Principles of research process and

academic writing

By

Dr Essam Al denna
PhD in Sports and Exercise Medicine
Practice 1: What is research?

Practice 2: Why the research?

Practice 3: What do you know about
these?
❖Lab report

❖Assignment

❖Project work

❖Journal article

❖Case report
 Practice 4

What are the differences between these

terms?

to investigate --- to evaluate --- to study --- to

discuss --- to describe --- to explain --- to

recommend --- to review ---- to demonstrate

– to compare
 Key points

❑ Identify what type of task you do

perform is essential

❑ As there is a decreases in the size of the

text, there is increase in the narrowing

and focusing need

 Practice 5

Assignment

Dead line for submission: 10 – 5- 2023

Words count limit : 2500-3000

 Background

Overweight and obesity are considered as a

public health problem. It has different adverse

effects on various systems of the body.

Therefore, the prevention and the

management of the overweight and obesity are

the cornerstone in the preventive medicine. of

 Aims of the assignment

❖ To define overweight and obesity. To

explore the different consequent

complications of them on the various

systems of the body

❖ To illustrate the different strategies of their

prevention to describe in details the mental

❑ What are the components of the text?

❑ What are the inclusion materials for

each component?
To make research more effective and less

time-consuming, you can do three things:

➢ Plan your research before your start

➢ Set up and follow a research schedule

➢ Immediately prepare source information

Determination of the topic
 Practice 6

➢ Discuss the issues facing students new to

university

Q1: What is the instruction word?

Q2: What is the topic

Q3: Generally, you would conduct the

writing process?
 Practice 7

❖ The dramatic increase in student numbers

in higher education has means that teachers

have had to change their teaching methods

and develop new ones. Consider the

implications of this for students

 Practice 8

What is the research statement?

➢ The research statement is the most

important sentence in the work.

➢ If someone asked you, “What does your

paper say?” your answer would be your

thesis statement.
➢ A good research statement usually

includes:

❑ Main idea of the work

❑ The problem of the work

❑ Purpose of the work

➢ The thesis statement is not a fact nor a

question, but your view of the topic and

what you want to say about it

➢ From the thesis, it should be clear what

the paper will do.

➢ It should be understandable and

managable
 Practice 9

What is the research question?

What is the hypothesis?

➢ Once you have a specific topic for your

paper, write your topic as the question

which your paper will answer / hypothesis

to be tested
➢ This is a great way to focus your paper and

your purpose will determine the type of

question that you ask / hypothesis to be

tested

➢ Following criteria should be considered:

1- The question / s should be an

important, relevant, and interesting

2- The question should be simple and

sufficiently specific to be answered

3- The question should be measurable,

and feasible to be worked out

4- Make clear to what extent the

research question has been addressed by

others

5- State the research question, research

aim or hypothesis clearly

 Practice 10

What are the steps in research

process?
 Steps of research process

❖ Make sure what you are planning to conduct

and subsequently to write

❖ Making a literature search and identify your

topic and / or topic’s problem

❖ Formulate the topic’s problem statement

❖ Create the topic’s research question and / or

topic’s hypothesis clearly

❖ Making an extensive literature review

❖ Developing the objectives

❖ Determine a study population

(inclusions and exclusions criteria)

❖ Consider the ethical issues

➢Related to the researcher

➢Related to the participants

❖ Determine the sources of data

collection

❖Determine the methods and tools for

data collection
❖Make a plan for data collection and

its further steps

❖Analyzing the data

❖Presentation of the results

❖Discussion of the results

❖Finalize the writing of your project

❖Submit the thesis / project

Research proposal
❖A research proposal is a simply a structured,

formal document that explains what you plan

to research (i.e. your research topic), why it’s

worth researching (i.e. your justification),

and how you plan to investigate it (i.e. your

practical approach).
❖The purpose of the research proposal is

to convince your research supervisor,

committee or university that your research

is suitable and manageable

❖A good dissertation or thesis proposal needs

to cover the “what”, the “why” and the “how”

of the research
 What

❖Your proposal needs to clearly articulate

your research topic. This needs to

be specific and unambiguous. Your research

topic should make it clear exactly what you

plan to research and in what context

 What

❖you need to indicate what makes the research

is unique? What gap in the current literature

does it fill? what value will it add to the world

if you manage to find answers to your research

questions?
 How

➢ How will you undertake your research?

