textbookwriteup.docx

textbookwriteup.docx

《textbookwriteup.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《textbookwriteup.docx（21页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

textbookwriteup

Write-Up

Sonowthatyou'vecompletedtheresearchproject,whatdoyoudo?

Iknowyouwon'twanttohearthis,butyourworkisstillfarfromdone.Infact,thisfinalstage--writingupyourresearch--maybeoneofthemostdifficult.Developingagood,effectiveandconcisereportisanartforminitself.And,inmanyresearchprojectsyouwillneedtowritemultiplereportsthatpresenttheresultsatdifferentlevelsofdetailfordifferentaudiences.

Thereareseveralgeneralconsiderationstokeepinmindwhengeneratingareport:

∙TheAudience

Whoisgoingtoreadthereport?

Reportswilldifferconsiderablydependingonwhethertheaudiencewillwantorrequiretechnicaldetail,whethertheyarelookingforasummaryofresults,orwhethertheyareabouttoexamineyourresearchinaPh.D.exam.

∙TheStory

Ibelievethateveryresearchprojecthasatleastonemajor"story"init.Sometimesthestorycentersaroundaspecificresearchfinding.Sometimesitisbasedonamethodologicalproblemorchallenge.Whenyouwriteyourreport,youshouldattempttotellthe"story"toyourreader.Eveninveryformaljournalarticleswhereyouwillberequiredtobeconciseanddetailedatthesametime,agood"storyline"canhelpmakeanotherwiseverydullreportinterestingtothereader.

Thehardestpartoftellingthestoryinyourresearchisfindingthestoryinthefirstplace.Usuallywhenyoucometowritingupyourresearchyouhavebeensteepedinthedetailsforweeksormonths（andsometimesevenforyears）.You'vebeenworryingaboutsamplingresponse,strugglingwithoperationalizingyourmeasures,dealingwiththedetailsofdesign,andwrestlingwiththedataanalysis.You'reabitliketheostrichthathasitsheadinthesand.Tofindthestoryinyourresearch,youhavetopullyourheadoutofthesandandlookatthebigpicture.Youhavetotrytoviewyourresearchfromyouraudience'sperspective.Youmayhavetoletgoofsomeofthedetailsthatyouobsessedsomuchaboutandleavethemoutofthewriteuporburythemintechnicalappendicesortables.

∙FormattingConsiderations

Areyouwritingaresearchreportthatyouwillsubmitforpublicationinajournal?

Ifso,youshouldbeawarethateveryjournalrequiresarticlesthatyoufollowspecificformattingguidelines.Thinkingofwritingabook.Again,everypublisherwillrequirespecificformatting.Writingatermpaper?

Mostfacultywillrequirethatyoufollowspecificguidelines.Doingyourthesisordissertation?

EveryuniversityIknowofhasverystrictpoliciesaboutformattingandstyle.Therearelegendarystoriesthatcirculateamonggraduatestudentsaboutthedissertationthatwasrejectedbecausethepagemarginswereaquarterinchofforthefiguresweren'tlabeledcorrectly.

Toillustratewhatasetofresearchreportspecificationsmightinclude,Ipresentinthissectiongeneralguidelinesfortheformattingofaresearchwrite-upforaclasstermpaper.Theseguidelinesareverysimilartothetypesofspecificationsyoumightberequiredtofollowforajournalarticle.However,youneedtocheckthespecificformattingguidelinesforthereportyouarewriting--theonespresentedherearelikelytodifferinsomewaysfromanyotherguidelinesthatmayberequiredinothercontexts.

I'vealsoincludedasampleresearchpaperwrite-upthatillustratestheseguidelines.Thissamplepaperisfora"make-believe"researchproject.Butitillustrateshowafinalresearchreportmightlookusingtheguidelinesgivenhere.

KeyElements

Thispagedescribestheelementsorcriteriathatyoumusttypicallyaddressinaresearchpaper.Theassumptionhereisthatyouareaddressingacausalhypothesisinyourpaper.

I.Introduction

1.Statementoftheproblem:

Thegeneralproblemareaisstatedclearlyandunambiguously.Theimportanceandsignificanceoftheproblemareaisdiscussed.

2.Statementofcausalrelationship:

Thecause-effectrelationshiptobestudiedisstatedclearlyandissensiblyrelatedtotheproblemarea.

3.Statementofconstructs:

Eachkeyconstructintheresearch/evaluationprojectisexplained（minimally,boththecauseandeffect）.Theexplanationsarereadilyunderstandable（i.e.,jargon-free）toanintelligentreader.

4.Literaturecitationsandreview:

Theliteraturecitedisfromreputableandappropriatesources（e.g.,professionaljournals,booksandnotTime,Newsweek,etc.）andyouhaveaminimumoffivereferences.Theliteratureiscondensedinanintelligentfashionwithonlythemostrelevantinformationincluded.Citationsareinthecorrectformat（seeAPAformatsheets）.

5.Statementofhypothesis:

Thehypothesis（orhypotheses）isclearlystatedandisspecificaboutwhatispredicted.Therelationshipofthehypothesistoboththeproblemstatementandliteraturereviewisreadilyunderstoodfromreadingthetext.

