Faculty of Computers and

Information

First Year- (First Semester)

‫جامعة المنوفية‬

Technical
Writing

2021-2022
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 Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction to technical writing

Chapter 2 Types of Technical Documents
Chapter 3 Writing a Scientific Report
Chapter 4 Writing Laboratory Reports
Chapter 5 Writing Research Reports (Post )
Chapter 6 Style for cited publications
Chapter 7 Style for Scientific Writing
Chapter 8 Paragraph, sentence (Post )
Chapter 9 Features of academic writing
Chapter 10 The literature review (Post )
Chapter 11 Making Presentation
Chapter 12 Plagiarism

Prepared by: Prof. Mohiy M. Hadhoud

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Chapter 1:
English Technical writing,
Introduction.

Aims:

Upon completion of this chapter, students will be able to:

1. Define in general what is technical writing.

2. Effectively Summarizes the distinctiveness of

technical writing.

3. Explain basic principles of effetive technical writing.

The properties of English Technical Writing

Humans probably read or create technical communication

every hour without even realizing it? If you noticed signs on
your way to work, checked the calories on the cereal box,
emailed your professor to request a recommendation, or
followed instructions to make a withdrawal from an ATM;
you have been involved with technical, workplace, or
professional communication.

Today, in the world of media and communications, writing

is an important skill for experts than ever before. Writing for
Families, Schools, and Colleges declares that writing today
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is not a decoration for the few, but a necessary skill for the
many, and much of what is important in public and
economic life depends on provisional written and oral
communication skills. Investigation declares that a lot of
employers are concerned at the large number of college
graduates applying for jobs that are short of communication
and interpersonal skills.

High-quality communication skills, mostly in writing, are

necessary if you are going to succeed in the place of work.
Today, the working world depends on written
communication because within modern organizations,
approximately every action is documented in writing. In
addition, many kinds of writing, including letters,
presentations using visuals like PowerPoint, technical
reports, and official reports are common in most
workplaces. And the writing has to be high-quality,
accurate, clear, and grammatically correct. Usually, must
have a zero tolerance to grammar mistakes that make
people look stupid.

How Do We Characterize this Kind of Writing?

In this course, the word "document" refers to any of the

several forms of technical writing, whether it is a web page,
an training manual, a lab report, or a travel catalog.

Technical communication is the process of making and

sharing thoughts, ideas, and information in the work
organization, as well as the set of submissions such as
letters, emails, instructions, blogs, reports, proposals, and
websites, that encompass the documents you are writing.
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The technical writing is defined as a broad field that
includes any form of communication that is about
specialized or technical topics, that uses technology such
as word processors, web pages or help files, or that
provides instruction about how to do something.

Particularly, technical writing involves exchanging complex

information to a specific audience who will use it to
accomplish some goal or task in a manner that is accurate,
useful, helpful, and clear. Whether you are writing an email
to your colleague or supervisor, prepare a presentation or
lab report, design a sales flyer, or create a webpage, you
are a technical communicator.

Where does Technical communications come from?

Technical communications origins have in fact been

accredited to various eras dating back to Ancient Greece
and to the Renaissance (‫)عصر النهضة‬, but today the
professional field of technical writing began during World
War I from the need for technology based documentation
for military and manufacturing industries. As technology
grew, and organizations become more global, the need
and relevance for technical communication appeared, and
in 2009, the U.S. recognized the "Technical Writer" as an
occupation (a Profession).

What does workplace technical writing look like? Who

are the target audience? What technical information does
this document provide? What tasks or goals will it help to
accomplish? What fundamental parts of this document do
you think make it useful? Does it provide a solution to a
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problem? What is the style of the writing in this particular
organizational document? Is it specific, concise and
accurate?.

The important Characteristics of Technical Writing

Professional technical writers, identify the characteristics of

technical writing and emphasize that it must stick to the
highest standards.

1- Audience Focused: Technical and workplace

documents address a specific audience. The audience may
be an individual or a group, and it may or may not be
known to the writer. While there is always specific audience
addressed, there may be a secondary audience. Thus, an
understanding of the audience, reader or user of a
technical document is important.

2- Rhetorical (‫)بالغي‬, influential, focused, and problem-

oriented: Technical writing is all about helping the reader
or user of a document solve a problem or force others to
act or do. For example, the syllabus of the math class
informs the students what is expected of them; the
colledge's web site provides information to potential
students about how to apply or to existing students about
where to seek help. Recognition of a particular purpose
and a specific audience are the first two steps of technical
writing.

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3- Expert (Professional): Technical writing reflects the
morals, goals, and culture of the organization and as such,
creates and preserves the public image of the organization.

4- Design Centered: Technical writing uses elements of

document design such as visuals, graphics, font, colors,
and spacing to make a document interesting, good-looking,
usable, and understandable. While some documents may
be totally in print, many more use images such as charts,
photographs, and illustrations to enhance readability and
understanding and simplify complex information.

5- Study, Research, and Technology oriented: Because

of organizations demands, technical and workplace writing
is frequently created in partnership with others through a
network of specialists and designers and depends on
sound research practices to ensure that information
provided is accurate, precise, and complete.

6- Ethical: Technical writing is ethical. All organizational

writers have ethical responsibilities, many of which are
closely linked to legal obligations that include liability laws,
copyright laws, contract laws, and trademark laws.

What Standards Should be used to Make technical

Writing Successful?

As an associate of an organization or team, as a student,

you want to produce the absolute best writing you can.
Here are some standards you must follow and some tips to

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help you to improve your technical writing. You will also
have reward in the workplace if your technical writings and
design skills meet these standards.

 Your writing must be honest.

 Your writing has to be clear so that your reader or

audience can understand the information you intended
to give, and have not left room for incorrect
interpretations.

 Good technical writing has to be accurate. the writer

must do your his research and make sure he has his
facts right. There is no excuse for presenting incorrect
information.

 The writer has to make sure he has all the facts, as his
writing must also be complete. and to make sure he
included everything that the reader needs?

 Recognize that your audience has neither time nor

patience for excessive verbiage, so simplify and cut any
clutter. high-quality writing is always brief writing.

 Your document should be good-looking and pleasant

to look at. The reader will not be moved by a document
that is not carefully and professionally designed.

 Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure

have to be correct. A single grammatical or spelling
error can cause your reader to release you as not
professional, as not caring enough to edit carefully. Poor
writing at this level reflects poorly on your organization
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 as well, and most companies can't mandate good
writing with a law!

Accessibility (Ease of understanding) in Technical

Writing

Ease of understanding is perhaps the important standard

for superiority in technical writing. The design of your
document should be easy to navigate, useful, complete
(with all information), and easy to locate. Specifically, e-
learning documents and websites and must meet
recommendations for accessibility.

Generally, people do not want to read anything written, so

you, as technical writer, need to make sure they will.
Sometimes, they don't want to, but they have to. Technical
or organization writing is intended to solve work problems,
provide necessary information, seek solutions that workers
will use to do those things better.

How do technical writer ensures that the document will be

useful to the organization workers. Of course, he will make
sure that it stick to the standards of excellence in this
workplace. Now, we will start with some strategies to make
the writing accessible, useful, and excellent!

Here are some easy things to practice immediately.

Observe that the person who reads, or users, requires the
writing contents to be clear, simple, and easy to
understand. It’s a matter of using the English writing

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language as a means that will achieve the greatest clarity
and strength.

First, make sure that the technical writing is readable, the

font large enough to be read by a variety of audiences, is it
an easy to read font style that is appropriate for the
content. In particular, if you are writing for the internet,
these considerations are very significant. If there are
problems with legibility in the document, it will be of little
use to the readers.

Second, make sure the writing is readable. Readable

means that your document can be easily understood by
workplace target audience, and refers to the method
whereby words, sentence length, and sentence complexity
determine how easy or hard your sentences are to read. If
the document readability is too high for the audience, then
they will either take more time getting what they need from
the writing, or it will not be of any use to them by any
means. if the readability is too low, the writer may come
across as condescending (‫ يهبط الي مستوي‬-‫)يتنازل‬, if not a lousy
writer. Have a trusted coworker to take come across and
give his feedback. Online readability tools, can also be
used.

Thirdly, the writing may be legible and readable, but how

well can the audience comprehend, or understand it in the
way you intended? Is the coworker able to understand the
technical document in the manner you meant? To improve
the readers comprehension, it is better to use language
and terminology familiar to the reader, and limit paragraphs
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to one main idea. Do your best for conciseness if your
users will be reading online on tablets or mobile devices.
Use extensively visuals such as diagrams or charts to
present a lot of information in a graphic format. You can
assess the simplicity of the document and how easy is to
comprehend by getting another set of eyes on it. Ask a an
expert, coworker to read the text and then tell you what the
important ideas are.

Exercise 1: Locate some examples of what you consider

technical writing. These may include correspondence,
journal articles, lab reports, web pages, or advertisements.
In small groups with other classmates, discuss how the
documents reflect the characteristics of technical writing.
After your group has analyzed the document, present it to
the entire class and explain how it meets the
characteristics of a technical document.

Exercise 2: Locate an instruction manual for a product you

may own. Analyze it against the standards listed in the
chapter for good technical writing. Submit your analysis in
a memo to your instructor.

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Chapter 2

Types of Technical Documents

Aims

Upon completion of this chapter, readers will be able to do

the following:

1. recognize familiar types of technical documents.

2. sum up the purposes and plans of common types of

technical documents.

Types of Technical Documents

For the final report project in some technical-writing

courses, student can write one of (or even a combination
of) several different types of documents.

In this chapter we briefly defines these different types of

reports. Some types are covered in full detail in this note;
the rest are described somewhere else.

Typical operating policies and procedures: These are

the working documents for organizations; they contain
rules and regulations on how the organization and its
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members are expected to perform (do the job). Policies
and procedures are similar to instructions, but they go
further much more.

Recommendation, feasibility, evaluation reports: These

group of reports does things like to compare several
options against a set of requirements and recommend one;
considers an idea (plan, project) in terms of its "feasibility,"
for example, some combination of its technical, economic,
social practicality or possibility; passes judgment on the
worth or value of a thing by comparing it to a set of
requirements, or criteria.

Technical background (previous work) reports: This

type is the hardest one to define but the one that most
people write. It focuses on a technical topics, provides
previous work on that specific topic for a particular set of
readers who have specific needs for it. This report does not
supply recommendations, does not supply instructions in
any regular way, nor does it report new and original
findings.

The technical background report does not provide step-by-

step directions on how to do things in the way that
instructions do. It does not provide recommendations in the
way that feasibility reports do. It does not report findings
from original research and draw conclusions in the way that
original research reports do.

The technical background report provides information on a

technical topic in such a way that is tailored for a specific
audience that has specific technical needs for that
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information. It would select information about the topic
suited to a specific group of readers who had explicit needs
and uses for the information. Imagine the audience was a
group of engineers or scientists bidding on a contract to do
part of the work for a dialysis clinic. They need to know
about the disease and its therapy, but only to the extent
that it has to do with their areas of expertise. Such a
background report might also include some basic
discussion of the disease and its treatment, but what is
enough for the engineers need to do their work and to
interact with representatives of the health center.

Another example is the reports about the exploration of the

greenhouse effect, or the global warming. The report
discover cases, discusses causes, explores the effects,
then discusses what can be done about it.

Technical guides and handbooks: This type of

documents are closely related to technical report but
differing fairly in purpose and audience.

Primary research reports: This type of document

presents original findings and their interpretation from
laboratory or field research.

Business plans: This type of document is a proposal to

how to start a new business.

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Technical specifications: This type of document presents
descriptive and operational information on a new,
modernized or updated product.

Contents and organization of technical

background reports.
The technical background report does not have a common
set of contents, because it focuses on a particular technical
topic for specific audiences who have specific needs or
uses for the information, the writer seizes at whatever type
of contents the report needs to get the job ended. The
writer uses a lot of insight to plan this type of report. For
example, with the report on renal (‫ )كلوي‬disease and
treatment, the writer probably want to discuss what renal
disease is, what causes it, how it is treated, and what kinds
of technologies are involved in the cure. If he does not fully
trust his intuition, he can use a checklist like the following:

 Definitions—He can start by defining the potentially

strange terms associated with the subject. Put in
writing an extended definition, if there are key
vocabulary or if they are particularly difficult to
explain.

 Causes—The writer explains what causes are

related to the topic. For instance, in the renal illness
subject, what are the sources the illness?

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 Effects— The writer explains what the penalties,
consequences, outcome, or effects linked with the
topic. With the renal disease topic, what happens to
people with the disease and what effects do the
various treatments have?

 Types— The writer discuss the different types or

categories linked with the theme. For example, are
there different types of renal disease; are there
different categories of treatment?

 Previous work (background)—the writer discuss

related previous work related to the topic, and
discusses people, events, and previous theories
connected to the subject.

 Procedure and processes—The writer discuss

possible mechanical, natural, human-controlled
processes related to the topic, and explains in step
by step how the processes happen. For example,
what are the different types of the renal disease, what
are the phases; what typically happens to a person
with a specific form of the disease?

 Descriptions—The writer provides information about

the physical details of things related to the topic,
provides information about size, shape, color, weight,
and so on. For the technical--oriented subjects, this
would include: size, power requirements, and other
such details about the treatment technologies.

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 Comparisons— The writer provides comparison of
the topic, or some aspect of it, to something
comparable or something well-known. With the renal
disease example, he could compare renal disease to
some other disease; the treatment to some other
treatment; the functions of the kidney to something
familiar (an analogy); or even the treatment to
something familiar, for example, the filter system for a
drinking water.

 Applications—The writer can explore how some

aspect of the topic can be used or applied, and if it is
a new technology, what are its applications and
implications?

 Advantages and disadvantages— The writer can

discuss the advantages or disadvantages of one or
more aspects of the topic, for example, in the renal
disease topic, what are the advantages of one new
technology compared to another technology?

 Economic considerations— The writer can discuss

the costs of one or more aspects associated with the
topic. How much does new equipment or new
treatment for renal disease cost?

 Legal, ethical, social, political implications— The

writer can explore the implications or impact of the
topic or some aspect of it in relation to social,
political, legal, or moral concerns. The renal disease
example lends itself very much to this area, imagine
the possibilities with a new treatment of human
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 beings?. Also, new technologies may have a
profound impact in these areas.

 Problems, questions—What problems or questions

are there associated with the report topic or some
aspect of it?

 Solutions, answers—What solutions or answers can

the writer offer on those problems or questions raised
by the topic study or some aspect of it?

We could add many other categories to a checklist like this,

but maybe this is enough to get started planning the
contents of the technical background report. Keep in mind
that each of these checklist items may represent a full
section in the report—not a sentence or two.

As for the organization of these checklist parts of the

report, again, the writer intuitions arrange them in order,
but some subtopics logically come before others.

Format of technical background reports. Remember

that in most technical-writing, the writers are expected to
use the organization format, for students according to the
instructor or university instructions, exactly and precisely—
unless the writer works out some other arrangements with
them.

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Technical Guides and Handbooks
A technical guide or handbook has a somewhat different
purpose than a report. A guide means to "guide" the
readers in determining the feasibility of a green biding,
planning, and building one. A handbook might contain lots
of reference information about green bidings: associations
supporting them, case studies, specifications, vendors,
government decrees, and so on.

The distinction between technical guide and handbook is

difficult, although, in terms of format, style, and structure,
there is very little difference. The executive summary
and/or the abstract have no logical place in a guide or
handbook.

Primary (Original) Research Reports

Primary research report is our name for that kind of report
that presents original research data (findings) —no matter
whether that data was theoretically proved, generated in a
laboratory or out in the open.

A secondary research report then would be a report (such

as the technical background report) that presents data
gained largely from printed or online information sources or
from other sources such as interviews or direct
(observations) inspection.

Students are probably already familiar with this type of

report as the "lab report." The contents and organization of
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this type of report have a basic logic: you present the data
and conclusions, and also, present information on how you
went about the experiment or observations. These details
are important to enable the reader to replicate (the fancy
scientific word for repeat) your experiment, or at least,
visualize quite specifically how you went about it.

One of the examples is an experiment to see whether

production of rainbow trout ( ‫ )نوع من السمك‬can be increased
by varying water temperature. While there is not a one-to-
one correspondence between the typical sections in
primary research reports and the sections you see in the
actual report, you'll find that most of the functions are
carried out. Instead of a full paragraph, sometimes all that
is needed is short single sentence. Sometimes certain
purpose can be combined into a single sentence.

Primary research reports. For the readers to be able to

replicate the experiment or survey, the writer provides
information like the following (each normally in its own
section):

 Introduction—the introduction to the primary research

report needs to get readers ready to read the research
report. It presents some background, Common
elements, such as previous work, can be handled in the
introduction. If they require many argument, though,
they may need their own sections.

 Problem, background—One of the first things to do,

either in the introduction, or in individual section of its
own, is to discuss the situation that has led to the
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 research work. For example, if the writer may have
noticed some events or cases that have not been
studied before, and so on. He can explain this in this
primary research report.

 Purpose, objectives, scope - at the beginning of this

type of report the writer discusses what he intended to
do in the research project—what are the objectives?
what things he are not trying to do?

 Review of literature—After the writer has already

established the basis for the report, he can summarize
the literature relevant to it—for example, books, journal
articles (papers) , and others available in libraries. If he
is doing a study on speech recognition software, what
papers, reports, and books have already been written on
that subject? What do they have to say about the
qualities of this kind of software? All he has to do is to
summarize this literature briefly and enable readers to
have a look at it by providing the full bibliographic
citation at the end of the report. In the framework of this
type of report, the review of literature shows where the
openings or challenges are in the existing literature.

 Materials, equipment, facilities—Remember that one

of the writer's goals in writing this type of report is to
enable the reader, among other things to replicate his
experiment or to benefit from the survey he carried out.
Key to this is the description of the equipment, tools
and facilities he used in the research. Describe these

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 things in detail, possibly, providing brand names, model
numbers, sizes, and other such specifications.

 Theory, methods, procedures—To enable readers to

replicate the assignment, he needs to explain the
procedures or methods he used. The theory and method
refer to the scholar theoretical framework of his
assignment.

 Results, findings, data—very significant to any primary

research report is the data (findings) that he collect. He
presents these findings in tables, charts, and graphs.
These can go in the body of the report, or in appendixes
if they are so big that they interrupt the flow of the
discussion. Some results or findings may not be
presentable as tables, charts, or graphs, in these cases,
the writer just discusses them in paragraphs. In this
section, the writer does not add interpretation to this
presentation of data. he just presents the data, without
trying to explain them.

