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DEFENCE SERVICES COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER- 8

WRITING THE RESEARCH REPORT

General

1. When you have satisfactorily completed your research and note taking, you are
ready to write the first draft of your paper. Follow the process mentioned in the
subsequent paragraphs.

Revising the Outline

2. Before beginning to write, check your outline once more. If your research
confirmed your original hypothesis, only minor revisions of the outline should be
needed. If research proved the original hypothesis to be incorrect, you must revise the
outline to fit the findings of your investigation.

3. Writing from an outline can do more than anything else to help you present a
scholarly study. It leads the reader in a logical sequence from the statement of the
problem to the conclusions and recommendations through the analysis and
interpretation of data. The final outline should be in sentence form, since this form
helps you think clearly and logically and thus simplifies the task of writing the report.
The main points of the outline are frequently the section headings of the report itself.

4. Once the outline is completed, the notes should be laid out to correspond to the
final outline. You probably find that you have taken some notes that you cannot use. On
the other hand, you will probably find that certain facts are missing and that you must
go back and look them up. The more thorough your research, the fewer will be the gaps
that you must fill in later.

5. If you have followed a systematic scheme in limiting your problem, collecting

information, outlining your paper and checking your findings against your conclusions,
you will find that your paper actually exists in your mind before you start to write.
However, the act of composing may in itself be laborious and exacting process. Many
experienced professional writers say that it is not easy for them. If you compose
laboriously, do not be discouraged and feel that you are a poor writer because you lack
some kind of magic touch. There is no magic touch. If you have done some writing and
have formed habits of work that are satisfactory, keep to your plan. That is the way you
write best. The suggestions in this chapter are offered for students who have not done
much writing.

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Continuity

6. The most important principle to remember in composing is to maintain a

continuity of thought. Arrange to set aside a large block of time free of any kind of
interruptions so that you can allow your ideas to flow along smoothly. If you divide your
paper into 3 to 5 parts, wherever the divisions come naturally, you can assemble your
outline and all the notes that you need for one part at a time and then complete writing
it at one sitting. In this way you can maintain continuity of thought. Then you can go on
to the next section and handle it as a unit in the same way.

7. Even with small manageable units of writing, you still will not be able to
concentrate on your ideas if you attempt to think of footnotes, grammatical construction
and other matters as well as the general clearness of what you are writing all at a time.
To give yourself a fair chance, it is absolutely necessary that you revise the first draft of
your paper and you will find that you really save time by doing this. As you write the first
draft, concentrate on ideas. Write out the draft in longhand, beat it out on the computer,
dictate it, or handle it in any way that is easiest for you, but get your ideas down on
paper. Compose as rapidly as you can and do not stop as long as you have a continuity
of thought. When the flow of thought is broken, go back and try to pick up your main
idea again. Once you have your ideas down on paper, you will have something tangible
to work with. Then you can revise for clarity and check on all matters of form.

Making a Beginning

8. Usually the most difficult part of writing is to make the start. You, no doubt, have
at some time or other experienced difficulties in making a beginning. You jotted down
several sentences, surveyed each of them critically and then crossed them out and
waited before making another attempt. It is better to make a poor start than to sit and
wait too long for ideas. After you have written a paragraph or two, you will find that
your ideas are becoming better and you are composing with much more ease. You are
capitalizing on some of the outlining, checking and planning that you have done. Later,
when you have completed the paper, it will be a simple matter to go back and rewrite
the introductory passages that you had to struggle with at first. Some experienced
writers rewrite the introduction to a paper after they have completed the conclusions.
By doing this they also check to see that their conclusions apply directly to the problem.

Style

9. As you write the first draft do not be overly critical. Later you should certainly
check all doubtful spelling and look up questions of grammatical usage in a reliable
handbook if you plan to get full benefits from writing your paper. Such things can be
taken care of when you are revising. As you compose, put a question mark in the
margin opposite all doubtful matters and keep going. You are not likely to be seriously
ungrammatical if you allow yourself to write naturally.

10. If you try to be scrupulous about all details as you write, you will soon find that
you are the victim of frozen pencil, a condition which afflicts many inexperienced writers
in the same manner that stage fright affects inexperienced actors. The victims of a

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frozen pencil find that words simply will not come, and they are painfully self conscious
of every word they use. They do mistake and believe that since they are writing instead
of speaking, it is necessary to use only high-sounding 'literary' words. It goes without
saying that, since the tone of your paper should be dignified, matter-of-fact, and
impersonal, all jaunty language and slang of any kind is out of place. This does not
mean though that you should scorn the clear, expressive, and natural words you use in
conversation. Whenever you think of a natural comparison or figure of speech put it
down.

11. Research writing should be objective, impersonal, and done in the third person.
You should avoid using any remarks without any substantiation. It is necessary to make
this perfectly clear. You speak of yourself as 'the writer'. But writing in the third person
does not presuppose ambiguous phrasing. If you view your findings impersonally
throughout the whole investigation, you will find that it is only natural to phrase your
ideas in the third person.

12. Many self-conscious writers have been able to overcome their handicap by
imagining that they are addressing some one as they write. They 'talk through' their
explanations. This is a good system and may be kept in mind. If you address one
reader consistently as you write, you will be surprised to find out how easily you avoid
ambiguous explanations.

Quotations

13. When a quotation is needed to establish precise authority i.e. when it expresses
an idea much better than you can, you should use a direct quotation. Many authors use
quotations to inject flavour and variety into their writing. But quotations should not be
used too frequently. Since you are familiar with the precise point you want to make, you
can generally express it better in your own words.

