Errors in Research Writing
Transcript of Errors in Research Writing
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Basic Principles andBasic Principles and
Common Errors inCommon Errors inResearch WritingResearch Writing
jazzy girl
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Before a student can start his experimental study, he must be able to pass the
proposal before the panel of evaluators. They will scrutinize the research
proposal as to the reliability and validity of the study and give
recommendations whether the said proposal will be changed or
terminated.
Title Page
The title of the research report answers the question: ³What IS
study?´. It is a brief statement of the topic that clearly identifies the
variables investigated. This includes the following:
Research Title
Submission Statement
Full Name(s) of the researcher(s)
Date submitted
RESEARCH PROPOSALRESEARCH PROPOSAL
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Review of Literature
1.2 Theoretical/Conceptual
Framework (optional)1.3 Statement of the Problem (s)
1.4 Hypothesis (es) (if applicable)
1.5 Significance of the study (for
proposal include in INTRODUCTION; for
final paper, integrate in DISCUSSION)
1.6 Definition of Terms
1.7 Scope and Limitations (can
also be included in Chapter II)
CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY
2.1 Research Design
2.2 Setting (if applicable)
2.3 Participants (if applicable)2.4 Research Procedure (summary
only, stepwise procedure should be
included in the APPENDICES)
2.5 Statistical Treatment
2.6 Scope and Limitations (can
also be included in Chapter I but in final
paper integrate in DISCUSSION)
CHAPTER III RESULTS
CHAPTER V SUMMARY ANDCONCLUSIONS
(OPTIONAL)
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
CHAPTER IV DISCUSSION
(The subsections in this chapter may beorganized and integrated in flexible
ways, depending on the nature of the
topic, study design, writing style, etc.)
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Research writing is«Research writing is« the product of careful writing and
revising (evaluation of early attempts
at organizing and expressing ideas)
essentially re-writing
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Basic Principles in Research Writing
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1.1. Know your readers
Know your readers
scientific or research paper
review paper
notes, short communications
(excludes letters to the editor)
conference paper
poster paper
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2. Write simply and2. Write simply and
accuratelyaccurately
use words that say precisely what
you mean
use simple and familiar words conceal - hide
conflagration - fire
increment - increase laceration ± wound
repudiate ± refuse
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avoid slang words slang ± informal vocabulary of a particular
group of people
slang
Lim¶s (1980) statement is merely a ³cop out´because he refuses to acknowledge that
there are major morphological differencesbetween the two groups.
standard
Lim¶s (1980) statement fails to address thisissue because he refuses to acknowledgethat there are major morphologicaldifferences between the two groups.
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Regulate use of which and of
wordy
« a method which was known to bedangerous
Concise« a dangerous method
wordy
«characteristics of this species of
fish concise
« characteristics of this fish species
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Be concise some words that are often used
incorrectly
adopt ± to make suitable, to adjust
adapt ± to take as one¶s own
affect ± to influence
effect ± to cause
imply ± to imply or suggest indirectlyinfer ± to draw conclusions from the
evidence
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Be concise
- say what you
mean clearlyand avoid
embellishment
with
unnecessary
words or phrase
WORDY CONCISE
A second point is
that
Second, secondly
More often than not Usually
An additional piece
of evidence that
helps to support
this hypothesis
Further evidence
supporting this
hypothesis
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Be concise
- say what you
mean clearlyand avoid
embellishment
with
unnecessary
words or phrase
WORDY CONCISE
In spite of that fact
that our knowledge
at this point is far
from complete
Although our
knowledge is
incomplete
At the present time Now
Owing to that fact
that, in light of the
fact that, because
of the fact that
Because
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3. Make sentences and3. Make sentences and
paragraphs shortparagraphs short avoid putting too many ideas in a
sentence
have a topic sentence for a
paragraph
four to six sentences per paragraph
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4.Use active voice
4.Use active voice
excessive use of passive verbs (is,
was, has, have, had) is deadly read;
it results in more words thannecessary to say the same thing
subject receives the action in the
passive voice while it does theaction in the active voice
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use passive voice sparingly
Passive Nearly half the seedlings were
eaten by snails.
Active Snails ate nearly half theseedlings.
Passive Oxygen was consumed by
the mouse at a higher rate than«
Active The mouse consumed oxygen at
a higher rate than «
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5.Be consistent
5.Be consistent
carelessness is often shown in the
use of punctuation, handling of
numbers, and spelling
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Punctuation
A comma is placed before the conjunctions and andor in a series
Ex: The infested tomato plants were sprayed,burned, or buried.
Place periods and commas inside the quotationmarks; semicolons and colons go outside.
Ex: Jones (1997) calls Davidson¶s explanation ³themost exciting model of this century.´
Apostrophe and s (µs) or s and apostrophe (s¶) fpr expression of time and value.
