RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

Supervised by:
Mr. Imran Ahmad

Prepared by:
Syed Muhammad Ali (MSCS) SAAP
ID. 26541
Ms. Sehr jaan (MSCS) SAAP ID.
26538
Mr. Azhar Nawaz (MSCS) SAAP ID.
 26539
Q1. What are the steps for search research material/papers?
Research paper sources can be difficult to find – especially if you want the good ones.
Research papers can be fascinating and enjoyable, especially when you dig up unique
and noteworthy research paper sources.
Here are six quick tips that will help you do fast, effective research, and find great
research paper sources that will set you apart from your classmates.

1. Start with Wikipedia

A few years ago, this would have been heresy. I’m aware of that. But I’m not suggesting
you should quote the Wikipedia article. We realize that there may still be some negative
realities that come with a site that anyone can edit. Sure, occasionally some goof will
get some weird information published on Wikipedia. Wikipedia, though, is more
accurate than any other encyclopedia. As hard as that may be to believe, it’s been
tested and found true. But that’s not even why we’re going to Wikipedia. The Wikipedia
article will give you most of the big ideas associated with the topic, as well as link out to
other ideas that may be similar. Starting here helps you get your bearings in the subject.
After all, you’re stepping into a conversation that has been going on for years and years.
Second – and most importantly – we’re after the citations and sources at the
bottom. Wikipedia frequently cites the most important research paper sources for you.
It just makes sense to start here. (In our example article – learning styles – there are
nearly 50 sources cited)

2.  Go to the library (a great place for research paper sources)

After you’ve dug through your Wikipedia article, the next step is an easy one – go to the
library. Unless you’re studying something that has recently come into existence (like
trying to find research paper sources about Facebook), your local or school library will
be your best resource.
Go there, and armed with your Wikipedia knowledge, start searching for the best
sources. We’re not just after any sources, though. We’re after only the best research
paper sources. This will require a little bit of effort, but you can find some success
without too much effort if you know what type of research paper sources you need to
find.

3. Find the top few secondary resources cited in the article

Depending on the size of your paper, you’ll use a different number of sources. But the
goal is to use the most authoritative sources possible. If you want to know about
teeth, for example, who would you consult – a dentist or a hockey player? The dentist,
because he has more experience with teeth, has studied teeth, and he probably has all
of his. But if you’re trying to get some information on the best ice skates to buy, who
would you consult – the dentist or the hockey player? Again, you consult the one with
the most authority on the particular subject – in this case, the hockey player.
So how can you decide which sources are most authoritative? Try to find the sources
that have been cited by the most other sources. This takes a bit of research before
you’re able to find these, but as you read several sources, you should start to see a
pattern of references. Follow that pattern.
Another place to check is Google Scholar. This service will tell you how many times
your different research paper sources have been cited. Use those sources with the most
citations.

4. Follow the trail of citations to primary sources

After you’ve found a few good resources that help explain your topic, get to the sources
behind those research paper sources.
This is an area you have a real opportunity to set your paper apart from your
classmates.
Generally speaking, the closer a resource is to the topic you’re studying, the better.
If you are studying Abraham Lincoln, try to find some letters he himself wrote. Maybe
you could find an original newspaper clipping of interviews with the people closest to
him. Journal entries are great finds, too.
If you are studying something more recent, sometimes you can find video or audio
interviews with major players in your topic. If you’re studying someone who is still alive,
maybe you could interview him or her yourself.
Can you imagine how unique your research paper sources would look if you had a
personal interview with a high-ranking government official, or a family member close to
someone you’re writing about? Get creative here. The more unique your sources and
the more creative you are in getting them, the more unique your paper will be.
Make some phone calls, dig through some microfilm (ask your librarian if you don’t
know what that is), and search out the most interesting and unique sources you can for
your paper.