 Discussion, conclusions, recommendations—In

primary research reports, the writer give explanations or
discuss the findings in a section separate from the one
where he present the data. Here is the place and time to
explain the data, to interpret it. This section, or area of
the report, is also the place to make recommendations
or state ideas for further research. In some reports the
discussion is separated from the conclusion and
recommendations.

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 Bibliography—The objective of the primary research
report is built upon or add and advance to the
knowledge in a specific area. The primary research
report advances on top of all the work done by other
researchers on the same topic. For that reason, the
writer lists the sources of information he used or
consulted in the report. This list is positioned at the end
of the report.

As for the arrangement (organization) of a primary

research report, the typical contents just listed are
arranged in the actual primary research report in just about
the same arrangement they were discussed. Loosely, it is a
chronological order. First, you discuss set-up issues such
as the problem and objectives, then you discuss the
procedures, then the data resulting from those procedures,
then your conclusions based upon that data.

Format of primary research reports. In most technical-

writing courses, you should use a format, however, you
should probably use the format in which you have a
transmittal letter, title page, table of contents, list of figures,
and abstracts.

Technical Specifications
Specification is the descriptions of a products or a product
requirements. They can provide data for the design,
manufacturing, installation, testing, and use of a product.
Typically specifications are seen in the documentation that
25
comes in the packages with certain kinds of products, for
example, CD players or computers. These describe the
important technical characteristics of the product. But
specifications are also written as a way of "specifying" the
construction and operational characteristics of the item.
Then, they are used by people who actually build the thing
or go out to the market and attempt to purchase it. When
you write specifications, accuracy, precision of detail, and
clarity are critical. Badly written specifications can cause a
range of users problems and lead to lawsuits.

Outline or two-column styles are used to present

information in specifications. Tables, graphics, and other
lists of data are greatly used, but some details can only be
provided through writing text description (sentences and
paragraphs). Then, and for these reasons, specifications
have a particular style, format, and arrangements
(organization):

 Make all effort to find out what the specific requirements

are? for document format, style, contents, and
organization. If they are not documented, collect a large
number of specifications written by or for the company,
and study them for characteristics like those described
in the next.

 You can use tables or two-column lists to record specific

information. If the purpose is to point out details such as
materials, dimensions, weight, tolerances, or
frequencies, it is possible to use tables, where standard
paragraph-style writing may be redundant.
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 Sentence-style presentation, you can use an outline
style. For writing each specification, it is necessary to
receive its own number–letter title. In sentence-style
specifications, its recommended that each specific
requirement takes its own separate sentence.

 It useful to use the numbering system for each individual

specification where this system makes it possible to
cross-referencing.

Literature Reviews
A literature review summarizes what is known about a
specific research topic, narrates the landmarks of the
research history, designate where historical and current
knowledge conflicts, and argue areas where there are still
unsolved problems.

A literature review can be a standalone document or, as

discussed previously, a component of a primary research
report. Research journals often provide a literature review
articles. A literature review can be a paragraph in a
research article, a whole chapter in book, or only as short
as a few sentences in an introduction. In all cases, the
purpose of the literature review is the same: to sum up the
history and possibly the current state of research on a
topic.

As already known from the preceding section, in

engineering research journals, a primary research report

27
concentrates on answering a question such as: the effect
of air pollution on growing children. The literature-review
section of that report would sum up what is known about
this topic, indicate where current information conflicts, and
talk about areas where there are still unknowns.

A well-constructed literature review tells the key events in

the research on a particular question or in a particular area:

Questions the literature review should answer:

1. What do we already know about the subject?
2. What are the current theories?
3. What are the relationships between the different
theories/ concepts in this area?
4. Who were the recent primary investigators on this
topic? What are their theories, findings, and
conclusions? What questions or contradictions they
could not resolve?
5. How will your work build on the work of others (or
diverge from it) in order to provide sufficient evidence
to address one or more of these insufficiencies?
6. What deficiencies exist in the discussions of current
research projects?
7. What needs further examination because of
insufficient evidence?
8. What did researchers following them may find out?
Did their report work confirms, disagree with, or
overturn the work of their predecessor researchers?
Where they were able to answer questions their
previous researchers could not?

This type of literature review sometimes called a "road

map." They identifies several points, most importantly
28
those that review the methodology of the research or the
researches findings. The literature review provides an
evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of that
research—an effort to see where that research is
methodologically defective, incomplete, one-sided, or
biased.

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Chapter 3

Writing a Scientific Report

Introduction
The main modes of communication are written, verbal, and
visual. As a scientist or engineer, you will want to share
your work. Sharing this knowledge is commonly made
through writing thesis, publishing journal papers, and
producing books. The purpose of these types of writing is
different than that of creative story telling or other different
types of writing you may have experienced before. There
are formats, standards, and rules, which are typically used.
You should practice and know these skills before
embarking on writing and publishing your documents.

Documents that describe the progress, process, and/or

results of technical or scientific research or the state of a
technical or scientific research problem, are named
"A scientific reports". These document, may also include
conclusion , recommendations, and possible suggestions
for future work of the research.

Chapter contents.

 Elements of a Scientific Report

 Scientific Reports for company or Clients
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 References

Contents of a Scientific Report.

[1]. Title Page.
[2]. Table of Contents.
[3]. Abstract.
[4]. Introduction.
[5]. Materials and Methods (Experimental).
[6]. Results
[7]. Discussion.
[8]. Conclusion.
[9]. References.

Title page.
The title page will include the following:

 Title of the report:

o Usually less than 12 words in length.
o Should be specific and descriptive, containing
the keywords of the report.
 Writers:
o Unify your name and spelling and always
publish under the same name.
o Include authors and contact addresses.
o Point out the person acting as corresponding
author and his contact address.
 Date:
o The date when the paper was submitted.

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  Other... Depending on required format, more
information may be placed on this page.

Table of Contents
A Table of Contents is only required for lengthy reports
(usually 6 -8 or more page).

Abstract
The Abstract is a self-contained synopsis of the report - an
informative summary of what you did and what you found
out.
The Abstract should include the following:

 Objectives (as outlined in the Introduction) and scope

of the research.
 A brief reference to the Methods and Materials.
 A summary of the results and conclusions - a brief
but thorough statement of the outcome/s of the
experiment.

If there is a hypothesis, you may state what it is and

whether it was supported or disproved.
The Abstract should not contain the following:

 Literature citations.
 Abbreviations, formulas, references or tables.

32
The Abstract comes first in a report, it is best suggested to
write it last after you have the results, discussions and
conclusions.

Introduction
The purpose of the Introduction section is to put the reader
in the environment and the situation the research/
experiment and within its context. The introduction gives a
review of the previous work and the analysis to be
undertaken.
- The Introduction may include the following:

 Background about the topic and analysis to be

carried out.
 A statement of the aim/s - what the writer hope to
achieve.
 A brief review of previous research (relevant
literature) to give a background - rephrase related
facts from the scientific literature, and citing the
sources to support each proclamation.
 Reason/s for conducting the research and why it is to
be undertaken.
 Statements and explanation of the hypothesis (an
idea or concept that is to be tested by
experimentation) if there is one.
 An explanation of the techniques proposed and why
they are used.
33
- The Introduction should answer the following questions:

 What was the purpose or aim/s of the experiment/

research?
 Why was the experiment/ research conducted in a
particular method?
 Why the research is important in the scientific
context?

- The writer should not include any results or conclusions,

or recommendations in the introduction.

Methods and Materials (Experimental)

The Methods and Materials, sometimes called
Experimental, is a description of the materials, procedures,
and measures, used - what was done and how. The
material describe the process of preparation of the sample,
specifications of the instruments used and techniques
employed.
The Method should include such things as sample size,
apparatus or equipment used, experimental conditions,
concentrations, times, controls etc. While the method
section does not need to incorporate small details (e.g.
writing out the full procedure) - mention in brief what you
have employed and cite the user manual. Only there is a
need to provide enough detail so that someone could
repeat the work.
The method must be written in the style past tense and as
a passive voice.

34
Results
In this section the writer presents what he established. The
following will be included in the Results section:

 Pictures and spectra.

 Tables and graphs whenever it is necessary and
practical.
 Brief statements of the results in the text without
repeating the data in the graphs and tables. During
writing captions about pictures, graphs or tables, you
should refer to it in parenthesis like, (Figure 7).
 If possible give a sub-section of related results and then
comment on them, then discussing them at the end.
Divide complicated section using subheadings so that it
becomes easier to understand.

In the appendices, huge quantities of raw data, or data

which is not developed statistically, can be presented.
your own measured results is incorporated in the in the
results section.
The following should not be included in the results section :

 What you expected to find or what you were supposed

to have observed.
 Documents such as published work, data or statements
of theory as references. Use the discussion section of
the report for these documents.

35
The Results section should be written in passive voice
style, avoiding the use of "I" and "we", and in the past
tense and

Discussion
The discussion section must answer the question "What do
the results mean?" It is a debate based on the measured
and observed results.
State your explanation of the findings, possibly comparing
or contrasting them with the literature, reflection is on the
actual data and measured observations.
Explain or rationalize errant data or describe possible
sources of error and how they may have affected the
outcome.

Conclusion.
Is the outline of the argument and experiment/research
results, and should relate back to the introduction. The
Conclusion should only consist of a few sentences, and
should reiterate the findings of your experiment/ research.
If appropriate, suggest how to improve the procedure, and
what additional experiments or research would be helpful.

References.
Prepare a references list at the end of the report and in the
text cite any references that you have consulted, ensuring
that each item in the reference list has an in-text citation,
and every in-text citation has a full reference data in the
reference list at the end of the paper.
36
The references should be formatted according to the style
required by the journal (or the lecturer/supervisor), and be
careful with correct spelling of the author name.

Recommendations
If the report is of an investigative nature, the final section
(after Conclusion) would be a recommendations that you
can make on the basis of the measured and analyzed
scientific results.

Acknowledgements
If other people or organizations assisted in any way with
the experiments/research (e.g. financial support,
laboratories, guidance, facilities, etc.), they should be
thanked at the end of the document (after the
Recommendations).

Points about scientific writing style

 write complete, grammatically correct sentences.

 Consider making use of short sentences (with 3 or
less parts in each), only use long sentences to
include a qualification or an example.
 Be concise. If you can use one word instead of a
phrase with two or more words, then choose the one
word for example (use the word "avoid" instead of
"get around").
 Be objective. Limit your use of personal pronouns
such as (I, you, we), limit emotionally loaded words
such as (wonderful, useless, lovely) and casual or
ambiguous expressions similar to ('the reaction
carried on for number of minutes').
37
 Use technical terms correctly and in place. Teach
yourself what these terms mean, how to use them
and how to spell them.
 Contractions such as (isn't, doesn't, it's) are not
preferred, while they are common in verbal
communication, in technical formal writing, the full
form such as (is not, does not, it is) is required.

38
Chapter 4

Writing Laboratory Reports

Introduction
This section is designed for undergraduate science,
technology and engineering students. In the Science,
Technology and Engineering fields, laboratory reports are
used when communicating about 'an study or 'research'.
Becoming capable in making laboratory (or experimental)
reports as an undergraduate student, instructors will assist
you to develop the skills required to write more extended
and increasingly original research reports, that are usually
required from 3rd year onwards, especially, the graduation
project thesis.

Principle.
In your report you should aim to provide a truthful and
accurate account of an investigation:
 what you did,
 what you found,
 what your results mean.

Structure.
Most colleges provide a structure or 'template' for students
to follow and there will be some variation from school to
school. Sometimes, they may prefer to provide the
introduction and the methods ready and completed. The
student should be aware of these structures, while
carrying out the investigation and recording his results and
39
interpretations. Other schools may require student to plan
and write his report from the beginning.

Outline:
The fastest way to write is to start with a reasonably
(Moderately) detailed outline. Moderate outline; mean that
the topics in the outline can be extended into what will
become the main points of paragraphs. It is significant and
easy to establish a logical change in a document via a well
organized outline. In addition, it is much easier to reorder a
document at the outline stage by moving phrases around,
rather than move entire sections or chapters around after
the document is finished.

References:
Write a will organized references list to your paper. This
allows you to put references into the text as you type the
document. It will save time by eliminating the extra steps of
reading the paper once or twice to insert and correct
references and references list.

Non-text components (tables, graphs,..):

At this point, you review the outline and determine the
figures, tables, and other non-text mediums that can or
should be used to communicate information. Prepare these
and insert them into the appropriate spots in the outline. If
you have your figures, charts, and tables ready, it is much
easier to 'let them transfer the information and write around
them. You could try to create these mediums as you wrote
the document, but this necessitates the interruption of the
writing process.

40
The body.... Just do it:
Start with the first or second section/chapter. Once you
started to write, carry on, and do not stop unless you have
to. It easier to write without worrying about corrections
during writing the first draft of the paper. This helps the
writer to maintain focus and avoid writing block. It is
advised not start with the title page, it is better to save the
title itself for the end, as it is frequently difficult to develop a
proper title during the involvement of the writing process.

Proofing:
Always have someone else proof your work. This is
significant as the writer may be so occupied in the subject
that every sentence, table, and figure, seems totally clear.
By having someone else (preferable someone in or close
to your target audience) read the document, mistakes and
sections requiring clarification can be identified.

Abstract.
The abstract is a concise report on the important contents
and contributions of the document. Abstracts usually
comprises of one or two complete paragraphs. The
purpose of the abstract is to provide a quick review of the
important contents and contributions of the document in
order that others, the readers, can determine if they should
spend time reading the rest of the research document.

Table of Contents.
(Usually for books and thesis, articles typically do not have
this) The table of contents is a listing of the main headings
of the document. This includes outlines such as the

41
abstract, nomenclature, chapters, chapter sections,
references, and appendices.

Nomenclature.
The tabulated listing of the variables (and their units) is
called nomenclature, that will be used in the document.
Chapters/Sections.

References .
This section lists the books, magazines, conversations,
websites, and other sources of information you consulted in
writing the document.

Appendices.
Appendices contain data which is important, though in
most cases less important to the purpose of the document.
For example tabulations of scientific data, detailed
calculations, and similar material are often good candidates
for appendices.

Components of a Simple Technical Report

Title Page
The title page is used to convey the following:
• Title
• Authors
• Author affiliation
• Date published
• Other... Depending on required format, more information
may be placed on this page
42
The Simple Lab Report.
The simple Laboratory report is generally only three to five
pages long, and frequently consists of the following:
 Aims.
 Method.
 Results.
 Conclusion.
 Discussion.
 References.

Aims (or objectives). The purpose of the experiment

There may be one aim or several aims for the Lab. report.
For instrumentation-based practical it is customary to
mention the apparatus to be used. For example, the aim for
an electrical engineering practical which uses a current
meter to determine current in electric device, might be
written as "Amber meter".

Method (or materials and methods)

The method is how the experiment is carried out. Where

you describe all the steps or procedures you've done in
order to achieve the research objectives, including the
experimental design and data analysis. The materials are
simply the raw materials, tools and/or important chemicals
used in the experiments.
The method is given out by the instructor as part of the
practical notes and very rarely would the student be
43
required to rewrite it, although you may have to write a note
about any variations.

Results: What you found

The results section of a lab report contains an impartial
description of the results obtained from the experiment,
typically presented as tables or graphs, and notes that
were made. To communicate the main findings of the
experiment, processed, instead of raw data, should be
shown. A concise description of the method used to cover
the raw data of the results could be added, perhaps using
an illustrative sample calculation example.

Large datasets and numerous proofs and intermediate

calculations should not be shown in the results section,
these, if it is useful for the reader, can be incorporated for
reference in an appendix. Large quantities of raw data can
be stored digitally and the explanation of how to access it
can be given in the report.

In addition to the how measurements are taken during the

experiment, the results section should include any
observations that were made and measured during the
experiment. Surprising phenomena may affect the results
in ways that are not known by the author of the lab report
but may be of significance to the reader.

A well written results section of a lab report highlights the

trends observed rather than giving details of exact results.
The results given in the results section should show how
the experiment’s objectives have been met. For example, if
44
the aim of an experiment was to optimize the level of fuel
consumption in a petrol car by varying travelling speed,
then the results section could show a plot of kilometers per
liter against meters per second. The details of the amount
of fuel used, distance travelled by the car, the variation of
lengths of journeys, the elimination of effects of
acceleration and deceleration on the results, and other
processing techniques should only be described briefly.

Conclusion

An interpretation or summary (not a discussion) of the

paper results. This is normally a brief statement in 1-2
short paragraphs, review the overall purpose of the
hypothesis tested; your study, then summarize the key
findings and the important implications. This is your
opportunity to persuade the audience of the significance of
your work. It should all the time, return the issue(s) posed
in the Aim(s).
Sometimes you may be asked to give a combined
"conclusion/ discussion" section.
A conclusion paragraph contains a description of the
purpose of the experiment, a discussion, explanation of the
major findings, and recommendations for further study. Use
the following points in paragraph form (don’t just number
off and answer each question).

1. Restate the overall purpose of the experiment

2. Summarize the major findings, data and graph results.
3. Was the hypothesis supported by the data
4. How to improve the experiment?
45
5. What is to be studied next after this experiment? What
new experiment could provide in further study of this
topic?

Discussion
What about the results, what its mean, whether they were
as expected (and if not, why not), is there any problems
with the practical etc. For instance, a result outside the
normal reference range could indicate one or more illness
states, these illness states should be reported. The
significance of the results should be explained to the
reader which should give the reader detailed explanation of
what happened in the experiment. Evaluate what
happened, based on the initial hypothesis and the main
purpose of the experiment. Analyze the reasons for the
errors, if the results contained errors.

Purpose of the discussion.

What you should know when you write discussion, is that,

there is a purpose behind the said argument. Discussion
aim outcome is the interpretation, which means explain,
analyze, and compare the outcomes. Often, this part is the
most important, simply because it lets the researcher take
a step back and give a broader look a. the experiment. Do
not discuss any outcomes not presented in the results
section.

Furthermore, via this section, students can more

comprehensively show their understanding of experiment,
46
even more deeply than after performing it. This part centers
on issue of understanding the significance or the meaning
of the results, and attempting to analyze it as completely as
possible, mentioning information and the research findings
all along the method.

The discussion should contain:

 Summarize the important findings of your observations.

