Chapter 6: Report Writing and Presentation

Jimma University Institute of Technology: FECE

December 16, 2022

 Outlines

1 Research Proposal
Research Proposal Format
2 Writing a Research Report
Preparing a Research Report
General Rules and Guidelines
3 Research Presentation
General Tips
4 Writing for Journals Publication
Common Instructions and advices
Main Sections of a journal Paper
Submission Process
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 What is a Research Proposal?

It is a written plan of a study.

It spells out in detail what the researcher intends to
do.
It permits others to learn about the intended research
and to offer suggestions for improving the study.
It also helps the researcher clarify what needs to be
done and to avoid unintentional problems.

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 Research Proposal Format

Problem statement
Aims and Objectives
Title page
Methods and Methods
Abstract
Preliminary results and
Table of contents
discussion (Progress to date)
Background
Research Schedule and budget
Literature Reviews
breakdown
References

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Contains short, descriptive title of

the proposed thesis;
Should be self-explanatory;
Title page
Should include: author, institution,
Faculty/School/program, research advisor,
advisor’s institution (if outside of JiT) date
of submission.

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

The abstract is a summary of your thesis

proposal, and its length should not exceed
250-300 words.
Present a brief introduction to the issue;
Make the key statement of your thesis;
Abstract
Give a summary of how you want to address
the issue;
Include a possible implication of your work
(expected results), if successfully completed;
Do not include any references in the abstract;

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Explain the background of your

study starting from a broad picture
narrowing in on your research
question.
Introduction/ Describe the current understanding
Background of the problem. existing solutions,
and the barriers to these solutions.
Review what is known about your
research topic insofar as it is relevant
to your thesis.
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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Should be a well-organized overview of the

research most related to your work (this
might include the dominant debates,
theoretical approaches, methodological
Literature Review research designs that have been used to
understand your topic)
Try to demonstrate the gap in the literature
that has not been well researched (or not
been researched utilizing a certain
theoretical/technical perspective or
methodological design).

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Clearly state the question being

addressed
Formulate research questions (if
Hypothesis,Research appropriate)
Questions When appropriate, formulate a
testable hypothesis.
Describe the motivation; who is
interested in the solution (if any).

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Must be written clearly and accurately

in order to deliver the overall picture of
your research.
Concisely describe the issue to be
Problem addressed or a condition to be improved
Statement upon.
Summarize the gap between the current
(problem) state and desired (goal) state
of a process or product.
Summarize what kind of approach
could solve the problem.
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 Research Proposal Format. . .

This section provides the broad

statements of desired outcomes, or the
general intentions of the research, which
‘paint a picture’ of your research aims.
Aims and Define the overall purpose of the study,
Objectives clearly and concisely (Link the
objectives with a hypothesis or problem
statement).
Describe the specific tasks/objectives to
be performed.
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 Research Proposal Format. . .

This section contains an overall description of

your approach, materials, and procedures
Describe your approach to address the problem;
identify any key new insights and/or
approaches: what methods will be used? , how
Materials and will data be collected and analyzed? , what
materials and equipment will be used, and how
methods will you acquire them?
Include calculations, technique, procedure,
equipment/materials, and calibration graphs (if
any).
Provide the research design (questionnaire,
simulation model or lab experiment (if any)),

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Include the procedure/method (how you are

going to carry out your study, activities involved
or design) and method of analysis (modelling
techniques or statistical methods, calculations
Materials and and calibration graphs (if any))
Detail the limitations, assumptions, and range
methods of validity.
If applicable, identify the location of the study
in addition to the clinical collaborator(s).
Describe how the success of the research will be
measured.

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Preliminary results and discussion

(Progress to date).
Results and Present any results you already have
Discussion obtained.
(Preliminary) Discuss how they fit in the framework
of your thesis.
Discuss any challenges that need to be
overcome.

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Describe in detail what you plan to do until

completion of your thesis.
Match the issues raised in the problem
statement with specific experiments that you
Research will perform to validate your hypotheses or to
Schedule and achieve some meaningful results.
Budget List the stages of your thesis in a table format.
Breakdown Indicate deadlines you have set for completing
each stage of the thesis, including any work you
have already completed.
Describe the planned budget in tabular form:
Use the institute’s budget breakdown format.

