Aiming for National or International Publication: Issues in Designing and Writing Research Papers Li...

Aiming for National or Aiming for National or International Publication: International Publication: Issues in Designing and Issues in Designing and

Writing Research PapersWriting Research Papers Li ZonghongLi Zonghong

English Department, Hexi UniversityEnglish Department, Hexi University

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The ChallengeThe Challenge

• Getting research published nationally or internationally is a universal challenge

• More so for writers of English as an Additional Language (EAL)

• Incorporates challenges – with language– with research content– with showing membership of the national or

international research community

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Experience Addressing the Experience Addressing the ChallengeChallenge

• With writers of English as a first language– Research students– Novice researchers in workplaces

• With EAL research students– Literature reviews– Research proposals– Theses and dissertations– Journal articles

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Experience Cont.Experience Cont.

• With EAL writers in China– Linguistics and literature researchers – Research students (non-English-majors)– 6-day workshops annually since 2001– Funded by science organisations

• Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)• International Centres for Studies Relating to

Language, Its Teaching and Learning

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Transferable Teaching ApproachTransferable Teaching Approach

• Based on– Results of genre analysis studies of

research articles (RAs)– Collaboration with ‘expert informants’

(authors, editors, referees) from content field

– Methodology from EAP/ESP• Not well known to scientists anywhere!

– Students work on writing a paper on their own results (Cargill 2004)

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This presentation is for - This presentation is for -

• Research students and researchers who want to publish their own results

• Research supervisors who want to help their students to publish

• Development of the approach through ongoing contact in the future

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Basic Components of the Approach Basic Components of the Approach (1)(1)

• Pedagogical summary of results of genre analysis of RAs – Macro-structure– Section by section

• Guided analysis of carefully selected example paper/s from target field and journal/s

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Basic Components of the Approach Basic Components of the Approach (2)(2)

• Focus on English language features commonly used to express the functions, eg– the/a/- in Introductions– passive voice in Methods

• Students draft their own section

• Refereeing processes – discussed in detail, and– practised, with feedback

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Examples of MaterialsExamples of Materials

• Referee guidelines and author instructions • Article structures

– Argument papers – Empirical papers (data is collected and analysed)

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Writing Articles: The Two-Writing Articles: The Two-audience Dilemma for Authorsaudience Dilemma for Authors

• Assumed audience: readers of the journal; our discipline-colleagues

• The prior audience: the journal editor and (mostly anonymous) referees

• Manuscripts must pass the gate-keepers before the assumed audience becomes relevant

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The Approval Process (1)The Approval Process (1)

• Author submits manuscript with covering letter

• Editor decides if worthy of refereeing

• If yes, sends to (usually) 2 experts in the field for review, usually ‘blind’ (no names)

• Each referee writes a report, usually based on guidelines/criteria provided by editor

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The Approval Process (2)The Approval Process (2)

• Editor makes final decision:– Accept as it stands (rare)– Accept with minor revisions– Reconsider after major revisions (detailed in

report)– Reject

• Editor usually judges whether revisions are satisfactory; sometimes re-reviewed

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What are Referees Looking for?What are Referees Looking for?

• Of interest to the readers of the journal

• Grounded in a/the relevant literature

• Methodologically sound

• Structure and organisation as expected

• Format requirements met (referencing etc)

• Makes important contribution to the field

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Examples of Authentic Criteria Examples of Authentic Criteria (1)(1)

• Interesting to the readers of the journal– Content is relevant to target audience – The paper says something of interest to the …

readership – Engages with issues/problems of significance

to the … community – The suitability of the topic dealt with in the

paper

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• Grounded in the relevant literature– The issue/problem is well situated in an

appropriate literature. – Is grounded in theory/scholarship: is the

paper informed by relevant published work in this field?