 Writ for each result, a description of the patterns,
principles, relationships it show.
 Explain the relation of the result to expectations and to
references cited.
 Explain contradictions, agreements, or exceptions that
appear in the result.
 What additional research might explain exceptions or
resolve contradictions.
 Propose the theoretical and practical implications of the
results.
 Look at the results findings; do the findings help us
understand a broader topic? Can your findings be
extended to other situations or other species?

Lab report debate and discussion.

Consider the following steps when writing a lab report

discussion:

1. State, in a sentence or two, whether results from the

lab: fully agrees with the hypothesis, do not support
it, or support it with some exceptions.
47
 2. Include a paragraph that identifies specific data from
the lab that led to hypothesis support or reject.
Reference data in visual representations as evidence
to back up your finding about hypothesis.
3. Add a paragraph about the understanding of
technical concept to clarify why final results did or did
not support initial hypothesis. Show how your
understanding of this concept has changed in
discussion of lab report.
4. Discuss other matters as problems that occurred and
led to any unexpected results; how your results
compare with other students findings and an
explanation for any differences; proposals for
improving a lab.
5. State significance of the experimental findings and
recommended areas of future research..
References
This is usually just a list of the sources you consulted for
the introduction and discussion.

The Extended Lab Report.

This may be ten pages or longer. In addition to the same
components of a simple report, the extended report
consists additional sections, some of which are described
on the following.
Sections in an extended report.
 Table of Contents.
 Introduction.
 Instrumentation.

48
  Applied Theory.
 Aims.
 Principles.
 Reagents.
 Method.
 Flow Chart.
 Calculations.
 Results.
 Conclusion.
 Discussion.
 Appendices
 References.

Table of contents.
If the report is very long or complicated, especially if it
contain numerous different sections.

Introduction.
A number of paragraphs which define the subject of the
report.

Instrumentation.
Several paragraphs that describe the instruments that will
be used to perform the analyses (e.g. current meter,
voltmeter etc.) work. It is a beneficial to include a block
diagram of the basic the components of the instrument or
how it is used. A complicated instrument capable of
running several types of analyses, should explained using
subheading.

49
Applied theory.
Presents the mathematics involved, its explanation and
include numerous equations.

Principles.
More equations, usually required if one or more algorithms
are involved.

Reagents (‫)محاذير‬.
If your method is to be presented as “Materials & Methods”
this is unlikely to be required. It is most often ask for where
and when highly toxic reagents are being used.

Flow chart.
This is another way of describing the method, and rewritten
as an easy-to-read and logical sequence of event.
Sometimes the instructors do not allow student into the the
practical class unless he is prepared and have a flow chart
ready. Possibly you can use your lab time as efficiently as
possible if you are prepared with a flow chart.

Calculations.
These are required in order to prepare working solutions.

Appendices.
is used to store the amount of raw data if it is excessive
(e.g. a computer printout of hundreds of numbers) and it is
best to insert this at the end of the report as an appendix

50
and to put a summary of these results in the results
section.
References .
The extended report may, include references for the
introduction, instrumentation and/or the applied theory
sections. Formal referencing, e.g. using the IEEE system,
may be required.

EQUATIONS.

Equations are typically formatted with the equation

indented from the text and the equation number posted to
the right (against the right margin of the text). Details on
the variables after the equation have to be positioned.

If your paper contains a nomenclature, it is not necessary

to provide the names and the variables units in the
equation if the writer thinks it helps to make a point.

σ = 0.5 F (M - x) t / I Equation (1)

TABLES.

They are used as a means to rapidly compare information

side-by-side.

FIGURES

Figures can contain many different types of visual

information. Typically figures contain either:
 Photographs (may or may not be annotated)

51
 Charts or data plots
 Drawings or schematics
 Other visual information types can be displayed...

52
Chapter 5

Writing Research Reports

Laboratory reports are used in the Science, Technology

and Engineering fields, when communicating about 'an
investigation' or 'research' in specialized Labs. The
research report is an important form of writing for scientists
as it provides a record of experiments completed.
Becoming competent in producing research (or
experimental) reports as an undergraduate student
instructors will assist you to develop the proficiency
required to write more extended and increasingly original
research reports that are usually required from 3rd year
onwards.

The sections of the written report may vary depending on

the type of task or investigation you carry out, but a lab
report or project report will usually have a title page,
abstract, introduction and methods, results, discussion
sections, a conclusion and references test section.

One essential primary means of communication among

scientists and researchers, is the scientific research
report. It allows an individual researcher or team or
researchers with similar interests to share their endings
and ideas with their peers in an organized and official
manner. As an undergraduate student you will write he
53
formal lab reports which are written and submitted by
scientists, professors, and other researchers to
professional and sciatic journals. These formal lab reports
are peer-reviewed and, if accepted for publication, are
published in journals available globally. Scientists and
researchers read these journal articles, and use the
information to advance their own research or to collaborate
with others, which develop and enlarge the body of
knowledge in a certain discipline.

In your report you should aim to provide a truthful and

accurate account of an investigation:

 what you did.

 what you found.
 what your results mean.

The format of the report or the journal article is ordered,

this allows readers to identify as rapidly as possible, what
they are searching for and help them to track in a logical
manner the work made by the author. The format is similar
whether, you are writing a lab report for a course, a
graduation thesis, or a paper for publication in an academic
research journal. However, because some courses have
special needs, always consult your instructor to find out the
particular requirements for your assignment.

FORMAT FOR WRITING RESEARCH REPORT.

1. Definition of Research Report.

2. Types of Research Report.
3. Construction of a Research Report .
54
4. Common Sections of A Research Report.

Other topics not included in the course:

5. Citing and Referencing Sources .
6. Footnotes.

1. Definition of Research Report.

Research is the systematic investigations into study of a

materials or sources or existing condition of the society or
natural phenomena, for the purpose to get additional
information, or recognize facts or to derive new
conclusions. It needs a number of inputs to produce new
knowledge and application of new and existing knowledge,
similar to any production process, and to generate
technology that ultimately may make economic prosperity
of a nation. Producing, a research paper/report is a
systematic writing up procedure on the findings of the study
as well as methodologies, discussion, conclusions etc.
following a definite style. The writers of a research report,
in making good qualitative report, should keep in mind the
say ‘Try to express, not to impress’. A report or systematic
write up on the findings of a research study, including an
abstract/executive summary, introduction (Background with
literature review, justification, objectives etc.) methodology/
materials and methods (including statistical design, if any),
results and discussion, conclusions and recommendations,
references etc. following a definite style or format may be
called a Research Report.

55
2. TYPES OF REPORTs.

General types of reports are .

1. Informational.

 Informs or instructs – give information.

 Reader observes the details of events, activities or
conditions.
 It does not present analysis of the situation, neither
conclusion, nor recommendations.

2. Analytical.

 Written to solve a problems.

 Problem is analyzed.
 Includes conclusions and recommendations.

3. Persuasive.

 An extension of analytical reports - main focus is to

advertise an idea, a service, or product.
 Suggestion is the most widespread type.

Reports usually have a various audience, more than one

purpose and more in depth information.

Some other types of reports are –

 Incident Report: A report describing how close you

are to completing something you planned.
 Accident Report: A report on what has happened in
a place, and how close your organization is to
finishing construction.
56
 Sales Report: A report describing how many goods
or services were sold, and the reasons for any
differences from planed.
 Progress Report: A report on how and why a certain
something has changed over time.
 Feasibility Study/Report: A report describing
something that has happened
 Recommendation Report: A report on how practical
a proposal is. Site: A report on what your
organization should do.
 Case Study: A report telling how someone was
occured or something was damaged.
 Periodic Operating Reports: To control or monitor
production, service, sales, shipping, etc.
 Situational Report: describes an events, such as
seminars, conferences, or trips,.
 Investigative/Informational: To examine problems
and supply facts – with little analysis.
 Compliance: respond to agencies private or
government and laws.
 Justification/Recommendation: To make
recommendations to management and become tools
to solve problems and make decisions.
 Yardstick: (‫ )مقاييس‬To establish criteria and evaluate
alternatives by measuring against the ‘yardstick’
criteria.
 Research Studies: study scientifically problems
through analyzing the problem, assuming
hypotheses, analyzing hypothesis, collecting data,
57
 data, processing data, drawing conclusions, and
making recommendations.

3. COMPONENTS OF A RESEARCH REPORT.

A research report provides an official method for scientists

to communicate with other scientists regarding the results
of their research. A standard format is used for these
reports or articles, where the researcher presents the
research in an orderly, logical manner. This doesn't
necessarily reflect the order in which he did or thought
about the work. The following are general outlines for a
research report.

Beginning Material: i.e. title page, abstract, key word list,

table of contents, list of figures and tables,
acknowledgements

1. Introduction – statement of the problem, hypotheses,

why it is important, objectives of the work, scope of the
work
2. Background and Literature Review – discuss related
work and indicate how it relates to report
3. Procedure – describe the procedure used in project,
data used, and how it was obtained
4. Results – indicate what happened and interpret what it
means
5. Conclusions and Recommendations – summarize
conclusions and what they mean. Write about the
changes he made and further work he recommends.

58
TITLE.

 The title only important words are capitalized.

 has to be specific enough to describe the contents of the
paper, but not so technical that only specialists will
understand. The title should be accepted by intended
audience.
 A title can summarizes the results to be more effective.
 Notice that the title allows the reader the most concise
summary of the main ‘players’ in the experiment and the
character of their relationship to each other.

AUTHORS.

 The author’s name is centered below the title along with

the name of the university or research institution.
 The person who did most of the work and wrote the
paper is generally listed as the first author of a research
paper.
 Other people who made substantial contributions to the
work are also listed as authors. Discuss with the team
the names order and permission before including their
names as co-authors.

ABSTRACT

 The abstract or the summary is published jointly with a

research paper, giving the reader a ‘sample’ of what is

59
 to appear next. The abstract is used by likely readers to
determine whether or not the paper is interesting
enough to be read, so it should be clear, concise and
complete.
 Abstract should be a paragraph of 100-250 words,
which summarizes the purpose, methods, results and
conclusions of the paper.
 It includes a statement of the manipulations of the
independent variables and a précis of the results of the
research. It do not contain literature review or previous
work, you can leave these for the ‘Introduction and
Discussion’ sections.
 After the paper itself is written, and as a rough rule is to
write an introductory sentence, then one sentence per
section of your report and a few sentences summarizing
the important conclusions/recommendations.
 abbreviations or citations are not used in the abstract.

Here is a summary of the content of the ABSTRACT and

its order of presentation
a. Recognition of the subject audience,
b. Requirement of the research design,
c. Equipment required and data assembly procedures,
d. Brief results including statistical significance levels,
e. Account on the inferences made.

INTRODUCTION

 Centre the word ‘INTRODUCTION’ on the page.

60
 The reader of the introduction should be able to answer
the following questions.
a. What is the research about?.
b. Why is it relevant?.
c. What are the issues or problems?.
d. What is the proposed solution or approach?.
e. What can one expect in the rest of the research?.

 If the problem is a vital one, you may state the problem

first and then review what has already been found out
about it.

 Mention the practical or theoretical concerns that

inspired it, the basic issues behind the research
tradition in question.

 The introduction should lead up to, and conclude with, a

statement of how you intend to approach your question
and why your approach is an improvement on past
efforts (or why it is worth undertaking even if it isn’t).
 You can think of the introduction as:
i. a description of the psychological issues that you are
going to investigate;
ii. a discussion of the research question(s) or
hypothesis that the research are examining; and
iii. a reference to other studies (in the same subject)
which have results which contribute on your research
project - whether they are in the same direction as
your hypothesis or in the opposite direction. The final
paragraph(s) should include a more specific
definition of your variables (independent and
61
 dependent) and a clear statement of the predictions
based on the background information that you have
presented.
 The related work section (or literature review) is a
review of work related to the problem you are
attempting to solve. It should identify and evaluate past
approaches to the problem. It should also identify alike
solutions to yours that have been applied to other
problems not necessarily directly related to the one
you’re solving.
 Reviewing the successes or limitations of the proposed
solution in other contexts, provides significant
understanding that should result in avoiding previous
mistakes, taking advantage of past successes, and
most importantly, potentially improving the solution or
the technique in general when applied in the context
and others.

In addition to the obvious purpose indicated, the related

work section also can serve to –

 justify that the problem is present by examples and

argument,
 inspire interest in your work by signifying relevance and
importance,
 Identify the important issues, and providing background
to the proposed solution.

Any remaining worries over the existence, justification,

motivation, or relevance of the research topic or problem at

62
the end of the introduction should be disappeared by the
end of related work part.

 Avoid editorialization, personal opinion and judgmental

statements. Stay close to the data, theory, design and
hypotheses. The hypotheses should never appear to
come out of nowhere or to be derived from personal
opinion and preference.
 Hypotheses are usually stated formally in the closing
paragraph of the introduction. If there are more than one
hypothesis, state them in a logical order using numbers.
 To help formulate your hypotheses, ask yourself the
following questions -
o What variables am I as the experimenter
manipulating? (Independent variable) -
o What results do I expect? (Dependent variable) -
o Why do I expect these results? The rationale for
these expectations should be made explicit in the
light of the review of the research and statement of
theory.
 Concepts and terms are to be defined clearly as soon as
they are introduced and then used time and again
thereafter.

METHOD

 This section can be thought of as the ‘cookbook’ section

of the paper, by reading this section, could duplicate (or
replicate) your study. Therefore, it should be complete,

63
 detailed and clear enough to allow another investigator
to understand how you ran your experiment.
 This section is usually written in past tense.
 The methods section is generally easy to write - you
simply describe what you did, how you did it, and when
you did it.

The method is divided into several subsection headings

which you should use in the organization of the paper.

Subjects.

a) Who are the subjects? The ‘Subjects’ subsection

specifies who participated in the study. The subjects are
described according to age, sex and other relevant
social or demographic considerations.
b) How many subjects are there? State the total number of
contributors and the number assigned to each
experimental condition. If any subjects did not complete
the study, give the number and causes.
c) Report how the subjects were selected for the
experiment and how the chosen subjects were assigned
to groups. For example, was some sort of randomization
technique used or was some other method necessary?

Apparatus.

This subsection gives a brief description of the equipment

or materials used in the study. Typical hardware such as
stop watches need not be described in detail. Remember
the description must be detailed enough so that the reader
can repeat the study.
64
Procedure.

Being a kind of recipe of each step in the implementation of

the experiment, these instructions to the subjects must be
recorded precisely. The formation of groups and the
specific experimental manipulations performed on each
group are included. Procedures such as randomization,
counterbalancing and other control procedures are also
detailed. To assist yourself in the clear execution of this
section, keep in mind that one of the purposes of it is to
allow another experimenter to replicate exactly what you
have done.

Do not put results in this section. Mention relevant ethical

considerations. If you used human subjects, did they
approve to participate? If you used animals, what
measures did you take to minimize pain?

RESULTS

 Do not start on a new page except where space

considerations require it. This section is where you
present the results of the experiment to the reader.
 The results section is to be written in the past tense.
The result section summarizes the outcome of the
experiment and the statistical treatment of them. If the
outcome (the data) are relatively straightforward, they
may be reported entirely in text without the use of
TABLES or FIGURES.
 Summarize the main idea of the findings and report
them whether or not the hypothesis(es) have been

65
 confirmed. Present the results in the same order as you
have made the predictions (hypotheses) in the
introduction and do so in simple sentences (or
paragraphs) .
 Do not discuss the implications, explanations, or
theoretical significance of the results in the RESULTS
section.
 Most readers prefer the tables and figures close to
where they are needed.

Tables

 Tables placed in the results section of the paper are

kept for the most important data which is directly related
to the experiment. Tables compress data and allow the
reader to see relationships not otherwise apparent at a
glance.
 The text after the table should highlight the data by
referring to the table.
 The table should be self descriptive as well as related to
the text.
 Always number the tables and refer to those numbers in
the text - If tables are included in an APPENDIX, these
are identified with capital letters (e.g., Table A).
 Tables always come into view in the order in which they
are mentioned in the text.
 Every table is given a brief descriptive heading, it is
placed above the table and below the table number.

66
 Enough space is used to make the table easily
readable. Notes of sub-headings are employed to
explain abbreviations, parentheses or units of the
measurement.

Figures

 Fingers of the results section are treated generally

similar to Tables.
 Figures are graphs, illustrations and charts.
 The caption of the figure is placed below the figure. The
word ‘Figure 1’ appears first followed by the caption.
The first word of the caption is written in capital form.
 If there is enough space, the figure may be placed on
the same page as the explanation text.
 In the figure, place the dependent variable on the
vertical axis and to follow the rules for correct calibration
of the data.
 The two axes in the graph should be labeled, and the
graph lines too should be colored or identified with
different marks, when appropriate.

DISCUSSION

 Do not use a new page unless it is necessary.

 It is a good idea to begin the discussion with an outline
of the results, for the benefit of the reader.
 The discussion section states the major results (what
the researcher have discovered), and informs the reader
what he thinks they mean. There is no need in this

67
 section to repeat the data - which is all in the results
section.
 The discussion section should refer back to those
studies reviewed in the introduction. Discuss how the
results are similar to the findings of these studies
(reviewed in the introduction), or, if they are different,
(do not fear), study how they differ (and your ideas as
to consider why they differ). Make your effort to
resolve this problem and deal with these differences by
telling reasons for why the differences might have
occurred.
 Another good approach is to suggest a new ideas for
future research experiments in this area, ones that
follow the study you have done, improve upon it, etc.
For example, suggest how to discover why you got
different results from other researchers, etc.
 If your discussion section is fairly long, it’s an idea is to
put a short summary part at the end to help the reader
remember the general conclusions.
 This is also a good training for writing the abstract. The
discussion section will make or break the report or the
paper - you must put a lot of thought into it and try to
draw accurate conclusions from the experiment data.
 The discussion section will show your grasp of the
inductive and deductive thinking practices involved in
the experimental work.

The following is a summary of what is likely to be in the

DISCUSSION section.

68
a. Discuss the results in the framework of the research and
theory you already brought forward in the introduction.
b. Avoid private opinion and irrelevant or out of control
speculation.
c. Show knowledge of the shortage and uncontrolled
variables in the work and qualify the results accordingly,
showing your ability to identify any other clarifications for
the data that may recommend themselves.
d. Specify what variables that would control or change in
future research to alleviate for the difficulties in the
present study.
e. Taking the research results further, suggest new
research tracks for the future. An experiment may
answer questions, but it generally raises other problems
that may not have been studied before.