➢ Is your research design appropriate for

your topic?

➢ Is your plan manageable given your

constraints (time, money, expertise)

Some important questions you’ll need to

address in your proposal:

➢ Will you take a qualitative or quantitative

approach?

➢ Will your design be cross-

sectional or longitudinal?
➢ How will you collect your data

(interviews, surveys, etc)?

➢ How will you analyse your data (e.g.

statistical analysis, qualitative data

analysis, etc)?
 How is a research proposal structured?

There are eight “essential ingredients” that

typically make up the structure of a research

proposal:

1. A descriptive title or title page

2. A rich introduction and background to the

proposed research

3. A discussion of the scope/limitations of the

research

4. An initial literature review covering the key

research in the area

5. A research question / s and / or Hypothesis

or both

6. Aim/ s and objectives

7. A discussion of the proposed research

design (methodology)

8. Time frame
Academic writing
❖ Collected information should serve the

purposes of the task

❖ In academic writing: it is not good to state

something without evidence (citation)

❖ Define citations – what are their types?

 8 principles to be considered

➢ Clear Purpose: persuasive – analytical and

informative

➢ Reader Engagement: flow – fluency -

sequence

➢ Clear Point of View

➢ Focus and logical Organization

➢ Strong Support and Effective Use of

literature

➢ Clear and Complete Explanations

➢ Writing Style: lay out – grammar -

structure

➢ Follow the instruction o the guide and the

instructor
➢ In academic writing, follow the principle

of the funnel shape

➢ In the funnel shape, as you go down, as

you go more deep, focused, and

concentrated
What distinguishes academic writing from other

forms of writing?
 Objectivity

➢ Academic writing should be objective and

therefore needs to be written in the third

person (i.e. ‘it is thought that . . .’).

 Criticality

➢ Academic writing exhibits criticality.

➢ In other words, in academic writing, you are

doing something more than just describing a

topic or imparting information; you are using

that information by analysing it in relation to a

question,
➢ In academic writing you are using that

information by weighing it up against other

information, evaluating its importance or

validity, and integrating it into your own

argument.
 Formal English

❑ Academic writing is written using formal

English.

❑ Formal English does not include colloquial

words or phrases
 Clear focus

❑ Effective academic writing is also

characterised by being sharply focused on the

question.

❑ Academic writing is more purposive than

discursive
 Effective structure

❑ Academic writing should be structured

effectively.

❑ The content of a piece of academic writing is

well organised and accessible

Writing style
1- Structure and lay-out

2- Page numbering

3- The chapters and sections: reflect the

global structure of a text – headings - sub

headings - sub subheadings

4- Syntax: arrangement - grammar - composition

- sentence structure - word order - language rule

5- Connect your sentences by using the sentence

connectors (linking words)

6- Use of words: the use of dynamic, precise,

clear, and simple words makes your text more

comprehensible and readable

7- Avoid informal or spoken language in scientific

texts
8- Use key words consistently Particularly in

paragraphs in which you define or identify an

important idea or theory, be consistent in how

you refer to it
9- The accurate use of the tense

➢ Simple present: is in general used to describe

an action that occurs now or on a regular basis

➢ Past tense: emphasizes the completed nature of

a past activity or event

➢ Present perfect tense: is used to describe

unfinished actions that started in the past and

continue to the present.

➢ Its use is limited to the introduction , literature

review to indicate that research in the area is

still continuing or still has immediate

relevance.
10- Passive voice

➢ Passive voice emphasizes what was done and is

generally conceived to be more objective

➢ It seems to be more scientific

➢ It is also considered to be impersonal, wordy,

and often boring.

 11- Paragraphs

❖ Are the smaller units of a text

❖ The topic of the paragraph becomes

manifest in the first or last sentence of a

paragraph.

❖ This sentence is also called the topic

sentence.
❖ To establish coherence within a

paragraph, make sure that each sentence

is related to this topic sentence.

❖ This can be achieved by repeating key

words or phrases or using parallel

structures or linking words

Practice 11: What are the standard

components of any written work?

Practice 12: Organize the parts of a

written project work?

