Ways of Reporting Research chapter 21 Ways of Reporting Research

Chapter Outline Basic writing guidelines A brief word about acknowledgments Thesis and dissertation format: traditional versus journal Helpful hints for successful journal writing Writing abstracts Making oral and poster presentations

Basic Writing Guidelines Obtain official documents on thesis and dissertations policy. Department Graduate school Writing style manual (e.g., APA) Review previous theses or dissertations. Allow twice as much time as you expect. When several things can go wrong, the one that will go wrong is the one that will cause the greatest harm.

Format: Journal Versus Chapter Reasons for journal format; limitations of chapter style Structure of journal format 1.0 Preliminary materials 1.1 title page 1.2 Acknowledgments 1.3 Abstract 1.4 table of contents 1.5 List of tables 1.6 List of figures (continued)

Format: Journal Versus Chapter 2.0 Body of the thesis or dissertation 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Method 2.3 Results 2.4 Discussion 2.5 References 2.6 Tables 2.7 Figures (continued)

Format: Journal Versus Chapter (continued) 3.0 Appendixes 3.1 Extended literature review 3.2 Additional methodology 3.3 Additional results 3.4 Other additional materials 4.0 One-page curriculum vitae

Successful Journal Writing Give thought to picking a journal. Read the journal’s publication guidelines. Read papers from the journal. Review process for journals What to send What to expect How long Decisions Revising Publication lag

Writing Abstracts Thesis and dissertation abstracts: read your graduate school rules. Abstracts for published papers: usually short. Read the journal’s rules. Conference abstracts: often longer. Read the rules. Contents of abstracts Problem Methods Results What’s important

Oral Presentations Know the time limit. Practice (a lot). Leave time for questions. Preparing visual materials. Time frame for 15-min presentation Introduction: 3 min Statement of the problem: 1 min Method: 3 min Results: 3 min Discussion: 2 min Questions: 3 min

Poster Presentations Advantages over oral presentations Rules Know how much space. Provide material to attach. Mount on contrasting backgrounds. Use figures or tables when possible. Use large lettering. Parts of a poster: introduction, problem, method, results discussion, conclusions, references

Setup for Poster