Guideline For

Research and
Research Proposal

Research and Community Outreach Office

September, 2018

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

 The Elements of Research and

Research Proposal

A Guideline Prepared to Graduating Class as Reference for Senior Essay and Master

Thesis

BY

Jigdan College
Research and Community Outreach Office
Sep, 2018

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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 About this Guideline
This research guideline is prepared to direct students of Jigdan College in conducting their senior
research project or thesis works. The document provides a detailed guidelines and tips for
writing each of the major sections of a research project including the front matter, the body of the
text and end matters. In addition to this, a discussion regarding to evaluation and grading of the
paper, measures on academic misconduct and submission procedures of the paper is also
provided in this document.

The guidelines and formatting styles used in this document are partially compiled from the
guidelines prepared by different universities and institutions for the senior essay project, master‟s
thesis, dissertation and academic articles. Mainly, majority of the style is adapted from the APA
(American Psychological Association) manual of the 6th edition and some of the guidelines are
adopted from the research guideline of Pretoria University, University Of Arkansas and Clarkson
University.

All students conducting their senior research project/ thesis in Jigdan College should strictly
follow this guideline and complete adherence is required.

NB: This guideline is last updated on September, 2018

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 Components of a Research Paper
The followings are an important component of a research and therefore, have to be incorporated
in your senior research project/master‟s thesis. In this guideline, a detailed discussion is provided
for each of the following elements. Some of the components (such as time and budget schedule)
are worthy only in writing a proposal and might not be incorporated into the final paper.

The followings are the major components of a research which must appear in your paper in the
order listed here.

Elements of the Research Proposal

Title/cover page

Acknowledgment (optional)

Abstract
Front
Table of contents
matters
List of tables (Required if your proposal contains tables)

List of figures (Required if your proposal contains figures)

Acronyms/Abbreviations (if any)

Operational definitions (if any)

1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statement of the problem Body of the text
1.3 Research objectives
1.4 Significance of the study
1.5 Scope of the study
1.6 limitation of the study
2: Literature Review

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3: Research Method
3.1. Research Type /Approach
3.2. Sampling
3.2.1. Target population, the context and units of analysis
3.2.2. Sampling method
3.3 Sources of Data
3.4 Data Collection Method
3.5 Variables and Measurement/Measures
3.6 Method of Data Analysis

4: structure/organization of the paper

5:Research schedule and budget
5.1 Research schedule

5.2 Research budget

References End matters
Appendixes (optional)

Components of Final Research Paper

Title/cover page

Declaration page

Board of Examiners approval sheet

Front
Acknowledgment
matters
Abstract

Table of contents

List of tables (Required if your report contains tables)

List of figures (Required if your report contains figures)

Acronyms

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 Operational definitions

Structure of the research paper

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statement of the problem Body of the text
1.3 Research objective
1.4 Significance of the study
1.5 Scope of the study
1.6 limitation of the study
Chapter Two: Literature Review
Chapter Three: Research Method
Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Interpretation
Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation
References End matters
Appendixes

General Guidelines for the Format of the Paper

Total pages of the paper: Your senior research work should be approximately 35-45 pages
(about 13,000 words) excluding your reference and any materials or illustrations you may
include in appendices.

Paper size: your paper must be typed on one side (leaving the back side blank) of the A4 size
paper.

Margins: all margins should be 1”. To allow for binding a personal paper, the left margin needs
to be set to 1.5”. To fix the margin click anywhere within the document. On the file menu, click
page setup. Set the left margin to 1.5” and 1” to the rest. Under apply to: select this document.
Click ok.

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Fonts: Always use Times New Roman 12 point for the body of the reports. To change your
Microsoft word default into Times New Roman, go to home – font – themes format ( navigate
and choose Times New Roman) and also fix the font size to 12. The exceptions regarding the
font and size are specified throughout this guideline.

Line spacing: line spacing required to be followed is normally 1.5 lines. Long quotations,
footnotes (if used), multi-line captions, and references may be single spaced. The paragraph
spacing for all parts of the text except for the titles of the thesis/project needs to be fixed
automatically. To fix Spacing (paragraph and line) right click on the body of the text > indent
spacing > spacing (fix both before and after at automatic) > line spacing (choose 1.5). For the
titles fix the before part at 72 points/ 3 inches and make the after automatic.

Begin each main section of the paper with a heading which should be bold and centered at the
beginning of the section, and double spaced from the lines above and below.

Always start each chapter on a new page

Page numbers: page numbers must be displayed at the center of the bottom of the page (1.0 cm
above the bottom margin). Page numbers must stand alone: do not use periods, hyphens or any
decorative marks with page numbers.

Follow the specific guideline stated below for assigning page numbers:

Document section Page number Page count

displayed

Preliminary pages (before the No page number Begins with the first page (title
table of contents) page) in your document.

Table of contents up to but not Lowercase roman Continues from preliminary pages
including first page of chapter numerals (v, vii, viii,
1. etc.).

Chapter 1 to the end of the Arabic numbers (1, 2, Begins with “1” on first page of
document. 3, etc.). chapter 1

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Table 1. Page numbering guideline

Note: Though the preliminary pages (title, declaration, approval, acknowledgments and abstract
pages) are not normally assigned a page number, they will be considered in the page count
(because they are part of your research). I.e., when you assign a page for the table of content, you
do not start with “i”. 1st count the preliminary pages (but do not assign) and then assign a page
with roman numerals for the table of content continuing from the preliminary pages.

Part I: Specific Section Guideline

• Title/cover page

The title/cover page is one of the most important parts of the "front matter" of your research
paper. It shows the title of the research paper, the author of the research, the name of the advisor,
the reason for conducting the research, the name of the institution and the department, date of
submission and the place. All texts on the title page should be double-spaced and be written in an
inverted triangle manner (should be centred in the middle).

The components in the title/cover page should be written in the following order.

First, type your title in upper and lower case letters centred in the upper half of the page.

Your attitude towards the topic may determine the amount of effort and enthusiasm you put into
your research. An effective title not only pricks the reader‟s interest, but also predisposes him/her
favourably towards the proposal. Therefore, you have to make your title attractive and catchy.
Consider the following general guidelines in writing a research title

• The title should be as specific as possible and should not be more than 15 words.

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 • It should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose.

• It should clearly reflect the main theme, issue or position discussed in the paper.

• It should accurately reflect the nature and focus of the study and not create false

expectations

• Do not italicize or underline your title

• Given the restrictions on length, you may incorporate the research design of your study in

the title.

E.g. Pull and Push Travel Behaviour: An experimental examination of the intervening effect of
destination price and perceived affect

Consumer‟s attitude towards service quality: The case of BBB Hotel

• After a colon, start the word with a capital letter as the example above

• Note that there is no full stop at the end of a title.

Beneath the title, type your full name and identification number. Then, below it, write the full
name of your advisor with the right title. Next, write the type of the paper (research proposal, or
a research project, a Master‟s thesis) and purpose for conducting the research (e.g. Submitted in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Tourism
Management). The research type and purpose can be done in a single paragraph.

Below the purpose comes the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location (name
of the university and the department) where you‟ve conducted the research. Then in the end,
write the submission date for the project (NB: do not write the word submission date rather write
only the month and year as shown in the example below).
See the following example of Title page

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The Determinants of Resistance to Change Management Process: The Case of
CBE, Addis Ababa District

A Thesis Submitted As a Partial Requirement for the Degree Master of

Business Administration (MBA)

Adama Science and Technology University

School of Business & Economics

Department of Business Management

By: Hiyab G/Tsadik

Advisor: Ayele Abebe (PhD)

January, 2013

Adama, Ethiopi

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 Declaration and Confirmation statements

This is the section where you declare that the senior research project/Thesis is original work of
you prepared with the supervision of the Advisor and all sources used are fully acknowledged
making yourself responsible for any academic miss conduct. The page also includes the
approval statement and signature of the advisor confirming that, the work is done under his/her
supervision and fulfills the standard.