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• Methodologically sound– The paper demonstrates methodological

soundness. – The design and analysis methods are

appropriate

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• Structure and organisation as expected– The paper is succinct and coherent. – The conclusion is well supported and

persuasively argued. – Content is organized clearly and ideas are

coherent.– Is logically argued to a well-supported

conclusion.– Evinces a coherent structure

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• Format requirements met (referencing etc)– Conforms to format guidelines, including

appropriate referencing style and accurate proofreading.

– Style is appropriate and bibliographic conventions are followed accurately.

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• Makes an important contribution to the field– The paper provides an important critical

and/or analytical insight.– Article makes a worthwhile contribution to the

field.

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Additional Referee FactorsAdditional Referee Factors• Refereeing is unpaid work for busy people.• Language problems may annoy, or impede

full understanding of intended meaning (Flowerdew 2001).

• Some journals can afford language editors; many cannot.

• Even with interesting content, structure or language issues may lead to rejection.

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Genre Analysis Insights into Genre Analysis Insights into Article StructureArticle Structure

• Most work on Introductions (eg Swales 1990, Samraj 2002)

• Focus is on papers which report a study– Results, Discussions, Conclusions (eg Brett 1994, Holmes

1997, Yang & Allison 2003)

• Teaching texts also available (Weissberg and Buker 1990)

• Pedagogical summary can be useful for novice writers

• Results on RAs in Applied Linguistics suggest considerable flexibility (Yang & Allison 2003, 2004)

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‘‘Secondary’ AL Papers Secondary’ AL Papers (Yang & Allison 2004)(Yang & Allison 2004)

• Introduction – Argumentation – Conclusion• Optional transition stages: theoretical basis,

pedagogic implications/application• Three overall purposes suggested:

– Theory-oriented (point-by-point structure)– Pedagogy-oriented (problem-solution or demand-

supply)– (Pedagogic) application-oriented (problem-solution-

demonstration)

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IMRAD: The Logic behind the IMRAD: The Logic behind the StructureStructure

• Abstract• Introduction

• Methods

• Results

• Discussion/Conclusion/ Pedagogic implications

Materials and

methods

Results

Abstract

Introduction

Discussion

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Results: The ‘DRIVER’Results: The ‘DRIVER’

• Relates to ‘importance’ of contribution• Four questions to ask about your results:

– What exactly do my results (analyses) say? (= concise summary)

– What do these results mean in their context? (= significance)

– Who needs to know this? (= my audience)– Why do they need to know? (= significance) (Cargill 2004)

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Audience IssuesAudience Issues• When selecting a journal, go to internet

homepages and check out the sections called Scope and Coverage / Audience.

• Check also Instructions to Authors.• Aim to scan several issues of the journal, and

read several papers, to get an idea of the style and approach.

• Try to refer in your paper to some articles in the same journal.

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Example Paper for Today’s TalkExample Paper for Today’s Talk

Yang Ruiying and Desmond Allison (2003)

Research articles in applied linguistics:

Moving from results to conclusions

English for Specific Purposes 22, 365-385

Yang and Allison’s Results Yang and Allison’s Results Question Answer

What do the results say?

Organisational options in AL concluding sections relating to function; moves AND steps in AL Discussions; able to capture data of 20 RAs insightfully

What do they mean in context?

Considering all types of concluding sections together increases usefulness of analysis for research and teaching purposes

Who needs to know?

Genre-analysis researchers; those teaching students to write research articles in AL

Why?To expand knowledge of RA structure; potentially to improve teaching effectiveness

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The Five Stages of an Introduction The Five Stages of an Introduction (after Weissberg and Buker 1990)(after Weissberg and Buker 1990)

General

Specific

1. General statements about a field of research to provide the reader with a setting or context for the problem to be reported and claim its centrality

2. More specific statements about the aspects of the problem already studied by other researchers, laying a foundation of information already known

3. Statements that indicate the need for more investigation to create a gap or research niche for the present study

4. Very specific statements giving the purpose or objective of the author’s study or its principal activity

5. Optional statement(s) that give a value or justification for carrying out the study

Stage Realisation

1- SettingRAs, the central genre of knowledge production, have received extensive attention in genre analysis…

2- Previous wkMost studies have… Much research has been done on…

3- Gap

So far, virtually no published research takes account of the influence of neighbouring sections… Despite more recent progress in understanding selected sections, the general picture remains unclear.