Illustrations

14. As you write your first draft, illustrations may cause you more concern than
footnotes. If you can show some of your findings through charts, graphs and tables, it
certainly is to your advantage. They will help you immeasurably in your writing by doing
away with the need for long explanations. But do not include any illustrations without
some clear brief explanation. All illustrations and tables, as well as the legends that
explain them, should be noted in separate annexes.

Editing

15. Since you must allow yourself freedom in writing, you will find that you include in
your first draft much more than you want to keep. The best way to write is to get down
all the facts as you see them at the time and then later cut out everything that is
unnecessary. To write a short paper well, you must first write a long paper and then cut
it down ruthlessly. In your first draft you are apt to leave gaps in thought that will not be
obvious to you until you read the paper over later. Editing is really a leveling-off
process during which you take out the humps of unnecessary material and fill in the

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valleys where there are gaps in thought. When you prepare the final draft of your
paper, you edit the first draft as well as check on mechanical matters like spacing,
minor SD etc.

16. If you have planned your whole investigation well and have kept a continuity of
thought in writing the first draft of your paper, you will probably be pleasantly surprised
to find out how well the draft reads. Exactly at this moment when you would like to
pause to enjoy the results of your efforts, you must again be an exacting critic so that
you can get your copy ready for the final draft.

17. To save time in making your revision, use paste and scissors. If there is one
paragraph on a page that needs reworking, paste the revised paragraph over the
original one. Do not waste time copying and recopying material that does not need
correction. Every time another copy is made there is a chance for errors to creep in.
Computers have of course solved the problem to a great extent is 'cut' & 'paste' is now
easy.

18. Between writing your draft and making the final revision, it is a good plan to let
some time elapse so that you can approach your work objectively. If you have all the
facts for the paper well in mind, you will probably want to complete the first draft of the
entire paper before you begin revising any one part. If you are having some difficulties
with writing, you may wish to revise one part before you begin to write the next one. If
the paper is revised part by part, it will be necessary to give it a final reading as a
whole to see that it has continuity and is consistent throughout.

19. In revising your paper, try to put yourself in another reader's place. It takes
some imagination to come back to your first draft of the study and read it as though you
had never seen it before, but that is exactly what you-must do. If you can get someone
who is qualified to read the paper, he can help you to be objective. Study the paper to
see if it really says what you intend to say. Remember that, you will not be on hand to
explain what is meant to the DS who evaluate your paper or to the students in future
classes who may consult it as a reference in the library. In revising the content, take out
the unnecessary words and fill in the gaps.

20. While you are checking on ideas, it is a good plan to rephrase ambiguous
sentences and check any points of grammar and construction that are tied up with the
meaning. You can check correct spelling and mechanical questions of usage in the final
step when you are going over the paper to study its form.

21. If you have particular difficulty with the wording of a section or part, it is a good
idea to read much of the paper aloud. By listening to the sound of the sentence, you
are often able to diagnose your difficulties.

22. In going over your paper for content, fit in any illustrations or tables you plan to
include and see that captions and legends make sense. You can review the form later.

23. Careful editing requires only a small fraction of the total time devoted to the
entire research effort. Yet, it produces tangible results in improving the quality of your

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paper. Many students fail to appreciate the value of even a quick revision. They
submit papers that have received little or no editing; something that is readily apparent
to an experienced reader.

Abbreviations

24. In general, you should avoid the use of abbreviations in the text. However, if
certain group of words appear frequently in the text, it may be abbreviated first and
used later throughout the text wherever needed e.g. 'low-intensity conflict (LIC)' used
early can be used as LIC in all later usage. Over and above this, if you feel that you
must use some abbreviations, you may include a list of abbreviations. Finally as far as
possible, use of full stops in all abbreviations will be avoided for consistency and
convenience.

Abstract

25. When you have completed writing and editing your study, you have one
remaining task. This is to write the abstract, or summary of the study. Ordinarily an
abstract consists of 3 main parts: The first describes the problem; the second outlines
the procedures you used; the third describes your conclusions and recommendations.
You should be able to write the abstract in one brief, descriptive paragraph. Keep it
under 250 words.
(An example is given here. This example is of a history/social science research
work. The topic is: The Perspective of the South Vietnamese Military in Their
Own Words)
Despite the vast research by Americans on the Vietnam War, little is known
about the perspective of South Vietnamese military, officially called the Republic
of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF). The overall image that emerges from the
literature is negative: lazy, corrupt, unpatriotic, apathetic soldiers with poor
fighting spirits. This study recovers some of the South Vietnamese military
perspective for an American audience through qualitative interviews with 40
RVNAF veterans now living in San Jos, Sacramento, and Seattle, home to three
of the top five largest Vietnamese American communities in the nation. An
analysis of these interviews yields the veterans' own explanations that
complicate and sometimes even challenge three widely held assumptions about
the South Vietnamese military: first, RVNAF was rife with corruption at the top
ranks, hurting the morale of the lower ranks; second, racial relations between
the South Vietnamese military and the Americans were tense and hostile; and
third, the RVNAF was apathetic in defending South Vietnam from communism.
The stories add nuance to our understanding of who the South Vietnamese were
in the Vietnam War. This study is part of a growing body of research on non-
American perspectives of the war. In using a largely untapped source of
Vietnamese history and oral histories with Vietnamese immigrants; this project
will contribute to future research on similar topics.

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