Precise information in a few words

It is almost certain that a majority of editors read the first lines of a piece of writing in order to decide whether it will be worthy to publish it or not. As a consequence, the introduction of any kind of written work should be appealing enough to call readers’ attention. In the case of academic writings, research articles (RA), for instance, the writers’ tool to attract audience’s attention lies in the abstract. Pintos and Crimi (2010) point out that “abstracts tend to be reading guidelines for users to choose between one RA or another” (p. 12).

In the view of some experts, abstracts are clear, concise and neat summaries that contain the main points dealt with by the researchers. Because of their function, i.e. to transmit as much information as possible in a brief way, abstracts are written after the whole paper has been finished. Depending on the aim of the abstracts, they are classified by Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (1994) into informative and indicative. The former furnishes the main findings and the latter refers to the kind of research that has been done.

As regards abstracts layout, they can be classified into unstructured and structured ones. In the first category, the abstract is organized in one unbroken paragraph of no more than 150 words. Whereas in the second category, the abstract contains bolded or italicized headings that identify the main sections in the research report. Despite of the fact that the organizational format is different, both of them follow the Introduction-Method-Result-And-Discussion (IMRAD) formula. This means that the information should be developed in the same order they appear in the paper.

Most research articles found in medical journals contain structured abstracts. The three ones belonging to The British Medical Journal (Martinez and et. al, 2010; Wijeysundera and et.al, 2010; Jorgensen and et.al, 2010) are organized under bolded headings. All of them tend to contain precise information in few full sentences. The headings which predominate in the three abstracts are: Objective; Design; Setting; Participants; Results and Conclusions. Unlike the abstracts mentioned above, the abstract of the article found in The New England Journal of Medicine (Beckett and et.al, 2010) includes fewer headings. There are only four: Background; Methods; Results and Conclusions.

However, the four abstracts taken for the analysis and comparison can be placed in the informative category established by Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (1994). All of them are heavy on data; look to the past and describe what the researchers did. As far as linguistic features are concerned, the four abstracts of the medicine research articles respond to what the authors describe as linguistic specifications. Full sentences and past tense are used. The use of negatives is found in the Conclusions where writers refute the hypothesis they have tested through the methods applied. In these types of research articles, the use of jargon is inevitable. Names of drugs and illnesses are frequently used throughout the abstracts. With the exception of Becket’s and et.al (2010) abstract, the other three contain one or two impersonal passive constructions.

Regarding tense usage, the experts suggest to write conclusions in present. In the samples analyzed, just in two of them present tense is used. The other two are written in past. Nevertheless, the four abstracts have opening sentences written in present and present perfect to show that the studies are of utmost importance. All of them also have simple past sentences to describe methods and results. In terms of approach to writing, there are two different viewpoints. On the one hand, Hubbuch (1996) suggests that writers should summarize in one sentence each part of a research report in order to produce one, tight paragraph. On the other hand, Swales and Feak (1994) claim that there are two approaches to writing: the result-driven approach and the RP (Research Paper) summary approach.

The four abstracts contain few sentences under headings of each part of the research paper and for that reason they can be characterized as being written with a RP summary approach. As Swales and Feak (1994) assert, it offers "one - or two - sentence sypnoses of each of the four sections" (pp.210-211, as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p.14). Nevertheless, their focuses on the research findings make them suitable for the result-driven approach category as well.
In the experts' words, it "concentrates on the research findings and what might be concluded from them" (pp.210-211, as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p. 14).

All in all, clearness, precision and a good organization of the information contribute to make abstracts a useful instrument to attract readers. Depending on the objective, this type of research article summary may be informative or indicative. Structured or unstructured formats will present the information as a whole paragraph or main sentences under headings that coincide with each section of the paper report and they will also show the approach to writing. A result-driven approach will emphasize the results display or a research paper summary approach that will present the main points of the work done. The abstracts of the medicine research articles analyzed are informative, structured and follow both approaches to writing.

