How to Write an Abstract and a Research Article.docx

How to Write an Abstract and a Research Article.docx

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HowtoWriteanAbstractandaResearchArticle

HowtoWriteanAbstractandaResearchArticle

Howtowritearesearcharticle

Warmup

Academicwritingisdifferentfromdailywritinginanumberofaspects,inparticularintermsoflanguage/styleanddiscoursestructure/genericstructure.Inthesetwoweeks,wearegoingtolearnthemacro-elementsofaresearcharticleaswellastheirmicro-elements.Althoughthereisnoconsensusonthisissue,aresearcharticleisgenerallycomposedofTitle（andsubtitleifnecessary）,Abstract（withkeywords）,Introduction,LiteratureReview,Method,Results/Findings,Discussion,Conclusion,andReferences（andappendixesinsomecases）.Afterlearningthismodule,youwillbeableto:

1.readaresearcharticlecritically;

2. identifythecomponentsofaresearcharticle;

3.preparethecomponentsofaresearcharticleinaproperway;

4.learntowriteyourownresearcharticleinEnglish.

Writingaresearcharticleisaverydemandingandcomplextaskbothintellectuallyandlinguistically.Soitwouldbeunrealisticifyouaimedtoohighforthesetwoweeks’study.Sincemanyofyouareveteranresearchersinyourownfieldofstudy,youarewellcapableofwritingaresearcharticleintellectually.However,itmightstillbeachallengetowriteyourarticleinacademicEnglish,followingtheestablishedpracticeoftheinternationalacademiccommunity.

Itisworthnotingthattheformatrecommendedhereisforthegeneralpurposeofempiricalstudies.Publishedarticlesmayvaryinsomeaspectsandindividualjournalsmaysetoutparticularguidelinesforauthors.Sodoreadtheauthorguidelinesofyourtargetjournalanditspublishedarticlesbeforeyoufinaliseyourarticleandsubmitittoeditorialreview.Let’slookattheexampleofInternationalReviewofResearchinOpenandDistanceLearning,whoselengthyauthorguidelinesincludeasub-sectiononthepreferredformatofafullresearcharticle（http:

//www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/about/submissions#authorGuidelines）:

Apublishablepapershouldcontainthefollowing:

1.abstract（150-250words,describingtheresearchproblem,themethod,thebasicfindings,theconclusions,andtherecommendations）;

2.keywords;

3.introduction（whatistheproblem?

）;

4.researchmethodand/ortheoryused;

5.ifanapplicationorexperiment,adescriptionofpoolofsubjectsandhowtheywerechosen;

6.analysisofresearchandhowresults/findingsimpacttheoryandpractice;

7.conclusion;

8.references.

Abstractwriting 

Althoughanabstractisusuallythelastitemthatyouwrite,itappearsattheverybeginningofanarticleandisthefirstthingpeoplereadwhentheywanttohaveaquickoverviewofyourwholearticle.ItisalsoimportantinthatagoodabstractmayattracttheEditor’sandreviewer’sattention.Toacertaindegreewhetheryourarticlewillbetakenupforreviewdependsonyourabstract.Thisisbecausearequestforreviewisoftenaccompaniedbytheabstractonly.Itisusuallynotuntiltherequestisacceptedthatthewholearticlewillbesenttothereviewer.Sodospendsometimewritingtheabstract.Generallyspeaking,youhadbetterleavewritingtheabstracttotheend,becauseyouwillhaveaclearerpictureofallyourresults/findingsandconclusion.

Theelementsofanabstract

Anabstractisusuallymadeupofsixelementsinresponsetothefollowingsixquestions:

1.Whatisthesubjectmatter/areatheresearcharticleisdealingwith?

2.Whydowecareabouttheproblem?

/Whatpossiblegapexistsinthepreviousstudies?

3.Whatisthepurposeofyourstudy?

4.Whatdidyouactuallydotogetyourresults/findings?

5.Whataresomeoftheimportantresults/findings?

6.Whataresomeoftheimplicationsofstudy,especiallyfortheproblem/gapidentifiedinQuestion2?

Inotherwords,anabstractcoverstheessentialacademicelementsofthefull-lengtharticle,namelythetopic,background,purpose,methods,results/findings,andconclusion.Butdobearinmindthatsomeoftheseelementsareobligatorywhilesomeareoptional.Lookatthefollowingexamples:

Abstract1

Foreignlanguageteachereducationisanextensivelyresearchedsubject（Topic）.Nevertheless,theresearchfocusisonclassroomteachers,despitethefactthatdistancelanguagelearningisburgeoningtoday（Background）.Inthelightofthis,asurveywascarriedoutamongdistanceEnglishlanguageteaching（ELT）tutorsattheChineseradioandtelevisionuniversities（RTVU）withtheaimofexploringtheirprofessionaldevelopmentneeds,aswellasidentifyingpossiblewaysofcateringforsuchneeds（PurposeandMethod）.SurveyfindingsindicatethattheoverallscenarioforChinesetutors’professionaldevelopmentwasnotpromising（Results/Findings）.Accordingly,recommendationsaremadetoimprovethequalityandavailabilityofprofessionaldevelopmentforELTtutorsatRTVUs.Itishopedthatthisstudy,whichdealswithaverydifferentdistancelanguageteachingcontext,mayformausefuladditiontothefindingsfromotherresearchers（Conclusion）.（Xiao,J.,&Zhao,C.（2011）.DistanceELTtutorsinChina'sradioandtelevisionuniversities:

professionaldevelopment.OpenLearning:

TheJournalofOpen,Distanceande-Learning,26,51-66）

Abstract2

Thispaperreportsthedesign,implementation,andevaluationofateleseminaroninstructionaldesign（ID）andcomputer-mediatedcommunication（CMC）forthepurposesofstaffdevelopmentatTheUniversityofSouthernQueensland,Toowoomba,Australia（Topic,andmethodaswell）.Participationwasopentoanystaffwithaninvolvementorinterestindistanceeducation（Method）.Thisstudywasmotivatedbythefollowingresearchquestions:

IsCMCaviablemediumfortheprofessionaldevelopmentofstaffindistanceeducation?

DoesthenatureofmoderationofCMC-baseddiscussionsinfluencethenatureofcontributionsfromsubscribers?

Doparticipantsusedifferentstrategies（interactive,cognitive,andmetacognitive）inCMC-baseddiscussions?

（Purpose）ToaddressthesequestionsateleseminarwasinstitutedwithafocusontheissuesofIDandCMC.CMC-basedmoderationtechniqueswereusedtomanagethediscussion.Bothqualitativeandquantitativeevaluationtoolswereusedtomeasuretheoutcomesoftheteleseminar（Method）.ResultsoftheseevaluationdatashowthatCMCprovedtobeaviablemediumfortheprofessionaldevelopmentofstaff,thatthemoderationstrategiesinfluencedthenatureofcontributionsfromthesubscribers,andthatparticipantsusedarangeofstrategiestomanagethediscussionandtheirparticipationinit（Results/Findings）.（deVries,L.,Naidu,S.,Jegede,O.,&Collis,B.（1995）.On-lineprofessionalstaffdevelopment:

Anevaluationstudy.DistanceEducation,16,157-173）

Thelanguageofanabstract

Anabstractisawell-developedparagraphwhichiscoherentandconcise,andisabletostandaloneasaunitofinformation.

1.Usecompletesentences.

AscanbeseenfromAbstract1andAbstract2,allthesentencesinanabstractaregrammaticallycomplete;donotomitsentenceelementseventhoughtheymaybeeasilyinferred.

1.Usefamiliarterminologywheneveryoucan（andalwaysexplaintermsthatmaybeunfamiliartotheordinaryreader）.

Thetwoabstractsquotedabovecontainnounfamiliarorobscureterminologywhichmaypresentdifficultytothereaders.Verytechnicaltermsusedinanabstractmayrequireanexplanation,evenattheriskofviolatingtheruleofavoidingreferencingasmentionedbelow.Abstract3isacaseinpoint.

Abstract3

ResearchershaveadopteddiverseperspectivesontheeffectofpeerreviewonstudentwritinginthefieldofteachingEnglishasaFirstLanguage（E1L）andEnglishasaSecond/ForeignLanguage（ESL/EFL）inthepasttwodecades.Nevertheless,researcheshavechieflycenteredonconventionallearningsettingswithon-campusstudentsinmind;scantattentionhasbeenpaidtopeerreviewinthedistancelearningcontextdespitethefactthatdistanceEFLlearningisagrowingbranchofEnglishLanguageTeaching（ELT）intheworldtoday.Tofillthegap,thisstudyreportsonanactionresearchprojectintopairedpeerreviewinadistance-taughtEFLwritingcourseatanopenuniversityinChinatoinvestigatetheextenttowhichpeerfeedbackwasusedtoimproveEFLwriting,howitwasacceptedbyChinesedistanceEnglishlearnersandhowitimpactedontheirtransferrableskillsandself-efficacy,i.e.‘beliefsinone’scapabilitiestoorganizeandexecutethecoursesofactionrequiredtoproducegivenattainments’（Bandura,1997,p.3）.Findingsfromthestudyindicatethatpeerreviewhasyieldedgoodeducationalbenefitsintheseareasalthoughthereisstillroomforimprovement.Thearticlealsodiscusseswaystoovercomeobstaclesandtotapintothepotentialbenefitsofpeerreviewinthestudyofothercourses.（Xiao,J.（2008）.Pairedpeerreviewinadistance-taughtEFLwritingcourse.TheJournalOfAsiaTEFL,5（4）,85-115）

Abstract3containsatechnicalterm–self-efficacyandaquotationisgiventoexplainthetermatthesuggestionofthereviewerwhoexpressedaconcernthatreadersmightnoteasilyunderstandwhatitmeansinthiscontext.

3.Avoidusingfirstpersonpronounsorthename（s）oftheauthor（s）asSubject.SentencesbeginningwithI/weorProf.Niu（theauthor）shouldbeavoidedifpossible.

AllthethreeabstractsdonothavesentenceswithI/weortheauthor’snamesasSubject.Butdokeepinmindthatoccasionallytherearesentencesbeginningwithweinanabstractaslongasthewholeabstractreadscoherently.

 4.UseabstractconceptsasSubject,i.e.,focusontheissuesratherthanonpeople.

Re-readthethreeabstractsandyouwillfindonlyonesenten