Writing research articles involves respecting some academic requirements. According to Pintos and Crimi (2010a), “research articles are composed of several parts: title, abstract, acknowledgements, introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussions, recommendations, references, and appendixes” (p. 27). These steps make the papers organized and tidy, and they guide the readers throughout the article.
However, these requirements are not always fulfilled similarly. Educational articles could be written following the American Psychological Association (APA, 2008) conventions. In contrast, medicine papers could be made respecting the Vancouver System, which presents the academic standards for the field of medicine.
Throughout this paper, two research articles will be compared and contrasted in order to find similarities and differences among them. Both articles will be analyzed taking into account their distinguishing features. Therefore, the purpose of this current study is to compare and contrast these two research papers.
The educational article deals with online distance education (Zhang & Kenny, 2010), and it presents an informative and unstructured abstract (Pintos & Crimi, 2010c). This summary describes what the authors did, and it provides readers with the most important findings. Besides, it consists of one long, unbroken paragraph.
This research article does not contain acknowledgements, but it does have an introduction named background to the study. Within this section, Zhang and Kenny (2010) state essential information to understand the purpose of the study and their need to run research. These authors also provide a literature review which is divided among several headings with the purpose of supporting their point of view.
The methods section introduces five subsections: purpose, research questions, participants, data collection and data analysis (Zhang & Kenny, 2010). As Pintos and Crimi (2010a) have summarized, the word methods is centered at the start of the section, and the subsections are typed at the left margin. This part deals with the aim of research articles, its two research questions as well as how data was collected and analyzed.
This educational paper names the results section with the title findings (Zhang & Kenny, 2010). This part is also divided into several subheadings: previous educational experiences, English language proficiency, life experiences together with socializing in the online environment. Many non native English speakers are cited in this section in order to present the main results (Pintos & Crimi, 2010b).
The discussions section aims at interpreting the research outcomes. For instance, Zhang and Kenny (2010) have claimed that “Mitra had confidence in her command of English but stated that she had difficulties communicating with peers or the discussion board about certain topics” (Discussion, ¶ 3). Though the conclusion could be written together with the discussions, it is placed in isolation in order to summarize the key results.
This research article does not contain recommendations, but it does have references as well as appendixes. The reference section is written respecting the APA (2008) standards. The appendixes section includes three appendixes intended to show how information was gathered (Zhang and Kenny, 2010). The first appendix is an online survey (Appendix A); the second, an email interview questions (Appendix B); and the third, sample telephone/ face-to-face interviews questions (Appendix C).
On the other hand, the medicine article deals with the maternal and paternal age at delivery, birth order, and the risk of childhood onset type 1 diabetes (Stene, Magnus, Lie, Søvik1 & Jones, 2001). This paper contains an informative and structured abstract (Pintos & Crimi, 2010c). It is informative since it presents the results of the research, and it is structured because it consists of bolded headings that represent the main sections of the whole paper.
This academic article does not state acknowledgements above the abstract, though it contains an introduction which is composed of three moves (Pintos & Crimi, 2010a). The first paragraph creates a research space, the second indicates which the gap of the research is and the third occupies the gap by outlining the main purpose of the research. Though this paper does not present a literature review as a separate heading, it does have it implicitly within the introduction section.
The methods section of this research article is not divided into subsections, and its main title is named subjects and methods, which is typed at the left margin. Stene et al. (2001) concentrate on how they have carried out the research. These authors outlined all the steps they follow to run their current investigation.
The results section also presents its main findings, but it does so including two tables which “allow authors to present a large proportion of information in a small amount of space” (Pintos & Crimi, 2010b, p.22). These tables are properly numbered, have individual titles, horizontal lines and specific notes which explain a particular item in the table (Stene et al., 2001).
This research article states the discussions together with the conclusions. Though serious academic writing avoids concluding paragraphs with the phrase in conclusion (Pintos & Crimi, 2010b), this paper does so in order to introduce the conclusion. According to Stene et al. (2001), the research problem has not been solved. They cited that “… the relation between maternal age, birth order, and risk of type 1 diabetes is more complex than previously thought” (Possible explanations for the effect, ¶ 5).
Although this medicine article does not present the acknowledgements below the abstract, it does include them after the discussions section. Acknowledgements are incorporated to thank all the staff and contributors for their help. The references section is not written respecting the APA (2008) conventions, but following the Vancouver referencing system, which establishes the standards required for the field of medicine.
Though both papers seem to have covered nearly all the parts of research articles, they differ in their layouts. Their types of abstracts are different. While the medicine paper includes the discussions section isolated from the conclusion; the educational article incorporates the conclusion together with the discussions. On top of that, the educational research article follows the APA rules, and the medicine fulfills the Vancouver referencing System standards.
References
American Psychological Association (2008). Publication Manual (5th ed). Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010a). Unit 2: The Research Article: introduction, literature review and methods sections. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved July 20, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4691
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010b). Unit 1: Unit 3: The Research Article: results, discussions, and conclusions. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires. Retrieved July 20, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4692
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010c). Unit 1: Unit 4: Research Articles: abstracts. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires. Retrieved July 20, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4693
Stene, L. C., Magnus, P., Lie, R. T., Søvik, O., & Joner, G. (2001). Maternal and paternal age at delivery, birth order, and risk of childhood onset type 1 diabetes: population based cohort study. BMJ, 323 (7309), 369. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7309.369
Zhang, Z., & Kenny, R. F. (2010). Learning in an Online Education Course: Experiences of Three International Students. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11 (1). Retrieved July 20, 2010, from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewArticle/775/1481
lunes, 26 de julio de 2010
viernes, 23 de julio de 2010
Proposal: Motivating young learners to learn English
Motivating young learners to learn English
Natalia Menéndez
CAECE University
Abstract
This study aims at finding indicators of the importance of motivation while students are learning English. This research will be carried out with two groups of learners who attend different state-run schools from two towns called Bordenave and 17 de Agosto. They belong to EPB 2 (Educación Primaria Básica) courses and they are between 10 and 13 years old. Appropriate activities for these groups of students will be implemented in the lessons. Carrying out science experiments, telling stories, listening to songs as well as playing games will be taken into account to motivate learners and make classes more enjoyable. These activities will be selected according to students’ ages, needs and preferences. Apart from that, a continuous observation will take place in order to determine whether the selected activities are beneficial for the students or not. Besides, evaluation will be formative instead of summative, since learners also have two other periods per week with another teacher who carries out formal tests.
