Reporting Research Results

September 24, 2020

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Reporting Research Results

Once a researcher arrives at a stage that a result is obtained, the next step
is to present the research results and these results are can be reported is
three different ways. These are:
Written research reports
Oral Presentation
Poster presentation
Poster presentation is a combination of both written and oral presentation.

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The purpose of writing research Reports

The main purpose of writing research results:

It is obvious that every research needs good and proper
documentation.
To share research results with other researchers.
To obtain some form of degree.
To get views for improvement.
To get recognition.
For appraisal(evaluation) purposes.

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Writing Research Reports...

There are many circumstances in which we may be asked to write

some mathematics or, more generally, a scientific report.
Even though, it is not easy to write a good report, and it takes a lot
of time to learn, it is a skill that most people can learn.
In some ways, writing a report can be more difficult than giving a
lecture (oral presentation).
When giving a lecture we can immediately assess whether or not the
audience understands what we are saying, and we can then choose to
say more or less as appropriate; indeed, we can even repeat ourself
(several times if necessary), which we cannot do in a report.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...
Before we consider the typical structure of a report, you should consider the
following important questions.
Why are you writing a report? Before we start writing a good report we
must be clear about the purpose of our report:
what do we want to achieve, and what is our message? Keep the purpose of
the report in mind at all times; we should have an identifiable reason for
including each item in the report.
Who will read the report, and what are they looking for? We should think
carefully about the level of knowledge of our intended readers, and what
they want to achieve by reading the report, and write accordingly.
At each stage of the writing we should ask what will the reader think of
this? At any given level some things are obvious and do not need to be said,
while other things may need considerable explanation; in each case consider
which of these is applicable.
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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics ...

Let us now consider the structure of a typical report. Most reports will
have something like the following sections:
1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Contents (optional, especially for small writings)
4. Introduction
5. The main body of the report
6. Conclusion
7. Acknowledgments (optional, though you can find it in most of the
writings)
8. References

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

The first four sections should be designed to lead the reader gently into
the main body of your report. We should include a statement of what we
want to achieve, and a summary of our conclusions. These sections should
give the readers a sense of direction; readers do not want to go on a
journey with no idea of where they are going. A brief description of these
sections are given as follows.
1. Title:- This should be informative (not, for example ’On a theorem in
analysis’). It summarizes the main focus or idea of the research in a
simple way as much as possible. It should be clear, concise and
identify the major variables or theoretical issues to considered in the
study so that it is informative.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

2. Abstract:- the sole purpose of the abstract is to enable potential

readers to decide whether or not they want to read the report. It
should be entirely self-contained, and it should not be necessary to
consult other works to understand the abstract. Usually, it will
contain a brief non-technical description (without symbols) of the
contents of the report.
The abstract or summary tells the reader very briefly what the main
points and findings of the paper are.
This allows the reader to decide whether the paper is useful to them.
Get into the habit of reading only abstracts while searching for papers
that are relevant to your research.
Read the body of a paper only when you think it will be useful to you.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

3. Contents:- This tells the reader how the report is organized; it is a

road map of the report. Choose the titles of each chapter/section
carefully; they should give the reader a clear indication of what each
chapter/ section contains.
4. Introduction:- This should provide an easy entry point for the
reader. The introduction usually includes some background material
(some-times the motivation for the report), a statement about what
we are assuming that the reader already knows, and what we will
achieve in the report. It is often an elaboration of the abstract, but
these two sections have a different purpose.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

The abstract enables the reader to decide whether or not they want to
read further; once they have decided to continue reading, the introduction
is taken as an agreed starting point for the rest of the report.
The introduction tells the reader:
what the topic of the report is in general terms,
why the topic is important,
what to expect in the report.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

5. The main body of the report:-

This part should contain the bulk of the report and, broadly speaking,
should follow the lines suggested in the introduction.
This part of the report should contain a discussion of the work that
the report depends on, detailed arguments and analysis, and so on,
leading to the conclusions.
This part is usually divided into many parts (sections or chapters
depending on the size of the report)
It is a good idea to insert figures last, because creating and changing
figures can take a lot of time.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

