MOOC Checklist

Stag Area Description

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1 Preliminary work
1.1 KYC: Know your community Know academic context of one’s research
Define research framework
Discover researchers working on the topic
Classify papers into groups:
 Essential papers
 Related papers
Identify academic conferences & journals
Identify important journals on the topic
Make a recent 10-year bibliography

1.2 Study how journals work Understand how the review process is made
Understand how to present a paper to a scientific
journal.
Understand how the editorial board works
Understand ethical guidelines and intellectual
property

2 Delimiting the scientific

paper
2.1 Paper definition: KYP Know your paper:
What to write about: So-what test
Contribution of the paper to the field
Possible change in the way academics see the field
What is new or has not been said before

Identify colleagues and network members who

can help to position the papers in the chosen terms

Kind of paper to write: Theoretical, empirical, or

methodological
Define contribution and aim of the paper
Define setting, methodology, and research
question

Delimitate the paper

Build a coherent reasoning through the paper
Position the paper so that the community will
accept it
Understand the field: Know how to contribute to it
 and how to communicate with its academic
community

2.2 Literature review Learn what has already been done and get closer
to the frontier of knowledge
Specify why and how the work is original
Identify the context of the research question
Identify key words, variables linking to the
research question, and their potential relationships
Establish relationships between theoretical frames

2.2a Auxiliary task: Translate the subject into key words

learn how to do the literature
review
Search 2-by-2 on Google Scholar
Learn how to use a literature management system
(i.e. Zotero, Mendeley, Papers, Endnote,
Readcube)
Use a table to note:
 Authors
 Date
 Full reference
 Problematic
 Used thesis
 Methodology
 Quote directly from the article
 Mathematical expressions
 Personal idea about the article

2.3 Understand the gap Link between the gap and the research question
Map the scientific literature
Depict the problem to resolve or make a
contribution to has already been studied by the
researcher in the community
Further the research around the question which
needs more investigation

2.4 Research design Explain how to contribute to the community by

filling the gap in the literature thanks to the paper
Explain the objective and how to fill the gap
Present the research question
Present analysis and work done
Make a theoretical conclusion and partially fill the
literature gap
Check that the research question embodies the
 research. This question should sum up in a few
words what the article is about

2.4 Research design and internal Make sure every part is coherent with one another
coherence Make sure all parts are coherent with the research
question
Structure of the paper reflects the research
process.
The research design embodies the linkage
between:
 Research question
 Methodology
 Data
 Results and theoretical contributions

Ensure the research design is coherent:

 Problematic is coherent with the literature
strand chosen for theoretical anchorage
 Methodology is compatible with the
established problematic
 Elements answer only the research question
raised
 Enrich the comprehension of the literature
with the result discussion

3 Writing the paper

3.1 Structure of the paper General blocks
 Title: simple, clear, short, displaying all the
key concepts and straight to the point and
powerful
 Abstract: synthesizes the main points of the
paper
 Introduction: identify fast and clearly the
research question. Finish with a clear outline
paragraph to describe each section
 Literature review: present what is needed to
get to the research question.
 Methodology: explain the research design, the
way data was collected or the experiment
built.
 Results: Present the findings.
 Discussion: Justify how it contributes to the
literature described before. Prove the
 relevance of the work.
 Conclusion: Short summary of the research,
limits of the work and how to address them in
the future research
 Bibliography

3.2 Bibliography It is not about listing references but about

conducting an argumentation and demonstration
leading somewhere

3.3 Abstract Most important part of the paper

Allows to know the so-what of the paper
Allows any reader to understand the specific
subject.
Construction map to build-up the article.
MRCI Framework.

Motivation and so-what of the article

Description of the subject
Define the methodology
Discuss the results and put them in context,
explaining why they are important
Unsolved issues and possible future development

Key point: What are the key benefits for the

reader?

4 Check and review Check the full paper and the abstract, verify their
consistency.
Review format, check it complies with the
journal’s rules and requirements (paragraphs,
fonts, size, etc.)
Formal English writing
Paginations
Bibliographical styles
Quoting styles
Check titles, figures, and tables
Review paper organization: Clear sections and
subsections as well as introduction and
conclusions