Declaration:

I, the undersigned student, hereby declare that, this senior research project is my original work,
which has not been presented for a degree in this/elsewhere university. All sources of materials
used for this study have been fully acknowledged.

Name: __________________________ __

Signature: ____________________________________

Date: __________________________________________

Confirmation:

This thesis/research project work is conducted under my supervision and fulfills all requirements
of research standard of the program. I hereby approve the submission of this thesis/senior
research project for examination.

Advisor's name: ________________________

Signature: ____________________________

Date :__________________________

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 • Board of Examiners Approval page

It is the official receipt that states, the students work has been sanctioned. By signing in here, the
examiners committee indicates that they have fully inspected and accepted the work.

A sample Examiners Committe approval page

TITLE OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT

BY:

• Approved by Bored of Examiner

Advisor signature

_______________________________ ___________________________

Examiner signature

_________________________________ _________________________

Examiner signature

________________________________ _______________________

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 Acknowledgement

This is a section where you will thank all those who have helped you in carrying out the
research. It includes lists of people and organizations for whom you would like to forward your
thank for their assistance, advice or information. Acknowledgements are usually included in your
final research next to the approval page. Careful thought needs to be given concerning those
whose help should be acknowledged and in what order.

Guidelines:

• Do not give a page number for this section.

• Include the full name of all individuals who are being thanked

• Include a brief statement as to what kind of help the writer has received from each
individual or organization.

• Avoid using strong emotive language

NB: Personal pronouns such as 'I, my, me,' are nearly always used in the acknowledgements
while in the rest of the paper such personal pronouns are generally avoided.

The following phrases are often used when expressing acknowledgements and they may be of
help when writing your own acknowledgements.

I would like to express my very great appreciation ….

I would like to offer my special thanks to......
Advice given by........ has been a great help in ........
I am particularly grateful for the assistance given by........
Assistance provided by ...... was greatly appreciated.
I wish to acknowledge the help provided by.......
Dr........ provided me with very valuable.......
I would like to thank the following companies for their assistance with the collection of my
data...

My special thanks are extended to the staff of ...... company for......

• Abstract

The abstract is a short summary of your research paper and is essentially an informative giving
your advisor and readers the chance to grasp the essentials of the proposal and the final paper

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without having to read the details. Although it comes first in your research paper, the abstract, is
and must be written lastly after you finalize your work, since it summarize the paper.

What to write in abstract?

Your abstract should contain, a brief theme sentence which orients the reader about the overall
issue addressed in the research, the main aim or purpose of the study, the academic and/or
practical importance of the study, the research methods, the main findings of the study, a
statement of the conclusions and recommendation should be highlighted where appropriate. It
should be written in one paragraph.

General guideline

• Begin a new page and assign a page with roman number (e.g., I)

• Your abstract page might include the page header.

• On the first line of the abstract page, center the word “Abstract” (no bold formatting,
italics, underlining, or quotation marks).

• Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research.
(Do not indent it.)

• Your abstract should be a single paragraph and it should be between 150 and 250 words.

• Since the abstract is a summary of the paper, nothing should be in it that is not also
included in the main text.

• It should be understandable without requiring the reader to read something else

• It should not contain any figures, tables or in-text references, elliptical (i.e., ending with
...) or incomplete sentences, abbreviations or terms that may be confusing to readers, it
should be just normal text.

• You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent
as you would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then
list your keywords (a maximum of 3-5 words).

• Listing your keywords can serve as hooks that draw the attention of potential readers.

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 • The keywords should preferably reflect the discipline, sub-discipline, theme, research
design and context (industry and/or country) of the study. Where appropriate, frequently
used synonyms may be used as separate keywords.

Abstract Sample

Abstract

In this paper, the determinants of resistance to organizational change are studied in view of the
Kurt Lewin’s three phase model of change management process. The coefficient of fifteen sources
of resistance is the critical concerns of this study and are weighed against which aspect of
sources of resistance presents a higher disparity of impact considering the phases of the change
process as well as which has lower significance or/and no significance at all. Questionnaires
were distributed randomly to a sample of 150 in the 27 branches of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
found in Addis Ababa. A unidirectional logit regression of odds ratio and marginal function
analysis was used to get a finding that age and gender are not predictors to resistance, while
education and experience are negatively and positively predictors to resistance, respectively. It is
also found that a single variable factor of resistance can have varied significance level on the
unfreezing, moving and refreezing phases of a change process found by two way tables of column
and row statistics with chi square measure of their association. In this regard vulnerability driven
factor was the highest significant factor in the first two phases while managerial incapability
driven factor in the last phase of change management process.

Source: Adapted from Hiyab G/Tsadik master thesis, 2013.

Table of contents: this list all major topics and information contained in your research report
along with the exact page numbers. This section comes after the abstract part and is the part
where a page number with roman numerals start. Start this section with a new page.

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The headings and subheadings must be presented in the right order they appear in your text.
Each sub headings should be indented 1-inch (five characters) from the Headings. NB: the sub
headings shouldn‟t exceed three levels.

List of tables and figures: this includes a list of all tables and figures used in your paper along
with the table/figure number, table/figure heading and the exact page number. Start this section
on a new page. All tables and figures should be numbered consecutively throughout the
manuscript with the chapter heading included; e.g. Table 1.1. Table 1.2, Table 1.3 (for chapter
one), Table 2.1, Table 2.2, Table 2.3 and etc. (for chapter two) Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, ..for
chapter one, Figure 2.1, 2.2...for chapter two and the likes. For tables in appendixes you have to
use alpha numerals such as Table A1, Table A2...

Example

Lists of Tables Page Numbers

Table 3.1 Variable and measurement -------------------------------------------------------34

Table 4.1: Parent brand quality, familiarity and brand name type-----------------------42

Table B3: Pair-wise Comparisons of brand name types-----------------------------------81

Lists of Figures Page Numbers

Figure 2.1: Conceptual Model of consumer‟s attitude............................................20

• Acronyms and Abbreviations

The aim of this section is to give the full name/meanings of abbreviations/acronyms used within
the body text.

This section is optional depending on whether you have used abbreviations and acronyms in the
body of the thesis. It is also quite customary to have either of one only; in such case the heading
of this section needs to be labeled only for what you have in the body that is, Acronyms if only
acronyms used and Abbreviations if only abbreviations appeared in the text and there is no

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acronyms used. Acronyms and abbreviations can be used as heading when both are available
throughout the text.

• Operational definitions

In this section, you have to include a brief definition of terms that individuals outside the field of
study may not understand and that go beyond common language. Usually you will provide an
operational definition of the major variables or the central phenomena. Operational definitions
are written in specific language rather than being abstract and conceptual. I.e., you have to write
definitions of constructs at a specific operational or applied level.

Doing this, will help you to be more specific about the terms you used in the study.

NB: Do not define the terms in everyday language

• Organization (Structure) of the research paper

This is a section in your research paper where you will tell the audience how you structure the
research paper and give an overview about what is going to be discussed in each of the
subsequent chapters. Start this section on a new page.

NB: in your proposal, you may write the structure of the research paper (how you plan to
organize the final paper) next to the research method of the study section. But in the final paper,
it should appear next to operational definition, as it appears here.

Your discussion should be very brief and short.

This research paper is organized in five chapters. Chapter one gives an introduction to the study
by presenting---. In chapter two a detailed review of related literature will be discussed. Chapter
three will discuss about the research methodology......

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 Chapter One: Introduction
The body of your research paper is structured into five chapters which include the introduction,
literature review, research methods, data analysis and conclusion and recommendations. The first
chapter of the body of your paper will be an introduction to the study that gives the reader an
enticing glimpse of what is to come.

This section generally consists of the backgrounds of the study, background of the case company
(if your research is a case study), research problem, objectives of the research, significance of the
study, scope, limitation of the study and the research schedules and budget (only in the proposal).

Begin this section with a new page and assign a page number with Arabic number 1.