Motivating young learners to learn English
Introduction of the study
Motivation places an essential role in language learning. Students’ needs as well as preferences should be met in order to succeed in their attempts to learn a language. Thus, teachers of English are in charge of creating this path towards learning. They are also responsible for planning and carrying out activities that motivate learners in the process of acquiring a second language.
Though motivating students is of paramount importance, teachers do not seem to be aware of this issue. If teachers are not conscious enough of the significance of motivation in their language lessons, language acquisition will not probably take place. They need to be well-informed to start incorporating motivation into their lessons. If teachers work towards including motivation in their classes, students will be able to learn English enthusiastically and effectively.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this research work is to find indicators of why motivating young learners to learn a second language is important. In other words, the aim of this study is why motivation places such an essential role so as to promote language learning.
Rationale
According to Read (1999), “in order to ensure that learning English in the early years is a motivating and valuable part of children’s education, it is essential to adopt an approach which takes account of children’s special characteristics and needs” (p. 33). Among the author’s basic principles, Read (1999) states that motivation is vital, no matter what the teaching context is.
However, keeping students motivated involves much more than playing funny games without setting clear objectives. Thus, “fun should have a role in, rather than just be a feature of children’s education” (Rixon, 1994, p. 33). If games are properly planned, they are so useful and so important because the fun element creates a desire to communicate (Halliwell, 1992).
Discussion
The research questions for this study will be:
_Do activities with real and meaningful contents promote learning?
_Do learners enjoy story-telling?
_Are games, songs and rhymes positive sources that stimulate effective learning?
Delimitations
This current research will be carried out in six 4th, 5th and 6th year courses at two state-run schools in the province of Buenos Aires. Although these schools do not belong to the same town, their ways of working are very similar to each other. The experiential group belongs to a small town called Bordenave. Eighty students attend this school and the majority of them belong to a low middle class. Though EPB 1 (Educación Primaria Básica) students are at school from 1 to 5 p.m., EPB 2 learners are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and they have English lessons four periods of 50 minutes per week.
Limitations
Although these learners have four periods per week, only two of them will be used to run this research. The other two periods are taught by a teacher who tends to be quite grammar-based. Therefore, timing could be a constraint to carry out this research.
Revision of literature
According to Cameron (2001), “children bring to language learning their curiosity and eagerness to make sense of the world. They will tackle the most demanding tasks with enthusiasm and willingness” (p. 246). Therefore, teachers need to take advantage of their eagerness and find strategies of motivating students to learn the foreign language.
“Teachers thus need to examine classroom activities from the child’s point of view in order to assess whether pupils will understand what to do and will be able to make sense of new language” (Cameron, 2001, p. 19). There are many activities that teachers could select in order to make their lessons more interesting and appealing.
One of the activities could be devising tasks which involve a real content such as science experiments. Read (2002) has claimed that if teachers incorporate activities with real content, lessons become more enjoyable and children feel motivated to discover things about the real world.
According to Read (2002), “children’s involvement in purposeful scientific activity, even at the simplest level, can help to promote positive attitudes towards ways of thinking and working that will be invaluable to them both as language learners and as people” (p. 23). Therefore, these activities could help students acquire English.
Incorporating activities with real content in our language lessons encourages learners to use language purposefully. Besides, as the focus is placed on real meaning, language tends to be easily memorable (Read, 2002). According to Halliwell (1992), “through demonstrating by doing and by using sources of understanding other than language the teacher explains even apparently complicated activities in a very simple language” (p. 18).
Another aspect which could be highly motivating is the inclusion of stories in the English lesson. According to Slattery and Willis (2001), children do love stories and feel always eager to listen to them. Thus, reading as well as listening to them could be funny and at the same time, memorable.
According to Cameron (2001), “stories offer a whole imaginary world, created by language, that children can enter and enjoy, learning language as they go” (p. 159). Thus, learning a language through stories is highly effective, and if it is handled properly, it promotes learning.
However, there are some guidelines that teachers should bear in mind before choosing a story book. A good story book for language learning will have interesting characters that children can empathize with, a clear plot which may have a surprise or twist at the end as well as a proper selection of pictures (Cameron, 2001).
Slattery and Willis (2001) have stated the most important reasons for using stories in language classes. Stories could help children imagine what it feels like to be someone else, they could also introduce the child to other cultures and attitudes, and they could be fun, enjoyable and interesting.
Games could also contribute to make lessons more interesting and appealing for second language learners. According to Rixon (1994), concentration, close listening and memory strategies are among the general educational benefits games may promote.
What is more, Rixon (1994) defines fun and games as “all those activities that we loosely think of as involving play and enjoyment” (p. 34). However, teachers should have a specific purpose to carry out games in order to encourage second language learning.
Last but by no means least, songs and rhymes are also a good method of motivating the students in the foreign language classroom. According to Rixon (1994), “primary school language learning should promote the formation of a positive attitude to language learning in general. It should form a good basis for secondary school studies” (p. 35).
Though songs and rhymes encourage students to learn a language, teachers should be careful while selecting them. The structure and vocabulary should remain simple (Halliwell, 1992) as well as easily understood. Songs and rhymes should be chosen taking into account the students’ language level; they should be neither too difficult nor too easy.
Procedures
Participants
Learners who attend two state-run schools. They belong to EPB 2 (4th, 5th and 6th years) courses and they are between 10 and 13 years old. Although both schools are located in different towns, they share similar backgrounds.
Materials
Activities which seem to be interesting and challenging for these groups of students will be implemented in the lessons. Carrying out science experiments, telling stories, listening to songs as well as playing games will be taken into account to motivate learners and make classes more enjoyable.
These activities will be selected according to students’ ages, needs and preferences. Apart from that, a continuous observation will take place in order to determine whether the selected activities are beneficial for the students or not. Besides, evaluation will take place constantly, since learners also have two other periods per week with another teacher who carries out formal tests.
Procedure
The same topics will be taught in both groups. However, the activities that will be used are different. Though the control group will be exposed to communicative activities, the experiential group will undertake more games, stories and songs in order to discover if motivated learners acquire English better than unmotivated students. The control group will have to sit for formal tests. Together with this type of evaluation, both groups will be evaluated constantly, through the teacher’s observation.
Conclusion
This study aims at helping teachers of English to understand the importance of motivation in their lesson. It also incorporates some samples of meaningful activities in which students could be enthusiastic to learn this second language. Therefore, this research paper could be put into practice by all those teachers who find their classes boring and not challenging enough. Their results could be highly helpful to continue going through this issue.
References
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: University Press.
Halliwell, S. (1992). Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. New York: Longman.
Read, C. (1999). Towards whole learning. IATEFL CATS, 33-39.
Read, C. (2002). Simple science. English teaching professional, 23-26.
