An Analysis of Two Main Sections of Research Articles

An Analysis of Two Main Sections of Research Articles

Giorgio Ciofalo, M. R., and Sánchez, M. F.
Universidad CAECE

Research papers (RP) are structured in a way that facilitate communication and understanding in the academic community. The most widely used format for academic RP is the IMRaD formula (Introduction, Methods, Research and Discussion) (Hengl and Gould, 2002). Each section has a particular goal and its own characteristics, assumed by experts as conventions in the field of academic writing, which make articles understandable and readable.

However, the comparison of two RA from different areas of knowledge has demonstrated that not all papers follow the IMRAD rules. The aim of this paper is to analyze and contrast two of the belonging sections of RPs: the Introduction and Methods sections of a medical and an educational RA in order to reveal if the conventional academic layout of articles is accurately achieved.

  Swales and Feak (1994) have created a model to structure introductions in RP. The C.A.R.S. (Create A Research Space) model states that an introduction contains organizational patterns such as different moves and semantic and syntactic features.Each introduction comprises three different moves (or cycles). In the first move, the researchers create the need to conduct a research after a literature review. Afterwards, in the second move, the motivation to establish a “niche” or a gap is stated, while in the third one, the purpose, main findings  and main findings of the research are outlined.

       Baralt, Pennestri and Selvandin´s (2011) introduction presents two clear paragraphs. In the first paragraph, the researchers state the three moves that an introduction requires.  The first sentences deal with data visualization and the importance of “wordles” or word clouds to appeal different types of learners. The first move is clearly stated when the authors say that “there is relatively little research” (Baralt et al., 2011, p12) on the focused area. Sentences are written in present simple tense showing that there is no allusion to the research activity, but, that knowledge may belong to the grounds of common knowledge. The second move is established in Baralt et al. ´s article when a niche is settled by using a negative connector which states that “No study exists to date that explores their potential in the FL classroom” (p. 12). This second move articulates the cycles one and three in a smooth reading. The third move is presented in two parts, the former in the first paragraph, when researchers establish their purpose and present the project done; and the latter, in a separated paragraph, which includes an outline of the article and the goal of each section. The purpose of the paper is signaled with the phrase “the present paper aims to…”  (Baralt et al., 2011, p 12) followed by the goals of the project previously ran.

The medical article´s introduction differs from the educational one in various aspects. As previously stated, both articles have different aims, the former´s aim is descriptive while the latter, purposive. Gregg et al.’s (2014) paper shows an only-one- paragraph introduction which begins with a general review of the previous research in the field and states the changes in society as the first move. All these sentences are in the past tense indicating what other studies showed twenty years ago.  Then, researchers enumerate many of the new trends in the field so as to generate a niche and the needs for research, achieving a second move without using any signal phrase. Finally, the third move is not determined by any semantic feature as in Baralt et al.’s (2011) article, but it shows that researchers assembled data to examine how the spectrum of diabetes complications has changed (Gregg et al., 2014).

   As regards the Methods section, it can be stated that both papers, the Research Article (RA) from the field of medicine and the RA from the field of education, respect almost none of the characteristics of a well-structured methods section (Swales & Feak, 1994). Centered headings and subheadings typed at the left margin show a correct paper’s organization. In the case of the RA from the field of medicine the word Methods has been precisely centered at the start of the section. However, although the three sub categories of the methods section are correctly typed at the left margin, these subsections have been written using words that are not the usual ones.  

The participants who took part in the research and the materials used are described under the subheading “data sources”:

The National Health Interview survey (NHIS) amples an average of 57,000 adults per year […]. The National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) collects data on discharged patients […]. The U.S Renal Data System (USRDS) […] data on end-stage renal disease drawn from clinical and claims data reports […]. The National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) is a registry of all U.S deaths that includes information about decedents’ age, race, sex, state of residence, and underlying cause of death  (Gregg et al., 2014, p 1515).

Another set of materials are detailed under the subheading “definitions”, e.g. “to identify cases in hospital discharge records, we used the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM)” (Gregg et al., 2014, p. 1515). And, the procedures are described under the subheading “data analysis”, e.g. “for the primary analysis […] we calculated […]. To assess the potential effect of larger increase in detection or diagnostic practices, we conducted […]. To examine trends in the relative risk of complications associated with diabetes, we also estimated […]” (Gregg et al., 2014, p. 1516).

In the case of the educational RA, there is no direct heading to indicate the reader what the methods section is. The article presents a title: “The Present Study” that introduces the readers to the main aspects of the project carried out anticipating the classroom context and project stages.

