1. Ways of Reporting Research
chapter 21
Ways of Reporting Research

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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)

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Setup for Poster