Rixon, S. (1994). Chapter 3: The role of fun and games activities in teaching young learners. In C. Brumfit, J. Moon & R. Tongue (Eds.), Teaching English to Children: From Practice to Principle (pp. 33-48). London: Thomas Nelson.
Slattery, M., & Willis, J. (2001). English for Primary Teachers. Oxford: University Press.
Natalia Menéndez
CAECE University
Abstract
This study aims at finding indicators of the importance of motivation while students are learning English. This research will be carried out with two groups of learners who attend different state-run schools from two towns called Bordenave and 17 de Agosto. They belong to EPB 2 (Educación Primaria Básica) courses and they are between 10 and 13 years old. Appropriate activities for these groups of students will be implemented in the lessons. Carrying out science experiments, telling stories, listening to songs as well as playing games will be taken into account to motivate learners and make classes more enjoyable. These activities will be selected according to students’ ages, needs and preferences. Apart from that, a continuous observation will take place in order to determine whether the selected activities are beneficial for the students or not. Besides, evaluation will be formative instead of summative, since learners also have two other periods per week with another teacher who carries out formal tests.
Motivating young learners to learn English
Introduction of the study
Motivation places an essential role in language learning. Students’ needs as well as preferences should be met in order to succeed in their attempts to learn a language. Thus, teachers of English are in charge of creating this path towards learning. They are also responsible for planning and carrying out activities that motivate learners in the process of acquiring a second language.
Though motivating students is of paramount importance, teachers do not seem to be aware of this issue. If teachers are not conscious enough of the significance of motivation in their language lessons, language acquisition will not probably take place. They need to be well-informed to start incorporating motivation into their lessons. If teachers work towards including motivation in their classes, students will be able to learn English enthusiastically and effectively.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this research work is to find indicators of why motivating young learners to learn a second language is important. In other words, the aim of this study is why motivation places such an essential role so as to promote language learning.
Rationale
According to Read (1999), “in order to ensure that learning English in the early years is a motivating and valuable part of children’s education, it is essential to adopt an approach which takes account of children’s special characteristics and needs” (p. 33). Among the author’s basic principles, Read (1999) states that motivation is vital, no matter what the teaching context is.
However, keeping students motivated involves much more than playing funny games without setting clear objectives. Thus, “fun should have a role in, rather than just be a feature of children’s education” (Rixon, 1994, p. 33). If games are properly planned, they are so useful and so important because the fun element creates a desire to communicate (Halliwell, 1992).
Discussion
The research questions for this study will be:
_Do activities with real and meaningful contents promote learning?
_Do learners enjoy story-telling?
_Are games, songs and rhymes positive sources that stimulate effective learning?
Delimitations
This current research will be carried out in six 4th, 5th and 6th year courses at two state-run schools in the province of Buenos Aires. Although these schools do not belong to the same town, their ways of working are very similar to each other. The experiential group belongs to a small town called Bordenave. Eighty students attend this school and the majority of them belong to a low middle class. Though EPB 1 (Educación Primaria Básica) students are at school from 1 to 5 p.m., EPB 2 learners are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and they have English lessons four periods of 50 minutes per week.
Limitations
Although these learners have four periods per week, only two of them will be used to run this research. The other two periods are taught by a teacher who tends to be quite grammar-based. Therefore, timing could be a constraint to carry out this research.
Revision of literature
According to Cameron (2001), “children bring to language learning their curiosity and eagerness to make sense of the world. They will tackle the most demanding tasks with enthusiasm and willingness” (p. 246). Therefore, teachers need to take advantage of their eagerness and find strategies of motivating students to learn the foreign language.
“Teachers thus need to examine classroom activities from the child’s point of view in order to assess whether pupils will understand what to do and will be able to make sense of new language” (Cameron, 2001, p. 19). There are many activities that teachers could select in order to make their lessons more interesting and appealing.
One of the activities could be devising tasks which involve a real content such as science experiments. Read (2002) has claimed that if teachers incorporate activities with real content, lessons become more enjoyable and children feel motivated to discover things about the real world.
According to Read (2002), “children’s involvement in purposeful scientific activity, even at the simplest level, can help to promote positive attitudes towards ways of thinking and working that will be invaluable to them both as language learners and as people” (p. 23). Therefore, these activities could help students acquire English.
Incorporating activities with real content in our language lessons encourages learners to use language purposefully. Besides, as the focus is placed on real meaning, language tends to be easily memorable (Read, 2002). According to Halliwell (1992), “through demonstrating by doing and by using sources of understanding other than language the teacher explains even apparently complicated activities in a very simple language” (p. 18).
Another aspect which could be highly motivating is the inclusion of stories in the English lesson. According to Slattery and Willis (2001), children do love stories and feel always eager to listen to them. Thus, reading as well as listening to them could be funny and at the same time, memorable.
According to Cameron (2001), “stories offer a whole imaginary world, created by language, that children can enter and enjoy, learning language as they go” (p. 159). Thus, learning a language through stories is highly effective, and if it is handled properly, it promotes learning.
However, there are some guidelines that teachers should bear in mind before choosing a story book. A good story book for language learning will have interesting characters that children can empathize with, a clear plot which may have a surprise or twist at the end as well as a proper selection of pictures (Cameron, 2001).
Slattery and Willis (2001) have stated the most important reasons for using stories in language classes. Stories could help children imagine what it feels like to be someone else, they could also introduce the child to other cultures and attitudes, and they could be fun, enjoyable and interesting.
Games could also contribute to make lessons more interesting and appealing for second language learners. According to Rixon (1994), concentration, close listening and memory strategies are among the general educational benefits games may promote.
What is more, Rixon (1994) defines fun and games as “all those activities that we loosely think of as involving play and enjoyment” (p. 34). However, teachers should have a specific purpose to carry out games in order to encourage second language learning.
Last but by no means least, songs and rhymes are also a good method of motivating the students in the foreign language classroom. According to Rixon (1994), “primary school language learning should promote the formation of a positive attitude to language learning in general. It should form a good basis for secondary school studies” (p. 35).
Though songs and rhymes encourage students to learn a language, teachers should be careful while selecting them. The structure and vocabulary should remain simple (Halliwell, 1992) as well as easily understood. Songs and rhymes should be chosen taking into account the students’ language level; they should be neither too difficult nor too easy.
Procedures
Participants
Learners who attend two state-run schools. They belong to EPB 2 (4th, 5th and 6th years) courses and they are between 10 and 13 years old. Although both schools are located in different towns, they share similar backgrounds.