There is a picture of participants and materials under the sub-heading “Classroom Context”: “an intermediate-level Spanish FL class at a private research university. […] 18 students.” (Beralt et al., 2011, p. 15). There is also a thorough explanation of procedures under the sub-headings “Action Research Stages 1, 2 and 3”. Words such as “first”, “second”, “lastly” or phrases for example “in the second composition”, “in the third composition”, “by the fourth composition”, “at the end of the semester” are used to describe what the researchers did gradually.

  Another drawback in structuring the papers is that, any of them shows a careful choice of verbal tense. Past or present passive voice is not the mostly used one. In the case of the RA from the field of medicine the researchers frequent use of the word “we” gives less importance to the experiment carried out and more emphasis on them as doers of the action. In the case of the educational RA, prominence is also given to the participants and the instructors. As regards terminology, Gregg et al.’s (2014) article supposes that readers have a specific background knowledge of the subject matter to understand the message that is being conveyed.

  A comparative analysis of the “introduction” and “methods” sections of the two research papers reveals that although each article has a different purpose, they have been written under the introduction moves proposed by C.A.R.S model. The educational paper shows all the introduction requirements and discourse markers while the medical article displays them but not attaching to conveyed rules of an appropriate structured RA. However, referring to methods, both papers are difficult to skim. Although both researches are based on sound theory, the methods sections lack academic reliability because they are not accurately structured. So as to conclude, none of the introduction and methods sections in the papers analyzed follow the requirements and the steps of a RA precisely, nevertheless, they are legible and understandable for the academic community.

References

        Baralt, M., Pennestri, S., Selvandin, M. (2011) Using Wordles To Teach Foreign Language Writing. Language Learning & Technology Journal, 15, 2. retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2011/actionresearch.pdf

Gregg, E. D., Li, Y., Wang, J., Burrows, N. R., Ali, M. K., Rolka, D., Williams, D. E., &Geiss, L. (2014) Changes in Diabetes-Related Complications in the United States, 1990-2010. The New England Journal of Medicine.  Retrieved from http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1310799

Hengl, T. & Gould, M., (2002) Rules of thumb for writing research articles. International Institute of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation. Retrieved from http://www.itc.nl/library/papers/hengl_rules.pdf

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Retrieved from http://sharif.edu/~hatef/files/Academic%20Writing%20for%20Graduate%20Students-Essential%20Tasks%20and%20Skills%20-%20For%20Nonnative%20Eng%20Speakers.pdf

Academic Summary

Academic Summary: The use of Haiku in the Classroom

Iida (2010) in his article “Developing Voice by Composing Haiku: A Social-Expressivist Approach for Teaching Haiku Writing in EFL Contexts” states that the social expressivist approach to writing is encouraging the teaching of Haikus in EFL classrooms. Haiku is a kind of poetry composed of three lines which facilitates students to contact their feelings and express them by describing nature and human behavior. It helps to increase students´ vocabulary and to develop their writing skills. Furthermore, it stimulates students to find their own voice considering the audience.

Haiku has some special features such as a syllable pattern, a seasonal reference and a cutting word or punctuation mark which divides the Haiku in two independent pieces and fosters reflection on both parts and the Haiku as unity. Because of these and due to the audience, each Haiku is free of interpretation. (Iida, 2010)

Reading Haiku is the first stage to introduce this type of poetry into the classroom (Iida, 2010). By analyzing structures, discovering meaning and interpreting them, students can be aware of the writer´s voice. By sharing free and multiple interpretations students will negotiate meaning with other members of the audience and the author.

Secondly, students should compose their own Haikus. Instructions should be open, clear and simple. According to Iida (2010), after reviewing the concept of Haiku and its features, students go to the outside world to hear and observe. They compose by using their impression, the correct use of words, wording and the possible use of synonyms. Peer reading helps to discover meaning and to see the impact of them. Afterwards, students are requested to collect important memories, so as to write a haiku about them. It is very important to foster writing fluency than grammatical accuracy.

Lastly, Iida (2010) states that to show students´ haikus increase the possibility to find new audiences to interpret students´ productions, not only peers and teachers in the classroom context. (p. 33)

Through the introduction of Haiku in the classroom students will achieve the use of their own voices, and awareness of audience.  The usage of the speaker´s discourse influenced by his life´s story, experiences and culture encourages the growth of literacy and critical thinking.