REFERENCES

This is the last section and it should obey the rules to

referencing style used.

 A reference list cites works that are openly available.

 Previous work cited in the text of the experiment must
appear in the reference list. On the other hand each
entry in the reference list must be cited in the text.
 Since reference lists must be accurate and complete,
where they are planned for the use of the reader.
 A reference consists of the following data - AUTHOR,
TITLE, PUBLICATION DATA, DATE OF PUBLICATION.

69
Chapter 6
Style for cited publications

 Cite references consistently in the style required by the

publisher. If the style does not exist in the referencing
software you will have to find something close, then
either edit the style or edit the final list of references.

 Check that the style format in the software is accurate.

 Make sure you give the part numbers for journals or

magazines that begin with page 1 in each issue.

 Make sure every article referred to in the report is in the

reference list, and vice versa.

 There is no fixed style for citing material published only

on the Web.

 Cite any references that you have used, ensuring that

each article in the reference list has an in-text citation,
and every in-text citation has a full reference data in the
reference list at the end of the paper.

 Ensure that the references are formatted according to

the style required by the journal (or the
lecturer/supervisor), and be careful with spelling names.

70
References
 "References Cited," this is a list only of resources and
papers actually mentioned (cited) within the paper or
report.

 A "Bibliography," on the other hand, refers to a list of all

materials consulted to get background knowledge on a
subject; it is not usually required to include one in a
scientfic lab report.

 Scientfic lab reports are written for the sole purpose of

giving out experiment information results. If readers
want more information about something, they need to be
able to locate the exact place where it was originally
written. Citing references also give credit to the person
who did the work and provide the work with weight.

 The reference list is provided on a page at the end of

the report or article.
 ALL information within the report or paper that is not the
writer's original work or ideas should be referenced
even if not quoted directly, paraphrased or summarized
– quotations are rare in technical writing.
 Reference on the reference list: the lab manual,
textbook, and any journal articles used in the report .
 There are several standard styles for documenting
references. You may be asked to follow the format of a
particular journal in the field. If so, follow that format
exactly.

71
The IEEE Style.

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers

(IEEE) is a professional organization supporting many
branches of engineering, computer science, information
technology and Information sciences. Besides to publishing
journals, magazines, proceedings, organizing and
supporting conferences, the IEEE also makes many
standards for a wide variety of related industries.
The most common citation stile is the IEEE citation style
where the in-text citations, numbered in square brackets,
which refer to the full citation listed in the reference list at
the end of the paper. The list of references are is organized
numerically.

The Basics:
- In-text Citation
Instead of mentioning the author's name, pages used, and
date of publication in the in-text citation, the whole
reference information are put in a list with a number in a
square bracket, e.g. [1].

 then, a bracketed citations inside the line of text and

before any punctuation, and a space before the first
bracket.
 As you cite the references in the paper, number the
sources in sequence.

72
 Once you have referred to a source and given it a
number, keep on referring to it using that number as you
cite that whole source throughout the paper.
 Several sources can be cited at once. When citing these
several sources at once, the preferred method is to list
each source number individually, in its own brackets,
then, using a comma or dash separate between
numbers, as such: [1], [3], [5] or [1] - [5].

The next examples are from IEEE Style Lib Guide.

in-text citations examples:
"...end of the line for my research [13]."
"This theory was first put forward in 1987 [7]."
"Mark [3] has argued that..."
"numerous recent studies [6], [8], [13], [18] have suggested
that...."
"For instance, see [11]."

Creating a Reference List The Reference List is located

at the end of the paper and provides the full citations for all
the references the writer have consulted. All references
are listed numerically in the order they've been cited within
the paper, and include the bracketed number at the
beginning of each reference.

 Title the list as References

 Create a hanging indent for each reference with the
bracketed numbers flush with the left side of the page.

73
 The hanging indent highlights the numerical sequence
of the references.
 List the the author's name as follows: (first initial, last
name). Look at the example: Adel Abd El-mohsen
would be cited as A. Abd El-mohsen.
 Then, put the title of the article in quotation marks.
 Last, the title of the journal or the book is put in italics
style with issue details and page numbers.

The following next below are from the IEEE Citation

Reference Guide .

How to Cite References in the list :

IEEE Documentation Style IEEE citation style is used
primarily for electronics, engineering, telecommunications,
computer science, information technology and information
sciences reports. The three main parts of a reference are
as follows:
 Author’s name listed as first initial of first name, then full
last name.
 Title of article, patent, conference paper, etc., is then
placed within a quotation marks.
 The journal or book title is put in italics stile.
 To identify the information source at a quick look, this
citing system allows the reader to do that..
 All punctuation, dates, and page numbers depend on
the type of the reference cited, so follow the examples
with care.
74
Citation Within The Text
A number enclosed in square brackets, placed in the text of
the report, indicates the specific reference.
Each reference number is enclosed in square brackets on
the same line within the text, before any punctuation, with
a space before the bracket.
Examples
“. . . end of the line for my research [19].”
“The theory was first put forward in 1987 [3].”
“Scholtz [8] has argued. . . .”
“For instance, see [11].”
“Several recent studies [5, 8, 16, 25] have suggested that. .
. .”
Note: Authors and dates do not have to be written out after
the first reference; use the bracketed number. Also, it is not
necessary to write “in reference [7].”
Just write it as “in [7].”

To cite more than one source at a time, the favored method

is to list each reference in its own brackets, then separate
between them with a comma or dash: [3], [7], [9] [3] – [9] .

Reference Lists

75
To finish citing sources, a numbered list of references is
located at the end of the paper. The list is formed by the
sequential numbering the citations articles, with citing
details, beginning with [ number], and not alphabetical.

List of Examples
Assignments
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citation
Assignment [1] [1] S. F. Reid, “The Importance of scientific
from Another method," Unpublished manuscript, BSC100:
Unit Building Blocks for Science Students, Murdoch
Univ., Murdoch, WA, Australia, 2016.

A-V Materials
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citatio
n
DVD [2] [2] I. Holm, Narrator, and J. Fullerton-Smith,
Producer, How to Build a Human [DVD]. London:
BBC; 2002.
Radio [3] [3] R. Aedy, Interviewer, D. Hector, Interviewee,
Programme and S. Clark, Producer, "The future of
engineering," The Buzz, 25 Sept., 2004 [Radio
broadcast]. Sydney: ABC Radio.
Sound [4] [4] D. Fisher, Writer, and T. Baker,
Recording Presenter, Doctor Who and the Creature From the
Pit [Sound recording]. Bath, UK: BBC Audio books,
2009.
Television [5] [5] T. Jones and P. Williams, Reporters, BP
Programme releases report into Gulf of Mexico oil
spill. Lateline, 8 Sept., 2010 [Television broadcast].
Sydney: ABC1 Television.
Video [6] [6] C. Rogers, Writer and Director, Grrls in

76
Recording IT [Video recording]. Bendigo, Vic. : Video
Education Australasia, 1999.
YouTube/Vi [7] [7] NRK. "Medieval helpdesk with English
meo Video subtitles," YouTube, Feb. 26, 2007 [Video file].
Available:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-
SjgQvQ. [Accessed: Jan. 28, 2014].

Book Chapters
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citation
Chapter or [8] [8] A. Rezi and M. Allam, "Techniques in array
Article in processing by means of transformations, "
Edited in Control and Dynamic Systems, Vol. 69,
Book Multidemsional Systems, C. T. Leondes, Ed. San
Diego: Academic Press, 1995, pp. 133-180.
Article in [9] [9] O. B. R. Strimpel, "Computer graphics,"
an in McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and
Encyclopa Technology, 8th ed., Vol. 4. New York: McGraw-
edia Hill, 1997, pp. 279-283.

Books
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citatio
n
Book: [10] [10] W.-K. Chen, Linear Networks and Systems.
Single Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993, pp. 123-135
Author
Book: Two [11] [11] U. J. Gelinas, Jr., S. G. Sutton, and J.
or More Fedorowicz, Business Processes and Information
Authors Technology. Cincinnati: South-Western/Thomson
Learning, 2004.
Book: [12] [12] World Bank, Information and Communication
Organisati Technologies: A World Bank group strategy.
on as Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002.
Author
Book: [13] [13] Australia. Attorney-Generals

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Governme Department., Digital Agenda Review, 4 Vols.
nt Agency Canberra: Attorney- General's Department, 2003.
as Author
Book: No [14] [14] The Oxford Dictionary of Computing, 5th ed.
Author Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Book: [15] [15] D. Sarunyagate, Ed., Lasers. New York:
Editor McGraw-Hill, 1996.
Book: [16] [16] K. Schwalbe, Information Technology Project
Different Management, 3rd ed. Boston: Course Technology,
Editions 2004.
Scientific/T [17] [17] K. E. Elliott and C.M. Greene, "A local adaptive
echnical protocol," Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne,
Report France, Tech. Rep. 916-1010-BB, 1997.

Conference Papers
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citation
Confere [18] [18] L. Liu and H. Miao, "A specification based
nce approach to testing polymorphic
Paper in attributes," in Formal Methods and Software
Print Engineering: Proc. of the 6th Int. Conf. on Formal
Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2004, Seattle, WA,
USA, November 8-12, 2004, J. Davies, W. Schulte,
M. Barnett, Eds. Berlin: Springer, 2004. pp. 306-19.
Confere [19] [19] J. Lach, "SBFS: Steganography based file
nce system," in Proc. of the 2008 1st Int. Conf. on
Paper Information Technology, IT 2008, 19-21 May 2008,
from the Gdansk, Poland [Online]. Available: IEEE Xplore,
Internet http://www.ieee.org. [Accessed: 10 Sept. 2010].
Unpubli [20] [20] H. A. Nimr, "Defuzzification of the outputs of
shed fuzzy controllers," presented at 5th Int. Conf. on
Confere Fuzzy Systems, 1996, Cairo, Egypt. 1996.
nce
Paper
Confere [21] [21] T. J. van Weert and R. K. Munro,
nce Eds., Informatics and the Digital Society: Social,

78
Proceed ethical and cognitive issues: IFIP TC3/WG3.1&3.2
ings Open Conf.e on Social, Ethical and Cognitive Issues
of Informatics and ICT, July 22-26, 2002, Dortmund,
Germany. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2003.

Datasets
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citation
Dataset [22] [22] M. Ambrose, Air Infiltration Results for 129
Australian Dwellings, vol. 1, Canberra: CSIRO,
2018. [Dataset]. Available:
https://doi.org/10.25919/5ca54346ef256.
[Accessed: July 4, 2019].
Dataset [23] [23] United States. National Aeronautics and
Repository Space Administration., NASA Prognostics Data
Repository, Washington, DC: NASA, 2019.
[Online]. Available:
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2019].
Dataset [24] [24] J. Tucker Lima, et al., Data from: A Social-
Deposit ecological Database to Advance Research on
Record Infrastructure Development Impacts in the
Brazilian Amazon - Hydrology Dataset, Dryad
Digital Repository, 2016. [Dataset]. Available:
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.20627. [Accessed:
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https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.71.
Dataset [25] [25] A. Rakotomamonjy and V. Guigue, "BCI
Descriptio competition III: Dataset II - Ensemble of SVMs
n Record for BCIP300 Speller, " IEEE Transactions on
Biomedical Engineering, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 1147-
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E-books
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citation
E-book [26] [26] L. Bass, P. Clements, and R.
Kazman, Software Architecture in Practice,
2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 2003.
[Online] Available: Safari e-book.
Chapter [27] [27] D. Kawecki, "Fuel preparation,"
from an in Combustion Engineering Issues for Solid
E-book Fuel Systems, B.G. Miller and D.A.
Tillman, Eds. Boston, MA: Academic Press,
2008, 199-240. [Online] Available: Referex.
Article [28] [28] G. S. Thompson and M. P. Harmer,
from an "Nanoscale ceramic composites,"
Electroni in Encyclopedia of Materials: Science and
c Technology, K. H. J. Buschow, R. W. Cahn, M.
Encyclop C. Flemings, B. Ilschner, E.J. Kramer, S.
aedia Mahajan, and P. Veyssière, Eds. Amsterdam:
Elsevier, 2001, pp. 5927-5930. [Online].
Available: ScienceDirect.

E-journals
Material In Text Reference List Entry
Type Citation
Journal [29] [29] H. Ayasso and A. Mohammad-
Article Djafari, "Joint NDT Image Restoration and
from a Full Segmentation Using Gauss–Markov–Potts
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Journal [30] [30] P. H. C. Eilers and J. J. Goeman,
Article "Enhancing scatterplots with smoothed
from the densities," Bioinformatics, vol. 20, no. 5, pp.

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Internet 623-628, March 2004. [Online]. Available:
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2004].

Internet Documents
Material In Text Reference List Entry
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Journal Articles
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Journal [35] [35] G. Liu, K. Y. Lee, and H. F. Jordan,
Article in "TDM and TWDM de Bruijn networks and
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Newspaper Articles
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Newspaper [37] [37] N. Perpitch, "Green groups battle to
Article in overturn gas plan," The Australian, p. 2, Sept.
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Podcasts
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 You Scream, 2010 Sir Walter Murdoch
Lecture. Murdoch (WA): Murdoch University;
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Readers/Study Guides
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 Selected readings. Murdoch, WA: Murdoch
Univ., 2006, pp. 129-134.

Theses

Material In Text Reference List Entry

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Unpublishe [45] [45] M. W. Dixon, "Application of neural
d Thesis networks to solve the routing problem in
communication networks," Ph.D. dissertation,
Murdoch Univ., Murdoch, WA, Australia, 1999.
Published [46] [46] M. Lehmann, Data Access in Workflow
Thesis Management Systems. Berlin: Aka, 2006.
Thesis from [47] [47] F. Sudweeks, Development and Leadership
a Full Text in Computer-Mediated Collaborative
Database Groups. PhD [Dissertation]. Murdoch, WA:
Murdoch Univ., 2007. [Online]. Available:
Australasian Digital Theses Program.

Citing a reference multiple times.

• When citing a source for a second or subsequent time,
repeat the earlier reference number.
• If referring to a different page number, in the same
article, or other reference, within the same source
(book, proceedings) , use the following forms:
[3, pp. 6-11], [3, Ch. 2, pp. 7-22], [35, Fig. 3], [53, Sec.
3.5].

Some Common Referencing Terms

 Bibliography
is a list of documents consulted but not necessarily

84
 referred to in a specific document section or
assignment. A bibliography can also be a
comprehensive list of publications on a explicit subject,
for example, The Bibliography of information technology
applications. When researching a topic it is a good idea
to prepare a bibliography for own use, even if in the
report only some of these items in a References list
need to cite.
 Citation or referencing style is the method used to
format the citations. Some commonly used formats are
MLA, Chicago, APA, IEEE, Vancouver and Footnote.
 Descriptive elements. are the necessary parts of a
reference. A number of examples of these elements
are: authorof the paper, paper title, Journal name,
edition, date of publication, internet address, etc.
 Electronic publications: is a generic term used to
describe documents available from the internet or from
databases or published in a digitized format.
 In-text citations.
Are a method of signaling to the reader of the report
that the words or ideas quoted or referred to at that
point are not your own. The method for acknowledging
the source document for that information varies
according to the citation style you are using.
 Publications cited or References list:
is a list of all the documents the writer have referred to
in his assignment or project. It is included at the end of

85
the report. It preferred to be arranged numerically, in
some publications, it may be arranged alphabetically
and formatted according to one of the citation styles.

 Information-prominent is where the writer

paraphrase or quote information from another source
and only mention the author in the reference list. This
gives greater emphasis to the information the writer
providing rather than the author's role in developing
that information:.
 Author-prominent is where the writer includes the
author's name as part of his citing the reference in
the sentence. This draws attention to the author's
important role in developing the information the writer
is using.
 Though most academic papers contain a mixture of
these two in-text referencing styles, in most
disciplines there are usually more information-
prominent referencing than author-prominent ones.

86
Chapter 7

Style for Scientific Writing

This chapter presents the elements of scientific style,
ranging from the specifics of punctuation and abbreviations
through to the flow of ideas in the document.

 Punctuation
 Hyphenation
 Italics and Bold
 Fonts and Symbols
 Abbreviations and Acronyms
 Headings, Paragraph Styles, and Lists
 Numbers and Statistics
 Tables
 Figure
 Use of Words
 Grammar
 Flow of Ideas
 Style for Cited Publications
 References

87
PUNCTUATION
 Comma is inserted wherever there would be a slight
pause between words or expressions in the spoken
sentence.
 A semicolon is inserted between two parts of a
sentence; where both parts are able to stand alone
as separate sentences.
 A colon is used to introduce an explanation or an
example of something: here is an example. If there
are numerous simple explanations or examples, split
them with commas; or else, use semicolons.
 Avoid excessive use of parentheses ( ). Use them to
make an extra remark only if commas could be
confusing., By no means never use parentheses
within parentheses: find a different way of saying it.
 Use brackets [ ] for material inserted into a quotation
and ellipsis (three dots) for material
omitted: According to Smith (1999), "few such
[descriptive] researches were done… before 1950."
 Use dashes-- with no spaces.
 Use a place (space) or two places after a colon, or
semicolon.
 Use double quotation marks (") for speech and
verbatim quotations.
 Use the mathematics/physics style ml.min-1.kg-1 for
scientists and the style ml/min/kg for non-scientists.
 Double quotation marks are used the first time you
introduce a newly coined or slang term; do not use
quotation marks after that.

88
 Do not use "smart quotes" (66 and 99), because they
make problems when translated into Web
documents.
 Single quotation marks (') is used for quotes within
quotes.
 The apostrophe (') is used to denote possession:
an athlete's responses, two athletes' responses.
But note that its = of it, whereas it's = it is.
 Commas, semicolons, colons, and periods are placed
outside closing quotation marks: "this", for example,
but not "this," or "this." With exception: "If the
quotation ends in a whole sentence, the period is part
of the quote and should for that reason go inside the
quotation marks, like this."
 The use of and/or instead of or is acceptable when
the writer want to emphasize either or both.
 The forward slash (/) can replace or in sentences that
are already full up with ands and/or ors.
 Title Case (initial upper-case letters for words of four
or more letters) in:
o the title and subheadings of the article;
o titles of journals;
o titles of books or articles in the text, but not in the
reference list;
o proper nouns, including trade marks names
(Wilks's, Alfa, Dell, the Web and a Web site, but
not in a website);
o names of tests (the Stroop Color-Word Test);
o nouns followed by numbers (on Day 2, in Group B)
but not in the control group;
89
 o names of institutional departments (Department of
Sport Science, University of Wherever), but not of
disciplines (a department of sport science);
o References to sections in the article (in the
Methods section; see results; in Figure 3; in Table
5; see Appendix C; in Chapter 7).