• Background of the Study

The primary goal of the introductory paragraphs is to catch the attention of the readers and to get
them turned on about the subject. The introduction should be designed to attract the reader‟s
attention and give an idea of the research‟s focus.

Some important notes on writing background of the study

Begin with an overview of the study topic. Here you should try to make your reader familiar with
the concepts/issues to be touched. The background of the study should be written in such a way
that an intelligent layperson (i.e., a non-academic person) will understand what you mean and be
able to follow the broad outlines of what you did and why (Bem, 2003:3). It is, therefore,
important to introduce the broad theme/topic of your study in an opening paragraph in such a
way that the reader understands exactly what the study is all about. This can be achieved by
clearly defining the core constructs that are covered in the study in non-technical terms and by
providing examples to illustrate these constructs where appropriate.

In addition to stating the theme of the research, you have to discuss some of the available
literature and cite the most important previous studies that are relevant to the current research.
The summary of available literature should be very concise and should be limited to the most
recent studies that are directly relevant to your own research. Other than what the theory says
about the issue/concept, you have to incorporate the empirical framework which will reveal the

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real practices in the area of interest. For example by analyzing the empirical studies, you may be
able to identify and write

• The period when the concept evolved in that specific company or country

• How do companies apply the concept

• Current trends and developments on the concept

• Problems that many companies faces with the area of study.

• What new things have been innovated in recent years which further develop the concept?

• Etc.

Do not forget to cite your sources otherwise it would be considered as plagiarism. If you use
someone else‟s words, enclose them in quotation marks and give a full citation. (For more detail
on citation, please refer to in-text citation on page 52)

After introducing the extant literatures, you should indicate the most important gaps,
inconsistencies and/or controversies in the literature that the current study will address.

• Statement of the research problem

A research problem, in general, refers to some difficulty which a researcher experiences in the
context of either a theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the same
(Kothary, 2004). It might be a gap in theory or practice that your research is intended to
close.

You should carefully select and define the research problem. Defining a research problem
properly is a prerequisite for any study and is a step of the highest importance (because all other
components of the research proposal emanate from this part). Remember, “A problem clearly
stated is a problem half solved”. Effective problem statements answer the question “Why does
this research need to be conducted.” Therefore, here you are expected to clearly state and show
the gap you want to close. Statement

Problem definition/statement could pertain to:

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 • Existing business problems: this can be stated by referring to a specific management
question/problem highlighted in industry publications or by quoting appropriate industry
statistics.

• Situations that may not pose any current problems but which you feels have scope for
improvement,

• Areas where some conceptual clarity is needed for better theory building. This might be
stated by referring to a lack of previous academic research on the topic or by highlighting
important gaps, inconsistencies and/or controversies in the academic literature that warrant
further investigation. or

• Situations in which you are trying to answer a research question empirically because of
interest in the topic.

Points to consider in selecting and writing research problems

In selecting a research problem for your senior essay project, you should consider the followings

• Do not choose a problem which is overdone, for it will be a difficult task for you to throw
any new light in such a case.

• The problem should not be too narrow or too vague

• The problem selected should fall within your field of specialization

• Bear in mind the cost of conducting the research and the time frame it will take you to
accomplish the research.

• Research Questions
Most of the time, the problem statement is accompanied by a specific research question. Stating
the research questions will help you to be more specific, avoid confusion and indicate clearly
what is being studied (i.e., to focus the purpose of the study).

Research questions are interrogative statements or questions that you seek to answer. It helps you
to shape and specifically focus the purpose of the study. In your research you may state some
research questions (usually not more than 2-3). It is used for qualitative type of research. Do
not start this section on a separate page.

• Hypotheses

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While research questions are most often used in qualitative inquiry, although their use in
quantitative inquiry is becoming more prominent. Hypotheses in contrast are relevant to
theoretical research and are typically used only in quantitative researches.

Based on your experience with the study problem, it might be possible to develop explanations
for the problem, which can then be tested. If so, you can formulate hypotheses in addition to the
research problem

This section should be incorporated in studies that try to investigate cause and effect
relationships. I.e., it is a must to have hypotheses in experimental and explanatory studies. If
your research design is a descriptive or exploratory study, you don‟t need to write hypotheses
rather you may simply write research questions.

A hypothesis must be grounded in existing theory, previous research findings or the results of
exploratory research. Therefore, you have to present an adequate theory or previous research
findings to motivate each hypothesis that you intend to test in a study. Make sure that there is a
direct and logical link between the motivation provided and the hypothesis you state.

Each of the hypotheses you state should be given a number and the number should be
subscripted. E.g., H1, H2

It is used for quantitative type of research. Remember that, each hypothesis you state must be
tested using the appropriate statistical tool.

• The Research Objectives

The objectives of a research project summarize what is to be achieved by the study. Achieving
your research objectives should lead you to solve the main research problem.

Commonly, research objectives are classified into general objectives and specific objectives. The
general and specific objectives are logically connected to each other and the specific objectives
are commonly considered as smaller portions of the general objectives (which will state the
purpose of the study).

You should consider the following guidelines when drafting research objectives:

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 • Specific Research objectives must be presented in a bulleted list and should be stated in

action verbs. example: “To determine, To analyze, To evaluate, To compare, To describe,

To identify, To test, To develop conceptual framework, etc.”

• It should be listed in order of importance or from the most general to the most specific.

• Each objective should focus on a single issue (it should not be too vague). Avoid

objectives containing conjunctions i.e., “and”, “or”, “as well as”. These words often

indicate a composite objective dealing with more than one issue.

• The objectives should logically flow from the research questions (problems). The reader

should be able to see why it is necessary to achieve a specific objective in order to solve

the main research problem or answer the research questions.

• Be realistic about what you can accomplish within the time frame and budget available to

you.

• Do not confuse research objectives with managerial objectives. Research objectives will

focus on the things you want to do or achieve as a direct result of your research effort. As

such, research objectives usually contain action verbs.

Your research objectives should not focus on any managerial actions or activities that may result
from the study. It is, therefore, incorrect to have research objectives in an academic study such as
the ones listed in the following Examples:
• To advise management on how best to improve the quality of service delivered to

customers

• To develop an intervention plan in order to improve internal communication between top

management and operational staff.

Keep in mind that when your research project is evaluated, the results will be compared to the
objectives and research questions or hypothesi.

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• Significance of the Study

This section of the research will discuss the benefit of conducting the specific research. A
significance section elaborates on the importance and implications of a study for the researchers,
practitioners, and policy makers. If you find it difficult to write the importance properly, then
you have probably not understood the problem adequately.

In this section you have to indicate how your research will refine, revise, or extend existing
knowledge in the area under investigation.

When thinking about the significance of your study, ask yourself the following questions

• In what way will the study contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of
study?

• Will results influence programs, methods, and/or interventions?

• Will results contribute to the solution of academic / practical problems?

• What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?

• How will the results of the study be implemented, and what innovations will come
about?

• What suggestions for subsequent research arise from the findings?

In general significance of the study answers questions like:

• Why is your study important?

• To whom it is important? And

• In what way?

• Delimitations of a study/ scope of the research

The scope/delimitation of your study is like the scope of a sniper. It tells what your study is
going to cover. It tells the range of your study.

The scope of your study could state the specific country, region, industry, industry sector,
organization, culture and/or consumer groups in or among which the study will be conducted. It
could also refer to the specific forms / variants of a phenomenon or object that you will study
(e.g., nudity appeals in fashion magazine advertisements).

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In addition to the above, you have to briefly explain the things that you are not doing and why
you have chosen not to do them, the literature you will not review (and why), the population you
are not studying, the methodological procedures you will not use (and why you will not use
them).

• Limitation of the Study

A limitation identifies natural weaknesses of the study related to your analysis, the nature of self-
report, your instruments, and the sample and sampling method. It also includes the statement of
threats to internal and external validity that may have been impossible to avoid or minimize. NB:
in the limitations it should only be related to the nature of the study like the above. It is not
recommended to write financial and time constraints as a limitation of the study.

