ABOUT THE WRITING STYLE

WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

Manual

Tallinn 2011

CONTENTS

CONTENTS. 2

INTRODUCTION.. 3

1. GENERAL INFORMATION.. 4

1.1. TYPES OF STUDENT PAPERS. 4

1.2. REQUIREMENTS FOR SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. 5

1.3. ABOUT THE WRITING STYLE.. 5

2. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS. 6

2.1. FORMATING A STUDENT PAPER.. 6

2.2. THE STRUCTURE OF A STUDENT PAPER.. 8

A student paper consists of the following elements: 8

2.3. QUOTATION AND PARAPHRASING.. 11

2.4. CITATION.. 12

REFERENCE LIST. 15

REFERENCE LIST. 18

INTRODUCTION

The present manual for formatting student papers in EBS High School is based on the existing Estonian version on the same topic as well as the EBS Manual of Writing Style compiled by Ants Kraus. The current source can be used as reference material for writing reviews and research papers in EBS High School.

GENERAL INFORMATION

TYPES OF STUDENT PAPERS

The main aims of a student paper are:

· to acquire experience for working with reference materials;

· to develop proper written language;

· to learn how to format a paper.

The basic types of student papers are a review and a research. The former collects and comments on existing information, whereas the latter provides new scientific findings.

A reviewis a concise overview of a certain problem or topic that is compiled on the basis of one or several sources. A review is not a copy, i.e. the author looks for the essence of the materials and uses his or her own way of wording the ideas. In reviews the standpoints of different authors are presented and compared. The opinion and conclusions of the author of the review are also given.

A research paperis a written report on independent research including the author’s point of view on the results of the research. In a classical research the author sets forth a hypothesis or a research question that he or she hopes to prove or answer. Very often a research paper comprises either scientific experiments, observations, surveys or interviews and later analyses of those.

· The content of the paper must be understandable to everyone, not only to the experts of the field.

· The author should possess a critical mind towards the statements of other authors as well as his or her own opinion.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

· A paper must display something new and unique (in case of a research).

· The author must be neutral, all the statements have to be based on facts.

· The reader must be able to check the author’s statements, hence the views of other authors must be properly cited.

· The discussion, calculations and terms must be precise and logical.

ABOUT THE WRITING STYLE

The language of a research paper is accurate, clear and unemotional. Professor Uno Mereste has listed the following rules of good writing style:

1. Write in a natural and simple manner.

2. Choose an appropriate way of expressing yourself.

3. Express yourself clearly and accurately.

4. Avoid verbosity.

5. Avoid translation slips.

6. Do not violate the logic of the language.

It is advisable to use passive (… the following approaches are analysed) and impersonal constructions (The current paper undertakes to …) For further reading on this topic see EBS Manual of Writing Style by Ants Kraus.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 751