Research Articles: MidTerm Test

Towards a Critical Evaluation of Sources

The purpose of this paper is to analyze a research article (RA). According to Sampieri, Collado and Lucio (1998), scientific research aims at answering a question or posing a problem. Although Bennett, Braund, Lubben & Mason’s (2011) paper intends to add depth to data collected from previous programme, it seems to lack clarity and balanced organization when posing the problem.

This report was commissioned by the National Network of Science Learning Centres whose aim was to establish a research and analysis team. Therefore, it can be predicted that Bennett et al.’s (2011) study will follow descriptive and explanatory lines. However, there are no formal, extended or analytical definitions of some concepts, including the key word “modes”. Of particular interest is to notice that some research questions could have been included in the Introduction section such as: what are the strengths and weaknesses of different modes of professional development? The authors do not seem to succeed at breaking the topic into pieces to interpret and discover its essential features.

While the Background section follows the general-specific paragraph pattern, the Previous Studies and Evaluations section includes two investigations thoroughly described through the process paragraph pattern. These investigations together with an explanation of a table seem to delay the jump from the first to the second move. Swales and Freak (1994) distinguish three moves in research articles (RAs): creating a research space; establishing the niche; and finally, occupying the niche. The first move seems to occupy the first eight pages of the paper while the second move is briefly stated with the negative opening however (Bennett et al., 2011, p. 8). The problem does not seem to be clearly set within the second move, where it should have been. On the contrary, the paper rationale can be found within the first move. Therefore, these two sections do not help to make the flow of information smooth. In the last paragraph, Bannett et al. (2011) present the solution to the problem posed which can be considered the third move, where the purpose and intention of the RA are overtly expressed.

Following the Psychological Association (2007), there are certain patterns to consider when formatting RAs. In-text citations, copyright permission, page numbers, tables and the quotation of their own RA follow APA conventions; with the exception of justified paragraphs.

All in all, the principle of reality seems to prevail over the principle of clarity as the writers appear to leave some concepts undescribed. Bennett et al. (2011) might have claimed centrality and generalization, producing a paper scientifically respected by the discourse community. However, this first part does not follow the moves development, delaying the purpose and reasons for writing, and attempting against clarity and conciseness.

References

American Psychological Association (2007). Concise rules of APA style. Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

Bennett, J., Braund, M., Lubben, F., & Mason, Y. (2011). Modes of Professional Development: An evaluation of the impact of different course modes operated across the National Network of Science Learning Centres. Report commissioned by the National Science Learning Centre, York: University of York, Department of Education.

Hernández Sampieri, R., Fernández Collado, C., & Baptista Lucio, P. (1998). Metodología de la investigación. (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill: México.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Comparison III: Abstracts

Medicine and Education Abstracts Comparison

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast four abstracts taken from the medicine and education area. Hubbuch (1996) defines Research Papers’ (RP) Abstracts “as brief summaries of the major points made by an author in a book or article” (p. 126). They are the first section that appears in an RA, however, they are written as the final stage of the research. Abstracts should be brief, self contained and accurate (APA, 2008). They should contain specific data and be coherent and readable as it is the reader’s first contact with the RA.

Swales and Feak (1994) distinguish two approaches to write abstracts: the result-driven approach, related to the findings and the reached conclusion and the RP summary approach which follows IMRAD formula summarized in simply two sentences. Depending on the kind of abstract people intend to write there are some conventions writers have to meet, that is, the organization, the linguistic specifications including the use of full sentences, past tense, impersonal passive, the absence of negatives, the avoidance of abbreviation and jargon, and the use of tense variation (Swales and Feak, 1994; Swales, 1990). The American Psychological Association (APA) manual offers useful guidelines as regards  abstracts’ composition, since “it allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly” (APA, 2008, p.12). 

            The two medicine field abstracts are Martinez, Assimes, Mines, Dell’ Aniello, & Suissa (2008) and Wijeysundera, Beattie, Elliot, Austin, Hux, & Laupacis, (2010), they share some similarities and only a few differences. To start with, they are both structured abstracts as they contain bolded headings which identify the main sections in the RA (Swales and Feak, 1994); this is probably because they follow certain requirements of specialized journals. They are informative abstracts since they are heavily loaded with data, providing the readers with the main findings (Swales and Feak, 1994; Swales, 1990). They follow the Introduction- Methods-Results-And-Discussions (IMRAD) formula (Swales and Feak, 1994; Swales, 1990), allowing the reader to preview the content of the Research Articles.