Some of the most common limitations include the following:

• If a non-probability sampling approach was used, the results of a study cannot be

generalized to a larger population on statistical grounds;

• The fact that a study focussed exclusively on a student sample is often an important

limitation

• The results of a study conducted in a single context (e.g., a single industry or geographic

market) can not necessarily be generalized to other contexts;

• In some cases, the measurement scales used in a study may have a low internal

consistency reliability (i.e., Cronbach‟s alpha < 0.7) that cannot be improved by deleting

items. When such scales are used, the researcher should acknowledge this as an

important limitation of the study and recommend that the measures be improved in future

research;

• A researcher should also acknowledge any errors (e.g., forms of survey error), omissions

or other special circumstances (e.g., specific natural/social events that could have

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 influenced respondents‟ responses) that could have influenced the nature and quality of

the data collected.

• Research Schedule (Begin this section on a new page)

In this section of the proposal, you will develop a time line for each phase of the research
activities. Having a timeline for accomplishing the different stages of the research will help you
be more efficient and avoid trouble. To make it more clear and simple for the readers you may
use a Gantt chart.

• Research Budget

It is this time you will determine the total amount of money required to conduct the research.
You may list out all costs for different types of materials to be used, for using other services (for
secretaries or enumerators), cost of travel to conduct interviews/distribute the questionnaire,
photocopying costs, costs of compensating research participants or other consumable materials
that you use.

The research budget should be stated on a new page with a table format.

NB: the above two sections (time schedule and research budget) are part of only the
proposal. They will not be incorporated into your final research paper. In the proposal you
have to write this section after the research methods part.

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 Chapter Two: Related Literature Review

The purpose of a literature review is to “look again” (re + view) at what other researchers have
done regarding a specific topic (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005:70). A literature review is a means to an
end, namely to provide background to and serve as motivation for the objectives and hypotheses
that guide your own research (Perry et al., 2003:660).

In writing a literature review, you are not expected to merely summarize available previous
researches. Rather, you should be able to critically evaluate, re-organize and synthesise the work
of others.

As an academic researcher, you should not simply accept what others say. You shouldn‟t afraid
to critically evaluate the literature you read. Do you agree with the arguments and conclusions of
other researchers? If you disagree, why? Can you identify contradictory arguments or findings?
How could one explain these contradictions? Do the findings of previous studies apply in all
contexts or are the findings context- specific? What are the criticisms against the conceptual
models or measurement approaches discussed in the literature? Which limitations should be
considered when interpreting the results of previous research?

General principles on writing style of your literature

• Avoid using difficult and unfamiliar (jargon) words

• Maximum number of pages for literature review should be 8-12 pages (2,000-3,500)

words.

• You should, as far as possible, paraphrase and explain things in your own words and

minimize the use of direct quotations (but remember to acknowledge the source!). You

should provide the source for every ideas, definitions, concepts and discussions that are

not yours but are incorporated into your research. (For a detailed information about how

to cite sources, please refer to the in-text citation topic on page 53).

• Be careful not to repeat the same information or arguments in different paragraphs or

sections of the research.

26
 • Always provide the reader with an overview of the contents to follow at the start of each

major section in your literature review. End each major section off with a short summary.

Aspects you should include in a literature review

• A brief discussion of where the specific topic under consideration fits into the “bigger
picture” of the overall academic discipline (e.g., where does nudity appeals fit into the
“bigger picture” of advertising appeals).
• Conceptual definitions: you should provide formal conceptual definitions for all the key
concepts/constructs included in the study the first time they are introduced in your writing.
Providing clear definitions for the abstract constructs/concepts in a study will help you to
avoid misunderstanding and confusions of readers. Some points to consider in defining
constructs/concepts:
• It is not necessary to define a term that is generally used in everyday conversation (such
as gender) and that has a single, well-accepted meaning.
• Specify the construct‟s conceptual theme, in unambiguous terms, in a manner that is
consistent with prior research, and that clearly distinguishes it from related constructs.
• It may sometimes be necessary to clearly distinguish it from conceptually different, but
closely related constructs. For example, perceived service quality and customer
satisfaction, as well as between transaction specific and overall satisfaction.
• Be consistent in how you use constructs and terminology within and across the different
sections of your research. Do not use different words or synonyms for the same concept
interchangeably, as this may confuse the reader.
• For multidimensional construct a clear definition of its dimensions is required
• A focussed and synthesised discussion of relevant previous research findings involving
the constructs/concepts relevant to your study (both the theoretical and empirical frame
works). Previous research may indicate:
• possible relationships between the chosen constructs, possible mediating and/or
moderating variables that influence the relationship between the chosen constructs,
• possible differences between groups on the chosen constructs (e.g., differences between
males and females with regard to sensation seeking),

27
 • the contexts in which the constructs and relationships have previously been tested (e.g.,
among students or in a specific industry),
• possible gaps, inconsistencies, controversies and/or unanswered questions in the literature
that could form the basis of a new study,
• the results of previous hypothesis tests involving the selected constructs/concepts or
relationships, and possible untested hypotheses or propositions involving the chosen
constructs.
• A literature review must always provide a summary of existing approaches to the
measurement of the relevant constructs. In other words, you must explain how other
researchers have measured the constructs that you intend to measure.
• Finally, if your study has hypothesises, the literature review must provide sufficient
theoretical support for the hypotheses to be tested.

One should not use the aforementioned five points as main headings in a literature review. Your
advisor and evaluator will, however, look for all five of these elements when evaluating the
literature review section of your research paper.

How to Compile a Literature Review

Writing of a good literature review highly depends on the type and relatedness of material you
collect, your ability to synthesize information, and the way you structure the different concepts
within it. Methods and ways for finding, synthesizing and structuring a literature review are
discussed below.

Finding an appropriate/related literature

Finding an appropriate literature is a tedious work especially for first time researchers. There are
different options for you to search for literatures. One, you can find articles in Ethiopia from
journals published in different professional associations and organizations (e.g., Ethiopian
journal of science and sustainable development (EJSSD, Ethiopian Economics Association,
Ethiopian Marketing Professional Association, etc.). The other is, you can find articles published
in international academic journals (e.g. from, Emerald, EBSCOhost, Jstor, etc.). Another option
is to find articles published in international academic journals using Google scholar.

NB: it is highly recommended that the articles you search should be peer reviewed/scholarly
articles and should be recently published.
28
Synthesizing Information in a Literature Review

The most difficult activity in compiling a literature review is to synthesize, existing knowledge.
Many student researchers often copy and paste information without “digesting” the information
at all. This is totally unacceptable! You have to synthesize on the different definitions, lists of
attributes, factors and opposing viewpoints on a specific issue.

When you search for a definition of constructs/concepts in the literature, you may find different
definitions provided by different authors for the same construct. In such a case you should never
merely list these different definitions one after the other in a literature review. Rather “dissect”
the definitions and then try to show the main similarities and differences between them (if there
are different school of thoughts). In case where there is no historical approaches or schools of
thought with regard to the definitions of a construct/concept, you may list them chronologically
(based on the date of publication of the sources consulted) in the form of a table.

Different authors often list different attributes, factors, criteria, elements, characteristics or issues
when discussing the same topic. For example, different authors may list different factors that
influence customers‟ satisfaction with the service provided by a salesperson in a retail store.
What you definitely should not do, is to merely report such lists of attributes, factors or criteria
developed by different authors separately one after the other in the literature review. You should
rather “digest” the information and provide a synthesized summary in your literature review.
You can do this by making comparisons of the factors, attributes or criteria developed by
different authors. If there are conflicting points raised by different authors, you should again
present their difference and your position. (For a detailed tips and examples on how to synthesise
information, you may refere to Kotze, (2007))

Structuring a Literature Review

A good literature review will always have a logical structure. This means that the different
sections and sub-sections of the literature review are logically linked to one another. When
structuring a literature review, use a “funnel approach” (where you will start the review by
placing the specific topic being discussed in an appropriate broader context and then focus your
discussion on more specific issues).