References

Beckett, N. S. & et. al (2010). Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older. The New England Journal of Medicine. 358-18. Retrieved on April 2, 2010 from http http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0801369

Jørgensen, K. J.; Zahl, P. & Gøtzsche, P. C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in organized mammography screening in Denmark: comparative study. The British Medical Journal. 340; c1241. Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/mar23_1/c1241

Martinez, C.; LAssimes, T.; Mines, D.; Dell’Aniello, S. & Suissa, S. (2010). Use of venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death: a nested case-control study. The British Medical Journal. 340; c249. Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2817047/

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 4: Research articles: Abstracts. Handout for Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés. Buenos Aires: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved May 2, 2010 fromhttp://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4693

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Wijeysundera, D. N.; Beattie, W. S.; Elliot, R.F.; Austin, P.C.; Hux, J.E. & Laupacis, A. (2010). Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery: population based cohort study. The British Medical Journal. 340; b5526. Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/340/jan28_3/b5526

Sharing results

After a scientist or an education professional does some research on a specific topic, the results obtained or the answers they get are expected to be shared with the community. Not only the presentation of the results per se is important but also the analysis they pose. Analyzing, comparing, inferring and concluding are tasks the researchers need to perform in order to produce useful knowledge.

Research Articles (RA) are the written means by which researchers make their work public. A special layout and format have been designed on purpose. The information will be transmitted following certain organization so that readers can appreciate the work done and understand the content involved. Experts agree that the last steps carried out in a research are reported in different sections within a RA.

Pintos and Crimi (2010), express that “[d]epending on the kind of research, the results section may be isolated from the discussed section or it may be integrated together” (p. 18). In the Results section readers see the main findings of the research. It is not only presented by means of numbers and specific data but by a narrative text. Tables and figures to illustrate the explanation are also included. The interpretation of these results is dealt with in the Discussion section.

The Result and Discussion sections need to present the information clearly and properly organized in paragraphs. Depending on the writers' purposes, the paragraphs will have a special structure. For instance, if the writters' intention is to present the results of the research as an analysis, they could organize the texts as a problem-solution or cause-effect. On the contrary, if they are interested in providing the readers with strong believes in favour or against specific issues, they would tend to produce persuasive-argumentative or fact vs. opinion texts.

Elbeck’s and Mandernach’s (2009) research article belongs to the education field. In this report, for example, the three final sections are found whereas in Sidransky’s et.al (2009) article, which belongs to the medicine field, only two of them are present, Results and Discussion. However, both of them include tables to present specific data in the Result section. Only the medicine RA includes figures and charts.

According to the analysis carried out, the tables included in the education RA follow the standard established by APA (American Psychological Association). It is a special committee that designs, regulates and updates the layout and format to write research articles within the social sciences. In Elbeck’s and Mandernach’s (2009) article, there are six tables though they are not presented on separate page to save space for publishing, they are properly numbered. Their titles are italicized and presented with each word capitalized with exception to conjunctions and prepositions. No vertical lines are used in the tables and general and specific notes are added to explain abbreviations, symbols and units of measures.

Sidransky’s et.al (2009) article, on the other hand, contains one table that is cited in the body of the document as many times as the researchers need call attention to its main points. Unlike the education RA, this medicine report contains three figures which are used mainly for comparison. Bars and circles graphs are used whose data are briefly described. As Swales and Feak (1994) recommends, the researchers of both articles have selected representative data; they have used tables to deal with specific data that let them compare the main points found.

Taking into account the paragraph formats, the education research report presents the Conclusion section in persuasive-argumentative texts. A majority of researches carried out in the education field tend to analyze particular cases, i.e. the results might not be useful to do generalizations. They might be valuable to support or be the bases of further studies. The medicine research article, on the other hand, draws upon the cause-effect format to discuss the results.

