Writing a paper - FAQ

The type of research project you want to undertake depends as much on the problem you address, as on the type of researcher you want to be/become. What are your aims in a research project? This is always the first question that you should ask yourself when beginning a research project. Two general research aims can be distinguished:

• basic, aimed primarily at understanding the problem at hand; and
• applied, focusing more on the outcome of the problem, and the design of possible solutions.

What type of researcher you want to be, depends mainly on what parts of the reflective cycle interest you most, varying from a focus on the conceptualization of the problem to a focus on implementation and evaluation of interventions in the research object. See Skill Sheet A3 for a personal checklist on what kind of researcher you want to be.

You may find yourself postponing everything you are supposed to do for the research project. This is called procrastination and can have many causes, varying from poor time management, personal problems to fear and anxiety. Try to identify procrastination and its causes as soon as possible. You may find the S.M.A.R.T method helpful (see downloads on this website).

Not having (finding!) enough time to write a report has everything to do with good time management, avoiding procrastination, careful planning and keeping a good health and energy balance (Skill Sheet B10).

Three general principles help you to manage you time as effectively as possible: (1) gap: identify most important ‘time wasters’, (2) decision: work in modules, and (3) action: cope with excuses.

Try to determine what your main time wasters are. The most prevalent time wasters, lack  of aim, priorities and an unwillingness to set deadlines, can be tackles by working in modules of a couple of hours: periods of time that can include clear and manageable aims. Try to split your work load into clearly defined modules. Finally, try to avoid distractions by coping with excuses. Identify your excuses for lingering about and discipline yourself to stay focused.

You can find more information on procrastination (“the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished”), week planning and semester planning and keeping a good health and energy balance in Skill Sheet B10-14.

Unclear writing can be the result of a lack of (argumentation) structure in your text or a result of style or phrasing problems. The former is a more fundamental problem when writing a scientific text, but the latter problem can definitely make any excellent argumentation very difficult to read.

Argumentation should be:

• clear rather than ambiguous;
• succinct rather than lengthy (wordy);
• simple rather than using complex vocabulary, and;
• precise rather than inaccurate (sloppy phrasing).

Scientific text should be transparent, predictable and therefore relatively ‘dull’. You state beforehand what you are going to explain to the reader. You specify how you are going to explain it: how many aspects and how they can be linked. Finally, you come to explicit conclusions and refer back to your line of argument.

It often proves useful to argue by schematizing. Two relevant techniques are:

• A table: specifying columns and rows (different variables and their interrelationships); the empty boxes in the table reveal gaps in your reasoning.
• A logic tree: revealing your main ‘lines’of reasoning; reveals parallel arguments, the specificity of particular arguments; and the nature of the interrelations.

Don’t expect yourself to write your final texts in one go. Adopting the right style immediately is asking the impossible. Writing is rewriting. Rewriting requires time and is hard work. Rewriting requires professionalism: that is the dedication to learning from your own mistakes and an awareness of the problems facing the reader. You have to be self-critical.

Consult Skill Sheets E12 and E13 for helpful tips about common style errors and common phrasing problems.

A report consists of opening parts, a main body and final parts. Both the opening and final parts of a report include several ‘standard’ items. The main body of the report always consists of a number of chapters, (sub)sections, and (sub)paragraphs, but it is up to the author to decide how many of each and what the exact structure should be.

Opening parts (Skill Sheet E3)
The opening parts for a research report consist of:

1. Title page (required)
a. Copyright provisions (optional)
b. Dedication (optional)

2. Table of contents (required)
a. List of Figures/Tables (optional)
b. Foreword (optional)
c. Executive summary (optional)

3. Preface/acknowledgement (required)
a. List of abbreviations/acronyms (optional)
b. Notes on contributors (optional)
4. Introduction (required)

Main body (Skill Sheet E4)
Always organize a text according to an increasing degree of specificity: (1) chapter, consisting of (2) (sub)sections, which are composed of (3) paragraphs. The contents of chapters, sections and paragraphs should always be built up as a logical pyramid.