29
Signals of Poor Literature Review
• Lacking organization and structure

• Lacking focus, unity and coherence

• Being repetitive and verbose

• Depending too much on secondary sources

• Failing to keep up with recent developments

• Failing to cite influential papers

• Failing to critically evaluate cited papers

• Citing irrelevant or trivial references.

Chapter Three: Research Methods

It is in this section of your research where you will describes the steps followed in the execution
of the study and provides a brief justification for the research methods used. The methods section
should contain enough detail to enable the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of your
methods and the reliability and validity of your findings.

This section typically has the following sub-sections:

• The research type (approach)

• Sampling

• Description of target population, research context and units of analysis

• Sampling method and sample size

30
 • Respondent profile

• Sources of data

• Data collection methods

• Measures (Alternatively: Measurement)

• Method of data analysis

• Validity and reliability

It is extremely important that you describe your methodological choices in all the sub- sections
in enough detail so that a reader who is not involved in your study will know exactly what you
did and why. You should also justify your methodological choices so that the reader can see that
your choices are appropriate and scientifically sound.

You could justify your methodological choices in the following ways:

• Explain that the choices made are the most practical / feasible given the study‟s

objectives, the nature of the target population and available resources, BUT do not use

resource constraints as your only motivation.

• Indicate that other leading researchers have used a similar approach (i.e., cite other

articles to justify your choices).

• Indicate that the methodological choices are appropriate and scientifically sound given

the “best practice” guidelines or requirements that apply to the specific research

approaches (e.g., qualitative research, survey research, experimental research, etc.) used

in your study. Cite sources to support your arguments in this regard.

31
• Research Type /Approach

Identifying and selecting the right type of research approaches to be undertaken by your study is
the most important phase of your research activity as it will determine the subsequent methods
you should employ to achieve the stated research objectives and purposes. The type of research
you undertake will, therefore, have important implications for how you gather and analyze
information. Determining the type of research approach to undertake is highly dependent upon
the research problem and objectives.

In this section you should clearly state the type/approach of your research paper with
justifications.Depending on the purpose of the research, one might use one or more of the
following research approaches: a descriptive, exploratory, experimental (causal) explanatory.

Stating the research type and justifying the choice will make it easy for the readers to anticipate
and judge the appropriateness of the methods (the sampling, data source, data gathering and
analysis methods) you employ.

• Sampling

This is the most important section where you will clearly discuss and describe; the target
population (-s), the context (-s) in which the study was conducted and the units of analysis of the
study, the sampling method and sample size and respondents' profile.

• Target population, the context and units of analysis

Target population it is the total population from which a sample is drawn. The units of analysis
of a study refer to the entities about which the researcher wishes to draw conclusions (Terre
Blance & Durrheim, 2004:37). The units of analysis can, therefore, refer to individuals, families,
organizational sub-units, organizations, buyer-seller relationships, regions, countries, cultures,
nations or any other “grouping” or entity about which a researcher wishes to draw conclusions.

Do not confuse the unit of analysis with sampling units (i.e., the entities from which data is
collected). While in many cases the units of analysis and the sampling units are the same, this is
not necessarily always the case.

• Sampling method
Describe the sampling method used in detail. This description should, where possible, include:

• A description of and motivation for the specific sampling method used,

32
 • An indication of any disadvantages associated with the use of the specific sampling

method (e.g., disadvantages in term of the generalisability of the findings),

• A description of the sampling frame used (if applicable),

• A description of how sampling units were selected, and

• An indication of the target sample size and how this was determined (bear in mind and

justify the representativeness of the sample size).

If you are doing qualitative research, you should show that the sampling method and target
sample size proposed for the study are scientifically justifiable from the perspective of the
specific qualitative research approach (-es) used. Cite relevant sources to support your arguments
in this regard

• Sources of Data

Before deciding about the method of data collection to be used for the study, you should decide
on the type of data to use (primary or secondary or both). This is because; the data collection
method to use is different for primary and secondary data. Therefore, in this subsection of the
methods part you should discuss about the type(s) of data you will use as a source of information
to conduct your study.

The primary data are those which are collected afresh and for the first time, and thus happen to
be original in character. The secondary data, on the other hand, are those which have already
been collected by someone else and which have already been passed through the statistical
process (kothary, 2004).

• Data Collection Methods

After clearly deciding on the type of data to be used, you are in a position to select the
appropriate method for collecting the specific data. In this part, you have to show the method for
collecting the specific data. There are different methods for collecting data. Depending on the
purpose of your research, you may use interviews, questionnaires, focused group discussions and
or observations. The information might be gathered either through person administered,
computer administered or self administered questions. This section therefore should include:

33
 • A clear description of and motivation for the data collection method to be used. This can

be done by: explaining that the chosen method is the only feasible option given the

unique circumstances of your study; and/or showing that other experienced researchers

have used a similar approach in studies on the same or a related topic (cite relevant

sources to support your arguments in this regard).

• A description of how the data will be collected (i.e. of the data collection process)

• An indication of whether incentives will be used to encourage respondent participation

• An indication of the time period during which the data will be collected.

• Variables and Measurement/Measures

Here, you have to discuss the different variables (independent, dependent, moderating, control
variables etc), measurement scale and questions used in the questionnaire.

It is important to describe the measures in a systematic order. Feldman (2004:4) suggests that the
best order is to first discuss the independent variables and then the dependent, moderating or
mediating and control variables. This suggestion specifically applies to studies in which “causal”
models have been tested. Alternatively, the measures should be discussed in the order in which
they appear in the questionnaire. You may use either of the options.

In writing the measurements, limit your description to the response formats (usually scales) used
to measure the main constructs/concepts in your study. The main constructs/concepts are usually
those included in the hypotheses that you have stated. In addition, you do not have to describe
the scales or questions used to measure demographic and basic grouping variables in detail. In
your research, you have to state the types of response format used: open-ended, close-ended, and
scaled response questions or a combination of them.

Where applicable, your description of a measurement scale should include the following
information (for each measurement scale used):

• A clear indication of the basic scale design used (e.g., a Likert, semantic differential or

multiple-choice single response scale),

34
 • The number of scale items and scale points in a multiple item rating scale( e.g The first

seven items of the scale (items 3.1 to 3.7) are five-point Likert scale statements).

• An indication of how scale points or response options are labelled/worded,( All the scale

points of the items were labelled ranging from 1 (“Strongly disagree”) to 5 (“Strongly

agree”).

• The number of sub-dimensions in a multiple-item rating scale and the aspects being

measured by each sub-dimension,

• An indication of what a high or low score on the particular scale means in terms of the

construct being measured,

• A cross-reference to the relevant question number(s) in the questionnaire, from

appendixes (e.g., you may reqest the reader to refer to appendix I question no. 2).

• A reference to the literature source from which the scale was taken or adapted, (e.g., the

researcher used the brand sensitivity scale which is developed by Kapferer and Laurent‟s

(1983)).

• An indication of how an existing scale, taken from the literature, was changed,

• An indication of which items in a scale were reverse scored,

If you use different questions to measure a single construct, then show the internal consistency
reliability (i.e., Cronbach‟s alpha) of the item.

If you have developed multiple item measures for your study, you need to describe the process
followed and, as a minimum, indicate that your scale has face and content validity (Cooper &
Schindler, 2006:318-319). You also need to convince the reader that you have used a scientific
scale development process, such as the process recommendations by Churchill (1979:64-79).

35
• Method of Data Analysis

In this part of the methods section, you have to clearly state and describe how you analyzed the
data. Again the data analysis method depends on the research type.

If the study is a descriptive study, you should state the statistical tools you use to analyze it (such
as mean, median, and mode) and how you present it (tables, charts, figures).

If your study has hypotheses, you need to clearly state the inferential statistical tool (the
parametric and/or non-parametric significance tests) used to test the hypothesis, and in-text
reference to a source that supports your choice of appropriate tests and the process you followed
to test the assumptions.

