Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett, Queensland University of Technology, presented this workshop on How to Reverse-engineer a Journal Article Research on 14th April 2014 at the Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway.

1. How to Reverse-engineer
a Journal Article
Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett
Queensland University of Technology
National University of Ireland, Galway, 2014

2. What is RE?
Extracting
knowledge
or ‘blueprint’
Discover the
methods for
writing
YOUR article
Efficiency
(why
reinvent the
wheel?)
Effective use
of resources
(time,
money, self-
esteem)
Increase
likelihood of
success (if it
looks like a
duck….)
Why reverse-engineer an article?
Caveat: This is only
one way to write an
article it is not THE
only way.

3.  Template:
 Harris and Reynolds
2003 –writing up
qualitative findings
(producing a model and
propositions)
 Published article
 Leo and Russell-Bennett
2012 – Journal of
Marketing Management
(ERA A) article on
qualitative findings for
customer-oriented
deviance.
The proof it works

4. 1. Pick your target
2. Read the author requirements
3. Find an example article
4. Deconstruct the article
5. Reconstruct your article-structure
6. Add your content
7. Identify papers to cite
Steps to reverse-engineering a
journal article

5. Deconstruction Phase

6.  You either:
 design your research around the requirements of the
journal
 Or
 Find the journal where your research will fit
1. Pick your target
V

7.  It might sound crazy but READ the author requirements published on the
journal website
 Example: Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
 http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/journal/11747
 What are the aims/scope? Will your research fit?
 In order for a manuscript to be published in JAMS it must, at the
minimum, meet the following criteria:
 Focus on a substantive issue in the domain of marketing
 Offer fundamentally new insights that advance the field
 Be literature-based and scholarly
 Demonstrate conceptual rigor
 Provide evidence of methodological rigor, if an empirical piece
 If you think your research fits then commence – if not find another journal
2. Author requirements

8.  Articles have conventions of setting up research and
reporting findings.
 Find an example article in your chosen journal that uses
the same analysis technique
 Multilevel regression: Homburg and Furst 2011
 Experiment: Du, Fan and Feng 2011
3. Find an exemplar article
12th Century manuscript
Requirements
• Illumination
• Colour
• Latin
• Large opening capital
letter
19th Century manuscript
Requirements
• Italics, bold and
underlined headings
• Direct quotes
• Black and white

9.  Step 1. Heading structure and paper
format
 Step 2. Style
 Step 3 Contribution
 Step 4 Purpose and key frameworks
 Step 5 logic and structure
 Step 6 Synthesis techniques
 Step 7 Conventions
 Step 8 Linking findings back to
literature
4. Deconstruct the example article(s)

10.  How many heading levels?
 How many words in each section?
 Where is the emphasis?
 Open up a new word doc:
 Type up the headings with word count
4.1 Heading structure and paper format

11.  Step 2. Style
 Title: Quirky? Every variable in your model?
 Language style
 US? British? English
 Passive vs active
 Readership age
4.2 Style
Score Notes
90.0–100.0 easily understood by an average 11-year-old student
60.0–70.0 easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students
0.0–30.0 best understood by university graduates

12.  Importance of research
 Identify Gap, RQ and contribution in Introduction and
discussion
 How do they ‘frame’ the contribution?
 In which paragraphs is this stated? Add this to your word doc
 Can you see the relationship between gap and contribution?
Gap and RQ?
 What is the scope of the research?
 At what level of cognition is the article operating? (Bloom’s
Taxonomy)?
4.3 Contribution

13.  What is the goal and aim of
research (should link to RQ)?
 In which paragraph is this stated?
 How is theory used in the front
section of the paper?
 What theories, definitions are used
and where are they stated?
 What are the seminal papers in the
field (how do you know?)
4.4 Purpose and key frameworks

14.  What is the purpose of
each section?
 What is the purpose of
each paragraph?
 Write this for each
section and paragraph
on your word doc
4.5 Logic and structure

15.  How do they synthesise the
literature?
 Do they use visuals?
 Mindmaps, tables, lists,
figures
 List techniques you might
use in your word doc
4. 6 Synthesis technique

16.  How is the hypotheses/proposition phrased?
 H1. Materialism has a negative association with life satisfaction
 Vs
 When conferred in the presence of others, preferential treatment
that is earned (vs. unearned) will result in increased (vs.
attenuated) satisfaction with a shopping experience.
 How are the results reported?
 Sample, measures, validity/reliability
 Table format for results
 Add these conventions to your word doc
4.7 Conventions

17. Reconstruction Phase

18.  Using the notes from the deconstruction, draft up your
own structure
 Level 1, 2 and 3 headings
 Number of words
 Purpose of each section
 Key words for each paragraph
 Wording of hypotheses/propositions
 Location of gap/RQ – top and tail
 Language
 Conventions
5. Draft structure for your article

19.  Take content from your thesis and pair it down
 What is your research topic?
 What is your key contribution?
 What is a good title that ‘fits’ the journal?
 What are your headings (this builds your logic
structure)?
 What is the purp
 ose of each of your sections/paragraphs?
 How should you word your
hypotheses/propositions?
 Add the tables and reporting requirements
 Manchester Uni Phrasebank
6. Reconstruct: Now add your own
content

20.  You should continue a conversation in a
journal
 It shows you are familiar with the journal
 One of the authors in the journal may be a
reviewer
 Search the journal
 Keywords that are in your article
 Topic area of your research
 Seminal authors cited in your research
 Read the articles and work out if you
should cite them in your article
7. Who do you need to cite?

21.  Pay attention to the details
 Punctuation
 Spelling
 Grammar
8. Proofing and editing