UNIT VI: Drawing Conclusions and Formatting the Research Paper

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

Meaning of Conclusions

 Conclusion is a type of inferential or interpretative thinking that derives its validity, truthfulness, or
reasonableness from your sensory experience.
 Touching, seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling things around you lead to a particular conclusion about each of
those experiences.
 The results of your sensory experience are factual data to support the truthfulness of your conclusions.

Drawing Conclusions

 In your research work, your next move after analyzing the data you have gathered is drawing conclusions.
 This makes you form conclusions that arise from the factual data you encountered and analyzed.
 Any conclusions drawn or deduced by you from facts or statements resulting from logical thinking rather than
from another assumption, prediction, or generalization are the only ones included in the conclusion section of your
research paper. (Decilo 2014)
 Any conclusion that you give about what you found out through your analysis of the data you collected is a
“warranted conclusion”, which explains how the evidence or findings resulting from your data analysis stands to
prove or disprove your conclusion.
 And, by and large, the best kind of proof back up your conclusion is one that is factual and logical or given by
correct reasoning.

 Downplaying, much less, excluding warrants from this section of your paper reserved specifically for stating
conclusions about your findings makes your readers cast doubts about the credibility or genuineness of your
conclusions. (Thomas 2013,38)

 Research is about discovering things and engaging yourself in an exchange of theoretically supported ideas with
those in the academic world.
 And you state all your discoveries in the conclusion section of your research paper.
 But it is not merely making your conclusions visible in your paper, but also making these related with the claims
or arguments of varied research studies and written works you’ve subjected to your RRL or review of related
literature.
 Creating a link between your discoveries and your review of related literature indicates the ability of your paper to
expand or enhance any existing knowledge about your research study. (Harding 2013)

 Thinking of research as the means by which you, as a member of academic institution, debate or argue with
others on some principles in any area of knowledge, you have to write the conclusion section of your paper with
conviction.
 Convinced of the validity of your findings to prove your conclusions, you must confidently state how your
conclusions work to debunk or contradict existing theories, correlative assumptions, and published works.
 Conversely, your conclusions must obviously provide sufficient evidence to justify their alignment with or its
support for recent theories and research findings.
 Most importantly, your conclusions must present your judgment of the truthfulness of your findings and your
assessment of their capacity to answer either positively or negatively your research hypotheses or research
questions. (Silverman 2013; Morgan 2014)

Pointers in Writing Conclusions

1. Explain your point in simple and clear sentences.

2. Use expressions that center on the topic rather than on yourself, the researcher.

3. Include only necessary items; exclude any piece of information or picture not closely related to your report.

4. Have your conclusion contain only validly supported findings instead of falsified reports.

5. Practice utmost honesty and objectivity in stating the results of your critical evaluation of outcomes that you
expect to support your conclusions.

REPORTING AND SHARING THE FINDINGS

Meaning of Reporting and Sharing the Findings

 The findings of your research are meant to be reported to or shared with others because your primary aim is to
strengthen existing knowledge or discover new ones for the improvement of the world.
 Hence, you have to bring your findings out to the readers in a way that you must communicate things you
procedurally performed and things you found out through your principled data collecting and analysis methods.
 Your report about the findings of your research study must adhere to a standard structure or format that has the
following elements: (Corti 2014; Braun 2013; Remlen 2011)
Structure or Format of the Research Report

1. Title

 The title gives information and description of the subject matter of the research.
 Being the short catchy part of your paper that has the power to instantly attract a reader, it must contain
keywords to predict the content and tone of the research paper.
 An attention-getting kind of a title is short, informative, made up of only 15 to 20 words.
 Owing to this essential role of a research title, you must think of one that is meaningful, specific, and
reflective of the standards of writing research titles like: the title is not a sentence; not all capitalized; and
not negative in tone.
 In addition, jargons and acronyms are a big no-no to research title writing.

2. Abstract

 The abstract concisely discusses the essential aspects of your paper such as the background of the
problem, objectives, significance, research design, data collection technique, data analysis method,
discussions of the findings, scope, conclusions, among others. Giving 100- to 150-word discussions of the
salient parts of the research paper, your abstract suffices as the summary of your research report.
 Since an abstract explains in a nutshell all essential components of the research paper, it usually comes to
its written form only after the final stage of the research work.