HYPHENATION.
Verify your spelling checker to make a decision of
whether to incorporate a hyphen with a prefix. If the
word is not recognized without a hyphen, put one
dash in. For instance: non-athlete, ultra-violet, pre-
treatment.
ITALICS AND BOLD
Use italics to emphasis (stress) a word and bold for strong
emphasis. Keep away from italic bold, which does not
show up as bold in some software browsers.
 Use italics in expressions such as the
term whatever, and for listing descriptors of a scale.
For example, items on the 10-point scale ranged
from not at all to all the time (always).
 Do not use italics for not English words and
abbreviations common in scientific English,
FONTS AND SYMBOLS
Keep the fonts shown in the guide of the article you are
writing: Times New Roman for the body of the text,
and Arial for the headings and subheadings.
90
  for symbols, use Insert/Symbol from the menu bar of
Microsoft word programs.
 Choose the normal text font to get symbols such as :
± ° · µ.

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

Is acceptable and used only if the full phrase is
extremely long or if the acronym (short form) is well
known to all researchers in the field. Yet, an easily
understood form of the expression that stays away
from abbreviations or acronyms is favorable.
 If the researcher/writer must use an abbreviation, he
can define it in parentheses the first time he uses it:
for example, Information technology (IT), Computer
sciences (CS), The software Engineering (SWE).
 The following well-known Latin abbreviations are
used only within parentheses: that is (i.e.), for
example (e.g.), and so on (etc.).
 Use short form such as vs. (versus) and et al. (and
others) without defining them, they are known to
technical writers..
 Use the complete word Note: instead of N.B.
 abbreviations without explanation such as the
following terms are used in the Summary, but define
them in the Methods: standard deviation (SD), 95%
confidence interval (95%CI), 95% confidence limits
(95%CL).
 Do not Use periods or spaces in short forms of
countries: US, UK, NZ.
91
  Use a period only if the last letter of the abbreviation
is not the last letter of the word, as in the following
examples: Vol. 1, p. 3, p. 23-25, Prof., Mr, Dr, Ms,
2nd ed., and similar.
 Use the following System International (SI)
abbreviations for units of measurement
meter m millisecond ms
gram g second s
kilogram kg minute min
mole mol hour h
liter L (not l) day d
milliliter ml week wk
degree °C year y

HEADINGS, PARAGRAPH STYLES, AND LISTS

Use the heading, subheading, font, and paragraph styles
suitable for the publication journal the writer intends to
present his article to.

Use this rule for an itemized list inside a paragraph: (a) first
point, (b) second point, and (c) the final point.
If one or more points contain a comma, use the following
rule: (a) disconnect the points with semicolons, as
shown in the next example; (b) second point, etc.; and
(c) the final point.
Include the letters only if you refer afterward to one or more
of the items: for example, Item (b).

92
 Use bullets to list items that are whole sentences, as
shown throughout the following document.
Exception: use numbered points if you want to refer
afterward to one or more of the points by number. For
example:
1. Use a numbered list for items that could stand
alone as paragraphs.
2. Do not include two or more paragraphs under one
number.
3. Anywhere in the article you need to refer to one or
more of these numbered points, for example
Points 1 and 2, above. or else you would list them
with bullets.

NUMBERSAND STATISTICS
 Use tilde (~) to mean roughly (approximately) equal
to.
 Numbers beginning a sentence must be spelled or
rewrite the sentence so you do not start it with
numbers greater than ninety-nine.
 Reminder: one, two, three, … nine, 10, 11, 12…
Exceptions: a 4-m strip measure; 5 million.
 Put a space between numbers and units: for
example, 73 kg. With exception: 73%.
 Write 0.33, not .33.
 Write: 144, 4,462 or 2463, 23,277, 2,407,000…
 When quoting numbers, make sure to use the
minimum number of significant digits or decimal
93
 places. For example, for the numbers 22.3 ± 6.8
years it is easier to write 22 ± 7 years and the loss of
accuracy is not significant in most situations.
 For standard deviations, use the suitable number of
digits: two significant digits (one digit if the standard
deviation is for a descriptive statistic like height or
weight, or if precision is not significant); two decimal
places for correlations, two significant digits for
percentages. Examples: 33 ± 4; r = 0.65; r = 0.07;
19%; 1.2%; 0.014%.
 If it is required to show the p values than confidence
limits, show the exact p value to one significant digit
(for p < 0.2) or two decimal places (for p > 0.20). Do
not use p < 0.05 or p > 0.05. Examples: p = 0.04; p =
0.006; p = 0.08; p = 0.75. (The exact p value is
important for anyone using the data in the experiment
to calculate confidence limits.)
 The significant digits of the mean and standard
deviation are must be consistent. Examples: 20 ± 13;
0.020 ± 0.013; 156 ± 7; 1.56 ± 0.07; 15600 ± 700.
 Use the standard deviation as a measure of spread.
 Avoid test statistics like t, F and x2, but if the journal
insists on them, show them only two significant digits.
 Show 95% confidence intervals for statistics like a
correlation coefficient or the difference between
means.

94
TABLES
Tables are created with the Table pull-down in Word.
Using Taps is not allowed.
 Examples of tables in Sport science style are shown
in Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3: A simple general table for articles at the Sport

science web sitea.
heading heading heading
b
item item item
item item item
item item item
a
Put any footnotes here. Note that the caption and footnotes
are in cells of the table.
b
Number footnotes as shown.

Table 4: A complex tablea.

heading heading heading
Subheading1
item itemb item
item item item
Subheading2
item item item
item item item
a
Put any footnotes here. Note that the caption and footnotes
are in cells of the table.
b
Number footnotes as shown.

95
FIGURES
Rules for choice of figure format:
o bar graphs if only the dependent variable is
numeric;
o pie charts or bar graphs for proportions.
o line diagrams or scattergrams if independent
and dependent variables are numeric;
 Do not use scanned images of graphs
 The size of fonts and any symbols are big
enough.
 Because the need of figures to be viewable in a
Web-browser window without the reader having
to scroll sideways, do not make figures any
wider than ~14 cm.
 When using Word, paste the figure directly into
the text using Paste Special…, unselect
Float Over Text, and paste them in as bitmaps
or drawings. Also, make sure that the figure is
displayed at 100% size and that it looks okay
when the document is displayed at 100%
 Put the figure into the cell of a table, as shown.
 Place the title and any footnotes for the figure
in cells above and below the figure. The font
size and style for this text is 11-pt Arial.
 Place figure or table right away after the
paragraph that first refers to it.

96
Figure 1: Informative title for a time seriesa.

Data are means. Bars are standard deviations (shown only

for Groups B and C).
a
Use letters to label footnotes, if necessary.

97
 Figure 2: Informative title for a scattergram.

Least-squares lines are shown for each variable.

98
Figure 3: Informative title for a bar graph.

Data are means. Bars are standard deviations.

99
Figure 4: Informative title for an outcomes figure.

Data are means. Bars are 95% confidence

intervals.

 Show curves only if you are modeling a curve to the

data points.
 Use different colors and shapes for the symbols for
different groups of points: .
 Show scattergrams only for a special reason (e.g. to
recognize the outliers, a nonzero intercept, or a
nonlinear style); or else state the value of the
correlation coefficient and/or standard error of the
estimate with no figure.

100
Chapter 8

Paragraph, sentence

What follows is a list of common paragraph, sentence, and

word level problems that crop up in writing. This chapter
discusses the different types of problems levels.
 Paragraph Level Problems
o Unity, Transition, and Development 2
o One Idea per Paragraph
o Surprise Transitions
 Sentence Level Problems
o Verb Tense
o Passive Voice
o Too Many Words
o Punctuation
o Nested Ands
o One idea per Sentence
o Subject Verb Separation
o Don't Use Double Negatives
 Word Level Problems
o Pronouns
o a lot
o aforementioned

101
 o ESL
o which and that
o involve, deal with, and discuss
o unfortunately
o obviously
o note that
 What to Look for

PARAGRAPH WRITING
A paragraph is a group of sentences that build up one
topic or idea. The paragraph consists of three major parts.
The first part is the topic sentence, it states the topic or the
subject of the paragraph. The second main part is the
supporting sentences, it develop the topic, this means that
they clarify the topic sentence in detail. The last part is the
concluding sentence, which summarizes the paragraph
and/or adds a final observation and comment. An
understandable academic paragraph requires all of these
parts.

A. PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH

THE TOPIC

It is what provides the answer to the question “What is the

paragraph about? . It presents the general idea of the
paragraph.

1. THE TOPIC SENTENCE

102
The topic sentence is frequently the first sentence of the
paragraph. It contains the main idea which is expanded in
the rest of the paragraph. The topic sentence consists of
two sections: the topic and the controlling idea. A topic
sentence must be a complete sentence, a statement of
goal, opinion or a mixture of both. It should be neither too
broad (Football is very popular in the world) nor too narrow
(Gold is very expensive). The topic tells us the subject (i.e.
what the paragraph is about) and the controlling idea
makes a precise comment about the topic (what the
paragraph is going to say about the topic / the writer’s
approach or idea about the topic). In other words, the
controlling idea shows the reader what the rest of the
paragraph will say about the topic; it bounds the topic to a
precise area to be discussed in a single paragraph.

Alcohol has numerous damaging effects on health.

Topic Controlling Idea
------ Topic Sentence ---------------

In this example the topic is “Alcohol”. A specific comment is

then made about the topic: “it has numerous damaging
effects on health”. From this topic sentence, the reader
immediately identifies that the supporting sentences will
explain or establish how harmful caffeine can be.

Students who are studying overseas may face a lot of

problems.

Topic Controlling Idea

103
There are number of advantages of working online at
home.

Controlling Idea Topic

The controlling idea may be found:

 at the beginning of the topic sentence.

There are number of advantages of working online at

home.

------ Controlling Idea ------ Topic ------

 or in two parts, one part at the beginning and the

second part at the end of the topic sentence, bath
parts are separated by the topic

The advantages of working online at home are

its flexible hours and its comfort.

Controlling idea part1 Topic Controlling Idea part 2

 at the end of the topic sentence

Working at home is advantageous because of its

Flexible time and its ease.

Topic ---------- Controlling Idea------

Exercise:

Underline the topic and the controlling idea of each topic

sentence below.

104
1. When couple divorce, kids frequently have difficulties.
2. Walking and running is of benefit for your spirit.
3. Watching TV is a better way to learn spoken English.
4. Modern technology ruins the conventional way of life.
5. Green power is the main hope for solving the future
energy failure.
6. Nuclear power is the maximum threat to life on the
planet.

2. SUPPORTING SENTENCES

In a paragraph, the supporting sentences explain or

develop the topic sentence. The supporting section can be
examples, narratives, details, facts, explanations or
statistics. All of the supporting sentences relate to the
main idea stated in the topic sentence and show why it is
true.

Exercise :

Write a list of things that fit each of the topics below.

Topic

Reading Materials: ............................................................

Monetary Units : ............................................................
Public Holidays : ............................................................
Mass Media : ............................................................

Exercise:

105
Read the topic sentences below and think of a suitable
supporting sentences to complete the paragraph.

1. Wearing a school uniform has certain drawbacks.

a. ............................................................
b. ............................................................
c. ............................................................

2. You can enhance and advance your English in several

ways.
a) ............................................................
b) ............................................................
c) ............................................................

3. The final part "THE CONCLUDING SENTENCE"

The conclusion part of a paragraph indicates the end of the

paragraph; where it summarizes the main aspects of the
paragraph and relates them to the topic sentence; and
provides the final comment on the topic and leaves the
reader with the most important ideas to think about. Also, it
can suggest a proposal, an estimate or an application .

A concluding sentence is not extremely needed, but it is

very supportive to the reader since it indicts the end of the
paragraph and reminds the reader of the significant points.
The concluding sentence frequently closes the paragraph
by returning the main idea of it. The writer does this by
reiterating the keyword or expression from the topic
sentence.
106
Examples

Topic sentence: There are many good reasons for why

people live in the country but not in cities.
Conclusion: the paragraph conclusion is, existing in the
country is much better than existing in the city.

The topic Sentence: woods are significant for life on

earth.
Conclusion: To sum up, if there were no woods, there
would be no existence on this planet.

The topic Sentence: There are a few significant

characters of a good manager.
Conclusion: All in all, a qualified manager should be fair,
should be a good leader and should act with consistency.

BASIC PARAGRAPH FORMAT

 TOPIC SENTENCE (TS)

 SUPPORTING DETAIL 1 (SD1) (+ Minor Detail 1)
 SUPPORTING DETAIL 2 (+ Minor Detail 2)
 SUPPORTING DETAIL 3 (+ Minor Detail 3)
 THE CONCLUDING SENTENCE

Mustafa likes travelling by bus rather than (instead of)

travelling by boat for many reasons (TS). First, its
expenses is less (SD1). For example, he can ride the bus
from Cairo to Menia for 85, pound but the boat trip between
107
the two cities is 200 pounds (MD1). In addition, travelling
by bus gives heim a closer look at the cities and
countryside than he could get from a boat. (SD2) Finally,
he thinks that the passengers on the bus are often closer to
his own age, so they are easy to talk with. (SD3) In
conclusion, he believes travelling by bus is an ideal form of
transport for him (CS).

Exercise :

a. These are merged sentences of the paragraph. Set

each of the sentences below, in the accurate place
in the graph to form the paragraph. The topic
sentence is point h.

a) Thirdly, because of financial problems, some students fail

university classes.
b) For example, students who have to get jobs don’t have as
much time to study, so they may fail classes.
c) The first reason: is that they fail because their academic
background is weak.
d) Finally, there are students who fail because their energies are
not directed toward their classes.
e) For example, solo student might not have had enough
physics courses at high school, so he fails in his university
physics class.
f) The second reason is that most of the students don’t
understand the importance of regular attendance.
g) Others may worry because they have too little money, and
they may not be able to concentrate on their studies.
h) There are some reasons why a lot of students fail in college.
108
i) Because some students don’t attend classes regularly, they
may not be able to pass the test in class because they don’t
know the answers.
j) In conclusion, due to all these problems, numerous students
fail in college every year.
k) For example, some of these students are not interested in
college and they spend their day doing other things.

PARAGRAPH 1
Topic sentence : H
Supporting idea 1 :
Minor detail 1 :
Supporting idea 2 :
Minor detail 2
Supporting idea 3 :
Minor detail 3 :
Minor detail 3 :
Supporting idea 4 :
Minor detail 4
Conclusion :

b. The following are mixed sentences of two different

paragraphs. select sentence below and put each
selected one in the correct place in the chart, to form
the paragraphs. The topic sentences are b and j.

a) In addition, travel by boat trips are frequently low-priced

than other forms of trips.
b) The boats are a quite traditional way of travelling, but
they have definite advantages.

109
 c) In conclusion, travelling by boat is not a very pleasing
occasion.
d) Lastly, boats are a safe option to automobiles and
airplanes.
e) Secondly, boat voyages can be very horrifying when the
typical weather is bad or the sea is violent.
f) Firstly, it takes much longer time than other forms of
travel.
g) For instance, there are fewer disasters at sea than in the
air or on the roads.
h) First of all, boats are often more comfortable than
planes or cars.
i) as an alternative to sitting in your seat for the whole
journey, you can go for a march on the deck, or you can
go for shopping.
j) Journeys by boat have its weakness.
k) For instance, a boat ticket, usually costs less than a
airplane ticket.
l) Thirdly, boat trips may be very exhausting, especially for
elderly people.
PARAGRAPH 1 PARAGRAPH 2
Advantages Disadvantages
Topic sentence : B Topic sentence : j
Supporting idea 1 : Supporting idea 1 :
Minor detail 1 :
Supporting idea 2 : Supporting idea 2 :
Minor detail 2
Supporting idea 3 : Supporting idea 3 :
Minor detail 3 : Conclusion

110
C. CORRECT USE OF TRANSITIONAL WORDS

When switching from one idea to the next, the transition

should not be too sudden, revise the following exemplars:

Too sudden: A person who loses his temper often

becomes irrational. A wrong person may be victimized.

Smoother: A person who loses his temper often becomes

irrational. As a result of this, a wrong person may be
victimized.

To avoid sudden changes, you can use transitional words.

However, you should them only when needed for clarity.
TO SIGNAL ... USE …
An Addition in addition, besides, moreover, also, furthermore.
An Example for example, for instance, to illustrate.
A summary in conclusion, in brief, to sum up, in summary, in
short, to conclude, all in all, on the whole.
Result so, as a result (of this), consequently, thus
therefore.
Contrast in contrast (to), yet, whereas, on the contrary,
nevertheless, although, but, however, on the
other hand, even though (despite, in spite of.
Explanation that is to say, to put it in a different way, that is,
namely, in other words.
Emphasis as a matter of fact, actually in fact, indeed, truly.
Purpose in order to, so as to, so that, in order that.

Read and examine the sample paragraphs below and

discuss their structure with your colleagues.

111
Example: Paragraph 1:

Difficulties in large Cities

(1) On all sides the world, living in large cities, creates

serious problems for people.

(2a) Firstly, the problem of air pollution. For instance, in

New Mexico, a lot of people have cars and cars are main
reason why the air is polluted. (2b) Secondly, heavy traffic
is an important problem for the people living in big cities.
Currently, there are increasingly cars on roads, and this
causes traffic jams in many parts of the cities. Because of
that, many population waste their time in traffic, and they
are harmfully affected by this circumstances.

(3) Briefly, traffic jams and air pollution are causes of the
two significant problems that people living in big cities
have.

Example: Paragraph 2.

