This document provides guidance on writing research reports and theses. It discusses what research is, the steps involved in conducting research like selecting a topic, literature review, data collection and analysis. It outlines the typical organization of a research report, including chapters for introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion and conclusions. The document provides tips for writing each section and emphasizes the importance of starting writing early. It also discusses formatting requirements, citation styles, and managing time during the research process.

1. Capacity Building in the
Preparation of Research Reports
Dr. Vijayakumar K. P.
Former Head and Hon. Director
Centre for Information Literacy Studies
Dept. of Library and Info. Science, University of Kerala
kpvijayakumar2@gmail.com

2. What is research?
• Research is a scientific and systematic search
for pertinent information on a specific topic.
• It is the process of arriving at dependable
solutions to problems through the planned
and systematic collection, analysis and
interpretation of data.
• It is the consistent effort to gain new
knowledge, a journey from the known to the
unknown.

3. What is research?
• The objective analysis and controlled
observations may lead to the development of
generalizations, principles, or theories,
resulting in prediction and possibly ultimate
control of events.
• It is essentially an intellectual and creative
activity.

4. Why research?
• To obtain a higher degree.
• To get acceptance/respect from others.
• To face a challenge.
• To solve a problem.
• To get intellectual enjoyment.
• To serve humanity (by making contributions
to social, economic, educational, cultural
development).

5. Steps in research
Research is a step by step process involving a
series of activities.
The concrete steps are:
• Selection and formulation of research problem
• Literature survey
• Development of working hypothesis
• Research design
• Sampling strategy

6. Steps in research…
• Pilot study
• Data collection
• Processing and analysis of data
• Testing hypotheses
• Interpretation and generalization, and
• Preparation of the report.

7. Research design
• Research design is a total plan for carrying
out an investigation.
• A completed research design shows the step-
by-step sequence of actions in carrying out
an investigation.

8. Management of time
• Do not just relax for the first few
weeks/months, thinking that you have
years ahead to spend on your
dissertation.
• Time passes quickly.
• At the outset, and preferably in
collaboration with your supervisor, map
out a timetable of sub-tasks and interim

9. Management of time…
The sub-tasks include:
Background reading
Finalize topic and title
Literature search – what has already been written
Dissertation plan, informed by your literature search
Develop dissertation plan
Gathering evidence or data
Use initial findings to begin to draft the dissertation

10. When to start writing?
• You should start writing as soon as you can,
to be precise, from day one.
• There are a number of reasons for this.
• The most obvious one is that the writing will
take a long time and the sooner you get
started, the better.
• However, there are a number of other
aspects of writing that are important.

11. When to start writing?...
• First, writing is a skill that develops and
improves with practice.
• You will probably find that your first sections
of writing take a long time and need a lot of
revision and re-writing.
• However, over time you will become better
and the quality of your writing will improve.

12. When to start writing?...
• Secondly, it is important to write things as you do
them.
• The Literature Review chapter can be written as
soon as you have done some wide reading.
• The Methodology chapter can be drafted as soon as
you have decided what you are going to do.

13. When to start writing?...
• Thirdly, getting an early first draft of a few
chapters is a good thing from the
psychological point.
• You will feel you are making good progress
and will have something to show for your
efforts.
• Fourthly, and most importantly, is
recognizing that thinking and writing are very
strongly connected.

14. Number of drafts
• This depends on how good you are at writing.
• But you should plan to produce a first draft
and a second draft of each chapter.
• This will enable you to get each chapter to a
good standard.
• Then draft it further so that it fits as part of
the whole work.

15. How to improve the writing?
• The most effective way to improve the
writing is to practice.
• You will see your own skills develop as you
progress through the work.
• Your supervisor will give you some feedback
on writing style and skill each time you
submit a draft of a section.

16. How to improve the writing?...
• There are three other approaches you can
use to improve your writing:
1. Read as much as you can.
• Reading academic writing in journals or
books will make you increasingly familiar
with good (and poor) writing style.

17. How to improve the writing?...
2. Start writing now, even if it is only your
random thoughts about what you'd like the
thesis to prove.
• By writing every day, you accomplish at least two
things:
• First, you reduce anxiety about WRITING.
• Second, much of what you write may, either
directly or indirectly, the source of material for
your thesis.

18. How to improve the writing?...
3. Search through the literature, and keep
comprehensive notes.
• These notes will do two things:
-- first, they may be a valuable source of
information later on in the process;
-- second, they keep you writing.
• In short, whatever task that you are
performing can be written about.