II.Methods

Samplesection:

1.Samplingprocedurespecifications:

Theprocedureforselectingunits（e.g.,subjects,records）forthestudyisdescribedandisappropriate.Theauthorstatewhichsamplingmethodisusedandwhy.Thepopulationandsamplingframearedescribed.Inanevaluation,theprogramparticipantsarefrequentlyself-selected（i.e.,volunteers）and,ifso,shouldbedescribedassuch.

2.Sampledescription:

Thesampleisdescribedaccuratelyandisappropriate.Problemsincontactingandmeasuringthesampleareanticipated.

3.Externalvalidityconsiderations:

Generalizabilityfromthesampletothesamplingframeandpopulationisconsidered.

Measurementsection:

1.Measures:

Eachoutcomemeasurementconstructisdescribedbriefly（aminimumoftwooutcomeconstructsisrequired）.Foreachconstruct,themeasureormeasuresaredescribedbrieflyandanappropriatecitationandreferenceisincluded（unlessyoucreatedthemeasure）.YoudescribebrieflythemeasureyouconstructedandprovidetheentiremeasureinanAppendix.Themeasureswhichareusedarerelevanttothehypothesesofthestudyandareincludedinthosehypotheses.Whereverpossible,multiplemeasuresofthesameconstructareused.

2.Constructionofmeasures:

Forquestionnaires,testsandinterviews:

questionsareclearlyworded,specific,appropriateforthepopulation,andfollowinalogicalfashion.Thestandardsforgoodquestionsarefollowed.Forarchivaldata:

originaldatacollectionproceduresareadequatelydescribedandindices（i.e.,combinationsofindividualmeasures）areconstructedcorrectly.Forscales,youmustdescribebrieflywhichscalingprocedureyouusedandhowyouimplementedit.Forqualitativemeasures,theproceduresforcollectingthemeasuresaredescribedindetail.

3.Reliabilityandvalidity:

Youmustaddressboththereliabilityandvalidityofallofyourmeasures.Forreliability,youmustspecifywhatestimationprocedure（s）youused.Forvalidity,youmustexplainhowyouassessedconstructvalidity.Whereverpossible,youshouldminimallyaddressbothconvergentanddiscriminantvalidity.Theprocedureswhichareusedtoexaminereliabilityandvalidityareappropriateforthemeasures.

DesignandProceduressection:

1.Design:

Thedesignisclearlypresentedinbothnotationalandtextform.Thedesignisappropriatefortheproblemandaddressesthehypothesis.

2.Internalvalidity:

Threatstointernalvalidityandhowtheyareaddressedbythedesignarediscussed.Anythreatstointernalvaliditywhicharenotwellcontrolledarealsoconsidered.

3.Descriptionofprocedures:

Anoverviewofhowthestudywillbeconductedisincluded.Thesequenceofeventsisdescribedandisappropriatetothedesign.Sufficientinformationisincludedsothattheessentialfeaturesofthestudycouldbereplicatedbyareader.

III.Results

1.StatementofResults:

Theresultsarestatedconciselyandareplausiblefortheresearchdescribed.

2.Tables:

Thetable（s）iscorrectlyformattedandaccuratelyandconciselypresentspartoftheanalysis.

3.Figures:

Thefigure（s）isclearlydesignedandaccuratelydescribesarelevantaspectoftheresults.

IV.Conclusions,AbstractandReferenceSections

1.Implicationsofthestudy:

Assumingtheexpectedresultsareobtained,theimplicationsoftheseresultsarediscussed.Theauthormentionsbrieflyanyremainingproblemswhichareanticipatedinthestudy.

2.Abstract:

TheAbstractis125wordsorlessandpresentsaconcisepictureoftheproposedresearch.Majorconstructsandhypothesesareincluded.TheAbstractisthefirstsectionofthepaper.Seetheformatsheetformoredetails.

3.References:

Allcitationsareincludedinthecorrectformatandareappropriateforthestudydescribed.

StylisticElements

I.ProfessionalWriting

Firstpersonandsex-stereotypedformsareavoided.Materialispresentedinanunbiasedandunemotional（e.g.,no"feelings"aboutthings）,butnotnecessarilyuninteresting,fashion.

II.ParallelConstruction

Tenseiskeptparallelwithinandbetweensentences（asappropriate）.

III.SentenceStructure

Sentencestructureandpunctuationarecorrect.Incompleteandrun-onsentencesareavoided.

IV.SpellingandWordUsage

Spellinganduseofwordsareappropriate.Wordsarecapitalizedandabbreviatedcorrectly.

V.GeneralStyle.

Thedocumentisneatlyproducedandreadswell.Theformatforthedocumenthasbeencorrectlyfollowed.

Formatting

Overview

Theinstructionsprovidedhereareforaresearcharticleoraresearchreport（generallytheseguidelinesfollowtheformattingguidelinesoftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociationdocumentedinPublicationManualoftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,4thEdition）.Pleaseconsultthespecificguidelinesthatarerequiredbythepublisherforthetypeofdocumentyouarepro