Make it clear to the reader what you think the function of a chapter of section is. Always do this in the introduction to the chapter or section. Even within a chapter, a short introduction can be very useful when you move to an additional issue.

The conclusion of a chapter or section is just as important as the introduction. In a summary:

• always give a brief summary;
• never add new material/information.

Final parts (Skill Sheet E5)
Standard parts of the final parts of a research report include:

1. Conclusion (required)
2. Epilogue (optional)
3. Glossary (optional)
4. Annexes (optional)
5. Bibliography (required)
6. Index (optional)

The conclusion is often read first,without proper knowledge of the rest of the report. Therefore, a general conclusion should largely stand on its own feet:

• Always repeat the research question(s) and also the sub-questions tackled in the respective chapters;
• Present a well-argued answer to these questions;
• Provide a careful consideration of what the consequences have been of flaws in your research methodology, or other practical research problems, for the validity of your answers; • Never add new information!;
• End with a good last line;
• Specify recommendations for further research.

Tables, figures and boxes can clarify a text considerably, provided they are used properly. This Skill Sheet discusses the structure and the lay-out of these three instruments. A table usually consists of columns/rows, a figure is made up of drawings, and a box contains texts.

• Always repeat the research question(s) and also the sub-questions tackled in the respective chapters;
• Present a well-argued answer to these questions;
• Provide a careful consideration of what the consequences have been of flaws in your research methodology, or other practical research problems, for the validity of your answers;
• Never add new information!;
• End with a good last line;
• Specify recommendations for further research.

Main aspects tables / figures / boxes
A reader should be able to understand a table, figure or box  without having to go through the whole text. A reader should always understand three important aspects of tables/figures/boxes: their status, aim and contents.

The status
Is the information your own invention or taken from somewhere else?

• Always identify the source accurately, beneath the table; note ‘Source:’ followed by an exact reference according to the Harvard reference system without parentheses and without a full stop  (for example ‘Source: Coase, 1937: 25’).
• No source indication reveals to the reader that it is your own invention. (E2)

The aim
This always requires a clear heading/title containing information about:

• the topic: in clear, short and unambiguous phrasing;
• the place or region: ‘European Union’, ‘Argentina’, ‘Rome’;
• the timeframe: applicable for most information in the table/figure (period or year).

The main contents
What do the columns, the rows, or symbols in the table or figure mean:

• use clear abbreviations for column and row indicators, or use notes to explain;
• distinguish column and row indicators from the other information by bold, italics or underlines;
• always include a legend if your figure has arrows and other symbols. The legend is often placed in a separate box to distinguish it from the rest of the figure;
• under the table/figure, include explanations of the symbols used in the table/figure to point at exceptions to the information in the title.

Basic rule: Tables / figures / boxes should largely ‘speak for themselves’, but should always be explained and referred to in the text.

The basic rule stated above seems contradictory, but it is not. Figures, tables or boxes are used in support of a text, they can never act as a substitute for well-formulated text and analysis.

Figures, tables and boxes can have various functions: a complement, an illustration, a more detailed elaboration. The function should always be clear from the adjoining text. But the text should concentrate on the analysis and not on lengthy explanations, which means that the figure/table/box should be presented in a way that is largely self-evident.

If the information contained in figure, table or box does not have a function in your analysis, it should not have been included in your text. The practical application of the basic rule can also be elaborated as follows: without any major alterations you have to be able to use the figure/table as a transparency for a presentation.

Qualitative tables
Tables do not need to be quantitative. Tables can also include qualitative information. Useful applications of qualitative tables consist of (1) summarising your own argument; (2) summarising the arguments of others. By using a table format you are organising your information and argumentation along clearly identifiable lines (the rows and columns). Putting your argument in a table increases the clarity of your writing substantially. If you do this before you begin your research, it can also improve the clarity of your analysis. This technique is also known as argumentation through schematization (E6).