References

 Iida, A. (2010).  Developing Voice by Composing Haiku: A Social-Expressivist Approach for Teaching Haiku Writing in EFL Contexts. English Teaching Forum, Nbr. 1. DOI: EJ914886

APA style: in-text citations

Analysis of in-text citations in a piece of writing

According to APA (American Psychological Association) style (APA, 2010), there are three types of in- text citations: paraphrases, direct quote and block quotations. This paper will analyse the use of these three resources of avoiding plagiarism in the article “Developing Voice by Composing Haiku: A Social-Expressivist Approach for Teaching Haiku Writing in EFL Contexts” (Iida, 2010)

In this article, block quotations are not included. The author used direct quotes and paraphrasing. Direct quotes requirements are “to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p.")” (Prudue Owl, In-text citations: The basics, Short Quotations, para 1).  In Iida (2010)  no page number is found at the end of the quotes.

As regards paraphrase quotes, most of them are introduced by the same signal phrase “according to”. Paraphrase quotes are characterized by the name of the author, a comma and the year of publication. In this case, the quotes illustrated do not show a comma for separating author and year of publication. Number page is not displayed in most of the quotes, but “APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.)” (Prudue Owl, In-text citations: The basics, Summary or paraphrase, para 1).   “For three, four or five authors, cite all authors in the first instance, thereafter, only first author followed by "et al." (not underlined and with no stop after "et") and the year of publication” (University of Southern Quensland, n.d Paraphrasing). In the article the group of authors is not named for the first time, they are grouped by the use of “et” after the main author.

To conclude, although all the sources appear in the reference list, Iida (2010) does not completely follow the rules of APA style of quoting and making a reference in this article.

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association(6th ed.). Washington, DC.  

 Iida, A. (2010).  Developing Voice by Composing Haiku: A Social-Expressivist Approach for Teaching Haiku Writing in EFL Contexts. English Teaching Forum, Nbr. 1. DOI: EJ914886

Purdue OWL (2013). In-text citations: the basics, Short Quotations. Retrieved October 2013, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/

University of Suthern Quensland (n.d) APA Referecing guide  Retrieved October 2013, from  http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/apa-referencing-guide#How_to_cite_references_within_the_text_of_an_assignment

Writing a Critique

Critique to a Book of Academic Writing

The book Academic Writing: A Handbook for international students written by Bailey (2006) aims at overseas students to develop academic writing skills when studying at colleges or universities of all subjects and levels (Bailey, 2006, p. vii). It is a practical writing course which fosters students’ academic writing styles either for the classroom or for self-study. Each topic consists of simple explanations, some examples and elementary practice. This book might be worthy for some students but it may have some inconsistencies from what the author expects and what it really portrays.

Bailey´s book (2006) is organized in different parts, all connected by cross-sectional references. In Part 1 “Writing Process”, the book guides students into the process of writing from sentences to general organization. In Part 2 “Elements of Writing” the topics lead students to acquiring writing skills; in Part 3 “Accuracy in Writing” students practice grammatical issues while in Part 4 “Writing models” the book shows different samples of the most common types of academic writing. There is also a “Writing Test” section for checking progress and “Answers” on the exercises can be found as the last segment of the book.

Bailey (2006) challenges college or university students from foundation to PhD to adopt the book, but many of the topics dealt might be already well known for students who have introduce themselves in the grounds of academic writing such as “Nouns- Countable and Uncountable” (part 3.10 p. 147) or “Confusing Pairs” (part 3. 6 p. 136). In addition, some topics and skills that academic students need to improve are not described or, they are not deeply enough developed in Bailey (2006) such as Reference and Quotations (part 2.11 p. 99) as well as Cohesion (part 2.3 p. 73) .The book mostly aims at essay writing; therefore some widely used academic genres are not included in part 4. Only formal letter, a CV (curriculum vitae) and two examples of essays does the book contain, so, students are not exposed to academic summaries, reviews, reports, critiques, articles, among others.

As regards the book´s presentation and format, students might face some difficulties in finding and relating topics. Bailey (2006) states that students “can work either with the teacher or by themselves” (p. vii), but this would have been possible for students who had known their academic needs beforehand and who had a teacher for guiding their improvements. Students working alone would find no suitable answer for some writing exercises (Paraphrasing 1.16; Combining sources 1.10; Argument  2.1) moreover, no guiding or further explanation for some topics, for instance “Academic Vocabulary” (part 3.2 p. 124) and the use of “other text features” (part 1.1 p. 4). It would have also been better if Bailey (2006) had shown the table of contents and topics relating according to students needs and not “alphabetically for easy access” as he assumes.