Pintos and Crimi (2010) claim, “[…] results, discussions and conclusions sections should show the researcher’s ability to summarize, show a problem and its solution, evaluate the solution, present sound arguments and convince the readers that his/her conclusions and recommendations are of utmost importance” (pp. 20-21). Comparing both articles, one from the education field and the other from the medicine field, let us to be certain that the final sections of both research reports summarize the work done, produce new knowledge and share their conclusions, which result useful, with the community they address to.










References

Elbeck, M., & Mandernach, B.T. (2009). Journals for computing-mediated learning: Publications of value for the online educator. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 10(3), 1-20. Availabe at http://www.scribd.com/doc/21179839/Journals-Computer-Mediated-Learning
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 3: the research article: results, discussions and conclusions. Handout for Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés. Buenos Aires: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved May 2, 2010 from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource
Sidransky, E. et al (2009). Multicenter analysis of glucocerebrosidase mutations in Parkinson's disease. The New England Journal of Medicine, 361:1651-1661; 17. Retrieved June 11, 2010 from http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/17/1651
Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Following rules to produce academic writings

Academic writing not only does it involve managing an excellent proficiency in language but also displaying a high level of knowledge of the researched topic. These qualities combined in a well organized format of the article will help the audience to read it smoothly and to become more interested. To present information about a research carried out in any field, to show its purpose, methods and findings, the writer must respect some rules or follow some guidelines. These specifications have been agreed by special committees formed to unify criteria and to establish dos and don’ts in writing academically. For instance, as Pintos (2009) describes, “MLA (Modern Language Association) …used in Literature and composition fields; CBE (Council of Biology Editors)…for the sciences; Chicago Manual of Style…for History and Humanities…” (pp.14-15)

As far as Psychology and other Social Science fields are concerned, the manual specially designed to establish standards for writing is The American Psychological Association (APA). It is continuously updated to offer format and style orientations to write research papers; cite sources; make in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes and how to list the reference page. Pintos and Crimi (2010) following Sampieri, Collado and Lucio (1998), point out that research papers are produced after a process which involves different stages. Some of them are performed before the process of writing itself, the delimitation of the topic to be dealt with; a literature review; the definition of the type of research to be done (exploratory, descriptive, correlational or explanatory) to name a few. Each phase is then described in the final report.

In spite of the fact that the different sections of a research paper are the same for any field, articles written in the education field and others belonging to the medicine one can have some similarities as well as some differences. To visualize them, the internal structure of a paper from the former field will be analyzed and compared with the one of the latter. Loucky’s (2007) article that belongs to the education field follows APA style. American Psychological Association (2009) suggests following a scientific method to write research paper to make it easier to read it. It also provides a list of the sections to be included. They are: title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, references, appendixes and tables or figures (if they are necessary). The first sections of the example in the present paper are analyzed. They contain information organized and presented under the Introductions, Literature Review and Methods headings whereas the report from the medicine field, Espié et al. (2009), contains no Introduction section but Background and Methods. To have a clear panorama of what sort of information is included in each section, a deeper analyses will follow.

The Introduction section is of utmost importance in order to catch reader’s interest and attention for the article. It must be organized following a pattern called Create A Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.), Swales and Feak (1994) refer to this model as a principle by which writers must organize this paper section moving from the general topic to the particular situation. Besides, there are three moves that can be observed at reading this section: creating a research space, where writers should show the importance of the research and have to review previous research; establishing a niche, they have to indicate the gap in previous research; and, occupying the niche, they have state the purposes of the study and an announce the principal findings, meanwhile an indication of the structure the research report will have, can be optional.

