Writing it up right?
Let’s be up front- Thanks to all those who posted comments to help me formalise my research.
Well I’m taking a step toward this research thing on skype: Have found this from the Academic Skills Office about writing a report. It states the report format as this:
TITLE PAGE
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. The Background
2. The Purpose
3 The Scope
THE MAIN BODY
CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDIX/APPENDICES
I think this is the main format for a formal piece of research but I might be missing something important, which is why I’m asking for your advice again. Is their something I’m missing? Does it have to follow a different format to this? I know this is just me writing up something that I’m trying to investigate in my classroom but I want it to be worth something when I’m finished and I don’t want it to be screwed up because I did write it up properly.
Having said that I think perhaps the hardest part as Jane and Artichoke mentioned will be to get the question right in the first place.
Don’t be a slave to format. The format of a manuscript should reflect a number of things including they type of research you carry out, the message you intend to convey, and the publication that you are targeting. The old standby is introduction, literature review (could be part of intro), methods (with a number of subsections), results, discussion, conclusion, references, tables and figures (usually just for manuscript submission) and appendixes. The format that you provide above seems to be more for a thesis, white paper, or other lengthy report.
After taking the above into consideration, see the APA Style Guide (I think that 5th ed is most current) for their style recommendations, which are widely used in the social sciences. However, you’ll have a better idea of format if you just check the journals (or other) that you would like to publish in. What do the articles in those look like AND check the back of the journal (or author guides online) to see what their requirements are for formatting.
Good luck.
Dan
Thanks!!
Idea Rover 2.10 outline-structures your research material.
Hope this software helps you out some.
http://www.idearover.com