This ppr describe the most important sections of a research thesis

1. RESEARCH WRITING
METHODS
BY: Tofik Hussien
November, 2023
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2023 1

2. What is research?
• The term ‘Research’ consists of two words:
Research = Re + Search
• ‘Re’ means again and again and ‘Search’ means
to find out something.
• There fore, research means to observe the
phenomena again and again from different
dimensions.
• Research commonly refers to a search for
knowledge.
• It is indeed a voyage of knowledge.
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3. Cont,….
• It is an organised, systematic, data-based critical
scientific inquiry or investigation into a specific
problem, undertaken with the objective of finding
answers or solutions to it.
• Research is the systematic and objective
identification, collection, analysis, dissemination
of and use of information for the purpose of
improving decision making related to the
identification and solution of problems and
opportunities
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4. Components of research
1. Title
• An important eye-catcher and attention-getter;
“initial impressions” of a research
• A title should be as concise and as informative as
possible: it should describe the topic of your
project precisely by using as few words as
possible.
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5. Cont,….
• Most readers read only the title of a research paper and
very few will go on to read the full paper
• In most cases about 10 –15 words are sufficient
• The “title” should be descriptive, direct, accurate,
appropriate, interesting, concise, precise, unique, and
should not be misleading.
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6. How to formulate a good title
Dos
• Select appropriate key words
or phrases
• Mention the most important
words first
• Avoid meaningless statements
such as "...a study of..." or
"...an investigation of...".
• Do not start a title with a
present participle, such as
"Investigating" or "Analysing".
The title should rather read: "An
analysis of...".
Don'ts
• Too short and broad
• In the title abbreviations
should not be used
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7. 2. Abstract or Executive summary
• Concise summary of a research paper or entire thesis
• The abstract needs to be; simple, specific, clear, unbiased,
honest, concise, precise, stand-alone, complete, scholarly,
(preferably) structured, and should not be misrepresentative
• The abstract should be consistent with the main text of the
paper and should include the key message prominently
• It is very important to include the most important words and
terms (the “keywords”)
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8. Cont ,….
• Most readers read only the title and the abstract of a
research paper
• The “title” and the “abstract” are the “initial impressions” of
a research
• Last not least the summary should be comprehensible even
to non-experts
• In general a summary does not exceed one page in length
• But some times by the amount of words or characters
• It is a well-developed single paragraph of approximately
250 words in length, which is indented and single
spaced.
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9. Cont ,….
• Because the “title” and the “abstract” are the “initial
impressions” or the “face” of a research article, they
need to be drafted correctly, accurately, carefully,
meticulously, and consume time and energy
• Most readers will read only the title and the abstract of
a published research paper, and very few “interested
ones” (especially, if the paper is of use to them) will go
on to read the full paper.
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10. Abstracts generally cover the following five sections:
• Reason for writing: What is the importance of the research?
• Problem: What problem does this work attempt to solve? What
is the scope of the project? What is the main argument, thesis
or claim?
• Methodology: An abstract of a scientific work may include
specific models or approaches used in the larger study. Other
abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the
research.
• Results: An abstract of a scientific work may include specific
data that indicates the results of the project. Other abstracts
may discuss the findings in a more general way.
• Implications: How does this work add to the body of
knowledge on the topic? Are there any practical or theoretical
applications from your findings or implications for future
research?
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11. 3. Introduction
• This section, along with the Title and Abstract, can be considered
the face of any research paper
• Your introduction is the first section of your research paper
• It is not a repetition of the abstract.
• It should clearly establish the focus and purpose of literature
review.
• It does not provide data about methods, results, or conclusions.
However, it provides more in-depth information on the
background of the subject matter. It also explains what you
attempted to discover, or issues that you wanted to resolve.
• The introduction will also explain if and why your study is new in
the subject field and why it is important.
• It is often a good idea to wait until the rest of the paper is
completed before drafting your introduction. This will help you
to stay focused on the manuscript’s important points.
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12. 5. Literature review
• Reiterate your central problem or research question
and give brief summary of the scholarly context.
• Literature review
– surveys scholarly source on specific topic
– Provide an overview of current knowledge
– Point out gaps in the existing research
• Purpose of lit review
– Demonstrate familiarity with the topic and scholarly
context
– Position your approach in relation to other researcher
– Show your research fits in
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13. Materials and methods
• Include concise description of materials, procedures and
equipment used; including how the study was
conducted, how data was collected, what statistical
analyses were undertaken.
• In general it describes what was done and how?
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14. Materials and Methods
Materials
• All materials for the
experiment, with name,
type, manufacturer and
condition of use.
• Exact names and qualities
of chemicals, manufacturer
Methods
• Detail procedures, others
can repeat if new
• if the method is published
give few detail and give
reference
• If modified, give detail of
modified section.
• How many times
• Under what condition
• Use only SI system units
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15. Results and discussions
• The results of the study are presented and discussed
with reference to the aim of the research.
• Result reports, What we found with out speculating
why we found and discussion interprets the meaning
of the result, put them in context and explains why
they matter
• Discussion indicates the significance of the result and
give logical explanation by comparing and
contrasting to prior studies’ findings discussed in the
literature review.
• Discusses about problems identified in research
question and put the researchers opinion that lead
to conc.
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16. Conc
• After the completion of research, what did it
show? Did they get the result expected? why
or why not
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17. Ref
• It is a detailed description of the source of info
that we wanted to credit via citation
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18. THANK YOU
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