Mid-term

Analysing Papers

Research papers (RP) are defined as a scientific type of papers in which research must be systematic, controlled, empiric, and critical (Samperi, Collado, Lucio, 1998). As regards layout, research papers in general are composed of several parts: title, abstract, acknowledgements, introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussions, recommendations, conclusions, references, and appendixes.  The aim of this paper will be to deeply analyze a paper written in 2011 by Judith Bennett, Martin Braund, Fred Lubben and Yvonne Mason.  The source will be evaluated taking into account the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Besides, the different sections will be explored so as to shed light on the analysis of introductions.

Taking into account the APA style, one can acknowledge the fact that these authors do not follow this style. On the contrary, except for some small details, there are several instances that show that the APA style was not taken into consideration. An example that is immediately spotted is the fact that the complete paper is justified and that there is no indentation at the beginning of each paragraph. Regarding the analysis of the table included in this part of the paper, once again, these authors seem not to bear the APA style in mind, as each word of the title should be capitalized, each table should begin on a separate page and the authors should not use vertical lines. 

Besides, these authors state their ideas with myriads of acronyms, which may make the reader feel at a lost. This illustrates the fact that the authors would seem not to be considering the fact that they may have a wider audience. It is certain that they are taking some information for granted as if all their readers knew what they are referring to.  The fact that these acronyms are not always explained when they should shows the authors are not following APA since “a term to be abbreviated must, on its first appearance, be written out completely and followed immediately by its abbreviation in parentheses” (APA, 2009, p. 107).

Regarding the layout of the paper, the authors have chosen to include different sections so as to organize the information. These sections are not the ones expected in a RP. However, the section named Review of Relevant Literature can be analyzed as if it were the introduction of a RP. According to Swales and Freak (1994) introductions have an organizational pattern that contains moves which have certain semantic and syntactic characteristics. Following this idea, this section has the moves Swales and Freak (1994) refer to.

 The first move, establishing a research territory, can be found in the first three paragraphs of that section. On the fourth paragraph move 2, establishing a niche, starts. It contains only one sentence that starts with the word “however” in a bid to show that the authors have found an area that raises questions about the situation. After that sentence, move 3, occupying the niche, begins by announcing the most important findings and by presenting the purpose of the investigation.    

Taking all this information into consideration, it can be stated that based on the previous analysis these authors would appear not to follow the APA style. Neither would they be considering the different section a RP should have.  Nevertheless, there seems to be a section which is not named “Introduction” but it functions as such since it is likely to have the same organizational pattern an introduction has.

  

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association. (6th ed.) Washington, DC: American Psychological

Association.

Bennett, J., Braund, M., Lubben, F., & Mason, Y. (2011). Modes of Professional Development: An evaluation of the impact of different course modes operated across the National Network of Science Learning Centres. University of York, Department of Education.

Samperi, R., Collado, C., Lucio, P. (1998) Metodologia de la investigación. Mexico, D.F.: McGraw-Hill Interamericana.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.