3. Introduction

 This part explains the background of the research problem, states a set of specific research questions,
and of optional hypotheses or assumptions.
 The purpose of this section is to let the readers see the connection of the purposes of your research
questions not only with current world condition, but also with theoretical principles that underlie your
topic and other aspects of your research.

4. Method

 This section explains the types and sources of data as well as the method you used in collecting and
analyzing the data you have gathered.
 Doing this part accurately enables the readers to determine how objective and ethical you were in
conducting the research and how possible it could be for them to replicate your research study for
validation purposes.

5. Findings

 Present as findings of your study those that you have analyzed and commented on.
 The several ways of doing this: by means of graphical presentation, statistical method, or written
discussion.

6. Discussion and Conclusion

 Findings resulting from thematically or theoretically gathered analyzed data with the capacity of leading
you to a valid conclusion are explained in this section.
 Any conclusions stated in this part of the paper derive their validity or truthfulness from factual or logically
determined data. Also, such conclusions become valuable as they are able to answer the specific research
questions and render any research hypotheses or assumptions right or wrong.

7. Recommendations

 To broaden the readers’ knowledge and understanding of the area covered by the research, recommend
or let the readers positively consider some activities they can possibly do to extend, modify, replicate, or
validate the findings of your research work.

8. References

 Follow a standard documentary style.

 Alphabetize, identify, and list down in this section all sources of knowledge you used in carrying out your
study.

9. Appendix

 This contains copies of table, questionnaires, interview rates, observation checklist, and other materials
that are indispensable or necessary in completing your research study.

Referencing Your Research

 Referencing your research means directing your readers to the exact sources of data or information stated in your
report, particularly those stated in the review of related literature.
 This is easy for you if the moment you collect data, you begin practicing a systematic, accurate, ad compete
recording of the identities of the sources of data.
 Unmindful of proper referencing of your research causes the readers to question the genuineness of the contents
of your paper.
 There are several styles of referencing your research, namely, Harvardian, Vancouver, Turibian, APA, and MLA.
(Silverman 2013; Litchman 2013; Tracy 2013)
APA Style

 The APA (American Psychological Association) is also called Author-Date Style.

 This is often used by researchers in the field of natural science and social sciences.
 The APA style uses space and time; MLA not much.
 However, nowadays, for economic reasons, more and more researchers, regardless of their area of specialization,
prefer to use the APA style.
 There are two parts of the APA referencing style that are essential: in-text citation or citation and reference list.
 The first part, which is enclosed in parentheses, is found in the body of the text; the second part, at the end of
the book.
 In contrast to the MLA style that gives complete biographical information in the footnotes or endnotes, the APA
style gives only brief information in the text citation, but gives the full biographical details in the reference list.

 Under the APA system, the items in the References are arranged alphabetically.
 You do not need to number them.
 For each entry under the title, References, write the book information in this order : full author’s surname and
first name and middle name initials (optional, middle name initial), date of publication, title of the book or
periodical, place of publication, and the publisher.
 If there are several entries written by the same author, to avoid repetition of names, use a 3 em dash in place of
the first name.
 Use the following punctuation marks for every entry under the APA system: period after the author’s name and
title; colon after the place of publication; comma after the publisher and after volume and number if it is a
periodical material.
 End every entry with a period.
 Italicize the title and capitalize only the initial word of the title.
 Unless a word in the title is a proper noun, all words in the title are written in small letters.
 For periodicals, enclose the title of the article with quotation marks but underline the title of the periodical.
 Citations or in-text citations under the APA system make you write inside the parentheses only the family name of
the author; followed by the year of publication, and if some words were copied verbatim; next is the number of
the page where the copied words of the author are found.
 Another APA style of citation is writing the family name of the author separately from the copyright date.
 In this case, only the date is enclosed in parentheses. (Russel 2013; Burns 2012)

Examples of APA Referencing Style

1. Citation or In-Text Citation

(Lizardo, 2016) (Millares, 2017)

(Decena, Obeza, Jurado, 2016, pp. 120-130)

(Fortun et al., 2016)

According to Gregorgio (2017)

Olivares (2016) maintains that…

A study on the Yolanda Tent House is a “doable research work”

(Aquino, 2016, p.78)

2. Bibliography/References
 One Author
Fajardo, J. A. 2016. The Ebola Virus. Quezon City: GB Press.

Perez, B. M. 2017. The Philippine Constitution: The highest law of the land. Manila: Adarna Publishing House.