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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Cite all ideas, concepts, text, data that

are not your own.
If you make a statement, back it up
with your own data or a reference.
All references cited in the text must be
References listed.
Citation should be numbered in the text
in the order of their appearance.
Use IEEE referencing style, Vancouver,
APA (according to institution
guideline).
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 Research Proposal Format. . .

Font Size:
Body: 12 pt. (All justify)
Heading 1: 14 pt. bold
Heading 2: 13 pt. bold
Heading 3: 12 pt. bold
Font type: Times New Roman;
Spacing = 1.5

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 Writing a Research Report

Research reports are written

for many purposes (e.g., thesis,
dissertation, publication, to
fulfill funding requirements).
Research reports describe what
happened in the study and the
results that were obtained.
A well-written report presents
enough information for
replication of the study.
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 Preparing a Research Report

• Preliminary pages
Title Page:
–The best represent ion of the paper: Contributions and
unique features.

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 Preparing a Research Report

Acknowledgements page:
-Acknowledge those who significantly contributed to the research.
Table of Contents:
-Outline of the report that indicates page numbers of major
sections and subsections.
List of Figures and Tables:
-Includes list of tables and figures is included on a separate page
with number, page numbers and title of each table or figure.

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 Preparing a Research Report

• Procedures (Materials and Methods)

The procedures section includes discussion of the
following:
▶ Research Design/method
▶ Sample or data
▶ Instrumentation
▶ Procedural detail
▶ Data analysis

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 Preparing a Research Report

• Results/Findings
Results of a study can be presented only in a research
report.
Results are usually not found in the proposal section.
This section is found near the end of the research
report and constitutes the description of what kind of
analyses were performed.
The data are revealed by the form of statistical
analysis that was applied to the data, and any
significance that was observed.
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 Preparing a Research Report

• Discussion
The discussion section of a report presents the
author’s interpretation of what the results imply for
theory and/or practice.
Researchers place their results in a broader context.
Here, difficulties as well as limitations of the study are
noted, and suggestions for future considerations are
included.
Results and Discussion sections should be kept
separate, since the Discussion section goes beyond the
data.
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 Preparing a Research Report

• References and Appendixes

References:
-The reference section of the report lists all the
sources used.
Appendixes:
-In a thesis or dissertation, the appendixes usually
include instruments, raw data, and materials too
lengthy to include in the body of the report.

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 Preparing a Research Report

Look for progress, not perfection.

Write whatever comes to mind and then revise what
you have written.
Writing, editing, and rewriting clarifies your thoughts.
Editing is a critical part of the writing process.
A research report should be written as clearly and
concisely as possible.
Research reports are always written in the past tense
and free from jargon.
Once the report is completed, it is a good idea to have
a thesis formatter/editor check for style and grammar.
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 Research presentation Skills

Why is it important ?
You would like to “sell” your work.
How to Do it ?
Tell a story and the story should have parts
-Introduction
-method
-Result and discussion
-Conclusion/summary and future work

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 Research presentation Skills: Presentation Structure

Introduction
should indicate your motivation to solve the problem.
motivate the audience to be interested in your
problem.
Methods
Very brief/relatively extensive: depends on your topic
Results
Present it section by section inline with the method
Discussion/Conclusion
What do your data mean?
Propose/suggest future directions that build off of
your results
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 Research presentation Skills: General Tips !

Check equipment right before the talk.

Speak firmly, slowly and confidently.
Only one concept per slide.
Start with general concepts.
Choose a proper font size.
There should be contrast in written text against the
background.
Put a brief references on each slide rather than a
reference slide at the end1 .
1
Reference 1.
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 Research presentation Skills: General Tips !

Love your audience - be personable in taking questions

Best way to answer questions:
-Repeat questions
-If you don’t know the answer then say “I don’t know, I will have
a look into that”. Don’t try to invent an answer on the fly.
-If the questioner disagrees with you and it looks like there will
be an argument then defuse the situation.

