I'm going to talk about tips for writing a research paper, thesis, or project.
So number one, put two spaces after a period.
Pretty self-evident, but not much fun to correct.
If you don't know that rule that's why i put it as number one indent each paragraph with a tab avoid
using pronouns it they that this there because more often than not the reader
is confused about what you're saying not always but it's better to be safe and clearly state what
you mean instead of saying it say the book instead of saying they say smith and k reported so that
we know who or what you're referring to avoid informal colloquial phrases vernacular jargon
excessive verbiage i've given a few examples the fact that in other words as a matter of fact
theses research papers and projects are long enough so we try to delete words that are
unnecessary and that's what is the basis of number five here for every sentence make sure
that each word counts and if it doesn't add something delete it number six each
paragraph has an introductory or topic sentence followed by examples based on that topic sentence
typically in a research paper you might have the research suggests that this and then you would
follow up with three or four studies a sentence per study representing what that first theme was
in the first sentence number seven when moving from one paragraph to another use connector
sentences so the last sentence of one paragraph should naturally lead you to the next paragraph so
there's a natural flow number eight try to use the active voice academics often use the passive voice
so let's give a look at a couple of examples here the dog which is object bit the boy so
object is before subject that's what we're looking for often what we see is the boy was bitten by
the dog so the subject comes first and then the object which is the path is passive tense it's not
bad it's just something that makes reading a little bit awkward so instead of saying the
research was reported by smith and kay say smith and kay reported so you're trying to
bring the object first as much as possible of course variation is also welcome
number nine in bold very very important when you make any statement you need to
back it up with quality a quality citation or references and preferably multiple references
that's the way academic papers work you can't say anything without backing it up
use commas sparingly number ten so aside from lists a comma is inserted to separate
two independent clauses the students increased their score and the teachers were happy now the
students increase their score is a sentence the teachers were happy is a sentence
so we separate when we have the word and we put a comma and then we put in the second
independent clause that's when you put the comment otherwise you don't need it
data are plural when you words use the word data so you would say the data are not the data is
do not use contractions so you don't use things with this little apostrophe so you would say
were not it is instead of weren't and it's although we don't want you using it too often
when you're using etao which is referring to a number of researchers you you you type in at
et space al period and eg is e e period g period dot
and then a comma or same thing with i dot e dot comma i'll put that in red
that's how you refer to them so don't forget the comma with e g
and i ie label all acronyms fully the first time they appear we don't know
necessarily what those acronyms refer to but it's important that you label them
the first time so that we understand what they are and then you can use the
acronym from then on numbers should always be spelled out numbers should always be spelled out
when they start a sentence or when they represent a value under 10. the key thing is represents a
value so for example you could say grade 3 and use the number 3 because 3 is a label there
it's when the number refers to a quantity that we have to write the words for the number when
the the number is under the value of 10. number 16 avoid strong value judgments
or strong statements in general it's very very difficult to actually prove anything in research
so there usually is just evidence in support of things so you don't use words like there were
only eight successful students or unfortunately not all students passed we don't want to make
those judgments we're just observing so we would say there were eight successful students out of 20
and we would say not all students passed use quotes sparingly so you can quote definitions
that you might be using but don't use quotes to support a point that's a big difference from an
essay which you might use a quote to support a point from a book in this case you don't use
other authors their words to support your points you paraphrase them and then you do use a citation
you can quote participants if the if you are collecting qualitative data and that can be used
to support a point but you don't use long quotes nor do you use experts really to support your
point you use evidence to support your point avoid run-on sentences sentences longer than
four or five uh lines really need to be broken into shorter ones it's so much easier to read
and understand short sentences so if you have a tendency to have a run-on sentence that has that
has about four or five thoughts in that sentence break it up it's just so much easier to read
so related to the value judgment soften your statements in a research paper very
few statements are definitively supported by research so it's important that you tone things
down you don't say this is you say this might be or this there is evidence to support this
the literature review method second section and results section are written in the past
tensed tense be careful you're not saying the current the present tense it's the past tense
all right so those are 20 tips to help you to write a research paper thesis or project