Bikes (bicycles) are popular today in many countries for

number of reasons. Topic Sentence,

First, for going to work, training, and to exercise, most of

the people use bicycles. Supporting Sentence 1

To demonstrate, in Holland, citizens think riding a bicycle is

a better way of staying healthy and keeping fit, than other
sports or other ways of raining. The second reason is
money. Supporting Sentence 2 Generally bikes are not
112
expensive to buy, and they are quite cheap to maintain.
Finally, bicks are appropriate for city life. Supporting
Sentence 3 In cities, many citizens prefer bikes to cars
because, unlike cars, with a bicycle they never have to wait
in traffic. In short, having a bicycle is beneficial for people
for different reasons. The Concluding Sentence

The final paragraph

Bicycles are well-liked today in many countries for three

reasons. First, most of the people use bicycles to go to
work, to train, and to exercise. To illustrate, in Holland,
citizens think riding a bicycle is a better way of keeping fit
and staying healthy than other sports or other ways of
raining. The second reason is money, generally bikes are
not expensive to buy, and they are quite cheap to maintain.
Finally, they are suitable for city life. In cities, many people
prefer bikes to cars because unlike cars, with a bicycle,
they never have to wait in traffic. In brief, having a bicycle
is beneficial for people for different reasons.

One paragraph with too many ideas.

A paragraph must have only one idea. In the following
table, the original has two ideas, one that defines the
internet and a one that suggests that the technology and its
reputation have lead to problems. To reduce an excess of
ideas in a paragraph, provide each idea a paragraph of its
own. And be certain to connect the paragraphs. This kind
of fix enlarges the text to make the paragraphs clearer.

113
An example of too many ideas in one paragraph.
Original Rewrite
The internet is a computer With hundreds of millions of users,
network that connects users the internet is the largest computer
from all over the world. The network in the earth. The internet's
internet is also the largest vast size results from its status as a
network in the world. There network of networks, connecting
are currently hundreds of many smaller networks such as
millions of users on the Usenet, and. America Online
internet according a recent network.. As an umbrella network, the
survey by Nielson Research. It internet permits subnet users to
is internet is occasionally correspond via hypertext, email, or
called the "network of discussion groups. Other services
networks" as it a superset of include, among others, indexing
smaller networks such as programs, file transfer, and remote
Usenet, and . America Online login. The network's facilities and size
network. Where users make it increasingly attractive to
communicate via hypertext, additional users.
email, or discussion groups. Additional internet problems
Other services may include: appeared due to its popularity were
indexing programs, file unimagined by its inventors. At first,
transfer, remote login. In the the scientific research and defense
beginning, these computer projects were solely using the
services were used internet. The internet structural
exclusively for scientific design, was planned to be open to
research. Now these services encourage teamwork, and the system
are being used to exchange was distributed so that it could
unethical contents and hate survive nuclear war. This
literature. The originators of decentralized open system, has
the internet never predicted promoted a new degree of open
the network to be a distribution speech: any user can communicate

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channel for unethical contents. anything to any other user at any
time. The unprecedented levels of
freedom have lead to unprecedented
levels of the abuse of free speech,
such as the exchange of pornography
and hate literature.

First draft as the original is highly suitable; almost all the

information is present and the relations are implicit. In the
rewrite, the two principle ideas in the original are separated
and I connected them explicitly.

2- Sentence Level Problems.

a- Verb tense:
While writing, try to keep verb tense consistent, mainly
within a paragraph. When you have to change the tense,
inform the reader of the transition.
Today and 19th century, explicitly inform the reader of the
impending time change.

An insignificant Example 1
Original Rewrite
At present, technology is At the present, technology is
efficient. The iron mountain efficient. In the 19th century, iron
mining operations recovered mountain mining operations
only 54 percent of the metals recovered only 54 percent of the
from ore. metals from ore.

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Too often, the future tense is used to refer to material that
appears further on in the document.

Passive voice

passive vs. active sentences.

Passive. Active.
The dead person body was The policeman found the dead
found by the policeman. person body.

There are reasons to use the passive voice and there are
other reasons to avoid it.
Use it to:
 Change the order of information in a sentence.
 Vary sentence structure for diversity use.
 get rid of the true subject if it is not important.
Avoid it because:
 English language readers favor active sentences.
 Passive sentences, utilize more words to state an idea.

It is easier to make an active sentence passive than to

make a passive sentence active.

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 Excessive many words
The technical document users suggest that technical
writers are paid by the word, but an inverse incentive would
be preferable. Authors don't really try to pad sentences
(Phase II candidates accepted), but the extra words sneak
in anyhow. Sometimes the words are just failure to notice
in the first draft like the following example.

examples of too many words

Original Rewrite
I plan to review the relevant
In order to insure that any policy
technologies available in the region
recommendations are
to generate electricity as well as
thoroughly thought out, I plan to
efficiently irrigate crops in the region
review the technologies that are
to insure that any policy
regionally available for electricity
recommendations are thoroughly
generation and crop irrigation.
thought out.

This coupling of a continuous plant with a

This coupling of a
qualitative abstraction of the plant is called a
continuous plant with a
qualitative abstraction of hybrid system. It allows symbolic reasoning
the plant is called a hybrid to complement quantitative reasoning.
system. A hybrid system or better yet
allows symbolic reasoning A hybrid system couples a continuous plant
to complement with a qualitative abstraction of the plant,
quantitative reasoning allowing symbolic reasoning to complement
with symbolic reasoning. quantitative reasoning.

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Nested ands

A nested and is really a type of long unpunctual sentence,

though it is often punctual at the expense of understanding.

an example of nested ands

Original Rewrite
The rate gyroscope itself consists The rate gyroscope itself consists
of a very rapidly spinning wheel of a very rapidly spinning wheel.
and electronic devices which Changes in the wheel's axis of
senses variations in the axis of rotation are sensed by electronic
rotation of the wheel, and which device, which modify and output a
modify and output a digital sensed digital signal proportional to the
signal accordingly. changes.

One idea per sentence.

The preceding two examples show sentences that contain
more than one idea. The solution is to give each idea a
sentence of its own and to connect together the sentences.
Subject/verb separation.
English language readers like to see the subject and a verb
in proximity. As a rule keep the subject and the verb on the
same line.
Do not tell the reader what is not the case.
Tell the reader what is the case.

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3- Word Level Problems
Pronouns: are links to preceding nouns. Their use wrongly
is usually due to the author's awareness of the correct
connection and the reader's ignorance of that linkage.

Common problems are:

this: refers back to the most recently happening singular,
neuter noun. Frequently this is used wrongly to refer to the
idea embodied in the preceding sentence, sentences, or
paragraph(s). Change such usage to let the reader know
what the pronoun refers to.

modifying this
Original Rewrite
Suburbia is sprawling
Suburbia is sprawling into farmland.
(expensive) into farmland. This
This advance raises farm prices.
raises farm prices.

 here: The reader does not know whether the author

means here on the page, here in the author's class, or
here in the home where the book is being read.
 there is and it is: These pairs of joined words frequently
are used to begin sentences. They express neither
information nor connections themselves and they are
thus a dead text. Worse, it has the connotation of
connecting back to a noun; a reader trying to make such
a connection will be confused.

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 Bill hit Fred. He went home.
Without additional information, the reader does not know
who went home.

 we: In technical writing, to refer to the authors,

we should only be used. If there is only one author,
make sure that we is in use to mean the author and the
his colleagues. Often we is used to mean the author
and the reader or people in general. Keep away from
these two misuses.

 you: Readers do not like to be told what to believe. By

using the word you, an author suggests that a reader
believes in something that the reader does not
necessarily consider, keep away from the using of you.
a lot
A lot means a lot to the author, but not a great deal to the
reader. You must be precise about mentioning the quantity.

a lot
Original Rewrite
A lot of doctors recommend Two out of five doctors suggest too
too many medications. . many medications.

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Aforementioned, mentioned above
The reader will not know which idea to associate with these
constructs. For equations: assign a number to the equation
and state the number in the text when needed.
English as a second language common word level
problems
 subject-verb match
 determiners
 prepositions
 infinitives
There is no quick cure for ESL problems. Practice the
English language for long time and you will be an expert.
Find an educated native speaker to proof read the draft
text. If an educated native speaker is not easy to get to,
dedicate a proof reading to these trouble spots.

which and that

Most writers are confused about the difference
between which and that when the words are used to
introduce clauses.

involve, deal with, and discuss

These words are vague. The writers must provide more
detail and be specific. I see involve can be used in
resumes and cover letters to very poor effect.

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unfortunately
Often unfortunate for the writer, but the is rarely of
importance to the reader.
obviously
In rough drafts obvious is an important flag to the writer; it
means the idea is essentially important and worry must be
taken to make that idea clear to the reader. Sadly, a thing
cannot be made obvious just by applying the adjective. A
reader can think three things when reading the
word obviously:
 It is obvious, so why is it mentioned.
 It is not obvious; the author is stupid.
 It is not obvious; the reader is stupid.

Because none of these approaches of thinking are

creative, obviously should be eliminated from final drafts
and take care to emphasize the point that must become
obvious to the paper reader.

note that
Note that: is a note by the author to (himself) the author. In
a rough draft it means that the information is important but
has not been linked yet to the text. So, remove the note
and clearly join the information to the text.

FLOW OF IDEAS
Focus your thoughts by writing the summary first, even
for articles that do not require one.
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 There are three ways to assist get your ideas in a
reasonable sequence. These are: 1-to make an
outline in the form of titles, 2- to put the draft aside for
number of days or a week, and 3- to get someone
else to comment on the drafts.
 The paragraph rules must be implemented carefully.
 Formulate the ideas within each section to flow
mutually.
 Do not put ideas in the wrong section or subsection.
Skim the finished text to make sure.
 Keep the order of ideas similar in different sections of
the article.
 Check that you do not deny or duplicate yourself in
different sections of the article.
 Simplicity: many readers are less smart and less
educated than writers.

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Chapter 9

Features of academic writing

(Tentative (cautious) statements and Academic
wording)

As a senior student you need to be very clear about which

audience you are writing for. While you may be expected to
write for external audiences such as a business customer
or a member of the community, most often you will be
writing essays and/or reports for your tutors and lecturers.
To write in a official academic style, you need to build up
skills in using some features of academic writing.

Look for examples of:

 tentative statements
 academic wording

and try to use them in the academic writing.

Research in Science and technology is collective which

means that results of research conducted today may
depend to a large extent on the work of several other
researchers over a long period. The results of experiments
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are seldom conclusive and findings may later be shown to
be imprecise or based on false assumptions. For these
reasons it is a excellent idea to be fairly tentative
(uncertain) in your writing in the results and discussion
sections.

Make tentative statements rather than (straight) direct,

definite ones. For example, rather than writing 'This
experiment proves (confirms)…' it is favorable (preferable)
to use an expression such as:

 tends to…
 appears to…
 suggests that…
 would seem to…

In order to express tentative statements you can use

limiting words, modal verbs, and softening or hedging
verbs.

Limiting (restrictive) words

Examples of limiting (restrictive) words

 possible or possibly
 probable or probably
 likely.

Limiting words in sentences

 It is possible that the use of a different model…

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  It is likely that vinculin localizes in low amounts at the
basement membrane…

Modal verbs

These change the strength of the main verb and indicate

that there is room for doubt.

Examples of modal verbs

 may or may be
 might, might be or might have been
 could be
 could have been
 would
 would have been.

Modal verbs in a sentence

 The data appear to support the hypothesis, but further

sampling would need to be undertaken to increase the
reliability of the final result.

Note that this sentence also includes the softener 'appear'.

'Softening' or 'hedging' verbs

Examples of softening or hedging verbs.

These include verbs such as:

 appears

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  suggests
 indicates.

Softening or hedging verbs in sentences

The results shown in Figure 1 suggest that stratified

sampling by gender…

The evidence seems to indicate that the flood rate of

NaOH does not considerably affect…

This result appears to demonstrate that the presence of

flower galls at permanently-flooded sites can be accounted
for by…

Academic wording

Use full forms instead of contractions

Because scientific essays and reports are types of formal

writing it is important not to use the informal short forms
(contractions) you would use in your emails and letters to
friends. For example, you should use:

 do not instead of don't

 cannot instead of can't
 will not instead of won't.

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Use nominalized phrasing

One important feature of scientific writing is the use of

nominalization, or the use of nouns rather than verbs. In
the following sentences, the first sentence makes use of
verbs and the second sentence relies on noun forms to a
larger degree.

Examples

a. Use of verbs: The gel was set in the oven and the
excess water was removed. The lanthanum oxide
binding gel was then taken from the moldings and
stored in MQ water.
b. Use of nominalization: After setting in the oven,
removal of excess water, and disassembly from the
moldings, the lanthanum oxide gel was stored in MQ
water.

a. Use of verbs: In dialysis, nitrogenous wastes are

removed from the body and electrolyte imbalances are
corrected.
b. Use of nominalization: Dialysis involves the removal of
nitrogenous wastes from the body and the correction of
electrolyte imbalances.

a. Use of verbs: When fishermen catch too many fish, the

coral pests increase and ultimately overrun the coral
colonies.

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b. Use of nominalization: Overfishing results in
increases in pest numbers and the overrunning of
coral colonies.

Objective language and Subjective language

Introduction

In English there are two speaking styles we can use when

taking about things:
 objective language, and
 subjective language.
Using the correct style in an suitable situation can make
the writer seem more professional or concerned and more
natural.

Objective Language
Objective language is a way of talking in a way that does
not express opinion, feelings, personal biases etc.
Being objective means talking in a way that is measurable,
quantifiable and is based on data and scientific fact.
Being objective also means not exaggerating or distorting
the data.

That person has seven cats.

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This style is useful for academic writing. As such, it is used
a lot when describing plots, graphs, charts and scientific
data etc. If you are doing an exam such as “IELTS
Academic Writing” then you will want to use the
objective writing style in your answer.

Subjective Language
Subjective language is the opposite. By using this sort of
speech we are expressing our opinions, feelings and
personal biases. These things cannot be measured and
can contradict with other people's opinions. We can also
exaggerate certain situations.

That person has too many cats.

In this example we cannot measure how many cats are

too many. Also, what might be too many cats for one
person might not be too many cats for another.

This style is mostly used outside of scientific data writing

situations (speaking casually with friends, creative
writing etc). If you are doing an exam such as “IELTS
General Training Writing” then you will want to use this
style in your answer.

Objective Example Sentences Subjective Example Sentences

The price is rising. The price is expensive.

Many people enjoy the taste. It is tasty.
The house has 7 bedrooms. The house is big.
He has £7,000,000. He is rich.
A large percentage of people enjoy It is awesome.
it. I eat at the restaurant all of the

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I eat at the restaurant twice a time.
week. The amount dropped ridiculously.
The amount dropped by 50%.

Avoid writing subjectively

Students sometimes write using a 'chatty', informal or

subjective style such as in the following example:

Subjective writing style

These results seem to be actually fairly good. The model

fits very well with the data results and can be interpreted by
the R2 values of 0.33 shown in Table 3 above. But the
method used to obtain the best values for a, b, and c was a
little ridiculous and time-consuming as it required putting
lots of values into an unsettled Excel spreadsheet over and
over to try and get the suitable R2 value, even though this
is probably the only way to do it precisely. Also, this model
can be used to extrapolate the PCB concentrations of fish
of ages not measured in the study, but that is about it.

Although the scientific results points made by this student

may be correct, the form of expression is not suitable
for a formal scientific report.

There are a number of ways in which this passage could

be made more objective, but first it is important to think
about whether to use a personal or impersonal style.

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Personal or impersonal style?

Should the student as technical writer use a personal or

impersonal style? Until quite recently, text books on
scientific writing recommended students to use an
impersonal style of writing rather than a personal style.

An impersonal style uses:

 the passive voice

 the third person rather than the first person ( it rather
than I or we)
 Things rather than people as subjects of sentences.

However, overuse of the passive voice may mean that the

writing is less precise, and it may lead to writing which is
more difficult to read, it is less natural than the active voice.

In some disciplines and sub-disciplines of Science it is now

fairly acceptable to use the active voice, personal pronouns
such as I and we, and to use people as subjects of
sentences.

Examples of active and passive sentences

Active: I observed the angle to be…

Passive: The angle was observed to be…
Active: The authors suggest…
Passive: It is suggested…
Active: We used a standard graphical representation to…
Passive: A standard graphical representation was used
to…

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Examples of the first and third person pronouns

First person: I found…

Third person: It was found that…
First person: I assumed that…
Third person: It was assumed that…

Examples of persons or things as subjects

Person as subject: I observed…

Thing as subject: Analysis of the raw data pointed to…

Person as subject: In this report I illustrate…

Thing as subject: This report discusses…

Write objectively

These results appear to be reasonable as the model fits

very well with the data points, as can be interpreted by the
R2 values of 0.33 shown in Table 1 above. However, the
method used to obtain the best values for d, e, and f was
quite time-consuming because it required putting many
values into an Excel spreadsheet many times to obtain the
lowest R2 value. While this is probably the only way to
obtain precise results, a further limitation is that this model
can be used only to extrapolate the PCB concentrations of
fish within age varieties measured in the study.

Have you noticed that the style of writing in scientific

journals differs from one disciplinary area to another?

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In this general overview it is important to seek advice from
the lecturer and tutor, to take note of the styles used in the
study guides, and the academic journals in the discipline.

The writing process

High-quality writing is challenging and requires practice.

Even people whose job is writing sometimes find good
writing is difficult. You will find the writing task simpler if you
are well-prepared, keep good records, and approach the
task in an organized way.

The following sections outline strategies to help student

with various writing tasks.

Planning and task analysis

Task Sub-tasks

 Plan how you will carry out the task: When is the
assignment due? Write the date in the diary.
 When will you complete the first draft and final draft?
Write these dates in the diary.

 Analyse the assignment task: This means break the

question or task into its parts. Ask yourself: how many
parts or actions are involved?
 Underline the question words (eg. discuss/ describe/
explain/ compare etc.) and make sure you understand
their specific meanings.

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 Analyse your audience. Think of your potential readers
as intelligent non-experts on the topic. What information
do you believe they need to know?
 Identify the materials you require to carry out the task -
theory, realistic information, statistics, case studies,
interviews, etc.
 Organize your thoughts by brainstorming, suggesting
ideas, and grouping them. Plan which ideas are more
relevant to the topic and which can be cut out? What
links are there between the ideas?. Make a rough plan
of the main headings

 Gather information for the task Start researching

the literature early to get an idea of the magnitude of the
topic.
 Review the material covered in lectures, workshops and
problems relevant to the idea (task).
 Collect any additional information or data required.
 Read carefully the material you have collected and
make careful notes.
 Keep records of literature reviewed.
 Make changes to the plan as you read the literature.

When you’re undertaking tertiary study there are often a lot

of assignments and writing to do, which can be frightening
at first. The most important thing to memorize is to start -
and start as soon as possible.