If your study is a qualitative study, you might not use the above two statistical tools as they are
used for quantitative data, rather you rely on qualitative data analysis techniques (e.g., content
analysis, force field analysis, schematic diagrams etc.). You should therefore, state the technique
you used to analyze qualitative data and justify your selection.

• Validity and Reliability

In discussing validity, you should provide a proof for the conceptual and scientific soundness of
your research study as the primary purpose of all forms of research is to produce valid
conclusions. You have to ensure the validity of your research with regard to:

Internal validity: The ability of a research design to rule out or make implausible alternative
explanations of the results, thus demonstrating that the independent variable was directly
responsible for the effect on the dependent variable and, ultimately, for the results found in the
study. This can be measured using factor analysis.

External validity: concerned with the generalizability of the results of a research study

Construct validity: relates to interpreting the basis of the causal relationship and it refers to the
congruence between the study‟s results and the theoretical underpinnings guiding the research.
The focus of construct validity is usually on the study‟s independent variable. Construct validity
asks the question of whether the theory supported by the findings provides the best available
explanation of the results.

Statistical conclusion validity: refers to aspects of quantitative evaluation that affect the
accuracy of the conclusions drawn from the results of a study.
36
Reliability: measure the extent to which results are consistent over time. Reliability of questions
can be measured using cronbaches‟s alpha. In addition data triangulation (using more than one
source of data or data collection methods) helps you to improve the validity and reliability of the
results.

Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Presentation

This section summarizes the data collected for a study in the form of descriptive statistics and or
reports the results of relevant inferential statistical analyses (e.g., hypothesis tests) or qualitative
analysis conducted on the data.

In this section, you have to present the responses to all questions asked in your questionnaire or
interview or observed behavior. Some students only analyze and present data that are consistent
with their expectations or hypotheses. This is wrong. You should present the data as it is, even if
it contradicts with the stated hypothesis.

Before you jump to the detailed analysis of the data, you have to give an overview for the reader
by briefly discussing the type of data you analyzed, how it was analyzed, the order of questions
analyzed (e.g., descriptive analysis then inferential or interview results), the number of
interviews conducted or questions distributed and their response rate.

Reporting Research Results

You should present your findings as concisely as possible and still provide enough detail to
properly justify your conclusions, as well as enable the reader to understand exactly what you did
in terms of data analysis and why.

To present your findings in a clear and concise manner you might use figures and tables.
However, consider the following rules:

• Use tables to present detailed findings.

37
 • Reserve figures for the really important stuff that has to be portrayed visually.

• Do not repeat the same information in a table and a figure. This is a waste of space and

energy.

• You should ideally not have more than 5-7 tables and 2-3 figures in the body text of your

research.

• All tables should have a heading which you will put it at the top of the table (this is

because, tables are read from top to bottom) and number all tables with Arabic numerals

sequentially.

• If you have included an appendix with tables, identify them with capital letters and

Arabic numerals (e.g. Table A1, Table B2).

• For figures, make sure to include the figure number and a title with a legend and caption.

These elements appear below the visual display (because figures are usually viewed from

bottom to top).

• For the figure number, type Figure X. Then type the title of the figure in sentence case.

• When referring to a Figure from the text, you may abbreviate "Figure" as Fig.,e.g., Fig. 1.

But Table is never abbreviated, e.g., Table 1.

You should always interpret all research findings for the reader. Do not leave it to the reader to
try and figure out what the numbers in a table or figure mean.

How to Report Descriptive Statistics?

You have to report and interpret appropriate univariate descriptive statistics for all the questions,
scales and scale items, as well as for all composite (total) scale scores used in your study.
Univariate descriptive statistics (descriptive statistics that are reported for single variables in a
dataset) should be presented in the same order as that of the questions in your data collection
instrument on which they are based.

38
Whenever you report a mean (average), it should be accompanied by the associated standard
deviation. Where appropriate, relate mean (average) scores back to the original rating scale. For
example, remind us that a mean score of 3.41 on a five-point rating scale of verbal aggression
lies between “slightly aggressive” and “moderately aggressive”. Univariate descriptive statistics
for the variables measured at a nominal and ordinal level of measurement can easily be presented
in a table. Nominal and ordinal variables normally refer to variables measured on dichotomous,
multiple-choice single response, multiple- choice multiple responses, constant sum or paired
comparison scales.

Depending on the research objectives of a particular study, it may in some cases be necessary to
report descriptive statistics on the individual items in a multiple-item rating scale (such as a
Likert or semantic differential scale), while in other cases it may only be necessary to report
descriptive statistics on the composite (total) scores of constructs measured with multiple-item
rating scales.

Where the focus of a study is on the relationship (i.e., correlation) between numbers of
constructs, a researcher will focus on descriptive statistics based on the composite (total) scores
representing constructs that were measured on multiple item rating scales; not on the descriptive
statistics for the individual items measuring each construct.

For numeric variables measured on ratio scales, you should report the following univariate
descriptive statistics: sample size, minimum, maximum, mean (average) and standard deviation.

How to Report the Results of Hypothesis Tests

If your study has hypotheses, then you need to incorporate the results of hypothesis tests. Your
discussion of hypothesis test results should always include the followings:

• An introductory paragraph in which the reader is reminded about the core issue tested in

the specific hypothesis. The paragraph should also introduce the formal formulation of

the null and alternative hypotheses involved.

• You should also indicate the level of significance at which the hypothesis was tested.

• An edited copy of the output table generated in SPSS for the chosen significance test with

a clear indication of the relevant p-value.

39
 • This output should be included in the main body of the article and,

• Your interpretation of the test results. Use the following formats to present the result of

hypothesis tests.

2
For Chi-square test of independence: χ (degrees of freedom, n = number of cases) = value of
χ2 statistic, p = p-value (rounded to 3 decimals). E.g χ2(1, n = 436) = 0.34, p = 0.562.

For t-tests: t(degrees of freedom) = value of t-statistic, p = p-value (rounded to 3 decimals).

One-sample t-test: Honours students taking Research Methodology reported studying more
hours for tests (M = 121, SD = 14.2) than did Honours students in general, t(33) = 2.10, p =
0.034.

Paired-samples t-test: The results indicate that French chefs have a significant preference for
pecan pie (M = 3.45, SD = 1.11) over cherry pie (M = 3.00, SD = 0.80), t(15) = 4.00, p < 0.001.

Independent samples t-test: UP students taking Research Methodology 703 had higher IQ
scores (M = 121, SD = 14.2) than those taking Research Methodology 702 (M = 121, SD = 14.2),
t(44) = 1.23, p = 0.090.

For One-way ANOVA: F (Between groups degrees of freedom, Within groups degrees of
freedom) = value of F statistic, p = p-value (rounded to 3 decimals). E.g., There was a
significant difference in the LO scores for the three age groups, F(2, 432) = 4.6, p = 0.01. Post
hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicate that the mean score for group 1 (M = 21.36,
SD = 4.55) was significantly different from that of group 3 (M = 22.96, SD = 4.49). Group 2 (M
= 22.20, SD = 4.15) did not differ significantly from either group 1 or 3.

For Correlations: r or rs (degrees of freedom, i.e. n – 2) = value of correlation coefficient, p

= p-value. E.g, A medium strength positive correlations was found between friendships and
general self-concept, r(78) = 0.55, p < 0.001.

40
 Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation
This section is the most important section in a research paper. Because it is the last thing a reader
sees, it can have a major impact on the reader‟s perceptions of the research conducted. In This
section, you should:

• Restate the study‟s main purpose

• Reaffirm the importance of the study by restating its main contributions

• Summarize the results in relation to each stated research objective or hypothesis without
introducing new material

• Relate the findings back to the literature and to the results reported by other researchers

• Provide possible explanations for unexpected or non-significant findings

• Discuss the managerial implications of the study

• Discuss insightful (i.e., non-obvious) directions or opportunities for future research on the
topic

In writing conclusions you should not merely restate the findings reported in the data analysis
section or report additional findings that have not been discussed earlier in the paper. The focus
should rather be on highlighting the broader implications of the study‟s findings and relating
these back to previous research. Make sure that the conclusions you reach follow logically from
and are substantiated by the evidence presented in your study.

