research paper

DOS AND DON’TS OF WRITING A SCHOLARLY RESEARCH PAPER

DO:

· Identify a question that someone would like to find an answer to – the question is focused on explaining something that happens between 2 or more things (questions could include explaining an impact of one thing on another); watch the video “What is scholarly/academic research?” by Qinqin Zhang to learn more about how to create a research question

· Identify sub-questions related to the main research question – this will help in guiding the researcher in finding appropriate articles, books, websites that provide information that help answer the overall research question; watch the video “How to locate relevant sources of information for scholarly research” by Qinqin Zhang to learn more about how to create sub-questions that guide your search for scholarly articles

· Read many scholarly articles that discuss the different components of the research question; usually this means reading more than what is actually referenced in the end; watch the video “How to locate relevant sources of information for scholarly research” by Qinqin Zhang to learn the difference between scholarly sources, popular sources and grey literature

· Provide an introduction to the paper that provides a reason for the research, and clearly identify what the research question is; watch the video “How to write a research paper” by Qinqin Zhang for more specifics on how to organize the research paper

· Include in the discussion of the sub-questions a review of the literature that was referenced for these questions; watch the video “How to write a research paper” by Qinqin Zhang for more specifics on how to organize the research paper

· Provide a conclusion to the paper that would provide an overall answer to the research question; watch the video “How to write a research paper” by Qinqin Zhang for more specifics on how to organize the research paper

· Cite all the sources of your information – this includes the quotes from specific authors and the summary of information that you learned from different authors;

· Use APA style for in-text citations and for the list of references (refer to the APA Guide for proper referencing information); APA style also indicates a particular way to use of different types of punctuation;

· Only include a Methodology section in the paper if your research includes primary research – with primary research there needs to be an indication of how the data/information was gathered and analyzed

DON’T:

· Include an Abstract – abstracts are only included when a paper is being submitted for publication in a journal;

· Write an essay – an essay is just a discussion on a particular topic; a topic is not a research question;

· Include a section that is a specific literature review (note what is stated in the DOS, above, on how to use the information gathered from the readings);

· Include Tables or Figures from articles without explaining them;

· Use bullets for your points; write full sentences and statements;

· Refer to your paper as an “article” – if it gets published, it can then be called an article;

· Use sources where the information provided is not peer-reviewed; watch the video “What is scholarly/academic research?” by Qinqin Zhang to learn what peer-review refers to and why Popular Sources (such as websites) are not considered scholarly research

· Include the ebscohost link as part of the reference information of an article – the citation only needs to include the journal information, not where you found the journal through ebscohost or other academic, online, search methods

· Have someone else write your paper for you; part of your MBA education is to assist you in learning how to do research, analyze what you have learned through your readings and discussions, and how to clearly articulate your thoughts – these are what future employers are expecting from someone who has successfully achieved an advanced academic degree. Having someone else write your paper for you does not give you the opportunity to learn and practice research and writing skills.