As regards linguistics specifications, they include the use of full sentences and impersonal passive (Graetz, 1985), for instance: “…testing was associated with improved one year survival…” (Wijeysundera et al., 2010, Abstract, p.1). Some sentences are not grammatically and syntactically completed, probably because subheadings provide the information about the content of each section. There is also an absence of abbreviations, jargon and negatives in both medicine abstracts. The choice of verb tenses in the Conclusion sections differs: while Wijeysundera et. al's (2010) article is written in the past passive, the Conclusion in Martinez et. al's (2010) is written in the present tense.

As regards APA conventions these abstracts do not follow some rules as they do not begin on a new page, while in one the word “Abstract” is not centered and it should not be bolded (OWL, 2010). Martinez et al. (2010) include personal passive: “We did a nested case-control analysis (…)” (Martinez et al., 2010, Abstract, p.1.). APA (2008) states that in co-authored papers the second person plural pronoun can be used.

Both medicine abstracts have been written following the result-driven approach as the findings are detail described and the conclusion would serve as a stride for future works.

As regards the educational area, the two abstracts analysed are King, (2002) and Rammal (2006). Both educational abstracts are indicative as they summarize the information presented in the articles and they have been written following the RP summary approach. As for its structure, they are unstructured abstracts with a single, unbroken paragraph of approximately ten lines as they describe what the researchers intend to do (Swales and Feak, 1994). Full sentences are used to show the content to the audience, but neither Rammal (2008) nor King (2002) follows IMRAD formula for writing abstractssince they do not use a new page for their abstracts and no keywords are listed.

Considering abstracts' linguistics specifications proposed by Graetz (1985) the whole King (2002) abstract is written in the present tense as for instance, “this paper starts off by discussing film-viewing approaches, and then assessing (…)" (King, Abstract, p.1). Rammal’s (2008) abstract consists of two long sentences; the first sentence is written in the present tense while future tense is used for the second one. Both are characterized by the absence of negatives and the avoidance of jargon, and symbols. King’s (2002) last sentence of the abstract is written in the passive voice, since it focuses on the receiver and not on the writer; however, in Rammal (2008) there is no use of impersonal passive. While King does not specify certain acronyms such as DVD and VHS, Rammal does clarify the acronym Foreign Language (EFL).

They do not follow APA (2008) format layout as the word Abstract is wrongly placed; it is not centered, it is bold-typed, and it is followed by a semi colon while in the other abstract the word "Abstract" is not written in a single page and it is italized.

None of the four follow strictly APA (2008) conventions for writing abstracts, as this section of the RA is not separated from the rest of the article which can be a consequence of publishers’ requirements concerning space and cost reduction. While the medicine RAs tend to comply with standard requirements proposed by Swales and Feak (1994), the educational RAs fail to follow these conventions. After analyzing the four abstracts, it can be concluded that depending on the field of research and publishing houses requirements, abstracts seem to present different formats and ways of structuring information, and may vary in their linguistic aspects and methods of writing.

References

Hubbuch, S. M. (1996). Writing research paper across the curriculum. (4^th ed.). Harcourt Brace: Fort Worth, TX. 

American Phsychological Association (2008). Publication Manual (5th ed.). Washigton, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. 

King, J. (2002). Using DVD feature films in the EFL classroom. [Abstract]. The weekly column, 88, 1-10.

Martínez, C., Assimes, T.L., Mines, D., Dell’Aniello, S., & Suissa, S. (2010). Use of venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death: A nested case-control study. [Abstract]. British Medical Journal, 340: c249, 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c249.

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) (2010). General Format. Retrieved May, 22th, 2013, fromhttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Rammal, S. M. (2006). Video in EFL Classrooms. [Abstract]. Retrieved from:  http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/video-in-efl-classrooms.html href="http://www.usingenglish.com/" target="_blank">

 Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. 