In Loucky’s (2007) Introduction section, it can be seen that he omits the second move (establishing a niche) and in a single sentence he shows the importance of research and immediately he refers to his study. On the other hand, in Espié et al.’s (2009) article, the C.A.R.S. model can also be distinguished when reading the introductory paragraphs. However, introduction and literature review are treated together under the heading Background. The authors present the topic paraphrasing authors and then refer to the study itself in particular.Whereas the medicine article presents the literature review merged with the introduction, the education article, presents this section (Literature Review) in isolation. It might be due to what The Writing Center of the University of New Carolina (n.d.) asserts,

A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. In a research paper, you use the literature as a foundation and as support for a new insight that you contribute. (Literature Reviews, What this handout is about? para. 2)

As regards the Methods section, in both of the examples analyzed, the principles of process paragraphs have been followed. Although the subsections (Participants, Materials and Procedure) are not titled as such in all the papers, they are properly dealt with and refer to. Loucky’s (2007) Methods section includes Participants and Procedure as a subtitle. On the contrary, Espié et al.’s (2009) section refers to them in different paragraphs but they are not headed as subtitles. In both articles, tables showing statistical information that has been described are also available.

All in all, it would seem this educative research paper as well as the medical research paper can vary somehow taking into account headings for different sections. But all of them contain organized paragraphs in each section that move from the general topic to the specific one. In addition, they follow the same order to present the information gathered after a professional research. In both cases, respecting the style standards and format guidelines have contributed to facilitate a smooth reading.


















References

Espié, E., Gaboulaud, V., Baubet, T., Casas, G., Mouchenik, Y., Yun, O., et al. (2009). Trauma-related psychological disorders among Palestinian children and adults in Gaza and West Bank, 2005-2008. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 3:21 doi:10.1186/1752-4458-3-21. Retrieved April 27, 2010, from http://www.ijmhs.com/content/3/1/21

Loucky, J. P. (2007). Improving online reading and vocabulary development. KASELE Bulletin, Nº 35, pp. 181-188

Pintos, V. (2009). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Handout for Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés. Buenos Aires: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved in July, 2009, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The research article: Introduction, Literature Review and Method sections. Handout for Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés. Buenos Aires: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved on April, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4691

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

The Writing Center, (n.d.). Literature Reviews, What this handout is about. University of New Carolina. Retrieved on July 12th, 2010, from http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html

Innovative assessments

The research made by Birgin and Baki (2007), The use of Portfolio to Assess Student’s Performance is included in the Turkish Science Education Journal, vol, 4, issue, 2 , September 2007. The authors’ purpose is to introduce portfolio assessment method commonly used in educational contexts recently. They claim that learning approaches have changed and as a result they have affected assessment procedures. As a consequence, an alternative method is needed. Portfolio is then seen as “systematic and purposeful collection of the evidence which reflect the success, performance, and efforts of the students in one or more areas over a period of time” (Birgin & Baki, 2007, p. 78). Throughout the paper, Birgin and Baki (2007) show the different applications and different types of portfolios depending on the purpose and contents. They also explain the advantages of using portfolio assessment methods over the standarized testing as well as they describe the problems and disadvantages of using this alternative assessment method. In order to use portfolio as an assessment tool effectively, teachers need “to determine the purpose, plan its items ... and explain their assessement criteria clearly” (Birgin & Barki, 2007, p. 86).



















Reference
Birgin, O. & Baki, A. (2007). The use of portfolio to assess student’s performance. Turkish Science Education Journal, 4(2), 75-87.

Acknowledging sources properly

Academic writing implies not only the prodution of a piece of writing but also intensively researching on others’ published work in order to support hypothesis, explain theories or justify certain ideas. This research demands on the part of the academic writer to cite properly the documents or sources consulted to avoid plagiarism. In-text citacions and the reference list are the two means used to acknowledge sources.
Topics developed by the academic writer, the audience addresed to and the field in which the paper is included will be subject to a specified manual that provides guidelines and rules on how to recognize the sources. For instance, the manual APA (American Psychological Association) used for Psychology and other Social Sciences is the framework within which the following paper has been analysed.
In Ogan-Bekiroglu and Gunay's (2008) paper, Portfolio assessment, it can be seen the format of APA style for citing references. They follow the rules established to cite articles from magazines and books but they do not place the reference list on a new page separated from the text of the paper though. The label References is not centered and no double space is provided. The reference list entries are alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work and all lines after the first line of each entry are indented one-half inch from the left margin.
Following documentation styles is an important aspect to consider when acknowledging sources. There are special rules and formats depending on the discipline. Different manuals have been specially designed to guide the writers on how to acknowledge sources. These guidelines provide uniformity and tidiness. Therefore, they must be carefully dealt with so as not to mix styles or omit any detail.