19. Time to be spent on writing
Writing may take longer than you think.
Even after the research itself is all done, it is
wise to allow at least one complete term for
writing the thesis.
It's not the physical act of typing that takes so
long, it's the fact that writing the report
requires the complete organization of your
arguments and results.
Therefore, try to devote at least 15 minutes
to two hours in a day for writing.

20. How to proceed?...
Estimate the time to write your report and
then multiply it by three to get the correct
estimate.
Inflating your first estimate by a factor of
three is more realistic.

21. Organization of the Research Report
1. Title page
2. Declaration by the Candidate
3. Certificate by the Supervising Guide(s)
4. Acknowledgements
5. Summary/Abstract/Preface
6. Table of Contents
7. List of Figures/Tables/Photographs
8. Main Text – Chapters of the Thesis
9. Summary and Conclusions
10. Future Scope of the Study
11. Bibliography/References
12. Appendices, if any
13. List of Publications by the candidate

22. Organization of the Report…
• Title page
One page with the title, date, degree the project
was submitted for and your full name.
• Abstract
A brief summary of the project, no more than a
single page in length, summarizing the aims,
background, methods and findings.
This should be the last part of the work that you write!
• Contents
Tables listing the chapters, the figures and the
diagrams.

23. Organization of the Report…
Chapter 1: Background and context
A discussion of the background to the study and the
reasons for its importance and interest as a
research project.
Chapter 2: Literature review
A summary of the findings of the literature review.
Chapter 3: Research methodology
A description and justification of the methodology
you have used.

24. Organization of the Report…
Chapters 4–6: Data presentation and analysis
Chapters presenting, interpreting and analyzing
the results.
Chapter 7: Discussion and conclusions
The ‘big picture’ chapter, presenting the overall
findings, the ‘answer’ to the research question
and a critique of the research.
Bibliography
A list of the references and wider reading that
you have done.

25. Organization of the Report…
• Appendices
• Additional information you want to include.
• This could be some of the detailed data, or samples of
some of the ‘raw’ results such as computer printouts
or interview notes or a sample questionnaire.
• The exact number of chapters will be for you to
choose.
• You may need one or several data presentation and
analysis chapters, particularly in a doctoral thesis.
• The chapters do not all need to be the same length.

26. Title of the Report
The Title should be neither too long nor too
short.
It should be focused and interesting.
It should include the keywords you might use
to describe your work in a scientific paper or
thesis-abstracting system.
Try to use some verbs rather than a long list
of nouns.

27. Title page
Title of the Thesis
Thesis submitted to the
Kannur University
In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
English Language and Literature
by
NAME OF THE CANDIDATE
Name of the Department/Institution
Month & Year of submission

28. Table of contents
• The introduction starts on page 1, the
earlier pages should have roman
numerals.
• It helps to have the subheadings of each
chapter, as well as the chapter titles.
• Remember that the thesis may be used as
a reference in the library, so it helps to be
able to find things easily.

29. Summary/Abstract
• An abstract must be self-contained. Usually
they do not contain references.
• Summary or Abstract should be of
approximately 300 words. (It should not
exceed 700 words.)
• The Abstract or summary should
summarize the appropriate headings, aims,
scope and conclusion of the thesis.

30. Summary/Abstract
• This part would be the most widely published
and most read because it would be published
in Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI).
• It is best written towards the end, but not at
the very last minute because you will
probably need several drafts.
• It should be a distillation of the thesis: a
concise description of the problem(s)
addressed, your method of solving it/them,
your results and conclusions.

31. Introduction Chapter
What is the topic and why is it important?
State the problem(s) as simply as you can.
You are writing for researchers in the general
area, but not all of them need be specialists
in your particular topic.
The introduction should be interesting.
If you bore the reader here, then you are
unlikely to revive his/her interest in the
materials and methods section.

32. Introduction Chapter…
• For the first paragraph or two, tradition
permits prose that is less dry than the
scientific norm.
• Go to the library and read several thesis
introductions. Did any make you want to
read on? Which ones were boring?
• It is a good idea to ask someone who is not
a specialist to read it and to comment.

33. Introduction Chapter…
• Introduction chapter is normally written
towards the end of the thesis writing.
• Your introduction should tell where the
thesis is going, and this may become clearer
only during the writing.

