MANUSCRIPT

PREPARATION AND
REPORTING
Dr. Bakhtiar Ali
The Communication Process

Field of Experience Field of Experience

Communicator Encoding Decoding Audience

Message

Communication
 Overall Structure
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Title
Abstract
(telling a story)
Introduction - Hypotheses: past and present
Method - How Hypotheses operationalized
Results - If Hypotheses confirmed or not
Discussion - Hypotheses: implications and
future
References
Figures/Tables
Appendices
 Poor Manuscript
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 Bartol (1983) identified chief problems as the following:

1. inadequate review of the literature,
2. inappropriate citations,
3. unclear introduction,
4. ambiguous research questions,
5. inadequately described sample,
6. insufficient methodology,
7. incompletely described measures,
8. unclear statistical analysis,
9. inappropriate statistical techniques,
10. poor conceptualization of discussion,
11. discussion that goes beyond the data,
12. poor writing style, and
13. excessive length – or not meeting the journal/uni criteria.
 Research at a Glance
Opener: Big picture
5 Topic(s) of paper/research
Rationale of the study
Prior Research Literature
Present Research
Hypothesis
Method:
Results:
Restate results
Interpret and justify the results
Implications and Relevance
Theoretical contribution/uniqueness
Limitations of the study if they exist
Future Research and closing paragraph
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Title and abstract.
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 The title and the abstract are key elements that

inform the reader about the contents of the
manuscript and, as a rule, are the parts of the
manuscript that gain the widest exposure.
 Purpose –
 Design/methodology/approach –
 Findings –
 Implications – (including academic, practical and
policy)
 Originality/value – (contributions)
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Introduction.
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 Introduction engages the reader in the problem of interest and

provides a context for the study at hand.
 The writer provides a clear rationale for why the problem
deserves new research, placing the study in the context of
current knowledge and prior theoretical and empirical work
on the topic.
 The most current and relevant studies should be cited.
 Hook- A "hook" is usually a comment that inspires an
emotional response from the reader. It should be used to get
their interest.
 Comments and background- give a history or some
information regarding the topic. This should lead to your
thesis.
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Introduction.
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 Swales and Feak (2004) identified four cornerstones

of the introduction:
1. to establish current knowledge of the field;
2. to summarize previous research, providing the
wider context and background and the importance
of the current study;
3. to set the stage for the present research, indicating
gaps in knowledge and presenting the research
question; and
4. to introduce present research, stating its purpose and
outlining its design.
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Literature Review
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 A literature review addresses the following:
 What have others said about this topic?
 Which theories address it and what do they say?
 Are there consistent findings, or do past studies disagree?
 Does the body of existing research have flaws that you
think you can remedy?
 The three key points of a literature review
 Tell me what the research says (theory).
 Tell me how the research was carried out (methodology).
 Tell me what is missing, ie the gap that your research
intends to fill.
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
– TFW, Opr Def and Hyp
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Theoretical Framework
 Variables attributes (characteristics and content), their relationship

with strong theoretical and logical support

 What, why and how?

 Use standard symbols

Operational Definitions

Hypotheses
 Hypotheses must be explicitly motivated

 Present in context of existing research/theories

 Effectively motivating hypotheses may require attention to multiple

areas of literature
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Method/Design.
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Calfee and Valencia (2007) suggested that good

methodology can be described by the two “Cs”
 Clean
 Clear
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Methodology (Clean)
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 CLEAN - that is, use of appropriate, valid, and unflawed

methods of sampling and use of instruments, procedures,
and analysis.
 The researcher ensures that
1. sample variables are free of confounding influences (e.g.,
education is controlled for),
2. recruitment and sampling techniques are appropriate,
3. measures (including operationalization of construct) are
reliable and valid for assessing the variables of interest, and
4. the statistical procedures are appropriate and sufficiently
sophisticated to
5. examine the data and are carried out appropriately.
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Methodology (Clear)
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 The ideal Method section is written in a clear manner, such that

another researcher could duplicate the study. Toward this end, the
writer should provide a
 thorough description of methods of recruitment,
 participant characteristics,
 measures and
 apparatus, and procedures.
 The writer should take care to thoroughly describe the sample with
regard to demographic characteristics,
 This information assists the reader in understanding the
characterization of the current sample and the degree to which results
may be generalizable.
 Measures should be appropriately referenced, including notation of
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research
Manuscript - Discussion
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The discussion section typically contains the

following:

1. Discussion on Original Hypothesis

2. Justifications and Explanation for findings
3. Implications
4. Limitations/Delimitations
5. Need for further research….recommendations
should be concrete
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Results and discussion..
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 Answer the research question

 Show how the results support the answer
 Show relationships among results
 Show relationship of results to other
studies
 Draw conclusions
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Results and discussion.
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 The Results section should include a summary of

the collected data and analyses, which follows from
the analytic plan.
 All results should be described, including
unexpected findings.
 Authors should include both descriptive statistics
and tests of significance.
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Results and discussion
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 Researchers should focus on interpreting the results in light

of the research questions.
 This section should begin with a statement of support or
nonsupport for the original hypotheses in light of the
findings.
 If the hypotheses were not supported, the author considers
re-assessment of instrument to date to statistical results
 In interpreting the results, authors consider
 sources of bias and other threats to validity,
 imprecision of measures,
 overall number of tests or overlap among tests, effect sizes, and
other weaknesses of the study
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research
Manuscript – Implications and Limitations
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 Implications
 Academic Implications
 Theoretical Implication/Contribution
 Practical/Managerial Implications
 Policy Implications
 Limitations
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research Manuscript
- Recommendations
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 Providing a link to future research

 More specific recommendations are more useful.
 As Skelton (1994) observed, researchers too often
end their papers with a recommendation that is
“too imprecise to be operationalized, or too
grand to be implemented by a decision at much
lower than a ministerial level”
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research
Manuscript
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 Conclusion
 Is the wrap up to paper
 Uses same elements as Intro
 Reverse order
 Main point
 Significance
 Call for more research
 Substantive Aspects of Strong Research
Manuscript
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 Tables and figures.

 Valuable for conveying large amounts of information and for
showing relationships among data.
 Convey information in visually engaging ways
 Avoid duplicate reporting of data but instead should decide
on the most comprehensible ways of presenting the
information,
 Should be structured according to APA Style and be clear
and self-explanatory so that, with their captions, they can
stand apart from the text.
 Applications: Demographic, Descriptive, inferential
 The order in which to write final manuscript
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 Write Method first

 As you are collecting data, can write method section describing
blueprint for study
 Write Results second
 As you are analyzing data, can write each part of the Results section
 Write Introduction third
 Need to analyze results before writing Introduction because you need to
know what “story” you are going to tell in Introduction
 Write Discussion fourth
 Write Discussion section after the others because it is restatements and
summary of prior sections
 Write Abstract last
 Can only summarize in Abstract after you have locked in place what
you need to summarize
 Writing Style
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 Style in scholarly manuscripts can refer to various

aspects of the writing technique.
 Capitalization, italics, abbreviations, heading
structure, and so forth.
 Avoid bias in language,
 Grammar, punctuation,
 Avoid repetition
 Proofreading, proofreading, proofreading,
 Verify each cited reference – several times
 Writing Style
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 Word Choice
 Avoid prove.

 Use show, demonstrate, indicate, support,

suggest, imply, appear.

 Hedging terms such as may be, might be, could

be, probably, possibly may be used as needed,

but avoid using too many hedges in one sentence.
 Writing Style
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Common errors
1. The main point is not clear.
2. Too wordy, unorganized.
3. Too short: not all implications have been
discussed; not enough familiarity with the
literature to contextualize your work.
4. Not beginning with the most important
outcomes.
 Writing Style
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Common errors
5. Not enough discussion of the significance of the
outcomes. The outcomes are not put into
context.
6. Unjustifiable conclusions, not supported.
7. Some results are ignored.
8. The interpretation obscures the true meaning of
the data.
 Coherence in Study
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Intro Lit Rev TFW Design Analysi Discussion Implicati Recomm

+ + Instrument s ons
Hypo
Gap
Q/Obj
DV
IV1
IV2
IV3
MV

You must link your discussion with the objectives

29

Thank you and

Best of Luck