If you give yourself enough time to plan, do research, write

and revise the assignment you would not have to rush to

135
meet the deadline. Once you have started, you will also
have material down on paper or on screen that you can
improve on.

The steps below will help your assignments to become

achievable, interesting and even enjoyable.

 Step 1: Plan
 Step 2: Analyse the question
 Step 3: Draft an outline
 Step 4: Find information
 Step 5: Write
 Step 6: Edit and proofread

Step 1: Plan

Planning your assignment will help you get focused and

keep you on track.

 Check how much your project is worth and what

percentage of the final mark it is. This will help you
decide how much time to waste on it.
 Check the instructor marking schedule to see what he
will be looking for when he marks your work and how
the marks will be assigned. This will help you know what
to focus on.
 Think about what you need to do to finish your
assignment (for example, what research, drafts,
reference checking, reviewing and editing, etc). Break
these up into a list of tasks to do.

136
 Give each task a deadline, working backwards from the
project due date.

Step 2: Analyze the question

Before you can answer a question, you need to know what

it means. Read it slowly and cautiously, and try to
understand what is expected of you. Ask yourself:

 What is the question about? What is the topic?

 What does the question mean?
 What do I have to do?

To help you understand the question, try rewriting it using

your own words using the format below:

‘This assignment is about __________________ and I

have to_______________ ’

When you are analyzing the question:

 Look for words that tell you what to do (instructional

words). For example, analyze, compare, contrast, etc.
 Check the meaning of the words used.
 Look for topic words, which tell you what you have to
write about.
 Look for restricting words, which bound (limit) the topic
and make it more specific.
 When you find something about the project on a course
page or in a forum save a copy of it. If you save all the
information you gather about the project in one file you

137
 will have all the information in one place when you start
writing.

Step 3: Draft an outline

Drafting an outline will give you a structure to follow when it

comes to writing your assignment.

Types of Assignments

Essay outlines

Most of the assignments you will have to do are essays,

which generally follow the same basic structure:

 Introduction (+ 10% of the assignment) – This is where

you introduce the topic and the main points, and briefly
explain the purpose of the assignment and your
intended outcome or findings. It is a good idea to write
the introduction last, so that you know what to include.
 Discussion (+ 80% of the assignment) – This section is
divided into a number of paragraphs. Decide what points
you want to discuss and include a new paragraph for
each main point. In the outline try and include draft topic
sentences and a few ideas outlining what you want to
include in each section.

138
 Conclusion (+ 10% of the assignment) – Conclusion
briefly restates your main argument, evaluates your
ideas and summarizes your conclusion. It does not
introduce any new information.

Step 4: Find information

Before you start writing, you need to research your topic

and find relevant and reliable information. You will find
some in the course materials and recommended readings,
but you can also try:

 The college Library.

 your local Departmental public library.
 Talking to experts.
 Online sources.

Once you have found information, the next step will be to

evaluate it to ensure it is right for your assignment.

Step 5: Write

Once you've found the information you need it’s time to

bring it altogether and write your assignment (project).

Write your first draft

 Use your outline and fill in the gaps, writing your main
points for each section in the outline plan.
 Write freely, getting as much down as you can without
worrying about the wording being 100% right.

139
 You may find it easiest to start with the conclusion so
that you know which direction the writing is heading, or
the background.
 The introduction is often the hardest to write, so leave
that till last.
 Do not spend too much time trying to make this draft
perfect as it will change!

Fine tune
 Revise your first draft, and check that it makes sense
and includes everything it needs to.
 Fine tune the wording, and make sure your writing flows
well.
 Make sure you keep different copies of your drafts as
you may want to go back to them.
 Leave the writing for a day, read it, and fine tune again.
 build up your bibliography or reference list.

Step 6: Edit and proofread

You can improve writing by editing and proofreading, but

before you do take a time break. Even a short break helps
you to get some space from your work so that you can edit
your assignment with a fresh eye.

Look at the full-size picture

 Have you answered the questions you were set?
 Check your assignment against the marking schedule
as well as the questions.

140
 Is the structure correct?
 Have you included all relevant parts? For example, the
title page, introduction, conclusion, reference list?
 Is the content logically arranged?
 Does your assignment read well, with each section
flowing smoothly on to the next? A good way to check
this is to read it aloud.
 Have you used your own words and acknowledged all
your sources?
 Is your assignment well presented?

Check the details

 Have you used academic English (if required)?
 Check the grammar, punctuation, words, and spelling.
 Check your referencing - have you referenced all work
that is not your own? Is your referencing list correct?
 Are your pages numbered?
 Have you included your name, student ID, the
assignment details and the date on each page?

Printing, Editing and proofreading

Before you submit your assignment, print it out and check it

one last time. It’s often easier to spot errors in print than on
screen. Once you’re happy, submit your assignment.

Submitting your assignment

For most of our courses, you can submit your assignments

online from your course pages. This page has information
on how you can submit your assignments online.
141
Submitting your assignment online

You can submit most of your assignments online from your

course pages. This will help ensure they don’t get lost.

How to reference

When you get your marked assignment back, keep it for

reference for future courses you may study.

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Chapter 10

The literature review

Assignment can be a scientific essay, project or report
and the student is expected to show that he is aware of the
relevant research on the area of the topic. The literature
review will form an important part of the assignment. In
some courses you may be asked to write a stand-alone
literature review as the whole assignment.

Literature reviews are significant to scientists because

 scientific knowledge is not static

 scientific knowledge changes as scientists perform their
research, replicate the research of other scientists, and
report their findings
 it is important to understand how knowledge in a topic
in particular discipline is changing
 it is very important to be knowledgeable about the
controversies in the discipline.

A literature review will give both the writer and the reader:

 a clear account of the topic or problem

 a clear appearance of the collection of research on the
topic
143
 an evaluation of the available research
 an indication and a suggestion of what further research
is necessary.

It is not enough to summarize the research literature. You

need to show understanding the relevance and significance
of the different publications, and how they relate to each
other.

What Is a Literature Review?

A literature review is critical, investigative and analytical

summary and a mixture of the current knowledge of a
subject. It should evaluate and relate different theories,
results, and so on, rather than summarizing them
independently. It should also have a focus or a theme to
arrange the review. It does not have to be a whole account
of things published on the topic. It should discuss the
additional significant academic published literature which is
significant for that center of interest topic.

The organization of the review depends on the type, the

nature and purpose of the review, in addition to on the
precise field or topic being reviewed. In general, it is a
relatively concise but careful exploration of past and
current work on the topic. Literature reviews are usually
organized as: different theoretical advances,
methodologies, and specific issues or ideas concerned in
the topic— rather than a sequential listing of previous work.

144
The organization of the review makes it easier to examine
complementary perspectives, approaches, methodologies,
results, findings, etc., and to examine the strengths and
weaknesses of the review topic, and point out any opening
in previous research. This is the spirit (heart) of what a
literature review is all about.

A literature review may present new explanations,

theoretical approaches, or additional new ideas. If the
literature review is intended to be part of a research
suggestion or report, it should make obvious the
relationship of the investigation to others work. Whatever
else it does, it must provide a significant overview of the
current situation of research efforts.

Questions the literature review should answer:

1. What do we already know about the topic?

2. What are the current theories related to the topic?
3. What are the associations between the different
theories/concepts in this area?
4. What shortages exist in the considerations of current
research projects?
5. What needs subjects need further examination because
of insufficient evidences?
6. How will the review work build on the work of others (or
deviate from it) in order to provide adequate support to
address one or more of these insufficiencies
(deviations)?

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Writing the literature review

To write a literature review, follow the following steps:

Analyze the topic and specify what are exactly you

o
being asked to do?
o Locate suitable published research on the topic,
and be very careful about using material you have
found on the Internet.
2. Read carefully and understand the research you
have located
3. Summarize the associated (related) research

4. Analyze the associated research

 What method/s have been used (implemented)?
 What findings (results) have been reported?
 What common strands (connections) are there?
 What variations are there?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the
previous research?
 How convincing (persuasive) is the research?
 What additional research may be needed to improve
the published topic results?
5. Decide on an organization for the topic analysis. For
example:
 General points to specific
 Chronological (in order) (oldest to most recent)
 Methodological
 Other

6. Write your first draft

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Types of Literature Reviews
There are different types of literature reviews and for different
purposes. The most common types are:

Stand-Alone Literature Review Articles

 These provide a review and analysis of the present

state of research on a specific topic. The objective is to
review, evaluate and compare previous research on a
topic to provide an analysis of what is currently known
and to disclose controversies, weaknesses, and gaps in
current work and pointing to directions and roads for
future research.
 Writing a stand-alone review can be an effective way to
get a good quality knowledge on a specific topic and to
develop ideas and directions for the research. For
example, the foundation of the research project can be
contrasting theoretical approaches or contradictory
interpretations of results. Finding indications supporting
one interpretation vs. another, or suggesting another
interpretation that overcomes the restrictions and
limitations?
 Examples published in verities of academic journals.
There is a well known journal series called Annual
Reviews: http://www.annualreviews.org/ specifically
dedicated to literature review articles.

 most excellent known literature review journal for

computer science and computing disciplines is named
Computing Reviews: http://reviews.com/

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Research Proposal
 This could be a proposal for a PhD dissertation, an MSc
or a senior thesis, or a class course project. It could
also be a report for submission for a funding.
 The literature review article, by pointing out and
suggesting the current issues and answering questions
about a topic, is a vital part of indicating how the
suggestion for research will contribute to the field, and
hopefully influence the thesis committee to allow the
researcher to follow the topic of concern or convince a
scholarship funding agency to support for the research
works.

The Organization Review Report

 When finishing the study and writing the researcher

thesis or paper to present his results, it should include a
literature review to provide the context and background
in which the work is a contribution and accumulation.
The report review should show how the work relates to
work done by others', in addition to detailing the
methods, the results, etc. of the research.
 This kind of literature review is frequently a revision of
the review for a study proposal, which may be a study of
a stand-alone review. The revision should be a
practically extensive revision, with improved knowledge
and experience in the topic. As the researcher
proceeds, his understanding of the topic will increase.
So he will be in a better place to evaluate, analyze and
critique the literature he consulted. Also, his focus will
vary as he proceeds in the research. Some areas of the
literature the researcher firstly reviewed will be
insignificant or unrelated for his final research and he
will need to explore other areas more comprehensively.
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Structure of Literature Reviews
These are some examples of how literature reviews should
look. They may vary in how they are organized, but it is a
common general structure is to have sections such as:

Abstract - Concise summary of the article contents.

Introduction - An explanation of the purpose of the study;

a statement of the research question(s) the researcher
intend to address.

Literature review - A significant assessment of the

previous work done so far on this topic— and show how
the present study relates to what has already been done

Methods - How the study was implemented and carried

out (e.g. instruments or equipment, procedures, methods to
collect and analyze data)

Results - What was found in the path of the study?

Discussion - What do the results or outcome signify?

Conclusion - State the conclusions and implications of the

results; discuss how it relates to the work previously
reviewed in the literature review; also point to directions for
further work in the area

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The Literature.
The "literature" that is reviewed should be written by
scientists and researchers for scientists and researchers.
They might contain any of the following:

 Academic, scholarly journal articles (i.e., peer-

reviewed by experts in the topic)
 Books in the field
 Related Conference Proceedings
 MSc. and PhD Theses
 Patents
 Standards recommended by international
organizations in the field.
 Technical Reports published by other researchers
 Websites and other Internet Resources

"Information Cycle", how literature is produced

The diagram below is an outline and short image of how
academic literature is formed, reviewed and used.
Research does not have a start or a finish. Researchers
assemble upon work that has already been done in order
to put in to it, provides more resources for other
researchers to develop on them..

The researchers study the literature of the field to observe

what issues, questions, and problems are current, and then
devise a plan to deal with one or more of those issues.
Then they build a more focused review of the literature,
which they use to develop their research proposal. After
carrying out their research, they present their results (such
as published articles and/or presentation at conferences) to

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other scientists in the field attending the conference. So
they put in to the general subject reading ("the literature").

There are three categories of types of literature sources:

primary, secondary, and tertiary. Let us clarify these
categories in more detail.

 Primary Sources

Primary sources are what you perform your research work

on (experiments). A primary source can be almost
whatever thing, depending on the subject and purpose of
the research.

A few examples of what can considered as primary

sources would be:

o Conference Proceedings -

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 o Articles of Original Research – Published in peer-
reviewed journals
o Lab Reports - Records of the results of experiments
o Field Notes, Record of measurements, etc. -
Records/reports of observations of the natural world
(such as electrons, animals, natural crises,
earthquakes, etc).
o Dissertations
o Patents
o Internet - Websites that publish the author's findings
or research;

 Secondary Sources

Books, articles, reviews, and other writings by scientists

and researchers reporting their work to others. They may
be reporting and espousing the results of their own primary
research or assess critically the work of others. These
sources are usually the focus and the major sources for a
literature review.

 Tertiary

These include indexes, textbooks, conferences

proceedings, encyclopedias, and other reference sources.
Generally, there are two types of tertiary reference
sources:

o Summaries/Introductions- Dictionaries, textbooks,

Encyclopedias, yearbooks, conferences proceedings,
and other sources that provide an introduction or
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 summary “state of the art” of the research in the topic
covered. They are an efficient means to quickly build a
general outline for understanding a field.

o Databases/Indexes - Provide records of primary and

secondary sources of more extensive organized
information. They are an exceptional way of finding
books, articles, conference proceedings and other
publications in which scientists report the results of their
research.

Working backwards
Usually, the research process for a literature review will
work toward the back:

1. Tertiary - Start by finding background information on

the topic by consulting reference sources for
introductions and review. Locate bibliographies or
citations of secondary and primary sources.
2. Secondary - Find books, articles, and other sources
providing more general and thorough analysis of the
topic. Ensure to see what other researchers have to say
about the topic. Discover what has been done and
where there is a need for additional research. Find out
appropriate methodologies for working that research.

3. Primary - Currently you have a solid background

knowledge of the topic and a road map for your own
research, you are in a better position to understand,
interpret, and analyze the primary source of information.
Find primary sources proof to support or disprove what
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 other scientists have presented about the topic. Or
imagine an interpretation of your own and locate for
additional primary sources. Or make more original data
to confirm or disprove your thesis results. When you
present your conclusions, you will have formed an
additional secondary source to aid others in their
research.

Types of Published Literature

The following actions are used to get a better
understanding of how scientists publish and report the
results of their research.

Peer Review - When a scientist submits an article to an

academic journal or a book document to a publisher, the
editors or publishers send copies to other scientists and
experts in the field and ask them to review it.

The reviewers check to make sure the author has used

methodologies suitable to the topic, that they have used
those methodologies appropriately, taken other relevant
work into account, and sufficiently supported the
conclusions, as well as considered the significance and
importance to the area of specialization. The submission
article may be rejected or sent back for revisions before
being accepted for publication.

Peer review provides a “stamp of approval” saying that

experts in the field have judged this to be a worthy
contribution to the discussion of the academic field.

Informal Sharing – Scientists discuss their current

projects to let others know what they are up to or to give or
receive assistance with their work. Conferences and online
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conversation meetings, forum (blogs, wikis, etc.) are
common ways for these discussions. Progressively, more
scientists are using personal websites to present their
work.

Conference Presentations - Many organizations sponsor

conferences at which scientists read, present papers, or
display at poster sessions to present the results of their
research. To be accepted to give a presentation, scientists
submit a proposal which is reviewed by those scientists
sponsoring the conference. Some international databases
list the conference proceedings along with the authors and
the contact information.

Journals - Articles in journals contain specific analyses of

particular parts of a topic. Since these can be written and
published more rapidly than books, academic libraries
subscribe to many journals, the contents are indexed in
databases and elsewhere so researchers can easily find
them.

Books - Books are written by famous expertise in the field,

and take a longer time to get from research to publication.
But they can cover a broader range of topics in the same
field, or cover a topic more analytically and/or methodically
than articles or conference presentations.

Dissertations/Theses - Graduate students earning

advanced degrees typically write a considerable part of
original work and present the final results and conclusions
in the form of a thesis or dissertation. Usually, the
department at the college where the work was done has
copies of the dissertation.

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Websites –Look for the scientists in your particular field of
research personal websites to see if you can find additional
sources that you haven’t found elsewhere.

Reference Sources – Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and

other reference sources provide introductions or
summaries of the current work in a field or on a topic.
These are usually written by a scientist and/or publisher
serving as an editor (is an expert himself) who call for
submissions for articles from experts and researchers on
the topics covered.

Writing the Literature Review

Keep these tips in mind when you are writing the literature
review:

 Ask yourself what is the purpose for the literature

review and make sure that the review specifically
addresses the purpose(s).

 Write while you are reading, modify as you read further,

and start writing as soon as you begin reading.

 You will need to rearrange, revise and correct it all later.

 Making drafts and comments to work with will make

writing the complete review easier, as you would not
have to rely on memory, or have to continue thumbing
back through all the pages of the paper.

 The first draft is usually written for you, so you can

inform yourself what are your decision. Afterward you

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 can rewrite the literature for others to tell them what you
think.

General Steps for Writing a Literature Review

Here are general 5 steps for writing the literature review.

1. Step One: Annotated (with notes) Bibliography. As

you start reading articles, books, etc., related to the
literature topic, write a concise important outline of each.
After going through the complete reading list, an
abstract or annotation of each source you read will be
available for you. Later on, annotations are expected to
include more references to other works since you will
have the preceding readings to compare. At this point
the goal is to get precise critical summaries of each
individual work.

2. Step Two: Thematic Organization. Find the common

themes in the references you read and organize them
into categories (groups). In general, each work in your
review articles can fit into sub-theme of the main theme
or into one category. Sometimes a work can fit into
more than one sub-theme. Write some short paragraphs
outlining your categories, how in general works in each
category related to each other, and how the categories
are relate to each other and to the overall theme of the
conference.

3. Step Three: Additional (extra) Reading. Based on

the knowledge you have gained while reading; now you
should have an improved understanding of the topic and
of the literature related to it. You have known a number
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 of researchers who are significant and experts to the
field or methodologies you were not aware of. The
writer can look for more literature written by those
authors, on those methodologies, etc .. and you may be
able to set away some less relevant areas or articles
which you pursued initially. Incorporate the new
readings into the literature review draft. Rearrange
themes and read more as suitable.

