Errors in Research Writing

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Basic Principles andBasic Principles and

Common Errors inCommon Errors inResearch WritingResearch Writing

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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



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.)



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



Basic Principles in Research Writing



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



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



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.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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 «



5.Be consistent

5.Be consistent

carelessness is often shown in the

use of punctuation, handling of

numbers, and spelling



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



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



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



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



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



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)



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.



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?



Lumped compound modifiersLumped compound modifiers Poor - traditional subsistence

white potato products

practices

Revised - traditional subsistence

practices for white potatoproducts



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



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.



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 . . . .



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.



ParallelismParallelism

Faulty - They introduced new ways of

planting corn and control of pests.

Parallel - They introduced new ways of

planting corn and controlling pests.



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



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)



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



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



Practice makes perfectPractice makes perfect

Practice writing and thinking within

the recommended form and style

Writing is re-writing

Proofread

Spell-check

Errors in Research Writing

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