Ex: ten peso¶s worth of vegetables
five years¶ cultivation of Bt corn
late 1970s but not late 1970¶s
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Handling of numbers
Spell out all numbers below 11 anduse figures for 11 and upward.
When the numbers are used withmeasures (which should beabbreviated), these are all in figures
Ex: Ten students, nine days
1 km, 96 t/ha
Two numbers coming together
Ex: ninety 10-m bamboo poles or ninety10-meter bamboo poles
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Spelling
-With words
having twoacceptable
spellings,
choose one and
use it
throughout
-Words in ei or
ie
-Chief, weight
-Leisure, seize
AME RIC AN BRITISH
traveler traveller
hemoglobin haemoglobin
rationalize
center
program
honor
color
rationalise
centre
programme
honour
colour
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Compound wordsCompound words Some compound words
- airborne, cutworm, blackberry, childlike,
freshwater, glasshouse, hedgerows,homemade, offtype, schoolchildren,threefold
Hyphenated words
- Fraction: three-fourths- Technical compound unit: kilowatt-hour
- Adjective forms: fine-grained wood
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Common Errors inCommon Errors in
Research WorkingResearch Working
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Dangling participlesDangling participles Participial phrase
should be placedclose to the word
being modified Example
Poor: The farmer plowedthe field using atractor.
Revised: The farmer,using a tractor,plowed the field.
Present Past Past
Participle
use used used
harvest harvested harvested
break broke broken
write wrote written
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Vague pronoun referenceVague pronoun reference
Antecedent ± the word to which a pronoun refersto
Vague:
The peanut sheller is equipped with a blower, but itis inadequate.
(Which is inadequate, the sheller or the blower?)
Clear:
The peanut sheller, which is inadequate, is
equipped with a blower.(Place the modifier, which is inadequate, near the
noun modified - sheller)
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ComparisonsComparisons Add words if necessary to make comparisons
Comparisons should be between two or morelogical words or concepts.
Example:
Ambiguous - Average body length inLibellul a pulchell a islonger than Pl at hemis ly d i a.
Unambiguous - Average body length inLibellul a pulchell a is longer than thatin Pl at hemis ly d i a.
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Misplaced modifiers
Misplaced modifiers
Faulty - After mating, the spermare stored in a sac within the
damselfly¶s body. Revised - After mating, the female
damselfly stores sperm in asac within her body.
Who is actually mating, the sperm or thedragonfly?
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Lumped compound modifiersLumped compound modifiers Poor - traditional subsistence
white potato products
practices
Revised - traditional subsistence
practices for white potatoproducts
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Pairs that are often confusedPairs that are often confusedAmong ± shows relationship of more than two objects,
persons, etc.
Between ± shows a relationship of two objects, persons etc.
Compare to ± for unlike things
Compare with ± for like things
Results in instead of results to
Superior to instead of superior than
Regardless ± without regard to
Irregardless ± a substandard word, unacceptable
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Avoid repetitionAvoid repetitionPoor - In Kim¶s study in 1997, she
failed to account for
temperature fluctuations (Kim,1997).
Revised - Kim (1997) failed to accountfor temperature fluctuations.
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Verb tenseVerb tense
Past tense is used when reporting your present findings.
Present tense is used when discussing the published workof others ( as part of existing theoretical framework)
- Example:
D. mi nu t us was dominant in the zooplankton of Lake Mibahauring both years of study. This species is common in theregion (Minal and Sy, 1998).
Exceptions:
Ladera (1990) found that. . . .
Table 3 shows that . . . .
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ParallelismParallelism When linking two or more word, phrases
or clauses in a sentence, put them in the
same grammatical form.
Faulty - These two species differ in color,wingspan, and there they typically occur.
Parallel - These two species differ in color,wingspan, and habitat.
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ParallelismParallelism
Faulty - They introduced new ways of
planting corn and control of pests.
Parallel - They introduced new ways of
planting corn and controlling pests.
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Use of jargonUse of jargon
Jargon
- technical language of a specializedgroup
- often long-winded, confusing
Writers of jargon rely on long sentences, big
words, and sentences in the passive voice
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SubjectSubject--verb agreementverb agreement
Examples:
The size of all territories was (not were)reduced at high population densities.
The zygote of the Ascomycetes develops
(not develop) into ascospores.
The color and shape of the beak are (not is)
important taxonomic features (not feature)
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Singular and
plural
forms of
somewords
Singular Plural
datum (rarely used) Data
index indices ( for numerical
expressions), indexes (in
books)
testis testes
equipment equipment
medium media, mediums
syllabus syllabuses, syllabi
phenomenon phenomenons,
phenomena
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It is worthwhile to. .It is worthwhile to. .
Use a dictionary
Consult a form and style guide Discuss your paper with your
classmates or your professors
Also do not assume that to really soundlike a scientist you must write dry, stiltedprose or that complex ideas must becouched in equally complex sentences