This book might be really useful for those language competent students who are introduced in academic writing. Some topics are simple shown and preliminary developed, so further practice and examples would be needed for those who attempt proficient levels. If it would have been easy-to-follow as it had been proposed by the author a teacher might not be necessary, but guiding must be essential. I would not recommend this book as a self-study course for either very weak or highly proficient students. And, as Brown and Yule (1983, cited in Ansary and Babaii, 2013) “materials should be chosen, not so much on the basis of their own interest, but for what they can be used to do”(p. 9). Therefore, materials become good materials when students and teachers make them profitable enough for their goals.

References

Bailey, S. (2006). Academic Writing: A handbook for international students.  (2^nd edition). Retrieved November 2013 from   http://npu.edu.ua/!e-book/book/djvu/A/iif_kgpm_t27.pdf

Ansary, H., & Esmat, B. (2013).  Universal Characteristics of EFL/ESL Textbooks: A step towards systematic textbook evaluation. Shiraz University. Retrieved November 2013 from

http://cluster1.cafe.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_search_read?grpid=17sno&fldid=O7eD&contentval=000QDzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz&nenc=&fenc=&q=&nil_profile=cafetop&nil_menu=sch_updw

Analysing APA style

APA (American Psychological Association) Style in a Piece of Writing

Members of the discourse community must follow certain rules in order to achieve academic writing skills. The American Psychological Association (APA, 2010) proposes pre-established academic conventions for formatting and writing style as well as citations and reference lists.  (Prudue OWL, 2013 para 1). The aim of this paper is to analyse how Dalvit, Murray, Terzoli, & Zhao, 2005 article follows some established conventions of APA style of writing such as quotations, signal phrases and reference list.

As regards in-text citations, APA style might be verified in different aspects of the text: in-text citations, signal phrases and reference list.  The authors Dalvit et al (2005) only included paraphrased in-text citations identified by an optional signal phrase, followed by a surname and date in between brackets, however, page number of the quote is omitted.  In the article, there is no evidence of direct quotes or block quotations.  In addition, the sources stated are varied, article´s evidence is supported by books, publications done by universities and websites; and online dictionaries and journals; and they are all acceptably pointed out in the reference list.

In view of APA style (2010), signal phrases are used to lead quoted or cited material; but in this article, they are barely used and repeated along the text. “According” and “According to” are written to introduce the citation, which are quite similar. This may show a lack of academic competence from the authors or it could have been required by the article´s publishing house.

Considering reference lists according to APA style (2010), they must appear at the end of the body of the paper in a new page. The title “References” must be centered- aligned, not in bold, underlined or italics. (Prudue Owl, 2013a, para 2). However, in the article analyzed, these requirements are not fully accomplished. The reference list is not in a new page, the title is on bold followed by colon and not properly aligned. APA style, has also established that all “the sources that appear in the article, must be cited alphabetically in the reference list” (Prudue Owl, 2013a, para 1).  This is attained by the authors, but they enumerated each source and they did not respect the double spacing necessary, in the reference list and throughout the text. The sources are indented and cited in the correct order: surnames, initials names, year of publication followed by the title.

As regards reference construction, titles and names of the books are in italics, while APA style suggests that only names of books and journals should be italicized (University of Minnesota, n.d). Online books are not cited with author, although if there is not one, it might start with the title (University of Southern Quensland, n.d). Besides, the signal phrases “available from” or “retrieved” are also missing, so as to indicate the date and the link, since there is no evidence of DOI. Furthermore, the reference to the online dictionary must reveal the entry word at the beginning of the cite, nonetheless in both allusions entry words are not mentioned.

So as to conclude, the article written by Dalvit et al, 2005 follows most of the requirements presented by APA 2010 style of writing. It attempts to be an academic piece of writing but it reveals some inconsistencies as regards APA style conventions, mainly in the reference list, although there is a worthy implementation of quotes. Therefore it does not completely fulfill academic rules of APA (2010) sixth edition style of writing.

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association(6th ed.). Washington, DC.  

Dalvit, L., Murray, S., Terzoli, A., Zhao, X., Rhodes University, Mini, B., & University of Fort Hare. (2005). Providing increased access to English L2 students of computer science at a South African University. US-China Education Review, Sep. 2005, Vol. 2 (9).

Purdue OWL (2013). APA style workshop Retrieved October 2013,

 https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/664/01/

Purdue OWL (2013a). Reference List: Basic Rules. Retrieved October 2013, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/

University of Minnesota Center for Writing. (n.d.). Quicktips: APA documentation style: Reference list. University of Minnesota: Student Writing Support. Retrieved October 2013, from http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/apa_References.pdf

University of Suthern Quensland (n.d) APA Referecing guide  Retrieved October 2013, from  http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/apa-referencing-guide#How_to_cite_references_within_the_text_of_an_assignment

Education Communities

Education Communities, Discourse Communities

Teachers, learners, study subjects, practices, methods, learning theories, cognitive mechanisms, scientific concepts, reflections and colleges are important issues for developing discourse communities. The purpose of this piece of writing is to show how some educational communities work as discourse communities.

