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