5. Mix up your research paper source type

Don’t just stick to the normal sources – a book and a few journal articles. These are
great resources, but finding truly interesting, unique, and noteworthy research paper
sources requires you to go beyond those traditional sources.
They are great places to start. But don’t stop there.  Think about some of these other
source types for ideas:

 Newspaper articles
 Private journal or diary entries
 Letters
 Edited collections of essays
 Scholarly journals
 Sound recordings
 Film, TV, or video recordings
 Google books
 Magazines
 Personal interviews

6. Get at least one source per page of your research paper

This sort of a good, general standard that will probably last you through high school and
college. Different institutions have different standards, but this is a good starting place.
Make sure to check your assignment requirements before you stop researching, though!
I once helped a student gather a number of research paper sources for her final project
as a high school student. She got bored, though. So, she quit. And she got a terrible
grade. That’s what you should expect, too, if you don’t get enough resources.
If you get enough research paper resources while following these tips to make them
interesting and unique, and I’m confident your research paper will stand out from your
classmates.

Q2. What are the steps for reading research papers/material?

Reading a scientific paper is a completely different process than reading an article
about science in a blog or newspaper. Not only do you read the sections in a different
order than they’re presented, but you also have to take notes, read it multiple times, and
probably go look up other papers for some of the details. Reading a single paper may
take you a very long time at first. Be patient with yourself. The process will go much
faster as you gain experience.

Most primary research papers will be divided into the following sections: Abstract,
Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions/Interpretations/Discussion. The order
will depend on which journal it’s published in. Some journals have additional files (called
Supplementary Online Information) which contain important details of the research, but
are published online instead of in the article itself (make sure you don’t skip these files).

Before you begin reading, take note of the authors and their institutional affiliations.
Some institutions (e.g., University of Texas) are well-respected; others (e.g., the
Discovery Institute) may appear to be legitimate research institutions but are actually
agenda-driven. Tip: google “Discovery Institute” to see why you don’t want to use it as a
scientific authority on evolutionary theory.

Also take note of the journal in which it’s published. Reputable (biomedical) journals will
be indexed by Pubmed. [EDIT: Several people have reminded me that non-biomedical
journals won’t be on Pubmed, and they’re absolutely correct! (thanks for catching that, I
apologize for being sloppy here). Check out Web of Science for a more complete index
of science journals. And please feel free to share other resources in the comments!]
Beware of questionable journals.

As you read, write down every single word that you don’t understand. You’re going to
have to look them all up (yes, everyone. I know it’s a total pain. But you won’t
understand the paper if you don’t understand the vocabulary. Scientific words have
extremely precise meanings).
Step-by-step instructions for reading a primary research article

1. Begin by reading the introduction, not the abstract .

The abstract is that dense first paragraph at the very beginning of a paper. In fact, that’s
often the only part of a paper that many non-scientists read when they’re trying to build
a scientific argument. (This is a terrible practice—don’t do it.). When I’m choosing
papers to read, I decide what’s relevant to my interests based on a combination of the
title and abstract. But when I’ve got a collection of papers assembled for deep reading, I
always read the abstract last. I do this because abstracts contain a succinct summary of
the entire paper, and I’m concerned about inadvertently becoming biased by the
authors’ interpretation of the results.

2. Identify the BIG QUESTION.

Not “What is this paper about”, but “What problem is this entire field trying to solve?”
This helps you focus on why this research is being done. Look closely for evidence of
agenda-motivated research.

3. Summarize the background in five sentences or less.

Here are some questions to guide you:

What work has been done before in this field to answer the BIG QUESTION? What are
the limitations of that work? What, according to the authors, needs to be done next?
The five sentences part is a little arbitrary, but it forces you to be concise and really
think about the context of this research. You need to be able to explain why this
research has been done in order to understand it.

4. Identify the SPECIFIC QUESTION(S)

What exactly are the authors trying to answer with their research? There may be
multiple questions, or just one. Write them down. If it’s the kind of research that tests
one or more null hypotheses, identify it/them. Not sure what a null hypothesis is? Go
read this, then go back to my last post and read one of the papers that I linked to (like
this one) and try to identify the null hypotheses in it. Keep in mind that not every paper
will test a null hypothesis.

5. Identify the approach

What are the authors going to do to answer the SPECIFIC QUESTION(S)?