Materials
Activities which seem to be interesting and challenging for these groups of students will be implemented in the lessons. Carrying out science experiments, telling stories, listening to songs as well as playing games will be taken into account to motivate learners and make classes more enjoyable.
These activities will be selected according to students’ ages, needs and preferences. Apart from that, a continuous observation will take place in order to determine whether the selected activities are beneficial for the students or not. Besides, evaluation will take place constantly, since learners also have two other periods per week with another teacher who carries out formal tests.
Procedure
The same topics will be taught in both groups. However, the activities that will be used are different. Though the control group will be exposed to communicative activities, the experiential group will undertake more games, stories and songs in order to discover if motivated learners acquire English better than unmotivated students. The control group will have to sit for formal tests. Together with this type of evaluation, both groups will be evaluated constantly, through the teacher’s observation.
Conclusion
This study aims at helping teachers of English to understand the importance of motivation in their lesson. It also incorporates some samples of meaningful activities in which students could be enthusiastic to learn this second language. Therefore, this research paper could be put into practice by all those teachers who find their classes boring and not challenging enough. Their results could be highly helpful to continue going through this issue.
References
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: University Press.
Halliwell, S. (1992). Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. New York: Longman.
Read, C. (1999). Towards whole learning. IATEFL CATS, 33-39.
Read, C. (2002). Simple science. English teaching professional, 23-26.
Rixon, S. (1994). Chapter 3: The role of fun and games activities in teaching young learners. In C. Brumfit, J. Moon & R. Tongue (Eds.), Teaching English to Children: From Practice to Principle (pp. 33-48). London: Thomas Nelson.
Slattery, M., & Willis, J. (2001). English for Primary Teachers. Oxford: University Press.
How to write discussions sections academically (Mid-term exam)
The concept of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is of paramount importance. Its relevance is connected with education. Educators should possess the right competences to be able to implement ICT to their classes. In order to teach students the information and communication tools, teachers need to be familiar with them.
Throughout this paper, an article written by Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo, and Gastaldo (2005) will be analysed. That article deals with how gender, age and type of educational institution influence teacher’s knowledge about different technological resources. What is more, the discussions sections will be described and analyzed in detail.
According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), the discussions section is written after the results section, and it focuses on interpreting the findings obtained in the results section. In the first paragraph, the authors state that primary and secondary teachers lack basic knowledge to work with information technology.
This section describes what has been found using present tenses, such as “Los resultados obtenidos en el estudio nos muestran que el conocimiento que tiene el prefesorado de los recursos tecnológicos, es un conocimiento limitado…” (Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo & Gastaldo, 2005). Present tenses have been used in order to emphasize the fact that this analyse deals with what is actually happening at the time of the research.
The conclusion is written together with the discussions sections. In this particular paper, the authors have asserted that the problem has not been solved. Teachers lack the information tools needed to apply ICT in their classes. Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo and Gastaldo (2005) have claimed that “…los esfuerzos formativos llevados a cabo en relación con TIC todavía no son suficientes…”.
Although serious academic writing avoids concluding phrases such as in conclusion, as a conclusion or its equivalents (Pintos & Crimi, 2010), this article does use this kind of signalling. The conclusion is stated as follows: “Para concluir, este estudio nos permite vislumbrar que los esfuerzos formativos llevados a cabo en relación con las TIC todavía no son suficientes…” (Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo & Gastaldo, 2005).
What actions are to be done together with the authors’ recommendations are specified at the end of the discussions section. It is assumed that in order to incorporate ICT in the classes, teachers should be taught how to work with these new tools. Educators should undergo appropriate formative actions.
This educational as well as technological paper does provide the researchers reasons for the data patterns turning out the way they did (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). The results section indicates that the analyzed teachers are not computer-literate at all, and the discussions section not interprets only those facts, but it also provides readers with some recommendations to grow as better professionals.
References
Almerich, J., Suárez, J. M., Orellana, N., Belloch, C., Bo, R., & Gastaldo, I. (2005). Diferencias en los conocimientos de los recursos tecnológicos en profesores a partir del género, edad, y tipo de centro. RELIEVE, 11 (2), 127-142. Retrieved from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5750
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The Research Article: introduction, literature review and method sections. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Throughout this paper, an article written by Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo, and Gastaldo (2005) will be analysed. That article deals with how gender, age and type of educational institution influence teacher’s knowledge about different technological resources. What is more, the discussions sections will be described and analyzed in detail.
According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), the discussions section is written after the results section, and it focuses on interpreting the findings obtained in the results section. In the first paragraph, the authors state that primary and secondary teachers lack basic knowledge to work with information technology.
This section describes what has been found using present tenses, such as “Los resultados obtenidos en el estudio nos muestran que el conocimiento que tiene el prefesorado de los recursos tecnológicos, es un conocimiento limitado…” (Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo & Gastaldo, 2005). Present tenses have been used in order to emphasize the fact that this analyse deals with what is actually happening at the time of the research.
The conclusion is written together with the discussions sections. In this particular paper, the authors have asserted that the problem has not been solved. Teachers lack the information tools needed to apply ICT in their classes. Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo and Gastaldo (2005) have claimed that “…los esfuerzos formativos llevados a cabo en relación con TIC todavía no son suficientes…”.
Although serious academic writing avoids concluding phrases such as in conclusion, as a conclusion or its equivalents (Pintos & Crimi, 2010), this article does use this kind of signalling. The conclusion is stated as follows: “Para concluir, este estudio nos permite vislumbrar que los esfuerzos formativos llevados a cabo en relación con las TIC todavía no son suficientes…” (Almerich, Suárez, Orellana, Belloch, Bo & Gastaldo, 2005).
What actions are to be done together with the authors’ recommendations are specified at the end of the discussions section. It is assumed that in order to incorporate ICT in the classes, teachers should be taught how to work with these new tools. Educators should undergo appropriate formative actions.
This educational as well as technological paper does provide the researchers reasons for the data patterns turning out the way they did (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). The results section indicates that the analyzed teachers are not computer-literate at all, and the discussions section not interprets only those facts, but it also provides readers with some recommendations to grow as better professionals.
References
Almerich, J., Suárez, J. M., Orellana, N., Belloch, C., Bo, R., & Gastaldo, I. (2005). Diferencias en los conocimientos de los recursos tecnológicos en profesores a partir del género, edad, y tipo de centro. RELIEVE, 11 (2), 127-142. Retrieved from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5750
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The Research Article: introduction, literature review and method sections. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
viernes, 9 de julio de 2010
Writing academic abstracts to summarize Research Articles
Research articles (RAs) consist of introductions, methods, results, discussions as well as conclusions sections. These articles are also composed of abstracts, which are formal summaries of the main papers. In order to write abstracts academically, researchers need to meet some requirements.
