How to Plan and Organize your Report

To write a successful academic paper (report, article, essay) requires pragmatic competence of a specific type. It would make sense, therefore, to adopt a model–based tradition and analyzing different samples of academic writing to learn the most important conventions: information and language conventions, cultural assumptions and others.

Different kinds of studies we have mentioned above share some common characteristics. First, they are designed around a research question (problem). Although it rarely appears in the final report itself, the research question is the basis on which the study is planned and carried out. After researchers have focused on a specific topic of investigation, they formulate a question that addresses a specific aspect of the topic in which they are interested. For example, if a researcher is interested in studying the effects of organizational culture on new methods of work and new technologies, he or she may formulate a question like the following:

Research question:

– Does organizational culture influence the introduction and use of modern communicative and informational technologies in the work of organizations?

– How does organizational culture influence the introduction and use of modern communicative and informational technologies in the work of organizations?

In formal research work, it is necessary to formulate a statement of expected results. This is called the hypothesis. The researcher formulates a hypothesis as a possible answer to the research question and then designs the study(research) in such a way as to reject or to support the hypothesis.

For example, a hypothesis based on the above formulated question might look as follows:

Hypothesis:

– Organizational culture has a considerable impact on the use of modern technologies in the work of organization.

The reports written to describe these different kinds of studies also have much in common. Normally, a report includes description of the purpose, method, and results of the study. Complete results are usually presented in tables and graphs. Such a report contains references to other published works in the same area of study. A list of reference (a bibliography) listing these works, along with the information needed to find them in the library is always included at the end of the report. Finally, a brief summary or an abstract covering the most important information in the report is usually attached.

The organizational format for most experimental research reports, Blicq (1993) and Weissberg & Buker (1990) maintain, is basically the same, regardless of the field of study. Information in a typical experimental research report is usually logically organized into the following parts:

		METHOD
		RESULTS

Figure 3. Typical sections of the experimental research report

In addition to reviewing the characteristics listed in this section, keep in mind that one of the best ways to become familiar with academic and professional writing style is to read authentic samples of it and to use them as models for your own writing. These samples, such as articles and reports, will help you not only see the formal word choice and sentence structure but also will help you become familiar with standard formats and common language used in many types of academic and professional writing, such as term papers, lab reports, journal articles, grant proposals, and progress reports.

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Date: 2016-01-14; view: 791