Lay-out: Tables and figures

• Always spell ‘Figure’ and ‘Table’ in full.  Also do this in the text.
• Number tables and figures, preferably by chapter: first number is the chapter, second number the indication of the sequence of the table/figure in the chapter: ‘1.1’, ‘3.5’; ‘10.1’. Tables and Figures follow separate sequences. You could have a ‘Table 4.3’ and a ‘Figure 4.3’ in the same chapter.
• Always begin the heading/title with a capital letter. With shorter titles the whole title can be capitalised. This is a matter of taste and preference. Headings/titles should be printed ‘bold’.
• Full stop. Do not use a full stop at the end of items in a list of tables or figures. Use ‘;’ to mark the difference between separate items in the same category in the table or figure. Do not use a full stop either at the Table or Figure number. Do not use a full stop at the end of the heading, nor at the end of the sources and notes, unless the latter contain an explanatory sentence.
• In the case of a table always place the number and description above the table. Always place the ‘Source(s):’ indication below. Sometimes, the number and title of figures are placed below the image.
• This is done because figures and the like are very often originals drafted by the author. If this is the case, there need not be a source below the figure either. A title and a source at the same position is messy.
• Use a capital letter for the ‘Source’ and ‘Note’ indication.
• Add explanatory notes below the Sources. Do not use footnotes. Do not number the notes. It can be confusing because the table already consists of numbers. For a single note use an asterisk (*); for more than one note you can use other signs: °, §; or: you can use letters: a, b, c...
• Make clear what belongs to the Table/Figure and what belongs to the main text. Insert sufficient space (preferably two hard returns) between the title and the source/notes and the running text.
• When you refer to the Table/Figure in the text, refer by number - ‘Table 4.5 illustrates...’ - rather than ‘the figure on the next page illustrates...’ or ‘the table following’.
• Be aware of copyright provisions when you copy complete tables, pictures or figures!
• Whenever possible position the table/figure on the relevant page, i.e. where it is discussed.
• Only use the landscape (vertical printing) option if the table has many columns.
• If the table runs onto another page, repeat a short title indication. For instance: ‘(Table 6.1, continued)’
• With a thesis, add a list of Tables/Figures after the contents, and before the preface (E3).

Lay-out: Boxes
The use of boxes is often aimed at presenting information, which the author could not really find an appropriate place for in the analysis itself, but nevertheless found ‘interesting’. Boxes are often (ab)used for this purpose, like lengthy footnotes (B13) or annexes (B7). When included, boxes:

• should have a clear function in the text;
• often serve illustrative and/or lay-out purposes (like the boxes in these Skill Sheets);
• should, if appropriate, identify a source which can be placed in or below the box;
• should preferably be
• no longer than one page.

You should not be discouraged to incorporate the concepts of others in your thinking. On the contrary, you must refer to the proper sources in the correct manner. At all times, you should avoid plagiarism: presenting ideas of others, as if they are your own.

Not everything is plagiarism, though:

Writing down common knowledge;

• Quoting of quantitative data (graphics and tables), if you place the source directly below the graphics or table;
• Quoting a number of sentences from another author, put in brackets, and directly followed by a correct reference;
• Paraphrasing: writing down an argument in your own words, your opinion, or a conclusion of another author, followed by a reference.
• Your text should have a bibliography in which all sources used for and referred to in the report are listed (see Skill Sheet E11; see downloads on the website)
• Consult Skill Sheet E9 and E10 for detailed instructions on references for various types of situations in your texts (see downloads on the website for examples).

You should not be discouraged to incorporate the concepts of others in your thinking. On the contrary, you must refer to the proper sources in the correct manner. At all times, you should avoid plagiarism: presenting ideas of others, as if they are your own.

Not everything is plagiarism, though:

Writing down common knowledge;

• Quoting of quantitative data (graphics and tables), if you place the source directly below the graphics or table;
• Quoting a number of sentences from another author, put in brackets, and directly followed by a correct reference;
• Paraphrasing: writing down an argument in your own words, your opinion, or a conclusion of another author, followed by a reference.
• Your text should have a bibliography in which all sources used for and referred to in the report are listed (see Skill Sheet E9; see downloads on the website)
• Consult Skill Sheet E13 and E14 for detailed instructions on references for various types of situations in your texts (see downloads on the website for examples).