4. Step Four: Write Individual Sections. For each

section (theme), use your annotations to write a section
which discusses the articles relevant to that theme.
Center the writing on the theme of that section, showing
how the articles relate to each other and to the theme,
instead of focusing the writing on each individual article.
Use the articles as proof to support your assessment of
the theme rather than using the theme as an angle to
discuss each article individually.

5. Step Five: Integrate Sections. Now that you have the

prepared thematic sections, join them together with an
introduction, conclusion, and some additions/ revisions
in the sections to show how they relate to each other
and to the overall theme.

Specific Points to Include

More exclusively, there are some points to deal with when
writing about works you are reviewing. In addressing a
paper or an argument or theory, you need to assess it
(obviously understand and state the claim) and analyze it
(evaluate its dependability, reliability, usefulness, validity).
Look for the next points as you assess and analyze papers,
arguments, etc. You do not need to state them all clearly,
but maintain them in mind as you write your review:
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 Be specific and be succinct (to the point). Briefly
state explicit (specific) findings listed in the article,
specific methodologies used in the study, or other
significant points. Literature reviews are not the place
(location) for long quotes or in detail analysis of each
point.

 Be selective. In the literature review writing, you are

trying to boil down (focus) a lot of information into a
small space. Presently write about the most important
points in each work you review which is related to the
literature.
 Is it recent article? During the literature review writing,
the writer needs to note how old is the article under
study?. And have its claims, evidence, or arguments
been out of date by more recent work?. If it is not
recent, is it important for past background?

 What precise arguments (clams) are expressed ?

Are they declared (or stated) clearly?
 The support given for those claims.

o The writer must consider: what evidence and what

type (experimental, theoretical, statistical, anecdotal
(or subjective, unrealizable), etc) is offered? Is the
evidence significant? Adequate?
o What arguments and/or guidance are given? What
hypothesis are made and are they acceptable?

 What is the source of the evidence or other claim?

Is it from the author's own experiments, surveys, etc? Is
it official (administration documents)? And how
trustworthy are the resources?
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 Does the author take into account different or
contradicting evidences and disputes? How does the
author address disagreements (divergence) with other
researchers?
 What explicit conclusions are drawn? Are they
warranted (defensible) by the evidence?

 How does this article, experimental, theoretical,

statistical argument, etc, relate to other work?

These are only some of the points that should be

addressed when writing about a particular work. They are
not an outline of how to organize the literature writing. The
overall theme and categories (groups) within that theme
should reflected on arranging your writing and the above
mentioned points should be incorporated into that
categorization (arrangement).

Getting started
To do a full literature search based on topics relating to
your thesis (subject) theme, search on the topic keywords.
The final result of your literature key words search should
be roughly 15-20 research papers (equivalent to just about
300-400 pages.) You should only select and include papers
that are essential to your field (theme, or topic) of research
in the literature study report. That is, you need to discard all
papers that are not relevant to the current research subject
as part of the searching process. During the searching
process, it is expect to read the abstracts of at least 3-4
times as many papers (articles) as you will include in the
final literature review report. Schedule at least 20 hours to
160
do the literature search and early skimming of the papers
for relevance. The literature study report is expected to
contain a careful brief review for each of the selected
papers; that is equivalent to, having to review roughly 15-
20 research papers.

How to read quickly (skim) a research paper

When you are going to locate relevant nominee papers for

the literature study you will look through a large quantity of
articles. Not all the papers are significant, so how do you
rapidly read an article (a paper) to decide whether it is
relevant? The following are some steps that will guide you
to carry on:

 Read the title (topic). (What is the candidate paper

about?)
 Read the abstract. (Which should give you a concise
overview of the candidate paper?)
 Read the introduction section. (Looking for
motivations, its relation to work done by others, and a
more in depth overview.)
 Then look at the remaining structure of the paper. (What
do the remaining sections address? What is the
common theme the relates them?, How do they fit
(match) together?)
 Read the previous research section. What is novel or
special about this work? How does this work relate to
the topic of your thesis?
 Read the conclusion section. (What be their results, do
the results novel?)
 Then you may read the body of the paper, and you may
skip over all the equations the first time through.

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 As soon as you may find the paper unrelated to your
research subject, simply pass over the rest of the steps
and continue with the next paper in your list of papers.
 The references: Sometimes important parts of the work
may be contained in the list of references, particularly in
conference workshop, papers as the allowed space is
contracted. The references are very important when you
are researching a topic—they point out to you to the
related research plus the research upon which the
current (the candidate) paper builds upon.

Reviewing a candidate research paper

When you have to review the work of others as piece of the

literature study you will have to address the same elements
as you do when writing an abstract about your personal
work. Make the paper authors tell you what god
researchers are expected to inform their readers? You can
fill out a table with the details like the following form for
each candidate/selected paper that is part of your literature
study.

Title of the paper

Name(s) of author What the names of the authors tell? (about
/ authors of the specialization, reputation, organization)?
candidate paper
What is the What is the motivation of the candidate
inspiration research work? Is there a disaster in the
(motivations) for research field that the candidate paper attempts
working the to find a solution (resolve)? Is the research work
research. alleged is an effort to overcome the weak points of
significance or presented approaches? Is the existing research
benefits! prototype challenged? In short, what is the role
of the paper in the literature review?

162
The research What is the argument (dispute) of the candidate
problem / objective paper?
Is this research in What is original in this candidate paper? What
the candidate novel question is asked? What is a new kind of
paper original? the research problem, a new methodology for
solving the problems, a new algorithm, and new
kind of software tools or systems? What is new
in the experimental method? Is there any
original formalism or notation, a novel proof
technique? An original evidence to prove or
disprove a previously published argues? Does it
deal with a new research area? In short, what is
unique about this paper?
The adopted What have they done to explore/locate a
research approach solution to the research problem? What is the
/ methodology. methodology adopted to validate the claims?
What are user studies? The theorems, Data
analysis used? What are Simulations?
Benchmarks? The descriptions of experiments
which are conducted? Case studies?
Examples? In short, what makes the claims
scientific (technical) (as opposed to being
simple views)?
Reported What is the outcome/results of the research?
outcomes, results / What did they discover, find or create?
products / effects.
What are the What do they claim or argue to have achieved?
additions/ Do them summaries their contributions in a
contributions/ understandable and concise fashion!
conclusions?
Your evaluation of 1. Are the results/contributions significant? Are
the published the authors solving simulated problems?
results with Does the results enable practical
respect to the applications, expand understanding, or
adopted research explore new design gap?
objective. 2. Are the contributions to the topic is
significant? Are the authors simply
replicating the state of the art? Are there real
surprises? Are the authors familiar of the
relation of their work to existing literature? Is
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 the paper addressing a recognized open
problem?
3. Are the claims applicable? Have the claims
been accomplished? Has the proposed
theorem been verified? Are there any
comments or errors in proofs? Is there any
difficulty in experimental setup? confusing
factors? Simulated, unrealistic, or artificial
benchmarks? Methodological mistakes? Do
the numbers count? Are the generalizations
valid? Are the claims modest enough? Does
the paper include support for the claims?

Your conclusion What have we find out from the paper? Is it a

on the relevance key paper? Do the reported outcomes
of this research contribute considerably to research field? Shall
with respect to the the typical practice of the field be changed as a
field in general. consequence of the reported findings? Is the
results are limited or generalizable? Can the
result be applied to other parts of the field? In
short, what are the paper outcomes one can be
taught from the adopted paper?
Your conclusion How does this work related to the research we
on the relevance are doing? Are there common fundamentals?
of this research Are they dealing with the same/similar research
with respect to problem? Can the writer use their analysis/
your own results to solve his report problem, or fraction
research. of it? Can the writer improve on their method?
Do their ideas based on other principles or have
other purposes or extensions that the authors
might not have think on?

How to read and review a research paper?

Review a research paper involves careful reading and
evaluation. That is, when reading a research paper, the
goal is to understand the scientific contributions the authors
164
of the paper are making. This task may require examining/
exploring the paper several times. The writing is expected
to take several hours to carefully read a paper.

In the following there is some primary guiding principle for

how to read a research paper carefully:

Read critically: Reading a research paper is a serious

process. It should not assume that the authors are always
correct, the reader has to be doubtful. Decisive reading
involves asking suitable questions. Are the authors solving
the precise problem? Are there other simple solutions the
authors do not appear to have thought of? The limitations
of the presented solution by the paper (including limitations
the authors might not have taken into consideration or
clearly acknowledged)? Are the assumptions the authors
make logical? Is the common sense of the paper obvious
and justifiable, given the assumptions, or is there a defect
in the way of thinking?

If the authors present data, figures, or statistics, did they

gather the precise data to validate their argument, and did
they appear to collect it in the accurate manner? Did they
interpret the data, figures, or statistics in a reasonable
manner? Would additional data be more convincing?

Read creatively: Reading creatively involves harder and

additional constructive thinking. What are the good ideas
presented in this adopted paper? Do the authors dealt with
these ideas analyticaly, and/or practically. Do these ideas
have other applications or extensions that the authors
might not have thought of? Can the ideas be generalized
further? Are there possible advances that might do
important analytical/practical differences? If this paper is to

165
be used as a starting idea for doing new research, what
would be the next step you would do?

Make notes as you read the paper: Many people make

notes on the margins of their copies of papers, others write
the notes on a separate sheet. You can use whatever style
you favor. If you have notes, questions or criticisms,
immediately, write them down so you do not forget them.
Underline key points the authors make, and mark the data
that is important or that might appear questionable. Such
activities, efforts help the first time you read a paper and
give great dividends when you have to re-read the paper
after a period of time.

After the first reading the whole paper, try to

summarize the paper in one or two sentences. All good
research papers try to provide an answer a specific
question, If you can briefly describe a paper, you have
most likely identified the question the authors begin with
and the idea/answer they provided. Once you have
focused on the main idea, then can return back and outline
the paper to get insight into more specific aspects. If
summarizing the paper in one or two sentences is easy
and possible, go back and try to deepen the outline by brief
writing a number of the most important subpoints of the
main idea.

If possible, compare the adopted paper to other

works. Shortening the paper is one way to determine the
technical contribution of a paper. To really measure the
scientific value, the paper must compare to other works in
the field. Are the ideas really novel, or have they appeared
before? Scientific contributions can take on many forms,
some papers offer new and novel ideas; others provide

166
practical implementation of ideas and show how they work;
others connect previous ideas together and unite them
under a new framework. Knowing other work in the area
can help you to widen your knowledge and to determine
which kind of contribution a paper is in fact making.

Sooner or later, you may face something that you don’t

understand. What can you do? You should try to discover
what it is and how it is being used, its connection to the
field, (even supposing you still don’t understand it). For
further reading, and a way to understand, see the
references!

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Chapter 11

Making Presentation

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well

enough
Albert Einstein

As part of an extended interview/selection centre you may

be asked to give a short presentation. The purpose is not
to test your subject knowledge, but to see how well you can
speak in public. Typically you will be asked to talk for few
minutes, and probably will be asked to take 20 or 30
minutes beforehand to prepare.

BASIC TIPS

 Dress smartly: don't let your appearance distract from

what you are saying.
 Smile. Don't hunch up and shuffle your feet. Have an
upright posture. Try to appear confident and
enthusiastic.
 Say hello and smile when you greet the audience:
your audience will probably look at you and smile back:
an instinctive reaction.

168
 Speak clearly, firmly and confidently as this makes you
sound in control. Don't speak too quickly: you are likely
to speed up and raise the pitch of your voice when
nervous. Give the audience time to absorb each point.
Don't talk in a monotone the whole time. Lift your head
up and address your words to someone near the back of
audience. If you think people at the back can't hear, ask
them.
 Use silence to emphasize points. Before you make a
key point pause: this tells the audience that something
important is coming. It's also the hallmark of a confident
speaker as only these are happy with silences. Nervous
speakers tend to gabble on trying to fill every little gap.
 Keep within the allotted time for your talk.
 Eye contact is crucial to holding the attention of
your audience. Look at everyone in the audience from
time to time, not just at your notes or at the PowerPoint
slides. Try to involve everyone, not just those directly in
front of you.
 Walk around a little and gesture with your
hands. Bad presenters keep their hands on the podium
or in their pockets! Don't stand in one place glued to the
spot hiding behind the podium! Good presenters will
walk from side to side and look at different parts of the
audience.
 You could try to involve your audience by asking them
a question.
 Don't read out your talk, as this sounds boring and
stilted, but refer to brief notes jotted down on small
(postcard sized) pieces of card. Don't look at your
169
 notes too much as this suggests insecurity and will
prevent you making eye contact with the audience.
 It’s OK to use humor, in moderation, but better to use
anecdotes than to rattle off a string of jokes.
 Take along a wristwatch to help you keep track of time
– the assessor may cut you off as soon as you have
used the time allocated, whether or not you have
finished.
 It can be very helpful to practice at home in front of a
mirror. You can also record the presentation and play it
back to yourself. Time how long your talk takes. Run
through the talk a few times with a friend.
 It's normal to be a little nervous. This is a good thing
as it will make you more energized. Many people have a
fear of speaking in public. Practicing will make sure that
you are not too anxious. Take a few deep slow breaths
before your talk starts and make a conscious effort to
speak slowly and clearly. If you make a mistake, don't
apologize too much, just briefly acknowledge the
mistake and continue on.
 Build variety into the talk and break it up into sections:
apparently, the average person has a three minute
attention span!

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How can you make a good presentation even
more effective?
This page draws on published advice from professional
presenters around the world, which will help to take your
presentations from merely ‘good’ to ‘great’.

By bringing together advice from a wide range of people,

the aim is to cover a whole range of areas.

Whether you are an experienced presenter, or just starting

out, there should be ideas here to help you to improve.

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1. Show your Passion and Connect with your Audience
It’s hard to be relaxed and be yourself when you’re
nervous. The great presenters say that the most important
thing is to connect with the audience, and the best way to
do that is to let the infatuation for the subject shine through.
Be honest with the audience about what is important to you
and why it matters.
Be passionate and honest, the audience will react.

2. Focus on your Audience’s Needs

The presentation needs to be built around what the
audience are going to get out of the presentation.
Bear in mind what the audience needs and wants to know,
not what you can say to them.
While giving the presentation, remain focused on the
audience’s response, and respond to that.
Make it easy for the audience to understand and respond.

3. Keep it Simple: Concentrate on your Core Message

Keep in mind the question:
What is the key message for the audience to take away?
Communicate that key message very briefly.
Some experts recommend a 30-second 'summary’.
Keep your core message focused and short.

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If what you are planning to say does not contribute to that
core message, do not say it.

4. Smile and Make Eye Contact with your Audience

These help the audience to connect with you and your
subject. It also helps you to feel less nervous, because you
are talking to individuals, not to a large number of unknown
people.
5. Start Strongly
The beginning of your presentation is crucial. You need to
grasp the audience’s attention and to hold it.
Try a story (see tip 7 below), or an attention-grabbing (but
useful) image on a slide.

6. Remember the 10-20-30 Rule for Slideshows

An expert suggests that slideshows should:

 Contain no more than 10 slides;

 Last no more than 20 minutes; and
 Use a font size of no less than 30 point.

This last is particularly important as it stops you trying to

put too much information on any one slide.
A good set of slides should be no use without the
presenter, and they should certainly contain less, rather
than more, information, expressed simply.

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If you need to provide more information, create a tailored
handout and give it out after the presentation.

7. Tell Stories
Human beings are programmed to respond to stories. If
you can use stories in your presentation, your audience are
more likely to engage and to remember your points
afterwards. It is a good idea to start with a story, but there
is a wider point too: you need your presentation to act like
a story. Think about what story you are trying to tell your
audience, and create your presentation to tell it.

8. Use your Voice Effectively

The spoken word is actually an inefficient means of
communication, because it uses only one of the audience’s
five senses. That’s why presenters tend to use visual aids,
too. But you can help to make the spoken word better by
using your voice effectively. Varying the speed at which
you talk, and emphasizing changes in pitch and tone all
help to make your voice more interesting and hold your
audience’s attention.

9. Use your Body Too

It has been estimated that more than three quarters of
communication is non-verbal.

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That means that as well as your tone of voice, the body
language is crucial to getting the message across. Avoid
includes crossed arms, hands held behind your back or in
your pockets, and pacing the stage.
Make your motions open and confident, move naturally
around the stage, and among the audience too, if possible.

10. Relax, Breathe and Enjoy

If you find presenting difficult, it can be hard to be calm and
relaxed about doing it.
Slow your breathing down, and make sure that you are
breathing fully. Make sure that you continue to pause for
breath occasionally during your presentation too.
If you can bring yourself to lighten up, you will almost
certainly present better. If you can in fact start to enjoy
yourself, your audience will respond to that, and engage
better. Your presentations will improve exponentially, and
so will your confidence. It’s well worth a try.

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Chapter 12

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's work,
ideas, or creations as your own, without acknowledging
where those ideas came from. In other words - you take
credit for someone else's work.

In academic writing, this is the same as cheating on an

exam.

This section explains in detail:

 What is plagiarism?
 How to avoid plagiarism
 Monash University policy

What is plagiarism?

Specifically, plagiarism is:

 copying phrases and passages word-for-word without

quotation marks and without a reference to the
author; this includes but is not limited to books,

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 journals, reports, theses, websites, conference
papers and course notes
 paraphrasing an author's work and presenting it
without a reference; this includes but is not limited to
sentences, paragraphs, ideas and themes
 copying any part of another students' work
 submitting items of assessment that are written in
conjunction with other students (without prior
permission of the relevant staff member)
 submitting a piece of work has already been
submitted for assessment in another course
 presenting other people's designs and images as
your own work
 submitting work as your own that someone else has
done for you.
If you have used someone else's work without
acknowledging your source, you have plagiarised.

How to avoid plagiarism

Plagiarism can sometimes be the result of poor note taking,

or paraphrasing without properly citing the reference. You
can avoid plagiarism by:

 citing your references

 referencing correctly
 recording direct quotes and paraphrases correctly
when note taking.
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Quotes

When you use the exact words, ideas or images of another

person, you are quoting the author. If you do not use
quotation marks around the original author's direct words
and cite the reference, you are plagiarizing.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is when you take someone else's concepts

and put them into your own words without changing the
original meaning. Even though you are not using the same
words you still need to state where the concepts came
from.

Note taking

Poor note taking can lead to plagiarism. You should always

take care to:

 record all reference information correctly

 use quotation marks exactly as in the original
 paraphrase correctly
 clearly distinguish your own ideas from the ideas of
other authors and researchers.
All plagiarism is viewed seriously by the University
and can incur penalties.

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