A discourse community is a group of people who own the same values, aims and get together so as to work on knowledge by using the same language practices. So as to acquire the membership of any discourse community Swales (1990) establishes some basic requirement criteria to be accomplished. Discourse communities have common goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange community-specific-genres, highly-specialized-terminology and high general level of expertise.

A Cultural Historical view of Teacher learning as Praxis emerges suggesting that language occurs in a social context. Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles and Lopez Torres (2003) have observed:

Whether through writing, speaking, or simply listening as a peripheral member of the activity system, teachers are participating in the construction of knowledge as well as crafting identities within the activity system of this inquiry group. (…)Teachers function as resources for one another, providing each other with guidance and assistance on which to build new ideas. As newcomers try on new roles or develop analytic or reflective dispositions and skills through the assistance of others, they will eventually attempt on their own to use artifacts (material, ideal) in novel situations. (p. 4)

Through this example the authors may show how this community works. This group of teachers gathers with the purpose of studying their professional practices in their context. They create new knowledge while interacting by interchanging information, receiving feedback from other members using specialized terminology and artifacts. The level of expertise is revealed when new specialists guide apprentices into the community.

According to Kutz (1990, p. 200 as cited in Kelly-Kleese, 2001) in a community college “Its members have, over time, developed a common discourse that involves shared knowledge, common purposes, common relationships, similar attitudes and values, shared understandings about how to communicate their knowledge and achieve their shared purposes, and a flow of discourse that has a particular structure and style”. (p. 1) Furthermore, Kelly- Kleese (2001) reports that:

The community college often adopts language given meaning within the larger higher education discourse community. For example, the term non-traditional is much more appropriate in the university discourse community than in that of two-year colleges students who are deemed nontraditional at the university are, on the contrary, traditional students in the community college setting. (p. 2)

As the above example illustrates, while the non-traditional term is more suitable for students at university than from college, each member of a discourse community is part of an association respectively, where each of them has common goals, participants know how to communicate among them and have a shared knowledge of the subject.

A cohort study was carried out among teachers with the purpose of connecting “what they do in their classrooms to research-informed practices; immerse teachers in a collaborative culture” (p. 113) according to Wenzlaff and Wiesemann (2004). They also state that each cohort was “a team working towards the same goal” (p. 122).  In this teachers´ discourse community formed with the same purpose, not only goals, language, participatory mechanisms and information were shared but also a sense of collaborative culture was created among the teachers of the cohort.

So as to conclude, with the purpose of being part of a discourse community, members must share certain requirements and participate in the collaborative culture so as to belong to it. In education, discourse communities overlap because they have fuzzy and flexible boundaries, thus, each “education discourse community exists within and part from higher education discourse community” (Porter 1992,  as cited in Kelly- Kleese, 2004 p. 2 Discourse Community Boundaries)

References

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved September 2013, from http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/theory_into_practice/v042/42.3hoffman-kipp.html

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s Choice: An Open Memo to Community College Faculty and Administrators. Community College Review. Retrieved September 2013, from http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/editor-s-choice-an-open-memo-to-community-college-faculty-and-5lPjH3hd0V

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review: community college scholarship and discourse. Community College Review. Retrieved September 2013, from http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-121672231/ucla-community-college-review-community-college-scholarship

Pintos, V. (2012) Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved September 2013, from

http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/pluginfile.php/46896/mod_resource/content/1/EAP%20Unit%201%20120716%20ARM.pdf

Swales, J M (1990) Genre Analysis English in Academic and Research Setting. Cambridge (Ed.)

Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers Need Teachers To Grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved September 2013, from

http://www.teqjournal.org/backvols/2004/31_2/wenzlaff&wieseman.pmd.pdf

WELCOME!

Hello and Welcome to my blog!

My name is Rosario, I am 25 years old and I am from San Antonio de Areco, a beautiful and peaceful town in the province of Buenos Aires. I work as a teacher of English at the different levels of education: kindergarten, primary and secondary levels.

In this blog I will upload my academic writings. So please, I will be delighted to receive any feedback and comments from you. This may be a great opportunity to exchange ideas.

Because I think that to teach English is also to share ideas….