December 2008

The master thesis as a research article: Structure and style

December 2008

Research (and writing) as communication

• Two dialogues:• Researchers talk to phenomena,

– and they talk back – In a language the scientist can understand

• Researchers then turn around to speak to their peers– About the dialogue with phenomena– In a language their peers understand

• Double obligation: Be fair to the sources, but equally fair to the listeners. Write for a fellow student – who knows a lot, except your themeHave the second dialogue in mind already during the first dialogue

December 2008

Title

• Short, 10-12 words (not full sentence)• Informative – not too general• Simple – do not try to cover everything• Understandable – avoid abbreviations and technicalities• Curiosity provoking – invite the right readers• Consider composite title: Use of colon or question mark• Authors

– Who should be included– What is their order– What are their affiliations

December 2008

Foreword

Acknowledgements (Author note):• Who has funded the investigation• Who has provided the instruments, data files etc• The supervisor’s role• Who helped and should be thanked

December 2008

Abstract

• Keep it brief (150 – 250 words)• Informative but not crowded• Self explanatory• Avoid references• Avoid redundant and noninformative statements• Short statements about:

– What is the background– What we wanted to find out– What we did– What we found– What does it mean?

December 2008

The structure of a research article

• Hour-glass shaped: Starts wide, ends wide

• Quasihistorical narrative structure

• Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion First level headings, centered

• Second level headings

Italics, separate line, start left• Third level headings. Italics, continue on same line• Only one kind of paragraph

December 2008

APA Language and Style

• Subdued – focus on content rather than on language; do not attempt to be brilliant and funny

• Impersonal – ”the rhetoric of objectivity”, passive form• Careful – take reservations, stick to data• But do not carry it too far!• Collective – cumulative enterprise, not aggressive• Many citations• Few quotes• Many subtitles / divisions• Few footnotes

December 2008

Language specifics

• Use your own words• Paraphrase, don’t quote• Don’t write what you don’t understand• Avoid bad (literal) translations from English• When in doubt, use both English and Norwegian terms (first time

both).• Don’t use Uppercase Letters in Headings in Norwegian• Don’t start sentence with numerals (”20 students participated”

”Twenty students”, or ”Participants were 20 students”• Write in full sentences• But make them short• Make meaningful paragraphs (take a break)

December 2008

Some Recurrent Errors That are Likely to Drive your Professor Crazy

• Half sentences without a verb phrase: ”This because …”• Vague references: ”This means …”• A semicolon - ; - is not a small colon• Participants are not subjects• Avoid sexist language (use ”they”)• One stimulus / more stimuli• A study = en studie (en undersøkelse)• Strawberry jam is not Jordbær syltetøy• ”Evidence suggests” is not ”bevis foreslår”• Rating is not rangering• Temporal order is not temporal orden

December 2008

References in text

• Smith, Jones, and Jones (2002) showed that Master students are smart.

• Master students are smart (Smith, Jones & Jones, 2002).

• Next time: Smith et al. (2002).• One reference to Smith et al. in the same paragraph is

enough• Master students are smart (Smith & Jones, 2002, ref. in

Passer & Smith, 2006).• Alphabetical, not chronological order in parentheses• References to platitudes are unnecessary

December 2008

More about references

• Page references only with quotations• Quotations usually in original language (or

add: ”My translation”)• Give reference whenever you use

somebody else’s ideas, or internet sources• It’s OK that your ideas are not original• But to pretend that they are original, when

they are not, is cheating• And could have serious consequences

December 2008

Introduction

Build a platform for your investigation1. What is the theme, and where does it belong2. How is it treated in the research literature

• What we know• What we don’t know• Possible controversies and debates• Citations (references)

3. What we want to have a closer look at4. How we want to study it5. Don’t force yourself to produce hypotheses6. Suggest results (?)

December 2008

Methods

• No introduction necessary• Provides the recipe (enough details for replicating the

study)• But not more details than necessary (dependent on

purpose)• Some reasons can be given• The reader should be able to follow the procedures• Participants (not subjects!)• Design• Material / apparatus / tests / questionnaires• Procedure• Statistical methods only if they need special attention

December 2008

Results

• Remind the reader about what you were looking for

• Findings are presented in order of importance• And/or in chronological order• Descriptive results before statistical inferences• Give short comments so the results make sense• Consider the relation between results given in

text, in tables, or in figures

December 2008

Results in text

• When the results are few • easy to describe• need comments

December 2008

Results in tables

• When there are many numbers• When they need to be compared• When they are referred to several times• When they deserve a nice frame

• Always give comment in text• Yet make them as self-explanatory as possible

December 2008

Table layouts

• Title: Informative and simple (above table)• Only horizontal lines• Use a minimum of abbreviations• Organize in rows and columns• Try different organizations• Rows

– Questions– Not so easy to compare– Number of rows unlimited

• Columns– Answering categories– Easy to compare– Limited number of columns

December 2008

Figures

• Title below figure• Readable• Focus on comparisons• Place data in foreground• Be puritanical (not 3D, never use pie-charts)• Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest

number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space (Tufte)

• Maximize data ink / total ink• By removing non-data ink and redundant data ink

December 2008

Discussion

• Repeat main findings (in words, not in numbers)• Interpretations• Collect loose ends• Check against introduction• Alternative interpretations• But be careful about introducing completely new

points of view• Limitations• Perspectives (new studies, applications)

December 2008

Reference list

• All citations in text are on the reference list• All items on the reference list are cited in text• Only refer to sources you have seen• If you have not seen the original source, refer to

the source that cited it• Organize alphabetically• Use APA guidelines

December 2008

Appendices

• Place questionnaires etc. in appendix• Tests published elsewhere can be omitted• Give reference to appendix in text (methods

section)• Do not translate • Not all versions need to be attached