Advice for Writing Up Research Projects

My most frequent advice about research projects

 

What follows is advice I give to just about all research students and students doing research projects. I often find myself giving the same advice to many students, and the same advice more than once to individual students. So, I have decided to compile my most frequent general advice in one document. This is not all of the advice anyone will ever need – far from it. But it's advice I find myself giving very regularly to most people involved in research projects. I hope it is of some use.

 

 

Your Abstract

 

Your Abstract should be the first thing you write, along with and as a preliminary part of coming up with your overarching Research Proposal. But it should also be one of the last things you actually finish. You should constantly return to it as your proposal and project develop, and check that it remains an accurate reflection of your project.

 

As you begin to complete drafts of chapters and sections, ask how they relate to your Abstract and Research Proposal. It's a very good idea to carry out one of the 'reverse outlines' tests available online, such as this one: https://explorationsofstyle.com/2011/02/09/reverse-outlines/

 

After you've carried out a 'reverse outline' test, you may either need to revise your chapters structurally or revise your Abstract and Research Proposal. Most likely, a bit of both.

 

 

Your Research Proposal

 

Your Research Proposal gives an overview of the entire project. It says what you are going to do, why, and how. It conveys your problem or topic, your (theoretical) premises, your research questions, your hypotheses, your overall orientation, and it sets out your approach. Your Research Questions and Methodology must be 'SMART', which is an acronym that here means Specific/Significant, Measurable/Meaningful, Achievable/Attainable, Relevant/Realistic, Time-bound/Timely.

 

Your Table of Contents

 

This too should be set out in advance, and revised regularly, in light of any changes. A basic structure for a table of contents could look like this:

·      Abstract

·      Table of Contents

·      Introduction

·      Literature Review

·      Theory Chapter

·      Methodology

·      Case Study Chapters (one or more of these)

·      Conclusion

 

 

Your Introduction

 

Your Research Proposal can, in the fullness of time, become the basis or core of your Introduction. Like the Abstract and the Research Proposal, it should be drafted first and revised periodically, to make sure it still reflects the overall project. It should be tweaked and refined until the very end of the writing process.

 

 

Your Literature Review

 

The Literature Review is fundamental. Its role is to engage with work that has been done on or around the topic you are exploring. It is necessary to review all such literature, so that you know (and can show that you know) that you are fully aware of existing scholarship that is directly and indirectly relevant to your study. However, you are not just reviewing the literature randomly or open-endedly. In everything you look at, you are asking yourself 'is this relevant to my project, and if so, in what way?' Some literature can be classed as completely irrelevant. In such cases – i.e., if something that on first glance appeared to be relevant turns out to be irrelevant – say why it is not relevant or helpful. For everything else, you need to say how it is relevant, which elements are relevant in what ways, and how it relates to your project. The point here is to be clear about what you are discarding and what you are taking forward and why you are doing so.

 

After reviewing the literature, you should find that you want to extract and use certain terms, concepts, theories, methodologies, facts/figures, insights, arguments and orientations from other literature in the field. Say which elements you are taking forward into the rest of your project and why. The elements you are taking forward should then reappear and be used, explored, developed or deployed in later chapters, such as Theory, Methodology, analysis chapters, or conclusion.

 

As with all chapters, make sure you stay focused and clear about why you are discussing everything you discuss, all the way through. It may feel clear or obvious to you why you are discussing what you are discussing, but your reader may be unclear. Do the reverse outlines test to help the reader to keep up with you and to eradicate digressions that do not add to, develop or enhance the project.

 

Your Theory Chapter

 

Academic work always has either implicit or explicit theoretical underpinnings. During your Literature Review, you will encounter works whose theoretical concepts you either want to use or to reject. You can say a little bit about this in your Literature Review chapter/section, but here is the space where you fully develop all of the reasons why you are going to keep one piece of theory but reject another. Remember that theory is a lens that should enable you to see more and further and differently than you could without it. Different theories look at and for different things. A theory of gender will be looking at and for different things than an economic theory. There is no reason not to use more than one theory – you may want to ask questions about gender and economics, for instance. But you should also think about how the two theories interact. Are these theories actually compatible? Do they have complementary or contradictory premises? Some takes on Marxist theory, for instance, run contrary to some gender theories; so, can you really use them both together, in the same work? If so, how? If not, why not? Your Theory Chapter may in the end need to involve disputing theories, or even contributing to a revision of a theory, or the proffering of a new combination of elements.