Appendices – title page – abstract –

references – results – list of contents –

discussion – conclusion – list of figures –

Introduction – Method - Review of

literature- limitations – Abbreviations –

Acknowledgments – list of tables –

conclusion
✓ All reports have a number of commonly

recognised components; these are

✓ The beginning

✓ The middle

✓ The end
Practice 13: What are the elements of:

✓ The beginning

✓ The middle

✓ The end
 The beginning

❖ Title page

❖ Summary or abstract

❖ Acknowledgments
❖ Contents

❖ Glossary

❖ Introduction
 The middle

❖ Main body

❖ This include subheading and

substructures

❖ Review of literature, methods, results and

discussion are components of the middle

 The end

❖ Limitations

❖ Conclusions

❖ Recommendations

❖ References and / or Bibliography

❖ Appendixes
The order of the steps while working in the

project shouldn’t be similar the order of

the chapters for binding of the thesis for

its submission
 Practice 14

What is the first chapter to be read

But

the last chapter to be written?

 Practice 15

What is the first chapter to be written?

 Practice 16

How to make notes and collect an

information?
❖ An important part of the research and

planning process is taking notes of the

information and ideas that you find.

❖ As you read a source, marking and writing

down the important things that you read

will help you to remember them and

understand them better

 Where to take notes ?

❖ On photocopies or printed Internet

documents

❖ On a computer file

❖ In a notebook

❖ On note cards
Practice 17: Define

Plagiarism

Quotations

Rephrase

Citation
 Plagiarism

❖ using someone else's text without

acknowledgment.

❖ plagiarism, whether you meant to do it

or not. For students, plagiarism often

means a failing grad

 To avoid plagiarism

❖ Write in your own words and refer

adequately to the literature

❖ Do not copy entire phrases/paragraphs

from existing texts

 Quotation

❖ is the repetition of one expression as part

of another one, particularly when the

quoted expression is well-known or

explicitly attributed by citation to its

original source,

❖ it is indicated by quotation mark

 Rephrase

➢ To say or write something again in a

different and usually clearer way

➢ express (something) in a different way

especially to make the meaning clearer

 Citations

1- Harvard

➢ The previous studies showed that there is

no effect of exercise on the mental stress

response (Gladwell et al 2017, and

Alamari 2018)
 Citations

2- Vancouver

➢ The previous studies showed that there is

no effect of exercise on the mental stress

response (1,2).
Review of literature
➢ Golden chapter in the work

➢ It does provide detailed overview about

research topic

➢ It is the starting point in the work in order

to build a background about the topic

➢ It is an essential chapter to make a

mind mapping and create the library

of the work

➢ Writing in headings and subheadings

and sub-sub headings is allowable and

quite preferable
➢ The use of linking words, rephrasing the

statements are vital key components of

this chapter

➢ Don’t forget the citation while writing

this chapter
linking words
 Practice 18

➢What are the linking words?

➢Enumerate them and how they are used

Sources of information
➢ Books

➢ Journals

➢ Chapter from books

➢ Websites
Collection of information
❑ Information can be collected by one or

more of these methods:

➢ Experimentation

➢ Questionnaire
➢ Interview

➢ Letter

➢ Telephone call

➢ Search on the internet

 Don’t forget

Collected information depends on the topic

and / or its related research question and

hypothesis
General instructions
 Before starting the written task

➢ Look at any instructions have been given

about the task

➢ Consider the assessment criteria while you are

planning to start
➢ Ask friends in your subject area to see

the previous written tasks; try to work

out why they got the grade that they did

➢ Keep in touch with your tutor and ask

for examples of poor / good written

works
 Practice 19

When you have collected and evaluated

your information, what are the elements

of the checklist that needs to be

evaluated?
 When you have collected and evaluated

your information, use the checklist below

✓ Relevant to the topic?

✓ Relevant to your aims?

✓ Relevant to your reader?

✓ Up to date?

✓ Accurate?

✓ Correctly referenced?

✓ Supported by evidence?

✓ Necessary?

✓ Evaluated for opinion or bias?