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 Writing for Journal Publication:Common Instructions and advices

Journal articles are typically shorter than theses or

dissertations.
Quality and reputation of journals matters. However,
credibility of journals and getting accepted faster is of
prime importance.
Write a list of journals in the area of your research,
and reorganize it according to the journals’ relevance
and quality.
Check if the journals on your list have published on
your specific topic in the past.
Look through your references to see if your sources
come from one or more of the journals on your list.
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 Writing for Journals:Common Instructions and advices. . .

1 Scientific Attitude
▶ Theoretic Investigation
▶ Experiments
▶ Numerical Testing and Simulation
2 Logic
▶ Logical presentation
▶ Good language flow, fluency, . . . ,
3 Structure and Clarity
4 know the readers who wants to
▶ Know the result of the paper to determine to read on..Abstract!
▶ Know intuitively the key ideas behind this paper, how it is derived,
what are the significance and implication, – Introduction!

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 Writing for Journals:Common Instructions and advices. . .

1 Scientific Attitude
▶ Theoretic Investigation
▶ Experiments
▶ Numerical Testing and Simulation
2 Logic
▶ Logical presentation
▶ Good language flow, fluency, . . . ,
3 Structure and Clarity
4 know the readers who wants to
▶ Know the result of the paper to determine to read on..Abstract!
▶ Know intuitively the key ideas behind this paper, how it is derived,
what are the significance and implication, – Introduction!

♢ Summarize the contribution the paper in the

introduction section.
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 Writing for Journals:Common Instructions and advices. . .

1 know the readers who wants to

▶ know all the gory detail, – the whole paper !
2 Cultural (Writing in different languages)
▶ Confidence vs modesty
▶ Responsibility of delivery: “ the responsibility of delivery is on the
writer side, than the reader !”–Western culture.
▶ Language: direct translation doesn’t work !
3 present theories, facts, proof, experiments, testing
objectively:
▶ Avoid, personal feelings, emotions, political/religious comments.
▶ Avoid discrimination related to race, gender, . . . .

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

1. Title Page
The best represention of the paper, Contributions and
unique features.
No waste of words!:
– e.g. “ Study on . . . ”, “Investigation on . . . ,” is waste of
words !

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

1. Title Page
The best represention of the paper, Contributions and
unique features.
No waste of words!:
– e.g. “ Study on . . . ”, “Investigation on . . . ,” is waste of
words !

2. Abstract
Summary in few hundred words
Very important to attract readers
put key ideas, and results.

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

3. Introduction
Motivations and problem description
Academic and industrial impact
Literature review
Show the sate of the art,
cite references available,
Avoid offensive remark . . .

Summary of the main contribution of the paper

Organization of the paper (optional !).

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

4. Problem Descriptions or Formulation

System configuration, Environment,
Definition of all variables, notation, symbols,. . .
Mathematical model and formulation

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

4. Problem Descriptions or Formulation

System configuration, Environment,
Definition of all variables, notation, symbols,. . .
Mathematical model and formulation
5. Methodology
Main ideas to solve the problem.
Theorems and proofs
Descriptions of approach or algorithms
Performance analysis
Unique feature of the method
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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

6. Results of Applications, Experiments or Testing

Describe practical or experimental system
Description of data and associated system
Description of Computer system we used to test the
problem
Presentation of the results: tables, figures, . . .
Applications and benefits (if exists !)

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

7. Conclusions
It is not a repeat of the abstract.
Summarizes our findings.
Concluding remark! (based on the results.)

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

7. Conclusions
It is not a repeat of the abstract.
Summarizes our findings.
Concluding remark! (based on the results.)

8. Acknowledgement
Acknowledge the funding agencies.
Thank individuals. Don’t thank somebody who is not related
to your work!

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

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 Main Sections of a Journal Paper

9. References
list references in appropriate format.
Meet the requirements of the journal.
The format should be consistently.
Have recent references if possible.
Give complete information:
e.g. Name of authors (using et al is not complete),

List appropriate number of references

Don’t list anything that is not refereed to

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 Submission Process

The guidelines of each journal tend to vary across the

following details:
Minimum and maximum length of the article
Referencing
Formatting (includes space, font, margin, headings
etc)
British (or Australian)/American English

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 Assignment-3

Write a research proposal based on a title selected

previously. Include the necessary components of a
research proposal.

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 The End !

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