Wijeysundera, D.N., Beattie, W. S., Elliot, R.F., Austin, P. C., Hux, J.E., & Laupacis, A. (2010). Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery: Population based cohort study. [Abstract]. British Medical Journal, 340: b5526, 1-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5526

Contrastive Analysis Paper II

Towards a Comparative Analysis of Results, Discussions and Conclusions of Research Articles

Research Papers (RPs) in general are composed of several parts: Title, Abstract, Acknowledgements, Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussions, Recommendations, Conclusions, References, and Appendices. The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis and a comparison of the Results, Discussions and Conclusions of both an educational and a medical research articles.

Barrs’s (2012) educational article reports on how technology can be used to deal with the problem of the lack of opportunities outside the classroom students who are learning English as a foreign language seem to face. Di Angelantonio, Chowdhury, Sarwar, Aspelund, Danesh & Gudnason’s (2010) medical paper attempts to quantify associations of chronic kidney diseases with cardiovascular disease and non-vascular mortality. One of the clearest differences between the two articles analyzed relies on the nature of these papers; while Barrs presents an experimental report, an action research paper which shows results and changes along the research, Di Angelantonio et al. present a comparative treatment procedure within a patient population with elements of the quantitative research.

Action research in education is grounded in the working lives of teachers, as they experience them. Carr and Kemmis (1986) describe action research as being about the improvement of practice; the improvement of the understanding of practice and the improvement of the situation in which the practice takes place. Especially noteworthy is how action research develops along the educational article. It concerns actors and its purpose is to understand and to improve their actions. This is overtly stated in the results, discussions and conclusions sections of the educational paper.

In the educational article, the results section is divided into a) planning the action research, b) taking action, c) analyzing and reflecting on the data, d) hypothesising and speculating based on the initial investigation, e) intervening, f)observing and g) reporting, writing and presenting (reflection).This research article does not seem to present the main findings but also it attempts at interpreting their meanings and outcomes at the same time, leading to the conclusion that the Results and Discussion sections may be blended together as the action research progresses.

The statistical data in terms of number of postings/replies shows that the project fostered high levels of independent and target language-focused participation, but it is difficult to report on the effect of the project on classroom dynamics. (Barrs, 2012, p.21)

From the above example, it can be stated that there is a predominance of the present tenses for discussions together with some opinions slants such as “it is difficult to report” (Barrs, 2012, p.21). However, the past tenses are preferred to describe the results, depicting the outcomes that are related to the hypotheses presented in the introduction of the paper.

As can be seen in Table 4, the preliminary investigation revealed that the two distinct issues of (a) a lack of time, and (b) a lack of interest in the discussion topic, contributed to the low amount of interaction on the site.” (Barrs, 2012, p.17)

Rather more significant is the use of tables. According to Swales (1998), the primary objective of the discussions section is to provide the researchers reasons for the data patterns and to keep it as simple as possible; therefore, the use of tables seem to guide this educational discussion and analysis by supporting the text with tables used for presenting specific data and making comparisons between data points. The results section, according to Swales, should summarize the data. Texts are expected to follow the same logical order it was used in the “Methods” section, and then they should refer the reader to a table or figure where the data are presented graphically. The American Psychological Association (2007) provides certain patterns to follow when formatting tables. While the educational research article respects most of these requirements; the medical article does not comply with certain rules. Di Angelantonio et al. (2010) uses notes below tables to clarify the information presented, but Barrs (2012) does not; this omission can be connected to the fact that latter explains, interprets and evaluates results within the same section, making it almost redundant to explain the information provided by the tables with notes.

Meanwhile, the results section in the medical research article can be found separated from the discussions section. Although both sections are descriptive in nature, the results section presents the main findings of the research but it does not interpret their meaning. The researchers seem to restrict themselves to summarize and present the data collected with text, tables and figures. In this research article, the discussion section, serves the function of restating the key findings with reference to the initial questions or hypotheses, as well as reminding the reader of the overall aim of the study.