6. Conclusion:- This is a summary of what we have achieved, and we

should state whether we have achieved the objectives as set out earlier
in the report. If appropriate, some open problems or suggestions for
further work can be included here. Things that should be done:
Summarize the most salient points of your research (tell the reader
what you havefound out about your topic).
Discuss the general significance of your topic and findings.
Discuss the shortcomings of your study and how these might affect
your findings.
Discuss things future researchers should investigate about your topic to
advance knowledge about it.
Help the reader gain the knowledge that you think he or she ought to
have about the topic.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

7. Acknowledgments:- Here we acknowledge any assistance or joint

work in the report.
8. References:- The references are numbered, and are usually given in
alphabetical order (in mathematical writings), although there are
other accepted conventions (for example, in the order in which they
appear in the report).
References in the body of the report are usually indicated by, for
example we write [2] to indicate that we are referring the second
reference in our reference list.
We are entitled to refer to, and use, results that are already in the
literature but we must refer to them explicitly and list the reference in
this section.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics...

The references are just as important as any other part of your paper.
References are the empirical support for claims in a paper that are not
directly observed in the research.
They are needed for researchers to remain empirical in their
descriptions of topics.
They link the paper to the community of scholars, permitting readers
to assess the worthiness claims in a paper.
Make the research process much more efficient because they make it
very easy to look up sources of facts and ideas.

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Writing Research Reports in Mathematics... Style of
references

Alphabetical on authors last name (by increasing year within same

author)
Article: Last Name, first name, Year. Article title. Journal Name
Volume(number): First Page - Last Page.
Book Chapter: Last Name, first name. Year. Chapter Name. Pages
in the book in Book Name, edited by first name last name. City of
Publisher: Publisher.
Book: Last name, first name. Year. Book Name. City of Publisher:
Publisher.
Website: Last Name (if available), first name. Year (if available).
Article or web page title. Journal or Report Name Volume (if
available). Retrieved date (http://address).
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THE ORAL PRESENTATION

Another method of presenting your research findings is through an

oral presentation.
This may be at a university or college to other students or tutors, at a
conference to other researchers or work colleagues, or in a work place
to colleagues, employers or funding bodies.
Many researchers find that it is better to provide both a written
report and an oral presentation as this is the most effective way of
enabling a wider audience to find out about the research, especially if
you also reproduce your written report on-line.
If you want people to take notice of your results, you need to produce
a good presentation.

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THE ORAL PRESENTATION ... THE DOS OF AN ORAL
PRESENTATION

Arrive early and make sure the room is set out in the way that you
want.
Make sure that all the equipment is available and that you know how
to work it.
Try to relax and breathe deeply. Acknowledge that this is your first
presentation and people will tend to help you along.
Produce aide memoirs, either on cards, paper, Over Head Projector
transparencies or presentation software such as Power Point.
Make it clear from the outset whether you are happy to be
interrupted or whether questions should be left for the end.
If you have invited questions, make sure you make every effort to
answer them.
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THE ORAL PRESENTATION ... THE DOS OF AN ORAL
PRESENTATION

Look around the room while you are speaking if its a small group,
make eye-contact with as many people as possible.
Present interesting visual information such as graphs, charts and
tables in a format which can be viewed by everyone. This could be
OHP transparencies, slides, PowerPoint or handouts.
Alter the tone and pitch of your voice, length of sentence and facial/
hand gestures to maintain audience interest.
Show that you are interested in your subject.
Produce a paper or handout which people can take away with them.
Talk to people after your presentation and ask them how it went,
whether there are any improvements they might suggest for future
presentations.
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 The Oral Presentation: ... THE DON’TS OF AN ORAL
PRESENTATION

Rush in late, find that the overhead projector doesnt work and that
you have no pen for the white board.
Worry about showing your nerves.
By the way, almost everybody gets nervous when they first start
giving presentations and your audience should know this.
Read straight from a paper you have written.
Get cross if you are interrupted and have not mentioned that you
don’t want this to happen.
Invite questions and then do not answer them or patronize the
inquirer.

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 The Oral Presentation: ... THE DON’TS OF AN ORAL
PRESENTATION

Look at your notes, never raising your head.

Produce visual information which people can’t see, either due to its
size or print quality.
Present in a monotone voice with no facial/hand gestures.
Let the audience go home without any record of what you have said.
Run away never to be seen again.

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