However, not all the abstracts share the same characteristics. According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), there are four types of abstracts: informative, indicative, unstructured and structured. Each type has its own features that authors need to take into account to write appropriately.
Along this present paper, four abstracts will be analysed and compared. Although these papers belong to the field of medicine, they do not have the same characteristics. Therefore, their structure, classification as well as linguistic characteristics will be compared in order to find out not only similarities but also differences.
The first analysed RA deals with the use of velanfaxine and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death (Martínez, Assimes, Mines, Dell’Aniello & Suissa, 2010). This is an informative abstract which is heavy on data, looks at the past and describes what the researchers did. For instance, one of the uses of the past tense could be “the use of velanfaxine was not associated with an excess risk of sudden death or near death…” (Martínez et al., 2010, p. 1).
This abstract is structured since it contains bolded headings which identify the main sections of the article. The headings stated by the researchers are named objective, design, setting, participants, results as well as conclusions, and they are summaries of the main sections in the RA.
The objective section states the main purpose of the research and it is placed in order to inform the audience. The design section clarifies what type of study is. The setting section identifies the place where the research took place. The participants section includes all the people who have undergone analysis. The results section describes the main findings and it appears to be as objective as possible. The last section is called conclusions and it aims at interpreting the results of the research.
As regards linguistics features, past tenses together with impersonal passives are used at the most. For instance, Martínez et al. (2010) claimed that “207384 participants were followed-up for an average of 3.3 years” (p. 1). According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), conclusions tend to be written in present. However, this abstract contains a conclusion written in past instead of present in order to refer to this particular research.
The second abstract is similar to the previous paper as regards structure. It deals with non-invasive cardiac stress testing before non-cardiac surgery (Wijeysundera et al., 2010). It is also an informative and structured abstract. However, it contains two more headings named interventions and main outcome measures which add more specific information.
In the objective section, Wijeysundera et al. (2010) stated the main purpose of carrying out this research. They also made reference to the design as well as the setting of the investigation. The participants section consists of all the people included in the research. These researchers also mentioned the interventions they have taken as well as their main outcome measures.
The last two sections of this RA are called results and conclusions. The results section consists of all the findings of the present study. Besides, the conclusions section interprets these results in order to determine the benefits of the research and who the researchers apply to.
Wijeysundera et al. (2010) used past tenses as well as impersonal passives such as “testing was associated with harm in low risk patients” (p. 1). In contrast to the first abstract, the conclusion is written in present and not in past in order to emphasize further applications.
The third abstract refers to the differences in the knowledge of the technological resources in professors (Almerich et al., 2010). It does not seem to resemble the last two abstract formats since it is indicative and does not include specific results. It describes what the researchers intended to do and looks at the future rather than the past. This abstract is unstructured and consists of one long, unbroken paragraph without headings.
As regards linguistic features, this unstructured abstract includes the use of full sentences and the use of impersonal passives, but it is totally written in the present. Apart from this fact, a section called keywords is added below the abstract and it contains the most important words of the RA.
The last abstract to be analysed makes reference to the treatment of hypertension in patients who are 80 years or older (Beckett et al., 2008). It is informative as well as structured. It is informative since it is heavy on data and looks at what has been found along the research, and it is structured because it is divided into four sections: background, methods, results and conclusions.
The background section states the gap between what is already known about the topic in question and what should have to be investigated. The methods section includes how the authors carried out the research. The results section consists of the differences between the active-treatment group and the placebo group. The last section is called conclusions and it interprets the results using hedgings such as “the results provide evidence that...” (Beckett et al., 2008, p. 1).
As the other abstracts do, this summary uses full sentences and impersonal passives such as “fewer serious adverse events were reported in the active-treatment group” (Beckett et al., 2008, p. 1). As for the tense usage, the conclusion is written in present, reflecting further application to other contexts.
The four abstracts belong to the field of medicine and they seem to be concise and objective. Although they do not share the same characteristics, they appear to transmit information appropriately and successfully. According to this preliminary analysis, the four abstracts seem to describe the main texts of the Research Articles in a clear and neat way.
References
Almerich, J., Suárez, J. M., Orellana, N., Belloch, C., Bo, R., & Gastaldo, I. (2005). Diferencias en los conocimientos de los recursos tecnológicos en profesores a partir del género, edad, y tipo de centro. RELIEVE, 11 (2), 127-142. Retrieved from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5750
Beckett, N. S., Peters, R., Astrid, E. F., Staessen, J.A., Liu, L., Dumitrascu, D., et al. Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older. The New England Journal of Medicine 358 (18), 1887/1898. Retrieved from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5754
Martínez, C., Assimes, T.L., Mines, D., Dell’Aniello, S., & Suissa, S. (2010). Use of venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death: A nested case-control study. BMJ, 340 (c249), 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c249
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 4: Research Articles: abstracts. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved from May 22, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4693
Wijeysundera, D.N., Beattie, W. S., Elliot, R.F., Austin, P. C., Hux, J.E., & Laupacis, A. (2010). Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery: Population based cohort study. BMJ, 340 (b5526), 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5526
However, not all the abstracts share the same characteristics. According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), there are four types of abstracts: informative, indicative, unstructured and structured. Each type has its own features that authors need to take into account to write appropriately.
Along this present paper, four abstracts will be analysed and compared. Although these papers belong to the field of medicine, they do not have the same characteristics. Therefore, their structure, classification as well as linguistic characteristics will be compared in order to find out not only similarities but also differences.
The first analysed RA deals with the use of velanfaxine and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death (Martínez, Assimes, Mines, Dell’Aniello & Suissa, 2010). This is an informative abstract which is heavy on data, looks at the past and describes what the researchers did. For instance, one of the uses of the past tense could be “the use of velanfaxine was not associated with an excess risk of sudden death or near death…” (Martínez et al., 2010, p. 1).
This abstract is structured since it contains bolded headings which identify the main sections of the article. The headings stated by the researchers are named objective, design, setting, participants, results as well as conclusions, and they are summaries of the main sections in the RA.
The objective section states the main purpose of the research and it is placed in order to inform the audience. The design section clarifies what type of study is. The setting section identifies the place where the research took place. The participants section includes all the people who have undergone analysis. The results section describes the main findings and it appears to be as objective as possible. The last section is called conclusions and it aims at interpreting the results of the research.
As regards linguistics features, past tenses together with impersonal passives are used at the most. For instance, Martínez et al. (2010) claimed that “207384 participants were followed-up for an average of 3.3 years” (p. 1). According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), conclusions tend to be written in present. However, this abstract contains a conclusion written in past instead of present in order to refer to this particular research.