6. Now read the methods section

Draw a diagram for each experiment, showing exactly what the authors did.
I mean literally draw it. Include as much detail as you need to fully understand the work.
As an example, here is what I drew to sort out the methods for a paper I read today
(Battaglia et al. 2013: “The first peopling of South America: New evidence from Y-
chromosome haplogroup Q”). This is much less detail than you’d probably need,
because it’s a paper in my specialty and I use these methods all the time. But if you
were reading this, and didn’t happen to know what “process data with reduced-median
method using Network” means, you’d need to look that up.
You don’t need to understand the methods in enough detail to replicate the experiment
—that’s something reviewers have to do—but you’re not ready to move on to the results
until you can explain the basics of the methods to someone else.

7. Read the results section.

Write one or more paragraphs to summarize the results for each experiment, each
figure, and each table. Don’t yet try to decide what the results mean, just write down
what they are.
You’ll find that, particularly in good papers, the majority of the results are summarized in
the figures and tables. Pay careful attention to them! You may also need to go to the
Supplementary Online Information file to find some of the results.
It is at this point where difficulties can arise if statistical tests are employed in the paper
and you don’t have enough of a background to understand them. I can’t teach you stats
in this post, but here, here, and here are some basic resources to help you. I
STRONGLY advise you to become familiar with them.
Things to pay attention to in the results section:
Any time the words “significant” or “non-significant” are used. These have precise
statistical meanings. Read more about this here. If there are graphs, do they have error
bars on them? For certain types of studies, a lack of confidence intervals is a major red
flag. The sample size. Has the study been conducted on 10, or 10,000 people? (For
some research purposes, a sample size of 10 is sufficient, but for most studies larger is
better).

8. Do the results answer the SPECIFIC QUESTION(S)? What do you

think they mean?

Don’t move on until you have thought about this. It’s okay to change your mind in light of
the authors’ interpretation—in fact you probably will if you’re still a beginner at this kind
of analysis—but it’s a really good habit to start forming your own interpretations before
you read those of others.

9. Read the conclusion/discussion/Interpretation section.

What do the authors think the results mean? Do you agree with them? Can you come
up with any alternative way of interpreting them? Do the authors identify any
weaknesses in their own study? Do you see any that the authors missed? (Don’t
assume they’re infallible!) What do they propose to do as a next step? Do you agree
with that?
10. Now, go back to the beginning and read the abstract.

Does it match what the authors said in the paper? Does it fit with your interpretation of
the paper?

11. Find out what other researchers say about the paper.

Who are the (acknowledged or self-proclaimed) experts in this particular field? Do they
have criticisms of the study that you haven’t thought of, or do they generally support it?
Don’t neglect to do this! Here’s a place where I do recommend you use Google! But do
it last, so you are better prepared to think critically about what other people say.

Q3. What are the steps of writing literature review?

1. Narrow your topic and select papers accordingly
Consider your specific area of study. Think about what interests you and what interests’
other researchers in your field.
Talk to your professor, brainstorm, and read lecture notes and recent issues of
periodicals in the field.
Limit your scope to a smaller topic area (i.e., focusing on France's role in WWII instead
of focusing on WWII in general).

2. Search for literature

Define your source selection criteria (i.e., articles published between a specific date
range, focusing on a specific geographic region, or using a specific methodology).
Using keywords, search a library database.
Reference lists of recent articles and reviews can lead to other useful papers.
Include any studies contrary to your point of view.

3. Read the selected articles thoroughly and evaluate them

Evaluate and synthesize the studies' findings and conclusions.
Note the following:
 assumptions some or most researchers seem to make
 methodologies, testing procedures, subjects, material tested researchers use
 experts in the field: names/labs that are frequently referenced
 conflicting theories, results, methodologies
 popularity of theories and how this has/has not changed over time

4. Organize the selected papers by looking for patterns and by

developing subtopics
Note the following:
 Findings that are common/contested
 Important trends in the research
 The most influential theories
Tip: If your literature review is extensive, find a large table surface, and on it place post-
it notes or filing cards to organize all your findings into categories.
 Move them around if you decide that (a) they fit better under different headings,
or (b) you need to establish new topic headings.
 Develop headings/subheadings that reflect the major themes and patterns you
detected

5. Develop a thesis or purpose statement

Write a one or two sentence statement summarizing the conclusion you have reached
about the major trends and developments you see in the research that has been
conducted on your subject.
 Templates for Writing Thesis Statements
This template provides a two-step guide for writing thesis statements. There is also a
downloadable PDF version.
 5 Types of Thesis Statements
Learn about five different types of thesis statements to help you choose the best type
for your research. There is also a downloadable PDF version.
 5 Questions to Strengthen Your Thesis Statement
Follow these five steps to strengthen your thesis statements. There is also a
downloadable PDF version.