 

Your Methodology

 

In you review of literature, you will also have encountered a range of different methodologies. You can say which ones you will be taking forward and which ones you will be dropping, during your Literature Review. But your Methodology chapter is the place where you develop the rationales for your choice of Methodology, as well as the place for you to set out the nuts and bolts of your approach. Sometimes you will have to write up the final details and final description and account of your Methodology after you have done most or all of the work. But you should never begin your research gathering, fieldwork or study of an archive, object, practice or field without having chosen the overarching Methodology. You may need to revise, refine or reorientate your methodology once you are in the thick of things – hence the likelihood that you will not have finished writing your Methodology Chapter before you do the research.

 

NB: you need to have completed the ethical approval form before you undertake any formal research.

 

Note also, that while some projects use tried and tested methods without changing them from a standard approach, others combine different elements of different methodologies. Still others need to construct entirely new forms of methodology. The important point is that in the Methodology Chapter you give a clear account of why you have chosen to use the approach you have chosen, what the costs and benefits are, what limitations it has, what it enables and precludes, etc.

 

 

All Chapters

 

All chapters have to take the work forward in a clear and 'necessary' way. All of the early chapters (discussed above) must point to and enrich the subsequent analysis chapters. You should be using the literature you have reviewed as their context and basis, the theory you have selected as your analytical lens or evaluative perspective, and the methodologies you have selected as your approach. Stand back periodically and look at the Abstract and Table of Contents and ask whether the existing sequence of chapters is taking the work forward effectively. Ask whether the structure is clear and valid. Use 'reverse outlines' to make sure your chapters move forward on a clear trajectory. Reiterate regularly to the reader why you are doing what you are doing. Each section can start and end with a recap of where we have been, where are now, where we are going next, and why.

 

 

Your References and Bibliography

 

To save yourself an enormous amount of work and time, use a reference management tool, such as Zotero, Endnote or Mendely. I currently use Zotero. I have also used Endnote. Any such tool will save you a huge amount of time and effort. So, get into using one of these systems sooner rather than later. If you have not yet been using a reference tool, start immediately – as soon as you learn of the existence of such software, get it. Do not delay. There's nothing to be lost from starting right now. There is much to be gained. Here is a link to Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/

 

 

Spelling, Grammar, Syntax

 

In this day and age, there is little to no excuse for submitting work to a supervisor that contains lots of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Obviously, there will always be some: that's just the nature of writing and revising. But the point is, you can have your work checked automatically, by software like Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com/ Before submitting important documents to others, I often run them through Grammarly. I do not necessarily accept all of the changes it suggests (e.g., I will write "cultural studies is" but Grammarly and Word want me to write "cultural studies are"). But the point is, the grammar checker should challenge you on any contentious point. Don't accept grammar suggestions passively. Really reflect on which formulation you think is best.

 

The work as a whole

 

The work as a whole should be coherent, consistent, structured, systematic, and self-aware. Once you have a complete working draft, sections should be cross-referenced. For instance, if you discuss a theory in your theory chapter and then use it in an analysis chapter, you should announce in the theory section where and when you will be using this theory later on in the following chapters. Reciprocally, on each instance of using the theory, you can refer the reader back to where you first or most thoroughly developed or unpacked the theory. This will most likely be back in a certain section of the theory chapter. The more internal cross-referencing you do, the tighter, more self-aware and self-controlled the work is likely to become. At this point, do not be afraid to rejig sections, revise the structure, move sections from one chapter to another, and so on. Once you have a complete draft, this is the time to begin editing, rejigging, revising, polishing, tying off or cutting off loose threads, ironing out inconsistencies and unhelpful repetitions, etc. You need to show that you are completely in control of the concepts, approaches, sequence of events, structure, arguments, methods and findings. But remember, the work will never be finished. All works could always use another draft. Such is life. But at a certain point, you have to hand it over and submit it. Plan well in advance for this point to come in time for the deadline and not after it. Good luck.

 

Paul Bowman

Cardiff University

February 2018