Title
➢ Title should be clear, concise, relevant and

shouldn’t be similar to another work

➢ Providing a subtitle is a good way of

providing more details about the contents

➢ It should be the most prominent words in the

task
➢ It should be as precise as possible, contain

some key words about the topic

➢ It should reflect the general field of the

paper
Title page
Insert title page
❖ Every written paper should have a title

page that tells the reader or any body

else what the report is about

❖ A good title page will include the

following information
✓ The title

✓ The name and logos of the organization

who authorised the report

✓ The name of author(s) and his/her/ their

position of the author(s) within the

organization

✓ The date of the issue of the report

Summary or abstract
✓ The abstract briefly summarizes the

context, research aim or question,

methods and materials, main findings

and conclusions

✓ It should inform the reader about the

highlights of your work

➢ It has two functions:

❖ Does provide a precise of what the

recipient is about to read or has just read

❖ To provide an outline of the report if the

recipient is not going to read the entire

report
✓ It does highlight the background, aim,

method, results main conclusions

✓ It should be concise - shouldn’t be more

than one page - the usual no is 250 or 300

✓ Don’t introduce any matter which is not

covered within the text of the report

First paper to be read

But

The last to be written

How to write an abstract

and what is the lay out

of its presentation?
 Structured Vs non structured

Almost, the structured abstracts are more

favourable for the writers

List of Contents
➢ It is essential component of any scientific

work

➢ It should be on a separate sheet of paper

➢ It should list the various sections of the

report in order in which they appear

➢ The headings on the contents page should be

identical to those used in the text

➢ The headings on the contents must be identical

with appropriate page (and/or) paragraph

number alongside them

➢ Page numbering should be simple and consistent

Practice 25
Practice 25
list of figures and list of

tables
Glossary
✓ It is necessary when you have used a good deal of

specialised or technical vocabulary

✓ Make sure your definitions are up to date and

precise

✓ List the words alphabetically and place it at the

beginning
Ethics and study forms
 Practice 20

You are involved in the study at lipid

clinic about the complications of the

hyperlipediemia on the various systems of

the body. What are essential forms you

do need in order to conduct this work?

❖ Information sheet

❖ Risk assessment form

❖ Ethical approval sheet

❖ Consent form
❖ Information sheet

❖ Risk assessment form

❖ Ethical approval sheet

❖ Consent form
Methodology
 Materials and methods

❖ Study area: location

❖ Period of the study: interval

❖ Participants: age – sex – occupation –

education – other information

❖ Inclusion and exclusion criteria

❖ Type of study: descriptive – case control-

cross sectional ………etc

❖ Tools and procedures: trade name –

manufacture – date of manufactory

❖ Protocol: all the steps in details

❖ Data analysis: procedure – package used

 Practice 21

True or false

Methodology chapter is written in review

study research work

 Practice 22

Why methodology chapter should be

written in review study research work

 ❖ Methodology chapter is written in review

study research work

Consider:

1- Sources: Journals - websites

2- Key words

3- Limited to humans or both humans and

animals were involved

4- No of full texts have been used

5- No of abstracts

6- No of English Language texts – translated

ones
Results
 Practice 23

What are the types of data?

Quantitative: How much (continuous – discrete)

Qualitative :what type (nominal – ordinal)

 Quantitative

Discrete: number of children – number of

asthma attacks per week

Continuous: blood pressure – height - age

 Qualitative

Nominal (unordered): sex– blood group

Categorized (ordinal): pain level and intensity-

grade of breast cancer

 Practice 24

How to present the results in an

academic paper?
 Presentation of Qualitative data

1- Tables form: to classify them in to categories

and then count the number of observations in

each category of the variable and present the

numbers and percentage in a table.

 .

2- Graphical form:

A- Bar chart: with nominal data, the bars may be

in any order that seems sensible to research, but

with ordinal data they should be arranged from

lowest to highest
B- Pie chart : Sectors of a circle ,with areas

proportional to class frequencies , used to present

data in nominal classes.

 Presentation of Quantitative data

1- Frequency tables form: The variable may be

classified into group intervals. The number of

intervals should be reasonable. A table of this

kind is called a frequency distribution

 Presentation of Quantitative data

1- Histogram: Replace the bar charts

2- Frequency plygone
➢ Results is the chapter of the main

outcomes of the study obtained according

to the methods section

➢ There is no interpretations about the

results in this chapter

➢ The interpretation may be subject to

discussion
➢ Title of the figure is below

➢ Title of the table is above

➢ Don’t insert the figure of the table before

its presentation

➢ Significance marks

➢ No of the candidates
Discussion
 Discussion

❖ Chapter of argument – discussing

advantages and disadvantages –

comparison – evaluation of causes or

effects – evaluation of problems

❖ The structure should be logic, and

acceptable

❖ It should discuss the results and make an

argument where it is needed

❖ It should mention the previous results

and make a comparison

❖ In the discussion, you give

interpretations of your results by relating

and comparing them to each other

❖ As well, interpret the results by putting

them in a broader context of the

literature (what did others find that

relate to your subject?)

