Science 480 Research Methods in Science

Study Guide :: Unit 4

Presenting Your Results and Writing a Research Proposal

Once you have finished your research project, analyzed your results, and drawn conclusions as to the relevance of your findings using the skills that you learned in Unit 1, it is time to present your results. In general, scientific results are published in written form as research reports, journal articles, or books. You may also present your results orally with the help of a PowerPoint presentation, or as a poster.

In this final unit we focus on some aspects relating to the dissemination of scientific results to various audiences. You should always tailor your paper or presentation to your audience; it is generally assumed that you address a scholarly audience in the particular field of your project when writing scientific papers.

4.1: Writing scientific papers

Today, virtually all new scientific results by universities and research institutes are published in the form of scholarly articles in scientific journals. However, research in industry and private corporations is often published in research reports that, for various reasons, are not accessible to the public. Scholarly books are usually written to review research results previously published in journals, but they frequently contain little original information. In this section we therefore look at the largely dominant approach of presenting scientific results: the scientific article, informally called a “science paper” or simply “paper.”

The structure of a scientific article is uniformly prescribed in the following manner.

  1. Title
  2. Authors (usually followed by their affiliations)
  3. Keywords
  4. Abstract
  5. Introduction
  6. Material and Methods
  7. Results
  8. Discussion
  9. Acknowledgements
  10. References
  11. Appendices (if applicable)

Deviations from this structure are rare, except for review articles, in which the authors are not presenting their own work. There is no uniformly agreed‑upon structure for reviews. Some of the high‑profile science journals, such as Nature and Science, prescribe their own format.

In addition to this structure that is common to all journals, individual journals have their own specific requirements, which they provide for authors who hope to publish in them. If authors do not follow these directions, Journal editors can return their papers to revise and resubmit. You may wish to read this example of author instructions.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this section, you should be able to

  • describe the general, uniform structure of scientific articles and be able to list the basic structural elements of a scientific paper. This skill will be helpful when writing your research proposal, in which a similar style is expected.

Reading

Study pages 152‑161 of the textbook.

Note: The headings in the textbook differ somewhat from the general article structure given above (e.g., the section “Conclusions” is normally a part of the Discussion, without a separate subsection for the conclusions. Some journals, however, do allow or prescribe a separate “Conclusions” section). Always refer to the guidelines of a particular journal.

Exercise

Use the link above to select one or two random articles from the journal in order to become familiar with the structure of scientific papers.

4.2: Producing scientific figures

(Making presentations easier to understand)

Learning Outcomes

After completing this section, you should be able to

  • list several kinds of charts, graphs or plots used to present scientific data in research papers or talks.
  • know which would best represent the data in a given research experiment or situation.
  • develop powerful scientific illustrations that clearly explain relevant results.
  • optionally work with Microsoft Excel as a tool for creating such visual presentations.

Reading

Study pages 161‑166 and 194‑199 of the textbook.

Terms to Understand

categorical plot, continuous plot

Important Tables

Guidelines for figures in a scientific paper (p. 167)

Supplementary Resource Materials

(different ways to present data in scientific research)

The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina State University offer an excellent compilation of resources for the design and preparation

4.3: Giving scientific presentations

Scientific presentations may be given as oral talks or as posters. We will not practice these skills in SCIE 480, but have provided some external resources as an introduction to these topics.

The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina State University offer an excellent compilation of resources for the design and preparation of both posters and oral presentations and very helpful resources on poster preparation, including videos.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this section, you should be able to

  • become familiar with the basic features of two common types of presentations, posters, and oral presentations.

Terms to Understand

Poster, oral presentation (scientific talk)

Reading

Study pages 166‑168 of the textbook and the University of North Carolina and the North Carolina State University’s links given above.

4.4: Designing and writing a research proposal

Relevance of research proposal writing

Most of you will have to write research proposals while you are studying at a college or university. You need proposals for undergraduate projects and later for graduate work, both at the Master’s and the PhD levels.

If you choose to follow an academic career path you will have to continue writing research proposals for the rest of your career. Likewise, if you start working for NGOs or international organizations, there is a high likelihood that you will be required to write research proposals as part of your job requirements. Therefore, the skill of proposal writing has a high relevance for your academic career and beyond.

Why write research proposals?