4- Present aimOur study accordingly explores some of the ways in which empirical research articles in one discipline proceed from presenting results through to closure.

5- JustificationThe Results and subsequent sections are crucial and essentially related stages of RAs, in which …

Extra stepOur paper develops as follows. After reviewing…, we briefly describe…

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Conclusions for Intending Authors Conclusions for Intending Authors (1)(1)

• Consider from the planning stages how you will aim to meet refereeing criteria.

• Select a ‘package’ of results and match to a suitable journal.

• Become an apprentice genre analyst: read all papers for genre features as well as content.

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• Consider informal ‘journal clubs’ to discuss articles – Where in the article do the authors make and

substantiate their claims of ‘relevance’, ‘importance’, etc.?

– Can you identify possible ‘sentence templates’ that could be re-used for similar purposes in your own writing?

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An Example from Yang & AllisonAn Example from Yang & Allison“Although further investigation using the present framework would be needed in order to verify its wider descriptive adequacy and its pedagogic utility, we are already confident that it is worth exploring with teachers and students.”

Key question: Are the analysis results (presented earlier) strong enough to make this claim credible?Note the hedging effect of the introductory ‘although’ clause.

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• Publishing a paper is joining a national or international conversation.– Listen to others’ voices keenly as preparation for

writing (ie read and discuss their papers).– Learn as much as you can about who the other

players are and why they may hold the views they do.

– Think about features of the Chinese context that may form a point of interest or comparison for your audience.

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• Recent research highlights the tension between text and context in learning research writing (eg Johns and Swales 2002).

• A valuable contribution to understanding the context of the research article can come from attending at depth to insights from sociology and related fields.

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• Context of RAs is not (should not be seen as) fixed (Canagarajah 2002)

• Issue can be framed as:– “Improving access to publication for EAL

authors”; OR– Opening opportunities for the academy to

engage with perspectives not previously heard– But what are the REAL* ramifications of such an

approach? * Research English as an Additional Language (Cadman

and Cargill, 2005)

ReferencesReferences• Brett, P. (1994). “A genre analysis of the Results section of sociology articles.” English for Specific

Purposes 13(1): 47-59.• Canagarajah, S. (2002) "Multilingual writers and the academic community: towards a critical

relationship." Journal of English for Academic Purposes 1: 29-44.• Cargill, M. (2004). “Transferable skills within research degrees: a collaborative genre-based

approach to developing publication skills and its implications for research education.” Teaching in Higher Education 9(1): 83-98.

• Flowerdew, J. (2001). “Attitudes of journal editors to nonnative speaker contributions.” TESOL Quarterly 35(1): 121-150.

• Holmes, R. (1997). “Genre analysis, and the social sciences: an investigation of the structure of research article discussion sections in three disciplines.” English for Specific Purposes 16(4): 321-337.

• Johns, A. M. and J. M. Swales (2002). “Literacy and disciplinary practices: opening and closing perspectives.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 1: 13-28.

• Samraj, B. (2002). “Introductions to research articles: variations across disciplines.” English for Specific Purposes 21(1): 1-18.

• Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Weissberg, R. and S. Buker (1990). Writing Up Research: Experimental research report writing for students of English. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA, Prentice Hall Regents.

• Yang, R. and D. Allison (2003). “Research articles in applied linguistics: moving from results to conclusions.” English for Specific Purposes 22: 365-385.Yang, R. and D. Allison (2004). "Research articles in applied linguistics: structures from a functional perspective.“ English for Specific Purposes 23: 264-279.

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Thank you for your attention!Thank you for your attention!

Li Zonghong

[email protected]

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