Regression spline analyses yielded broadly similar findings (web fig A). In analyses comparing people with and without chronic kidney disease, the hazard ratio for coronary heart disease was 1.53 (95% confidence interval 1.36 to 1.71) after adjustment for age and sex only; it was 1.45 (1.29 to 1.62) after further adjustment for smoking status, history of diabetes, systolicblood pressure, body mass index, total cholesterol, and triglycerides (“further adjustment”). (Di Angelantonio et al., 2010, p.3)

           

The last part to be dealt with in this comparative paper is the conclusions section. In the medical article there is a high degree of nominalization and the researchers refer to themselves in the first person plural whereas in the educational one there is more narration and impersonal reference. However, both research articles use the conclusion to tie the paper together. The conclusions refer back to their questions and possible solutions. The text structure of this paragraph is both cause-effect and persuasive-argumentative as the whole research is summarized and the results are highlighted together with the importance of carrying out the research described. However, space is also given for the limitations seen during the investigations and for further analysis as some issues do not seem to have been fully described in research papers or because other questions may have appeared when analyzing the data, this is introduced by some headers such as “further studies are needed to investigate” (Di Angelantonio et al., 2010, p. 6) or “although not investigated here” (Barrs, 2012, p. 22).

           

Even though there are some differences in the structure and format of the research articles analyzed and in the way the sections are developed, the important aspect to highlight is that Results, Discussions and Conclusions sections show the researchers’ intention to present, collect and analyse the data under the problem-solution pattern to finally, summarize, show a problem, evaluate the solution, present sound arguments and convince the readers that their conclusions and recommendations are of utmost importance.

References

American Psychological Association (2007).  Concise rules of APA style. Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

Barrs, K. (2012). Fostering Computer-Mediated L2 Interaction beyond the Classroom. Language Learning & Technology, 16(1): 10-25. Retrieved in April from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2012/actionresearch.pdf

Carr, W. & Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming Critical: education, knowledge and action research. Lewes, Falmer.

Di Angelantonio, E., Chowdhury, R., Sarwar,N., Aspelund, T., Danesh, J. & Gudnason, V. (2010). Chronic kidney disease and risk of major cardiovascular

disease and non-vascular mortality: prospective population based cohort study. BMJ, 1-7. doi:10.1136/bmj.c4986

Swales,J.M. (1990). Genre Analysis. English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Contrastive Analysis Paper I

Research Articles on Different Fields of Studies:

Towards a Contrastive Analysis

A research paper can be described as a report on a subject that incorporates material from outside the writer's own knowledge and experiences. A research paper intends not only to report the findings and ideas of others but also to take source material and use it to develop original ideas. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to describe and compare the structure and treatment of the topic of two research articles, one related to the medical field and the other to the educational one. The comparative analysis to be provided in this paper focuses especially on the descriptions of the introductions, literature reviews and methods of both research articles.

The research articles to be analyzed were randomly chosen. Ghorbani, Gangeraj & Alavi’s (2013) article is educational and focuses on the idea that reciprocal teaching of comprehension strategies improves EFL learners’ writing ability.  Huerga, Vasset &Prados’s (2009) article is medical and deals with adult and paediatric mortality patterns in a hospital in Liberia, one year after the end of the war.

Both articles are argumentative research papers as they consist of introductions in which the writers clearly introduce the topic and inform his audience exactly which stance they intend to take; this stance is often identified as the thesis statement. An important goal of the argumentative research paper is persuasion, which means the topic chosen should be debatable or controversial.

The introduction section of research papers, following Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (1994), is considered as a recursive process that starts at one point and it is finished when the research has been carried out and the results are provided and analysed; therefore, the general-specific structure tends to be used. The introductions together with the titles of the articles provide the topic the writer has chosen to develop. In the medical introduction it can also be seen a need to attract the readers’ attention and to justify the elaboration of such a research study. This is expressed by means of a short paragraph that provides a background description of the situation. Little if no space is actually given to other researchers’ findings in this field. Only a few researchers are mentioned in the endnotes but no reference is explicitly made to their findings and impacts of their research. This lack of reference seems to highlight the need of research in this field. There can also be some publishing house restrictions that may limit the number of pages of this article.

The introduction of the educational study research, however, is longer and provides several in-text quotations to guarantee that what is being discussed has been tested and acknowledged by many other well-known researchers in their published articles and books. These in-text-quotations seem to project the type of audience these writers have in mind for their paper. The educational writers appear to appeal to the audience’s knowledge of different researchers and authors in the field of linguistics, language teaching and psycholinguistics.