The purpose of writing a research proposal is to convince a committee that your intended research project is relevant, that the outcomes will increase our knowledge in the field, that you have a good grasp of the literature in this area, that your research design is realistic for the suggested time frame and that you have spent a considerable time to ensure that there will be relevant and timely outcomes of your research project. In many instances, research proposals also involve a proposed budget and the committee will examine budgetary issues, e.g., whether your budget can the support the proposed project while at the same time ensuring that there is no spending on unnecessary items, and whether the funds are worthwhile being spent on the overall project.

How to write research proposals

There is no uniform way to write research proposals. Many institutions and donor organizations have more or less detailed instructions on their expectations for a research proposal structure. It is highly advisable to follow their guidelines exactly, as failure to do so will usually result in a rejection of the proposals, even if they are sound otherwise. However, most proposal formats share common elements and differ in only a few details.

How to select your proposal

Ideally you would propose a topic in an area that is of great interest to you personally, in a field of academia where you are heading anyway. You may have already read a lot about the topic, which will save you from starting from scratch with your literature review. A narrowly defined project will save you a lot of headaches and limit your workload. If you find that the number of literature citations in your search engine on a particular topic is overwhelming, it is usually a good sign that your topic is too broadly defined and needs more focus. Above all, make sure that the project is realistic (e.g., flying to the moon is not). Discuss options with your SCIE 480 academic expert at an early stage of your course work.

Useful Links for Writing Research Proposals

How to Write a Research Proposal from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is considered the most useful for the purpose of writing research proposals and you should consult it frequently while you compile your own.

The Study Guides and Strategies link uses the same primary resources as above, but has some additional information on why research proposals are rejected.

The University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign Library offers a template for and examples of proposal writing (from the APA perspective).

Note: Please follow the format given below for writing your own proposal. It is largely based on the DAAD document above, but includes modifications. If you find conflicting instructions, this Study Guide prevails.

How to write your proposal

Research proposals for SCIE 480 must use Times New Roman font, single spaced, 12 point, with standard margins (2.5 cm each left and right, above and below). All citations and references must follow CSE style in the Name‑Year system.

  1. Title page (1 page)

    PROJECT PROPOSAL (in all capital letters)

    Your name, your university, university address, your program, your field of study, your academic stage (e.g., 4th year undergraduate biology). Previous degrees should also be mentioned here.

    Date of submission (in the format “5 August 2016”)

    TITLE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT (bold and in capital letters)

    Supervisor (use the name and title of your SCIE 480 academic expert)

  2. Summary of the proposed research (0.5‑1 page)

    Here you should very briefly summarize what you intend to do during your research project and how you would achieve it. Summaries are usually read first and a badly written summary may lead to rejection in a competitive situation, so it is important to get this right. It is important to align the summary with the main part of the proposal and it is advisable to write this part at the end, after having finished the main sections of your proposal, when you are perfectly clear about the details of your proposal. Include a research hypothesis, if relevant and feasible for the project.

  3. Background and literature review (2‑6 pages)

    Include and discuss all the recent relevant literature about the proposed topic. It is important that the reader recognizes the relevance of the citations you use for the proposed topic. Also, this section gives you the opportunity to show that you have thoroughly read and understood the literature relevant to the research project. A skillful writer will also point out where gaps in the literature exist; ideally some of those gaps are to be addressed by your project.

  4. Objectives of the research project (up to 1 page)

    This is an explanation of the objectives (outputs) that you hope to achieve at the end of the project, not another summary. Importantly: explain the relevance of the objectives in a broader context. If you have a clear research hypothesis, the objectives should be straightforward.

  5. Outline of the project, including methodology (4‑10 pages)

    This is the core of your project proposal. You need to be very specific about what you want to do, how you measure data, what instruments you use, how long specific experiments will take, how you record your data, how you will analyze your data, statistically and otherwise, etc. Provide detailed descriptions and avoid vague and general statements.

  6. Tentative time table (0.5 pages)

    You can use ranges (e.g., 6‑7 weeks for data analysis, etc.). These should be realistic for the specific type of proposal.

  7. References

    Use CSE style in the Name‑Year system. All citations must be referenced and all references must be cited at least once.

    It is an expectation that you use mainly books and journal articles for your citations and references in the research proposal. Web‑based resources should only be used exceptionally.

    Note that books and journal articles accessed electronically from the library must be cited following CSE style as books and journal articles (not as web‑based resources).

Learning Outcomes

After completing this section, you should be able to

  • practice writing research proposals and consult your academic expert during the various proposal stages.

Reading

Study pages 151‑152 of the textbook.

The textbook contains some additional information on the topic but please follow the directions in this Study Guide for your own proposal writing.

Assignment 4

Complete Assignment 4.

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