RESEARCH PAPER

The first time you had to read about a research paper was
when you were doing the subject English for Specific Purposes.
There your teacher gave you a brief account of what it is like. Let
me remind you:

2.2.1. The research paper (Mara Marta Yedaides

module)

Research papers are the most complex formats for

written academic and scientific discussions. They are
seldom written by students who are not fully competent in
the target language, but are nonetheless many times
consulted and cited by them.

These texts usually begin with a title, followed by the

authors name and the institution he/she belongs to. When
there is more than an author- which is usually the case
because the writer is often working in collaboration with or
under the supervision of his/her colleagues- a number is
placed on the top right corner of the main name to refer to
a footnote which reads corresponding author:
mmnnn@gmail.com. This is the contact information.

An abstract follows this heading, which usually

introduces the topic, presents the thesis statement,
describes the materials and procedures involved and
anticipates the value of the conclusions. Many times the
abstract is written in two languages one of these being
the Seminars or Journals main or original language and
the other English- and is followed by a set of key words
which can ease the search of related papers when
published on line.

The papers are usually divided into four main sections:

an introduction, which is mostly descriptive of the
background, the state of the art, and the particular needs
of the discipline and the intention of the investigation. The
Materials and Methods section is mostly concerned with
detailing the procedures and instruments applied, whereas
the findings appear under the heading Results. A
Discussion section usually closes the paper, where the
findings are related to the discipline and new lines of
analysis are suggested or encouraged. There is of course a
difference between the physical and the social sciences; the
layout is more flexible in the latter.

Well, now its your turn. You have to write a research paper.
Lets begin by choosing the topic, which is probably, the most
difficult task for many students.

1. Generating ideas

This is one of the most frequent questions students ask: How

do I get started?

This is how you may go about finding ideas:

Reflect on your personal experiences

Talk with other people
Speculate about a subject you like, by listing issues or
engaging in free writing
Keep abreast of current events
Surf the Internet for subject directories (e.g. titles for
dissertations on)
Search abstract indexes
 Find information about Congresses, Seminars (e.g. The FAAPI
Congress, the Share Congress)

All in all, if you havent found your topic yet, begin to have a
look at what other people have done; this will surely help you find
your own topic.

Once you start working on research, you should revise your

goals as a researcher:

What is your role? I mean, are you reviewing, interpreting or

theorizing?
What is your thesis? Will your notes and records help you in
your proposition? Do you have enough and convincing data?
Who are you writing for? Is your audience knowledgeable in
the area you are exploring?

In the second file you will find some titles of research studies.
In the meantime, begin to think about it, if you havent started yet.
See you. Andrea.