The second abstract is similar to the previous paper as regards structure. It deals with non-invasive cardiac stress testing before non-cardiac surgery (Wijeysundera et al., 2010). It is also an informative and structured abstract. However, it contains two more headings named interventions and main outcome measures which add more specific information.
In the objective section, Wijeysundera et al. (2010) stated the main purpose of carrying out this research. They also made reference to the design as well as the setting of the investigation. The participants section consists of all the people included in the research. These researchers also mentioned the interventions they have taken as well as their main outcome measures.
The last two sections of this RA are called results and conclusions. The results section consists of all the findings of the present study. Besides, the conclusions section interprets these results in order to determine the benefits of the research and who the researchers apply to.
Wijeysundera et al. (2010) used past tenses as well as impersonal passives such as “testing was associated with harm in low risk patients” (p. 1). In contrast to the first abstract, the conclusion is written in present and not in past in order to emphasize further applications.
The third abstract refers to the differences in the knowledge of the technological resources in professors (Almerich et al., 2010). It does not seem to resemble the last two abstract formats since it is indicative and does not include specific results. It describes what the researchers intended to do and looks at the future rather than the past. This abstract is unstructured and consists of one long, unbroken paragraph without headings.
As regards linguistic features, this unstructured abstract includes the use of full sentences and the use of impersonal passives, but it is totally written in the present. Apart from this fact, a section called keywords is added below the abstract and it contains the most important words of the RA.
The last abstract to be analysed makes reference to the treatment of hypertension in patients who are 80 years or older (Beckett et al., 2008). It is informative as well as structured. It is informative since it is heavy on data and looks at what has been found along the research, and it is structured because it is divided into four sections: background, methods, results and conclusions.
The background section states the gap between what is already known about the topic in question and what should have to be investigated. The methods section includes how the authors carried out the research. The results section consists of the differences between the active-treatment group and the placebo group. The last section is called conclusions and it interprets the results using hedgings such as “the results provide evidence that...” (Beckett et al., 2008, p. 1).
As the other abstracts do, this summary uses full sentences and impersonal passives such as “fewer serious adverse events were reported in the active-treatment group” (Beckett et al., 2008, p. 1). As for the tense usage, the conclusion is written in present, reflecting further application to other contexts.
The four abstracts belong to the field of medicine and they seem to be concise and objective. Although they do not share the same characteristics, they appear to transmit information appropriately and successfully. According to this preliminary analysis, the four abstracts seem to describe the main texts of the Research Articles in a clear and neat way.
References
Almerich, J., Suárez, J. M., Orellana, N., Belloch, C., Bo, R., & Gastaldo, I. (2005). Diferencias en los conocimientos de los recursos tecnológicos en profesores a partir del género, edad, y tipo de centro. RELIEVE, 11 (2), 127-142. Retrieved from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5750
Beckett, N. S., Peters, R., Astrid, E. F., Staessen, J.A., Liu, L., Dumitrascu, D., et al. Treatment of hypertension in patients 80 years of age or older. The New England Journal of Medicine 358 (18), 1887/1898. Retrieved from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=5754
Martínez, C., Assimes, T.L., Mines, D., Dell’Aniello, S., & Suissa, S. (2010). Use of venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death: A nested case-control study. BMJ, 340 (c249), 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c249
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 4: Research Articles: abstracts. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved from May 22, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4693
Wijeysundera, D.N., Beattie, W. S., Elliot, R.F., Austin, P. C., Hux, J.E., & Laupacis, A. (2010). Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery: Population based cohort study. BMJ, 340 (b5526), 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5526
How to include sections in a Research Article
In order to write a research article, writers need to include not only the introduction and methods sections, but also the results, discussion and conclusions sections. According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), results and discussion sections tend to be descriptive in nature. The main difference is that the results section presents the main findings of the research, whereas the discussion section interprets meanings.
However, these central requirements are not met in the same way, because they have been written following different conventions. An educational paper could follow the American Psychological Association (APA) rules, though a medicine article may be written following the Vancouver system since it establishes the standards required for the field of medicine.
Along this present article, a comparative analysis of two articles will be carried. One of the papers belongs to the field of education and the other to the field of medicine. Precisely, their results, discussions and conclusions sections will be analyzed in detail. They will be compared and contrasted following APA conventions.
The results section should be objective, since it should present only the findings of the research. The article on the educational field presents data divided among several subheadings such as journal popularity, journal importance, journal prestige and overall ranking (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009). On the contrary, the medicine article contains two subtitles named preliminary analysis and changes in depression and health (Bessiére et al., 2010).
In both articles, the simple past tense is used since the outcomes that are related to the gaps of the paper are described. An example of this issue could be “experimental action with in-links data returned valuation fluctuations of up to 10 % over a 48-hour period…” (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009, p.6). Another sample in the medicine paper is “those who were more depressed at the time of the first questionnaire were more likely to use the internet for escape and to obtain health resources…” (Preliminary analysis, ¶ 3).
Results’ data was not only summarized by the use of text, but also tables were taken into account. In both articles, tables were used to state specific data obtained along the research. Tables were added to present a large amount of information in a reduced and clarified space. If authors make use of tables, they could present a large proportion of information in a small amount of space.
The educational article contains six tables which are numbered as table 1, table 2 up to table 6. Each table has an individual title which is italized and presented with each word capitalized (with the exception of and, of, for, etc) (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). “Journal Rankings by Editors’ Perception of Prestige” (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009) is a proper example of this issue.
The medicine article has four tables and they are also numbered including the word table and its number. All the tables contain individual titles, though they are not italized and word-capitalized. One example could be “Predicting later depression from prior uses of the internet, controlling for demographics and earlier levels of depression” (Bessiére et al., 2010).
According to the American Psychological Association (2007), vertical lines should not be used in tables, only horizontal lines can be included to separate information and make it clearer for the readers (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). As the articles analyzed do not contain horizontal lines, they tend to respect APA rules. Besides, all the information presented in the tables is also referenced in the text of the paper.
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) indicate specific notes using lowercase letters below the tables. These notes are probably included to make a particular item in the table easier to be understood. Readers may use notes to understand troublesome data within the article. The medicine article does not contain notes to clarify meanings, but a proper title to indicate what the table consists of.
The discussion section is designed to interpret the data obtained by research. It interprets the outcomes (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). The educational article does not include the conclusions together with the discussion section. On the contrary, the medicine article does not present the conclusion section within the discussions. In fact, the conclusion is a subtitle of the discussions’ section, as a part of the interpretation of the results.
