• Describe the problem youre investigating, why it
  needed to be investigated.. Point out problems
• Main headings
• Arrange your content not as descriptive headings
  but as pointers to your argument
• Citations in the text always include the date
  with authors surname
• E.g. it was found by Turner (2000) that
• Discussion
• Start with a brief summary of your main findings,
  are there any implications from your findings?
• References
• Use hard referencing system
• eg Dabbs, J.M., Chang, E.L., Strong, R.A., and
  Milun, R. (1998). Spatial ability, navigation
  strategy, and geographic knowledge among men and
  women. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 19(2),
  89-98

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How to produce a structured report

• There is a convention for writing reviews/
  research papers
• The exact order and content may differ but all
  papers have the same basic structure
• Different Academic Journals require specific
  requirements about length, format, referencing
  style so if you want to be published you must
  write in the required format
• Every section should follow logically, you
  construct your argument as though you were
  stringing beads, one point logically follows
  another.

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How do you learn how to write?

• Practice
• It is difficult to write concisely
• You must be objective
• You must not use unfair tactics
• Rhetorical questions
• Appeals to authority
• Exaggeration
• Use of unsupported assertions

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The need for revision of your writing

• Writing means rewriting and rewriting
• It may read ok to you but you are too close to
  the work.
• Leave time in your planning for someone else to
  read over your work
• No-one can write a perfect piece of prose at a
  first attempt.

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Writing objective, fair prose

• Journalistic writing often appeals to emotions by
  using subjective language. The audience for
  newspapers is different from an academic
  readership. Some of the tactics used are
• Appeals to spurious authority
• Professor Jones said that implying that
  because she/hes a professor he/she must be an
  expert
• Use of subjective, value-laden adjectives, e.g.
• the results showed an enormous effect,
• Smith (2005) makes a ridiculous assertion that

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Using unsupported statements

• Do not use unsupported statements that imply that
  you, the author, are the expert on the subject.
  Every part of your argument must be supported by
  evidence when you are reviewing a body of
  published work. E.g.
• Do not use of course, it is obvious that

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Objective Facts

• The term "fact" refers to a truth about the
  world, a statement about some aspect of objective
  reality. For example, there is a fact that can be
  given as an answer to each of the following
  questions
• What is the average flow rate of the Colorado
  River?
• When taken into custody, what was the suspect's
  blood-alcohol level?
• Is the global warming trend natural or the result
  of pollution?

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Ethical issues in gathering data/ information
research

• You must obtain permission from an organisation
  before approaching people
• This is a basic courtesy and you may well need
  consent from the Ethics Committee at the
  University to conduct the study
• E.g. The British Psychological Society has
  produced ethical principles for Research with
  human subjects

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Issues

• Encroachment on privacy
• Confidentiality
• Seeking guidance from more experienced researcher
  if subjects ask for advice on educational,
  personality or behavioural problems
• Safety
• Care when researching children
• Not collecting data ostensibly for one purpose
  but the subjects are not told the real purpose

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University of Sunderland Ethics Policies,
Procedures and Practices http//www.sunderland.a
c.uk/hs0rpu/code.doc

• The Nuremberg Code (1947) was the first modern
  ethical code followed by the Declaration of
  Helsinki (1964) which has been modified several
  times. A recent version being the Handbook for
  Helsinki Committees (1998). Aligned with this is
  the United Nations International Covenant on
  Civil and Political Rights and more recently the
  World Health Organisation has issued
  International Guidelines on Ethics and
  Epidemiology (1990) and the International Ethical
  Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving
  Human Subjects (1993). These general principles
  of ethical practice have subsequently been
  developed and form the basis of modern codes for
  investigations in most countries.

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What can go wrong

• A notorious example is where pathologists took
  tissue samples from dead children for research
  without the consent of their parents
• Considerable distress was caused when parents
  realised that children had been buried with parts
  missing (like the brain)

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Stripping pituitary gland tissue and selling it
to pharmaceutical firms in the UShttp//news.bbc.
co.uk/1/hi/health/860235.stm

• Glands were routinely stripped from dead bodies
  without consent so they could be used in
  research, it has been claimed. The Department of
  Health has admitted that hospital workers were
  paid to remove pituitary glands from dead
  patients.
• There were never any consent forms or
  correspondence from relatives
• Fred Foreman, former mortuary assistant
• But it has refused to confirm claims made by a
  former mortuary assistant that the practice
  usually took place without the knowledge or
  consent of grieving relatives.
• The practice was exposed by Fred Foreman, who
  worked at Liverpool's Fazakerley Hospital in the
  1960s and 1970s.
• He said the glands, found just below the brain,
  were used to manufacture growth hormone used to
  treat children.
• Some were also sold to pharmaceutical firms in
  the US for the development of fertility
  treatment.
• Mr Foreman said although he was disturbed by the
  practice, it was widely accepted as part of the
  job.
• Statutory scheme
• He said "There were never any consent forms or
  correspondence from relatives.
• "They had no idea what was happening and would
  have been devastated if they had known."

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Summary

• This lecture has introduced you to the following
  issues
• Difference between journalistic writing and
  academic writing
• the required structure of an academic research
  paper
• how to write critically
• An appreciation of the ethical issues in writing
  research