Recommendations are your choices for strategies or tactics based on the conclusions that you
have drawn. Do not draw any conclusions or make any recommendations that your research
cannot clearly support.

41
 Reference
How to write a reference

Though there are numerous citation and referencing styles, in this guideline, the referencing style
is adopted from APA (American Psychologist Association) 6th edition manual. In this section the
major formatting and writing rules of references are discussed below with examples. Therefore,
strict adherence to the following style is required from you in writing your reference. For more
detail on how to write references, you may refer to the 6th edition of the APA manual.

Reference provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you
cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list;
likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. This makes reference
different from bibliography.

Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page
"References" centered at the top of the page (do NOT bold, underline, or use quotation marks for
the title).

Basic Rules

• Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all

authors of a particular work for up to and including three authors. For Ethiopian author,

do not invert the name (put it as it is in the book). If the work has more than three

authors, list the first authors and then use ellipses.

• Arrange the reference list entries alphabetically by the last name of the first author of

each work.

• Single space the reference list with spacing fixed automatic both before and after each

reference list. Plus, left and right indentation should be fixed at 0 with hanging at 0.5‟‟.

• For multiple articles by the same author, or authors listed in the same order, list the

entries in chronological order, from earliest to most recent. If an author wrote more than

one of your references in a single year, then use small letters (2000a, 2000b,).

42
 • Present the journal title in full. Maintain the punctuation and capitalization that is used by

the journal in its title.

• For example: ReCALL not RECALL or Knowledge Management Research &

Practice not Knowledge Management Research and Practice.

• When referring to books, articles, or Web pages, capitalize only the first letter of the first

word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper

nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound

word.

• Italicize or bold titles of books and journals.

Reference Format for Books

Basic Format

Last name of the author, first name initial.middle initial. (Year of publication). Title of the book:
Capital letter also for subtitle (edition if later than first). Place of publication: Publisher.

Keller, K.L. (2003), Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand
equity (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India.
Kotze, T. (2007). Guidelines on writing a first quantitative academic article(2nd ed). South
Africa: University of Pretoria.
Book with Two or three authors

List by their last name and initials. Use the ampersand instead of “and”. If there are three
authors, separate the first two authors by comma while the last author is preceded again by
ampersand.

th
Cooper, D.R. & Schindler, P.S. (2006). Business research methods (9 ed). New York: Irwin
McGraw-Hill.
Leedy, P.D. & Ormrod, J.E. (2005). Practical research: planning and design (8th ed). Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Merril Prentice Hall.
Reeder, Robert R., Brierty, Edward G., & Reeder, Betty H. (2005), Industrial Marketing:
Analysis, Planning and Control. New Delhi: Prentice Hall.
Book with More than three authors

43
You have a choice of listing all of the authors in the order as they appear on the title page of the
book, or use “et al.” From the Latin et alii, or et aliae, meaning “and others” after the first author.

Gross, A., Banting, P., Meredith, L., & Ford, I, (1998), Business Marketing. New Delhi:
A.I.T.B.S. Publisher & Distributor. Or
Gross, A., et al. (1998), Business Marketing. New Delhi: A.I.T.B.S. Publisher & Distributor.
Book by Unknown Author

If the author of the book is not known, then use the title of the book in place of the author (title
should be italicized or bold).

Title of the book. (Year). Place of publication: Publisher.

Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

Edited Book

Author name. (year). Title of the book. Name of the editor (Ed). Place of publication: publisher.
A Translation

Last name of the original author, initials. (Year translated). Title of the work . (Name of
translator(s), Trans.). Place of publication: publisher. (date of original work publication)
Laplace, P. S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities. (F. W. Truscott & F. L. Emory,
Trans.). New York, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1814)

Note: When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with
both dates: Laplace (1814/1951).

Dissertation, Published

Last name, initials. (Year). Title of dissertation. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Name of
database. (Accession or Order Number)

Dissertation, Unpublished

Last name, first initial. Middle initial. (Year). Title of dissertation. (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Name of Institution, Location.

Government/None Government Document or Report From a Private Organization

44
Whenever you write a case study, you may want to refer to company or government documents
in which case the organization may become the author. The format would be:

Name of the organization. (Year). Title of the work (manual). Place of publication: publisher
(may be same as the author).

American Psychological Association.(2003).Publications manual of the American Psychological

th
Association. 6 ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association
Lion international bank S.C. (2011). Annual report. Addis Ababa: Andinet printers
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED). (2011). Growth and
Transformation Plan (2010/11-2014/15) Annual Progress Report for F.Y. 2010/11.
Addis Ababa: MOFED
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. (2005). 2005 American Indian
population and labor force report. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
United Nations Development Programme. (2009). Human development report 2009:
Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. Retrieved from
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009/

Reference for Articles (printed source)

Basic Format for journal articles
Last name of the author, first name initial. Middle initial. (Year of publication). Title of article.
Title of journal, volume number (issue number), start and end pages.

Last name of the author followed by initials; publication year goes between parentheses,
followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and
proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The journal title is run in title case, and is followed by
the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized.

Aaker, D. and Keller, K.L.(1990). “Consumers evaluations of brand extensions”, journal of

marketing, 45, 27-41
Churchill, G.A. (1979). A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing
constructs.Journal of Marketing Research, 16, 64-73.
D‟Astrous, A. (2000). Irritating aspects of the shopping environment. Journal of
BusinessResearch, 49:149-156.
Article in a Magazine

Last name of the author, first name initial. (Year, month, date). Title of article. Title of the
magazine, volume number (issue number), start and end pages.

Article in a Newspaper
45
Last name of the author, first name initial. (Year, month, date). Title of article. Title of the
newspaper, volume number(issue number), page p or pp.

Unlike other periodicals, p. Or pp. Precedes page numbers for a newspaper reference. This is
because a single article might be placed on different pages of the newspaper. It might star in page
one, goes to page 7 and might end at 9. Single pages take p., e.g., p. 1; multiple pages take pp.,
e.g., pp. 2,4 or pp. 1, 3-4.

Reference List: Electronic Sources (Web Publications)

If the article in the electronic journal is a duplicate form of the printed version (i.e. If it is also
available in print form), use the same referencing format as for printed journal article, but add
[electronic version] in bracket after the article title.
Keller, K. Heckler,S.& Houston, M. (1998), The Effects of Brand Name Suggestiveness on
Advertising Recall[electronic version]. Journal of Marketing, 62, 48-57
Article from online journals

Online articles follow the same guidelines for printed articles. Include all information the online
host makes available, including an issue number in parentheses. In addition to this, in referencing
online materials you have to incorporate the date of accession and the URL/DOI form where you
access the material.

Article from an online journals with no DOI Assigned

Online scholarly journal articles without a DOI require the URL of the journal home page.
Remember that one goal of citations is to provide your readers with enough information to find
the article; providing the journal home page aids readers in this process.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume
number. Retrieved month, day, year, from www.jou rnalhomepag e.com /full/url/

When giving the url, http://should only be included if the address does not include “www”
Riel V. Allard C.R., Lemmink, J.& Ouwersloot, H. (2001),“Consumer evaluations of service
brand extensions,” Journal of Service Research, 3, 220-231. Retrieved on August 10,
2011 from www.jsr.sagepub.com
NB: if the article has DOI (Digital Object Identifier), then use it in place of the URL. If you use
DOI in place of the URl, there is no need to specify the date of accession. This is because DOIs
provide stable, long-lasting links to online articles. They are unique to their documents and

46
consist of a long alphanumeric code. Many-but not all-publishers will provide an article's DOI on
the first page of the document.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume
number, page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 or http://dx.doi. org/10.0000/0000
Martinez, E. & Chernatony, L.D. (2004). The effect of brand extension strategies upon brand
image, journal of consumer marketing, 21(1),39-50. Doi. 10.1108/07 363760410513950.
Online Newspaper Article

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper. Retrieved from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides

When citing online lecture notes, be sure to provide the file format in brackets after the lecture
title (e.g. PowerPoint slides, Word document).