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) expand the information presented in the results section. Data is interpreted and analyzed in detail, using the present tenses. One example of this issue is the following: “The 90th percentile contains five journals, each with over 4.85 % share of all CML journal links” (p.13).
In order to describe possibility and advice, the modals may, will and should need to be included. The medicine article makes use of modals in a higher proportion than the educational article. These modals tend to be chosen in order to express probability. An example of the use of modals is the next reference: “Another possible source of depression may come about when people use online health support groups” (Discussion, ¶ 3).
The open sentence of the medicine paper appears to state the goals of the study in order to remind the reader of the aim of the research. On the contrary, the educational article divides the information using subtitles such as journal importance. These subtitles are the same that those included in the results’ section.
In both cases, the limitations of the study are included above the conclusions section. Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) stated the limitations as another section following the results section. However, Bessiére et al. (2010) presented the limitations of the study together with the results section.
The conclusion section restates the main points of the article. This section also suggests why the paper was worth reading. The recommendations are also included in this section. For instance, Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) suggested “We hope this study will encourage like-minded scholars to design and publish rigorous studies…” (p.15).
Along this paper, the results, discussions and conclusions sections were analyzed and compared using two research articles. Both papers present data in an organized way, respecting the order and presentation of the above sections. In general, both articles seem to respect academic conventions, though the educational papers appear to follow APA rules and the medicine paper the Vancouver system.
References
Bessière, K. et al. (2010). Effects of Internet Use on Health and Depression: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 12 (1).
Elbeck, M., & Mandernach, B. J. (2009). Journals for Computer- Mediated Learning: Publications for Computer of Value for the Outline Educator. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10 (3).
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 3: The Research Article: results, discussions, and conclusions. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved April 26, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4692
However, these central requirements are not met in the same way, because they have been written following different conventions. An educational paper could follow the American Psychological Association (APA) rules, though a medicine article may be written following the Vancouver system since it establishes the standards required for the field of medicine.
Along this present article, a comparative analysis of two articles will be carried. One of the papers belongs to the field of education and the other to the field of medicine. Precisely, their results, discussions and conclusions sections will be analyzed in detail. They will be compared and contrasted following APA conventions.
The results section should be objective, since it should present only the findings of the research. The article on the educational field presents data divided among several subheadings such as journal popularity, journal importance, journal prestige and overall ranking (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009). On the contrary, the medicine article contains two subtitles named preliminary analysis and changes in depression and health (Bessiére et al., 2010).
In both articles, the simple past tense is used since the outcomes that are related to the gaps of the paper are described. An example of this issue could be “experimental action with in-links data returned valuation fluctuations of up to 10 % over a 48-hour period…” (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009, p.6). Another sample in the medicine paper is “those who were more depressed at the time of the first questionnaire were more likely to use the internet for escape and to obtain health resources…” (Preliminary analysis, ¶ 3).
Results’ data was not only summarized by the use of text, but also tables were taken into account. In both articles, tables were used to state specific data obtained along the research. Tables were added to present a large amount of information in a reduced and clarified space. If authors make use of tables, they could present a large proportion of information in a small amount of space.
The educational article contains six tables which are numbered as table 1, table 2 up to table 6. Each table has an individual title which is italized and presented with each word capitalized (with the exception of and, of, for, etc) (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). “Journal Rankings by Editors’ Perception of Prestige” (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009) is a proper example of this issue.
The medicine article has four tables and they are also numbered including the word table and its number. All the tables contain individual titles, though they are not italized and word-capitalized. One example could be “Predicting later depression from prior uses of the internet, controlling for demographics and earlier levels of depression” (Bessiére et al., 2010).
According to the American Psychological Association (2007), vertical lines should not be used in tables, only horizontal lines can be included to separate information and make it clearer for the readers (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). As the articles analyzed do not contain horizontal lines, they tend to respect APA rules. Besides, all the information presented in the tables is also referenced in the text of the paper.
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) indicate specific notes using lowercase letters below the tables. These notes are probably included to make a particular item in the table easier to be understood. Readers may use notes to understand troublesome data within the article. The medicine article does not contain notes to clarify meanings, but a proper title to indicate what the table consists of.
The discussion section is designed to interpret the data obtained by research. It interprets the outcomes (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). The educational article does not include the conclusions together with the discussion section. On the contrary, the medicine article does not present the conclusion section within the discussions. In fact, the conclusion is a subtitle of the discussions’ section, as a part of the interpretation of the results.
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) expand the information presented in the results section. Data is interpreted and analyzed in detail, using the present tenses. One example of this issue is the following: “The 90th percentile contains five journals, each with over 4.85 % share of all CML journal links” (p.13).
In order to describe possibility and advice, the modals may, will and should need to be included. The medicine article makes use of modals in a higher proportion than the educational article. These modals tend to be chosen in order to express probability. An example of the use of modals is the next reference: “Another possible source of depression may come about when people use online health support groups” (Discussion, ¶ 3).
The open sentence of the medicine paper appears to state the goals of the study in order to remind the reader of the aim of the research. On the contrary, the educational article divides the information using subtitles such as journal importance. These subtitles are the same that those included in the results’ section.
In both cases, the limitations of the study are included above the conclusions section. Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) stated the limitations as another section following the results section. However, Bessiére et al. (2010) presented the limitations of the study together with the results section.
The conclusion section restates the main points of the article. This section also suggests why the paper was worth reading. The recommendations are also included in this section. For instance, Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) suggested “We hope this study will encourage like-minded scholars to design and publish rigorous studies…” (p.15).
Along this paper, the results, discussions and conclusions sections were analyzed and compared using two research articles. Both papers present data in an organized way, respecting the order and presentation of the above sections. In general, both articles seem to respect academic conventions, though the educational papers appear to follow APA rules and the medicine paper the Vancouver system.
References
Bessière, K. et al. (2010). Effects of Internet Use on Health and Depression: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 12 (1).
Elbeck, M., & Mandernach, B. J. (2009). Journals for Computer- Mediated Learning: Publications for Computer of Value for the Outline Educator. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10 (3).
Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 3: The Research Article: results, discussions, and conclusions. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved April 26, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4692
Academic requirements to write Research Articles
Writing academically has its own requirements. Research articles (RA) are composed of several parts: title, abstract, acknowledgements, introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussions, recommendations, references, and appendixes (Pintos & Crimi, 2010).
Along this article, the introductions’ and literature reviews’ structures as well as the methods sections will be analyzed and compared using two research articles: one on the field of medicine (Bessière et al., 2010), and the other on the field of education (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009).