 Two Authors
Oropesa, N. C. and David, J. L. 2017. Palawan penal colony. Baguio City: KLM Company.

Reynoso, M. R. and Saballa, J. M. 2017. Academic freedom. Manila: National Bookstore.

 Three Authors (List the names in order they appear on the title page.)
Revilla, C. A., Bautista, C. C., and Vinuya, G. F. 2017. Boy scout jamborees. Pasay City: ABC Press.

Manaloto, J. D., Gracia, B. C., and Ferrer, S. V. 2017. The victims of super-typhoon Yolanda. Quezon City: Abiva
Publishing House.

 Three or More Authors (Use the name of the first author listed on the title page.)
Sonora, E. N. et al. 2016. Regional trial courts. Quezon City: Rex Bookstore.

Sevilla, V. et al. 2016. Labour strikes. Pasig City: Hope Press.

 Anonymous Author (If the authorship of a work is known but not revealed on the title page, the name is given
in brackets )
[Valerio, E.]. The millennium condominium craze. 2016. Nowhere: Nonesuch Press.

[Valderon, L.]. Non-verbal language. 2016. Nowhere: Nonesuch Publication.

(If the identity of the author is guessed, a question mark follows the name before the closing bracket.)

[Valerio, E.?] The millennium condominium craze. Nowhere: Nonesuch Press.

 Editor, Translator, Compiler

 Pareja, G. f. 2016. ed. Pacquiao’s lucky charm. Manila: PH Press.

Orosa, L. F. 2016. comp. Merging of banks. Quezon City: Abiva Publishing House.

Floro, J. S. 2016. Students’ activities. trans. Makati City: Rex Press.

 Editor, Translator, Compiler with an Author

Lauriano, G. F. 2016. Language textbook writing. Edited by Gina Alamares and Ching Cortez. Manila: PH Press.

Bravo, Luisa F. 2016. Faculty Evaluation System. Compiled by Baby Lapid. Quezon City: Abiva Publishing House.

Clemente, J. S. 2016. Pope Francis’ papal visits. Translated by Carina Davalos. Makati City: Rex Press.

 Organization, Association, or Corporation as Author

International Monetary Fund, 2008. Survey of Asian Economies. Vol. 6, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and
Philippines New York International Monetary Fund.

 No Ascertainable Publication Facts

Pamona, L. The rise and fall of the Marcos regime. (n.p., n.d.)

Soriano, D. Western law schools. (n.p., n.d.)

 Popular Magazines
Salvador, M. March 2016. “The Chinese Dishes,” Panorama, pp. 23-26.

Olarte, A. May 8, 2016. “Catholicism in Asia.” World Mission, p. 8.

 Newspaper
Abad, C. S. “Gated subdivisions in Caloocan City,” 2016. Philippine Daily Inquirer. 7 May.

Manila Bulletin. 2017. Editorial, 2 December.

Malaya. 2016. Editorial, 18 July.

 Interviews
Ballesteros, F. April 2016. “K-12 curriculum: Interview with Felicitas Ballesteros.” April 2016. Interview by
Anabelle De La Cruz. The Manila Bulletin.

Templo, E. May 2017. “High-school dropouts: Interviews with Dr. Juan Barrameda.” Interview by Lucy Amarillo.
The Daily Tribune.

 Theses, Dissertations, and Other Unpublished Works

Villarica, R. D. 2016. “Contemporary Language Theories.” Ph. D. diss., U.P. Diliman.

Corpuz, D. G. 2017. “The UST faculty evaluation system: Critical Analysis.” M.A., UST.

 Slides and Film’s Videocassettes

Gaudencio, K. C. 2016. “Family Planning.” Quezon City: Palmall Press. Slides.

Arenas, E. A. 2017. “Philippine Rental Laws.” Manila: SSG Press. Filmstrip.

Online Materials

1. Signed article in a magazine

Duterte, R. July 2016. “Social-media networks.” Personality growth. http://www.inter.com/Jol/labor.htm/.

