Gathering data and writing summary notes

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When reading papers and monographswritten by other authors on the subject that is of interest to you, you must write summary notes. A summary is a concise description of the key ideas of a source. Summary notes are very helpful when you deal with references to source materials, statistical data and all kinds of facts on your specific topic.

Organizing ideas

Most papers in various scientific disciplines have a similar organization pattern – introduction, body, and conclusion (especially papers on theoretical problems). Research papers based on experiments include introduction, method, results, discussion and conclusions. There are additional minor sections that precede or follow the major sections including the title, abstract, acknowledgments, references and appendices. All sections are important, but at different stages to different readers.

When you write a research paper observe the following instructions.

Introduction. This section should contain a brief history of the research problem with appropriate references to the relevant literature and the purpose of the study. You should identify the subject of your research and narrow it to a specific topic, provide background information, state the problem and the hypothesis of research, provide theoretical basics of the study, formulate the thesis statement. The introduction should also explain whether the study is an extension of the previous one, or whether a comparatively new hypothesis is to be tested. The results of the current study are not to be referred to in the introduction.

Method. In this section you are supposed to describe the subjects/participants of your study, the apparatus and equipment used, the procedure followed. Provide enough detail for readers to reproduce what you did. Include flowcharts, maps or tables if they aid clarity or brevity, but do not give results yet.

Results. You should report on your findings, support them with statistical data, diagrams, tables, figures, etc., note whether your findings are in agreement with the hypothesis advanced.

Discussion. This is the most difficult section of a report to write and requires considerable thought and care. It consists of three parts: the main results must be very briefly summarized, the procedure must be critically assessed and weak points (or drawbacks) noted, and finally the results obtained must be evaluated and interpreted leading to a final judgement concerning the hypothesis advanced.

Conclusions. You should restate the study aims or key questions and summarize your findings using clear, concise statements. You can end your paper with some reflections about the topic discussed, some suggestions for further research.

Comprehension check

1. Choose the best ending a, b, or c.

Writing research papers

a) is a time consuming process.

b) requires a deep knowledge of the problem under study and the proper skills for advancing, testing and proving one’s hypothesis.

c) demands the use of certain techniques.

The basic aim of any scientific paper is

a) to state one’s opinion on the issue under investigation.

b) to prove one’s hypothesis.

c) to report one’s results.

Summary notes are

a) written if one deals with statistical data.

b) brief descriptions of the main ideas of a source.

c) of use when one has to read a lot of literature on the problem in question.

Most scientific papers

a) contain the same minor and major sections, namely abstract, introduction, methods and discussion and conclusions.

b) differ in organization patterns used.

c) have the same structure including introduction, body and conclusion.

Introduction

a) contains the results obtained.

b) provides some background information on the problem investigated and explains why this study is topical.

c) is the section where one is supposed to identify the subject of his research, review the relevant literature, state the problem and formulate his hypothesis.

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