34. The Literature Review
• Where did the problem come from?
• What is already known about this problem?
• What other methods have been tried to
solve it?
• How many papers? How relevant do they have
to be before you include them?
• On the order of a 150-200 is reasonable, but it
will depend on the field.
• Latest References and Classical papers are to
be included.

35. Materials and Methods
• This varies enormously from thesis to
thesis, and may be absent in theoretical
theses.
• It should be possible for a competent
researcher to reproduce exactly what you
have done by following your description. .
• Sometime after you have left, another
researcher will want to do a similar
experiment either with your gear, or on a
new set-up in a foreign country.

36. Working Chapters
Working Chapters should contain:
• A brief introduction
• Experimental procedure/ data and
analysis/ methods and materials/ Theory
• Results
• Discussion
• Outcome/Summary/Conclusion

37. Results and discussion
The results and discussion are very
often combined in theses.
The division of Results and Discussion
material into chapters is usually best
done according to subject matter.
Make sure that you have described the
conditions which obtained for each set
of results.

38. Illustrations
• Tables
• Figures (anything not a table or a plate)
-- graphs
-- pie diagrams
-- flow charts
-- organisational charts
-- pictograms
• Plates

39. Diagrams and Graphs
 A graph should be reserved for exciting findings or
interesting, but unexpected results.
 Trends, departures from trends, dramatic
behaviours of variables, etc., are good candidates
for graphs.
 Caption all diagrams, graphs and tables so that
they may be read by themselves, independently of
the main text.
 The illustrations, diagrams, graphs etc. have to be
linked with the text.

40. Diagrams and Graphs…
• The ready availability of graphical software
should not entice you into presenting
everything indiscriminately in pictorial
form.
• Emphasis is rightly gained with sparing and
selective use; and this applies to the use of
diagrams, graphs, italics and bold
typeface.

41. Tables
A table invokes an expectation of
regularity.
So present dull, unremarkable data in a
table.
Make sure that your variables are in
different columns.
 Your rows for any given column should
represent different observations of a
given variable.

42. Summary and conclusions
• You might find it helpful to put your
conclusions in point form.
• Do not show too many conclusions of your
thesis, this will dilute your thesis results.
• Show only the most important results (say
about 5-8) as the outcome of your thesis, and
justify their significance.

43. Tips on Writing Conclusion
• Be reflective and honest.
• What were the lessons learned?
• What were the overall insights?
• Did you solve the problem completely?
• How much progress have we made in your
field because of your work?
• Don’t bore the reader with a cut-and-paste of
your Introduction chapter.

44. Future Scope of the Study
• It is often the case with scientific
investigations that more questions than
answers are produced.
• Does your work suggest any interesting
further avenues?
• Are there ways in which your work could be
improved by future workers?
• What are the practical implications of your
work?

45. References
• Organize the list of references
alphabetically by author surname.
• All references given must be referred to in
the main body of the thesis.
• To quote an unread paper is misleading and
dangerous.
• Note the difference from a Bibliography,
which may include works that are not
directly referenced in the thesis.

46. Citation Pattern
Author-date system
Eg:
• The Infonet services would be made available
to 350 universities in India during 2006-
07(Murthy, 2005).
At the end of the article, the references
would be given in the alphabetical order of
the author.

47. Citation pattern…
Enumerated system
• The Infonet services would be made available
to 350 universities during 2006 - 07(1).
Then the references are given at the end of
the paper in the numerical order of the
citation.

48. Citation pattern…
• Alternatively, you can follow any of the
following style manuals.
1. Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. Chicago:
University of Chicago, 2010. (Also online edition)
2. Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 6th ed. Washington:
American Psycho-logical Association, 2009.
3. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research papers,
7th ed. Modern Languages Association, 2009.

49. Citation pattern…
4. American Anthropological Association (AAA)
5. American Sociological Association Style (ASA)
6. Council of Science Editors Style (CSE), 7th ed.,
2006
7. Columbia Style Guide
8. Apple Publications Style Guide
9. American Institute of Physics Style Manual (AIP)
10. Turabian Style etc.

50. Appendix
• Appendices usually contain material that is of
not much relevance in the main body of the
thesis, but which should be available for
perusal by the examiners to convince them
sufficiently.
• Examples include experimental details,
program listings, immense tables of data,
lengthy mathematical proofs or derivations,
etc.
• Do not parrot textbook material in an
Appendix just to give your thesis length or to
impress your examiners.