Hallam, A. Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes
OnlineWebsite:http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/index.html

Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the environment [PowerPoint slides].

Retrieved from http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html
Reference format for Other Non-Print Sources

Motion Picture

Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of motion

picture [Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio or distributor.
Smith, J. D. (Producer), & Smithee, A. F. (Director). (2001). Really big disaster movie [ Motion
picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.
Television Broadcast

Important, I. M. (Producer). (1990, November 1). The nightly news hour [Television broadcast].
New York, NY: Central Broadcasting Service.
Television Series

Bellisario, D.L. (Producer). (1992). Exciting action show [Television series]. Hollywood:
American Broadcasting Company.

Sample Reference
References

47
Aaker, D. and Keller, K.L.(1990). “Consumers evaluations of brand extensions”, journal of
marketing, 45, 27-41
Bellisario, D.L. (Producer). (1992). Exciting action show [Television series]. Hollywood:
American Broadcasting Company.
Churchill, G.A. (1979). A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing
constructs.Journal of Marketing Research, 16, 64-73.
th
Cooper, D.R. & Schindler, P.S. (2006). Business research methods (9 ed). New York: Irwin
McGraw-Hill.
D‟Astrous, A. (2000). Irritating aspects of the shopping environment. Journal of
BusinessResearch, 49:149-156.
Gross, A., Banting, P., Meredith, L., & Ford, I, (1998), Business Marketing. New Delhi:
A.I.T.B.S. Publisher & Distributor.
Important, I. M. (Producer). (1990, November 1). The nightly news hour [Television broadcast].
New York, NY: Central Broadcasting Service.
Keller, K.L. (2003), Strategic brand management: building, measuring, and managing brand
equity (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India.
Kotze, T. (2007). Guidelines on writing a first quantitative academic article(2nd ed). South
Africa: University of Pretoria.
Leedy, P.D. & Ormrod, J.E. (2005). Practical research: planning and design.(8th ed). Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Merril Prentice Hall.
Martinez, E. & Chernatony, L.D. (2004). The effect of brand extension strategies upon brand
image, journal of consumer marketing, 21 (1), 39-50. Doi. 10.1108/07
363760410513950.
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED). (2011). Growth and
Transformation Plan (2010/11-2014/15) Annual Progress Report for F.Y. 2010/11. Addis
Ababa: MOFED
Riel V. Allard C.R., Lemmink, J.& Ouwersloot, H. (2001),“Consumer evaluations of service
brand extensions,” Journal of Service Research, 3, 220-231. Retrieved on August 10,
2011 from www.jsr.sagepub.com

! Caution Reference list is obtained from in text citation. If the source is cited in the body of

your paper, it should be incorporated in the reference list. If it‟s there in the reference list it must
be there in the in-text citation.
The following section will give you a quick reference for citing sources in the body of your text
based on the APA style of citation.

In-Text Citation (Citing Sources within the Body of Your Text)

48
Note: There will be no section with a heading “in-text citation” in your research paper. It is
included here just for discussing the methods and formats you should use in citing sources in
your text. So, do not create such a section in your research paper.

End Reference

In text Citation

Citing other peoples work is a very important and mandatory activity in all academic work as it
indicates to the reader the sources of your quotations and borrowed ideas. Failure to indicate
your sources is taken as Plagiarism and can result into disqualification of your research work.

To cite sources in your text, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means, the
author‟s last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text and a
complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

Guidelines

Short quotations: when you directly quote an idea/works of others that are less than 40 words,
you have to put it in quotation mark and need to include the author, year of publication, and the
page number for the reference (preceded by “p.”). You may write the quotation in two ways.

• You may introduce the quotation with a signal phrase which includes the author‟s last
name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. Here you will write the page
number after stating the quotation. E.g., according to Kotler (2008), “social marketing is
......” (p. ...) or

49
 • You may first state the quotation and write the source (author, year and page number) in
the parentheses. E.g., “social marketing is...... (Kotler, 2008, p....).

Long quotations: place direct long quotations (above 40 words) in a free-standing block of
typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line indented five
spaces from the left margin. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation
mark. E.g,

If you have a quotation within a block quotation, enclose it in double (“) quotation marks. If you
have a quotation within a short quote, enclose it within single quotation marks („).

Paraphrasing: for longer works it is recommended for you to paraphrase/summarize it than

directly quoting it. When you paraphrase an idea, you only have to make reference to the author
and the year of publication in your in-text reference

Citing an Author/Authors
Citing a work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses
each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and
use the ampersand in the parentheses. E.g,

According to Aaker and Keller (1992), perceived fit and quality of core brand are the major
factors influencing the evaluation of brand extensions. Or

Perceived fit and quality of core brand are the major factors influencing the evaluation of brand
extensions (Aaker & Keller, 1992)

A Work by Three Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first
time you cite the source.

(Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993)

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal
phrase or in parentheses. (Kernis et al., 1993)

In et al., et should not be followed by a period.

Four or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. In the signal phrase or in
parentheses.

Harris et al. (2001) argued... or (Harris et al., 2001)

50
Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal
phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or
underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks.

A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).

Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention

the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the
source.

According to the ministry of commerce (2005)...

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first
time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.

First citation: (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development [MOFED], 2011)

Second citation: (MOFED, 2011)

Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two
or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list, separated by a semi-
colon.

(Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)

Authors with the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.

(E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998)

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the
same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in
the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that...

Citing Indirect Sources

It is not recommended to use indirect citation, as much as possible try to find and cite the
original source but if you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source
in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary
source in the parentheses.

Johnson argued that... (As cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).

51
 Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try
to locate the original material and cite the original source.

Electronic Sources

If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date
style.

Appendixes
Start this section on a new page and assign a page number with Arabic numerals which continues
from the end of the reference page.

In this last section of the paper you may include and attach all supporting information from the
research project that was not included in the body of the report. The information presented in this
section is important to support the work presented in the body of the report but would make it
more difficult to read and understand if presented within the body of the report.

• You should attach your survey or interview questions including the translated copy if you
translated your questions, observation checklists, complex statistical calculations, certain detailed
tables, list of Sample frame ( mandatory in case of probabilistic sampling) and other important
information in an appendix. Each Appendix should be identified by a Roman numeral in
sequence, e.g., Appendix I, Appendix II, etc. Note that each appendix should contain different
material.

52
 Part II Evaluation and submission procedures

• Evaluation

Evaluation of student‟s senior research project comprises an evaluation of the paper and
evaluation of the student through his/her presentation/defense. The work of the student will be
evaluated out of 100%. Out of the 100% evaluation, 50% comprises an evaluation by the
respective advisor while the reset 50% will be examined by evaluators other than the advisor.

• Submission Procedures

Submission of the research report has to be done within the candidature period. Two unbind copy
of the report should be submitted along with the softcopy to the advisor at least 10 days before
presentation. The advisor has to submit the work of the student to research and publication
committee with his signature indicating approved for presentation 8 days before the presentation.
The Research and publication committee of the department will assign examiners and provide
them the research report 7 days before the defense session to facilitate the examination.

NB: the research and publication committee will provide and post a schedule regarding to the
research undertakings to the staff and students ahead of time.
After the defense session of the final research project, incorporating the comments provided (if
any), a student should submit two bind copies of the final manuscript with the PDF which have
been approved by board of examiners to their Department not later than 7 days.

• Academic Misconduct and Its Consequences

A student who, for whatever reason, submits a research paper either not his/her own or without
clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action. It is expected that the
research project you submitted to be yours own, otherwise you will be accused for plagiarism.
Any student who is found to be guilty of plagiarism for the first time will be suspended and
forced to re-work the project by assigning an F grade. If the same student is found guilty for the
second time, he/she will be expelled and forced to withdraw from the school.

53