The organizational pattern of both introductions contains moves which go from the general topic of discussion to the particular situation under analysis. Following Swales and Feak (1994), the C.A.R.S. Model has been created under the principle that writers use organizational patterns to present their introductions. These organizational patterns contain “moves” or cycles, which are characterized by a number of semantic and syntactic features. These moves, obviously, go from the general topic of discussion to the particular situation under analysis. There are three moves in these introductions that are perfectly distinguished.

In the first move of the medical article there is a general discussion of the topic which shows the relevance of the study. This point is also grammatically and semantically indicated. The past and present perfect tenses together with some adjectival characterizations help to depict the background of this research. 

One year after the end of the war, approximately 1.3 million people were living without running water, electricity or a sanitation system in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. The health situation of the population was precarious and health care services scant. During the violent fighting that tookplace in Monrovia, over the summer of 2003, an emergency hospital had been set up by the French branch of the nongovernmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF-F) in their offices in the town centre. Once the conflict had ended, the organization rebuilt a former school building, and a new hospital called Mamba Point Hospital was opened in these grounds in November 2003. (Huerga, Vasset & Prados, 2009, p.476)

In the educational research, this move is based on well-known findings on reading and writing and how important these skills are for second language learners and teachers. The researchers then try to show their motivations for the study, establishing the niche. This move indicates the gap that has been found in the area, raises questions about the situation and expands previous knowledge.

Both articles have negative connectors and openings such as few, limited, although and only which serve as indicators of the second move to describe the critique of the current state of the arts and to introduce the reason for carrying out this research as there has been a gap in this area:

Although there is a strong relationship between reading and writing (Giuliano, 2001; McGann, 2001), little attention has been given to the investigation of this relationship (Ito, 2011). (Ghorbani, Gangeraj & Alavi, 2013, p. 2)

Although it has been in use for the past two decades, most teachers and students in the United States are not familiar with it. (Ghorbani, Gangeraj & Alavi, 2013, p. 2)

The last move as is in charge of stating what the present research is about by outlining purposes, stating the nature of the research and announcing main findings in the results section of the research paper.

The second section is called “methods”. Methods refer to the tool used for collecting data and this section is mainly written following the principles of process paragraphs. While in the educational paper the word “Method” is in singular and centred at the start of the section, in the medical paper, this word is in plural and it is left-centred at the start of the section.

The methods section of the medical research article analysed is divided into two subsections: a) study site and b) data collection and analysis. Although it is not explicitly stated who the subjects are, the participants are the patients. The method section of the educational research article is divided into a) research design and subjects, b) instruments, and c) procedure. In the medical research study, within the data collection and analysis subsection, there is a detailed description of the types of clinical data collected and the tests carried out as well as the results provided by the laboratory tests. There is no reference to the materials or the procedures. The past passive voice is repeatedly used.

Severe malaria cases were always treated with i.v. artemether followed by oral amodiaquine whenever possible. Meningitis cases were treated mainly with ceftriaxone (2—4 g/d) and in some specific cases with chloramphenicol (4—6 g/d). (Huerga, Vasset & Prados, 2009, p.478)

Meanwhile, in the educational research article, the instruments are explicitly presented. There are three tests; the procedures are clearly divided and described. This research article also tends to use the past passive voice in the descriptions of procedures.

The passages from the book "Select Readings- Intermediate" by Lee and Gundersen (2004) were used for the treatment. They were taught and practiced for 15 one and a half hour sessions. (Ghorbani, Gangeraj & Alavi, 2013, p. 5)

            As a way to sum up, it can be highlighted that, although there are clear differences about the treatment of the topic chosen in these research articles, both papers attempt to show an argumentative stance, to have a defined audience in mind as well as to present a concrete topic, always bearing in mind that one of the purposes of research papers is to add something new to the academic community.

References

Ghorbani, M., Gangeraj, A.,. & Alavi, S. (2013). Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension Strategies Improves EFL Learners' Writing Ability. Current Issues in Education, 16(1): 1-13. Retrieved in April from http://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/1046/416

Huerga, H., Vasset, B., & Prados, E. (2009). Adult and paediatric mortality patterns in a referral hospital in Liberia 1 year after the end of the war. Science Direct. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 103. 476-484. Retrieved on April from http://fieldresearch.msf.org/msf/bitstream/10144/68913/1/HuergaVasset_mort-Liberia_TRSTMH2008.pdf

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.