References

Ogan-Bekiroglu, F. & Gunay, A. (2008). Physics students’perceptions on their journey through portfolio assessment.

Experiential Learning E-Portfolios:Promoting Connections between Academic and Workplace Learning Utilizing Information and Communications Technologies

Brown, J. (2009). Experiential Learning E-Portfolios: Promoting Connections between Academic and Workplace Learning Utilizing Information and Communication Technologies. Miami: Barry University, School of Adult and Continuing Education.

Brown's (2009) paper examines the effectiveness of developing e-portfolios in two case studies to promote connections between academic and workplace learning. In Maloney’s (2007) words “the e-portfolio allows learners to trace the development of their thinking and learning over time and to show their competencies to the university and employers” (as cited in Brown, 2009, p. 2). The author briefly refers to learning approaches through the time till she reaches the one that supports her research. According to Brown (2009), the developmental constructivist work of Kegan (1994) and Mezinow’s (1996) transforamtive theory on learning allow learners to reflect upon their learning process, to change their behaviour, to construct and (re)discover meaning in such a way their complex cognitive ways increase. Relevant sections in the paper emphasized the idea of validating work environments as venues for higher level knowledge acquisition. These sections are: Workplace Learning; E-portfolios and learning; and The Transformation of Experience to Learning. After analysing the results obtained, Brown (2009) concludes that workplace can serve as another way of learning and e-portfolios can prove to be a connection between academic and professional competencies.
















Reference
Brown, J. (2009). Experiential learning e-portfolios: promoting connections between academic and workplace learning utilizing information and communication technologies. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Conference Workplace Learning Special Interest Group paper session, April 16th, 2009.

Digital Portfolios: training in documenting school learning for the professional world

Purpose: To provide a general overview of why and how to implement digital portfolios as an educational tool with students from Camino Nuevo High School (CNHS).

Thesis: Through creating and maintaining digital portfolios, CNHS students synthesize and present their academic work at the same time they show their competence to master technological resources.

Audience: high school teachers, students at higher level education

1. The digital portfolios (DPs) process at CNHS.
A. Training in basic web design for professional world.
B. Developing skills for self-presentation.

2. DPs in CNHS as an educational tool and a unifying aspect of school culture.
A. Building and maintaining a website by all students.
1. Reflecting upon growth through academic work.
B. Presenting DPs at the end of tenth grade as a graduation requirement.

3. Portfolios’ contents.
A. Sections corresponding to each school year.
1. Assignments demostrating skills and concepts developed.
2. Reflections about the content and skills.
3. Quality of students’ effort and product.

4. Much classroom work posted on DPs for grading.
A. Students’ access to classmates’ DPs.
1. Peer assessments as regular classroom practice.

5. Steps to implement DPs.
A. In-house teacher training for basic web design.
B. Hard-working staff to develop approaches and standards for DPs.
C. Digital Portfolio Handbook on the DP website page.
1. Technical guidance.
2. Rubrics.
3. Guidelines for presentations at the end of tenth grade.

6. “Positive impact [of using DPs] on student achievement across the curriculum” (Cramer, 2009, p. 4)
A. Parents’ and members’ of the community access to students’ work.
B. Students’ chances to share work with possible employers or internship providers.

Reference
Cramer, M. (2009). Digital portfolios: documenting student growth. Horace Summer 2009, 25(1), 1-4. Data file. Retrieved December, 19th 2009 from http://www.essentialschools.org/cs/cespr/view/ces_res/620