In Bessière et al.’s article (2010) as well as in Elbeck and Mandernach’s article (2009), the introductions are included after the abstract. Each introduction contains three moves: creating a research space, establishing a niche, and occupying the niche. Writers run research, then they give the reasons for the study, and they occupy the gap they found in the second step (Pintos & Crimi, 2010).
As regards the literature reviews, they are included within the introductions. Bessière et al.’s article (2010) offers complete background information and informs the readers of the benefits and harms using the internet can cause. This article acknowledges the authors by writing a number between brackets. Each number corresponds to an author which is cited in the reference list, meeting the Vancouver system’s requirements.
Elbeck and Mandernach’s article (2009) presents some theoretical background in the introduction, but authors are not mentioned until the subsection called journal ranking, within the introduction. This research article acknowledges the authors using in-text citations as well as references.
After analysing the literature review, it is necessary to establish the niche (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). Authors need to raise questions about the gap they have found after they set the research territory. In both research articles, this move is started with negative openings, such as although and nonetheless, with the purpose of stating a gap found in the area.
Bessière et al. (2010) established the niche when they state that “although some writers have warned about poor quality medical information online [8] and patients’ inability to distinguish poor advice from good advice [10], there are few reports of serious harm [15].” (Health resources online, ¶ 2).
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) claim that “nonetheless, little is scientifically known about the consistency of these publications and their relative worth to online teachers, learners, and scholars. Unlike established academic disciplines, there is neither a definite list nor a value ranking of such journals” (Introduction, ¶ 1).
The third step is called occupying the niche (Pintos & Crimi, 2010) and it describes what the present research is about. In the medicine paper (2010), the niche is occupied at the beginning of the subsection called current study and it starts as “The purpose of the current research was to determine whether using the Internet for health purposes is beneficial or harmful to physical and psychological well-being. We were also interested in whether this association would be moderated by people's health or care-giving status” (Current study, ¶ 1).
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) occupy the niche by stating that “The purposes of this study are outlined as follows: (a) define the scope of computer-mediated learning; (b) identify scholarly journals devoted to computer-mediated learning; and (c) rank the journals independently and collectively based upon popularity, importance, and prestige” (Introduction, ¶ 2).
As regards the Methods’ section, the medicine article (2010) comprises the word methods on the left side, and the education paper (2009) includes it at the centre. The Methods’ section in the former article is divided into two subsections: procedure and participants as well as measures. The latter article contains three subtitles: defining the scope of investigation, journals devoted to CML (Computer-mediated learning) as well as value ranking journals.
As a conclusion, both research articles seem to follow academic writing requirements. Although authors are cited differently, they are acknowledged within the articles as well as in the references. The introductions tend to be properly labelled and they include the three moves: territory, gap and purpose. Finally, the authors outlined sources of data, the collection of data as well as the analysis of data in the methods’ sections.
References
Bessière, K. et al. (2010). Effects of Internet Use on Health and Depression: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 12 (1).
Elbeck, M., & Mandernach, B. J. (2009). Journals for Computer- Mediated Learning: Publications for Computer of Value for the Outline Educator. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10 (3).
Pintos, V., and Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The Research Article: introduction, literature review and method sections. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4691
Along this article, the introductions’ and literature reviews’ structures as well as the methods sections will be analyzed and compared using two research articles: one on the field of medicine (Bessière et al., 2010), and the other on the field of education (Elbeck & Mandernach, 2009).
In Bessière et al.’s article (2010) as well as in Elbeck and Mandernach’s article (2009), the introductions are included after the abstract. Each introduction contains three moves: creating a research space, establishing a niche, and occupying the niche. Writers run research, then they give the reasons for the study, and they occupy the gap they found in the second step (Pintos & Crimi, 2010).
As regards the literature reviews, they are included within the introductions. Bessière et al.’s article (2010) offers complete background information and informs the readers of the benefits and harms using the internet can cause. This article acknowledges the authors by writing a number between brackets. Each number corresponds to an author which is cited in the reference list, meeting the Vancouver system’s requirements.
Elbeck and Mandernach’s article (2009) presents some theoretical background in the introduction, but authors are not mentioned until the subsection called journal ranking, within the introduction. This research article acknowledges the authors using in-text citations as well as references.
After analysing the literature review, it is necessary to establish the niche (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). Authors need to raise questions about the gap they have found after they set the research territory. In both research articles, this move is started with negative openings, such as although and nonetheless, with the purpose of stating a gap found in the area.
Bessière et al. (2010) established the niche when they state that “although some writers have warned about poor quality medical information online [8] and patients’ inability to distinguish poor advice from good advice [10], there are few reports of serious harm [15].” (Health resources online, ¶ 2).
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) claim that “nonetheless, little is scientifically known about the consistency of these publications and their relative worth to online teachers, learners, and scholars. Unlike established academic disciplines, there is neither a definite list nor a value ranking of such journals” (Introduction, ¶ 1).
The third step is called occupying the niche (Pintos & Crimi, 2010) and it describes what the present research is about. In the medicine paper (2010), the niche is occupied at the beginning of the subsection called current study and it starts as “The purpose of the current research was to determine whether using the Internet for health purposes is beneficial or harmful to physical and psychological well-being. We were also interested in whether this association would be moderated by people's health or care-giving status” (Current study, ¶ 1).
Elbeck and Mandernach (2009) occupy the niche by stating that “The purposes of this study are outlined as follows: (a) define the scope of computer-mediated learning; (b) identify scholarly journals devoted to computer-mediated learning; and (c) rank the journals independently and collectively based upon popularity, importance, and prestige” (Introduction, ¶ 2).
As regards the Methods’ section, the medicine article (2010) comprises the word methods on the left side, and the education paper (2009) includes it at the centre. The Methods’ section in the former article is divided into two subsections: procedure and participants as well as measures. The latter article contains three subtitles: defining the scope of investigation, journals devoted to CML (Computer-mediated learning) as well as value ranking journals.
As a conclusion, both research articles seem to follow academic writing requirements. Although authors are cited differently, they are acknowledged within the articles as well as in the references. The introductions tend to be properly labelled and they include the three moves: territory, gap and purpose. Finally, the authors outlined sources of data, the collection of data as well as the analysis of data in the methods’ sections.
References
Bessière, K. et al. (2010). Effects of Internet Use on Health and Depression: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 12 (1).
Elbeck, M., & Mandernach, B. J. (2009). Journals for Computer- Mediated Learning: Publications for Computer of Value for the Outline Educator. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10 (3).
Pintos, V., and Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The Research Article: introduction, literature review and method sections. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4691
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