❖ You should also discuss the consequences

of your findings for the aim/research

question/hypothesis (do the outcome

support or oppose the hypothesis?

❖ It is preferred to write it in a form of

headings and subheadings and sub sub

headings way

❖ Expression of opinions should be in a

tentative language
 ➢ It is possible that

➢ It is likely that / assumed that

➢ It is probable that

➢ It is unlikely that

➢ It is improbable that

➢ These findings suggest that

➢ These findings suggest that

Conclusions
➢ Should link what you were trying to do as

stated in the introduction with your

findings as presented in the main body

➢ Should flow naturally from the main body

evidences and arguments

➢ No surprises in conclusions should be

obtained

➢ Conclusions should always be:

✓ Clearly and simply stated

✓ Objective and not exaggerated

✓ Written with the likely impact on the

reader clearly in mind

Limitations
❖ Identifying the limitations are of importance

to illustrate weakest points in the work that

might influences that results

❖ Moreover, is to draw the recommendations

for the future work

❖ Limitations should be inserted at the end of

the discussion but before the conclusion

Recommendations
✓ Recommendations look to the future; so

any comment not concerned with the

future has no place as recommendation

✓ Recommendations should follow

logically from your conclusions; no

surprises
✓ Should be concise, specific, realistic and to

the point

✓ Read the recommendation in isolation and

they should make sense

✓ If not making sense, re-draft the

recommendations again until they do

Introduction
❖ It is the section that tells the reader what

it is all about

❖ A good introduction should include

every thing that the readers will need to

know before moving on to the main

body
❖ In the introduction, you indicate:

➢ what has been studied

➢ why it has been studied

➢ how it has been studied.

❖ Certain essential preliminaries in the

introduction should be available: aims

and scope; the aims should be clarified

very well
 Introduction contains

1- The background of the study

2- Problem statement

3- Research question or hypothesis

4- Aim of the study

5- An outline of the approach take

❖ The scope of the work should link

between the theory background,

previous research work, your

approach based on your hypothesis or

a research question(s)
❖ The background tells the story how

you have come up with your research

question.

❖ It includes a literature review to make

clear to what extent the question has

been addressed by others

❖ The background in introduction

usually ends with a problem statement

that sets the scene for your specific

question
❖ Research question that will be

answered in your thesis or paper

should be stated in the first sentence

of the subsequent paragraph

❖ To formulate a good question, some

considerations should be followed

The first chapter to be read

But

the last chapter to be written

Appendixes
 Appendixes are useful as a way of

➢ Some people will need to refer to them

➢ Amplifying and/or substantiating findings in the

main body

➢ Presenting documentary evidence to support

arguments in the main body

✓ Presenting detailed results of experiments or

investigations and summaries of results obtained

elsewhere

✓ Presenting statistical or comparative information

✓ Illustrate relationships or relative proportions by

means of charts or diagrams

✓ Explaining systems or procedures by flow charts

and / or words

➢ An appendix is useless unless it is clearly referred

to in the main body of the text and in contents

page

➢ Tell the readers why they may wish to refer to it

References
✓ It provides all information about books, or

journals or websites which have been specifically

mentioned in the text, or from which extracts

have been quoted

✓ How to write the book, a chapter from book,

journal, and website? How to organise them?

Bibliography
✓ Gives full details of every publication

referred to in the text; Unlike reference

section, it may also include books and

journals not referred to

✓ It does include further and recommended

readings
Summary
 Summary

✓ Failure to prepare is prepare to fail

✓ Build your vocabulary and have a good

language

✓ Learn the linking words and their uses

✓ Determine your purposes of the task

precisely

✓ Making a mind mapping is crucial for you to

perform the work successfully

✓ Determine the sources of information, and

thereby the methods of collection

✓ Planning and preparing the components, their

headings and subheadings of the task is

important

✓ Follow the common academic standards and

principles in your writing

✓ After the first draft, re-read the work

and subsequently re-write it again (proof

reading)

✓ To be an effective researcher and

writer, keep reading and writing

 Thanks

[email protected]

0916163381- 0923611948

F.B: Essam aldenna