2. Unsigned article in a magazine

“Unstructured interview. August 2016.” Business Trends Magazine.
http://www.BusTRendscom/BusTrends/Trends/ctshoot.htmlz.

3. Article in Journal
“Linguistic competence. 18 May 2016.” English Forum.
http://www.jhu.edu/EnglishStudiesJournal/vol.83/83.1strethson.html.

4. Article in Newspaper
Lepanto, J. “globalization vs. climate change.” 21 December 2016. New Daily Life Star.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/26world/28MIDE.html.

5. An Editorial
“Political Dynasty in the Philippines. 7 July 2016.” Editorial. Philippine Daily Inquirer. http://www.a-
pinq.com/ed/2016/24/po4.html.

6. Online books
Litchten, F. D. 2016. American pragmatics. http: AMPRA 2 etext2014/14w0310txtz.
De Gracias, J. G. 15-20, May 2017. “Collaborative language activities” dialog ERIC AED23376.

CD-ROM/Diskette
Dizon, P. B. April 2016. “Herbal treatment.” Manila Post News Bank. TI Manila Post News bank. CD-ROM. News
Bank.

“Domestic helper.” 2016. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. CD-ROM. Oxford UP.
 PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 ACTIVITY

I. BIBLIOGRAPHY WORKSHEET and FINAL DRAFT

Rewrite the following information accurately in a separate piece of paper:

1. Quezon City 5. SSG Press

Rex Bookstore Arenas, E. A.
Sonora, E. N. et al. Filmstrip.
2016. 2017
Regional trial courts “Philippine Rental Laws.”
Manila
2. GB Press
6. New York International Monetary Fund.
Quezon City
Survey of Asian Economies. Vol. 6,
The Ebola Virus
International Monetary Fund, 2008.
Fajardo, J. A.
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines
2016
7. “Gated subdivisions in Caloocan City
3. http://www.jhu.edu/EnglishStudiesJournal/vol.8 Abad, C. S.,” 2016
3/83.1strethson.html. Philippine Daily Inquirer
English Forum 7 May
“Linguistic competence. 18 May 2016.”
8. Academic freedom.
4. April 2016 Manila
“K-12 curriculum: Interview with Felicitas National Bookstore.
Ballesteros.” Reynoso, M. R. and Saballa, J. M.
Interview by Anabelle De La Cruz 2017.
The Manila Bulletin 9. U.P. Diliman
Ballesteros, F. April 2016 “Contemporary Language Theories.”
2016
Villarica, R. D. 2016.
Ph. D. diss.

II. MULTIPLE CHOICE / IDENTIFICATION:

1. Wuli’s Research assignment instructions state that she needs to provide evidence of all the sources she read about her
assignment topic. What should Wuli submit with her assignment?
a) A bibliography
b) A citations list.
c) A reference list.
2. Below are several possible reasons why it is important to acknowledge sources in academic writing. Identify which are
correct and which are incorrect.
a) So that readers can locate the sources I used for their own use. ______________________
b) So that the marker knows my work is based on valid research. ______________________
c) To make my essay appear longer than it is. ______________________
d) To distinguish between my own ideas and those of others. _______________________
3. Select the example below that best illustrates the term ‘reference’.
a) The choice of leader of the Victorian ALP was a significant factor in the Party’s electoral success in 1982
(Strangio, 2006).
b) Strangio, P. (2006). John Cain Jnr: the burden of history. In P. Strangio & B. Costar (Eds.), The Victorian Premiers,
1885-2006. Syndey: Federation Press.
4. Amir has included a reference list at the end of his report as instructed.
Does he also need to include citations in the text of the report?
a) Yes.
b) No.
5. Select the example below that best illustrates the term ‘citation’.
a) The choice of leader of the Victorian ALP was a significant factor in the Party’s electoral success in 1982
(Strangio, 2006).
b) Strangio, P. (2006). John Cain Jnr: the burden of history. In P. Strangio & B. Costar (Eds.), The Victorian Premiers,
1885-2006. Syndey: Federation Press.
c) Strangio P. John Cain Jnr: the burden of history. In: Strangio P, Costar B, editors. The Victorian Premiers, 1856-
2006. Sydney: Federation Press; 2006.