6. Write the paper

Follow the organizational structure you developed above, including the headings and
subheadings you constructed.
Make certain that each section links logically to the one before and after.
Structure your sections by themes or subtopics, not by individual theorists or
researchers.
 Tip: If you find that each paragraph begins with a researcher's name, it might
indicate that, instead of evaluating and comparing the research literature from an
analytical point of view, you have simply described what research has been
done.
Prioritize analysis over description.
 For example, look at the following two passages and note that Student A merely
describes the literature, whereas Student B takes a more analytical and
evaluative approach by comparing and contrasting. You can also see that this
evaluative approach is well signalled by linguistic markers indicating logical
connections (words such as "however," "moreover") and phrases such as
"substantiates the claim that," which indicate supporting evidence and Student
 B's ability to synthesize knowledge.
Student A: Smith (2000) concludes that personal privacy in their living quarters is the
most important factor in nursing home residents' perception of their autonomy. He
suggests that the physical environment in the more public spaces of the building did not
have much impact on their perceptions. Neither the layout of the building nor the
activities available seem to make much difference. Jones and Johnstone make the
claim that the need to control one's environment is a fundamental need of life (2001),
and suggest that the approach of most institutions, which is to provide total care, may
be as bad as no care at all. If people have no choices or think that they have none, they
become depressed.
Student B: After studying residents and staff from two intermediate care facilities in
Calgary, Alberta, Smith (2000) came to the conclusion that except for the amount of
personal privacy available to residents, the physical environment of these institutions
had minimal if any effect on their perceptions of control (autonomy). However, French
(1998) and Haroon (2000) found that availability of private areas is not the only aspect
of the physical environment that determines residents' autonomy. Haroon interviewed
115 residents from 32 different nursing homes known to have different levels of
autonomy (2000). It was found that physical structures, such as standardized furniture,
heating that could not be individually regulated, and no possession of a house key for
residents limited their feelings of independence. Moreover, Hope (2002), who
interviewed 225 residents from various nursing homes, substantiates the claim that
characteristics of the institutional environment such as the extent of resources in the
facility, as well as its location, are features which residents have indicated as being of
great importance to their independence.
 How to Integrate Critical Voice into Your Literature Review (Video)

7. Review your work

 Look at the topic sentences of each paragraph. If you were to read only these
sentences, would you find that your paper presented a clear position, logically
developed, from beginning to end? The topic sentences of each paragraph
should indicate the main points of your literature review.
 Make an outline of each section of the paper and decide whether you need to
add information, to delete irrelevant information, or to re-structure sections.
 Read your work out loud. That way you will be better able to identify where you
need punctuation marks to signal pauses or divisions within sentences, where
you have made grammatical errors, or where your sentences are unclear.
 Since the purpose of a literature review is to demonstrate that the writer is
familiar with the important professional literature on the chosen subject, check to
make certain that you have covered all of the important, up-to-date, and pertinent
texts. In the sciences and some of the social sciences it is important that your
literature be quite recent; this is not so important in the humanities.
 Make certain that all of the citations and references are correct and that you are
referencing in the appropriate style for your discipline. If you are uncertain which
style to use, ask your professor.
 Check to make sure that you have not plagiarized either by failing to cite a
 source of information, or by using words quoted directly from a source. (Usually if
you take three or more words directly from another source, you should put those
words within quotation marks, and cite the page.)
 Text should be written in a clear and concise academic style; it should not be
descriptive in nature or use the language of everyday speech.
 There should be no grammatical or spelling errors.
 Sentences should flow smoothly and logically.