51. Format
• The layout is the packaging for your thesis.
• A pleasing font and adequate margins make
your thesis visually attractive.
• The convention is to choose a font with
serifs (e.g., Times Roman) for the main text
and a sans serif font (e.g., Helvetica) for text
inside diagrams.
• All figure captions should be in the same
font as the main text, preferably at one size
smaller.

52. Format
• The regulations governing size of paper, size of
margins, etc., vary with University.
• Theses should be double or one and a half
space typed on A4 paper with a left hand
margin of 4 cm.
• There should be a 2.5 cm margin on all other
edges.
• An extra left margin should be allowed for
binding the thesis.
• Do the typing only on one side of the paper.

53. Notes for Thesis Writing
• Arrange your chapters so that your first and
last chapters are sound and solid.
• Write the Introduction after writing the
Conclusion.
• The examiner will read the Introduction first,
and then the conclusions, to see if the
promises made in the former are indeed
fulfilled in the latter.
• Ensure that your Introduction and Conclusions
match 100%.

54. Style of Writing
• Clear - short clearly structured sentences
• Appropriate and specific vocabulary
• No repetition, but ideas linked
• Is formal - no contractions, slang,
colloquialisms etc.
• Impersonal -- usually third person.

55. Language Style
• In academic writing, one should avoid the
first person singular pronoun ‘I’.
• The first person plural pronoun, ‘we’ is
used when stating facts, assumptions or
previously derived results; in
(mathematical) proofs; and especially in
textbooks.
• The use of ‘we’ conveys the impression of
a dialogue between writer and reader.

56. Language Style
Voice
Use active constructions. For example, say ``the
operating system starts the device'' instead of
``the device is started by the operating system.''
Tense
Write in the present tense. For example, say
“The system writes a page to the disk and then
uses the frame...'' instead of ``The system will
use the frame after it wrote the page to disk...''
Grammar and Logic
Short, simple phrases and words are often better
than long ones.

57. Language Style…
The text must be clear.
Good grammar and thoughtful writing
will make the thesis easier to read.
Scientific writing has to be a little
formal.
Slang and informal writing will be harder
for a non-native speaker to understand.

58. Be objective
• Information supported by evidence
• Convince your reader with logic and
evidence, not emotive language
• Where appropriate, show more than
one perspective
• Avoid personalised evaluation of
authors:
-- “Jones argues” not “Jones
thinks/feels”
CUSAT

59. Checklist: good scientific writing
• Objective: evidence driven
• Accurate : style, referencing, data,
• Concise: not wordy, balanced, within
word limit
• Clear: point evident
• Consistent: expression, spelling, grammar
• Convincing: argument and language
• Reader friendly
1999cr/lsu/elp

60. Use of technology
• Re-read carefully where you have been
cutting and pasting.
• Print it out to read it, then annotate the
hard copy.
• Use spelling checkers carefully.
• Be aware of what grammar checkers
prescribe.
CUSAT

61. Using spell checkers
• Word processing programs have a
dictionary installed in it.
• Check that you have the British version or
American, eg. -ise vs -ize
• Spell checkers check every word that you
type, but beware they don’t distinguish
homophones or “documents and,
document sand” !
Use the auto-correct facility!
CUSAT

62. Using grammar checkers
Grammar checkers look at every sentence for:
 verbs
 sentence length and complexity
 verb subject agreement
 passive vs active verbs
 use of idiomatic phrases, eg, kick the
bucket, part and parcel
 sentence length
CUSAT

63. Do’s and Don’ts in Research
• Do keep records as you go along and date them.
• Do systematic work.
• Don’t claim precision where it is not justified.
• Don’t present a conjecture as a fact.
• Don’t plagiarize.
• Don’t falsify records or cook up data.

64. Concluding remarks
Please take care to:
• Attend conferences because it is important for
networking and making contacts.
• Introduce yourself to professors and other
students.
• Use business cards, if you have them.
• Volunteer for service in some conferences.
• Build a community around yourself outside your
university.

65. Concluding remarks…
• People should get to know you, not just your
advisor.
• Faculty at conferences might seem unapproachable.
• You might not (yet) have a track record in research.
• Don’t stand around, waiting for people to talk to
you.
• Aggressiveness is a great quality – don’t be shy.

66. References
• Mauch, J. E. & Birch, J. W. (1998). Guide to
the successful thesis and dissertation.
New York: Marcel Dekker.
• Murray, R. (2002). How to write a thesis.
Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.
• How to write a Ph. D. thesis.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html

67. Thank You