Assessment 3: Written Report Reports describe, analyse, and investigate a situation for a particular reason. They have a formal structure and common sub-sections. A report is a specific form of writing that is organised around concisely identifying and examining issues, events, or findings that have happened in a physical sense, such as events that have occurred within a site, or findings from a research investigation. These events can also pertain to events or issues that have been presented within a body of literature. The key to report writing is informing the reader simply and objectively about all relevant issues. Type of Assessment Due Date/Time Marks Weighting Write a research report - Learning Outcomes 1-5 8 Nov 2016 100 50% Report – Assessment 3 You are to write a full report, using the headings below, on your research project. A report can be distinguished from an essay by the creation of headings into which information is organised. These headings are: 1) The abstract, 2) introduction, 3) methods, 4) results, 5) discussion, 6) conclusion, 7) acknowledgements, 8) references and 9) appendix (if required). You will find that the headings provide a link between sections, without the necessity of a linking sentence. There is a 2000 word limit Writing Reports A report is a highly structured piece of work. Each section in a report is typically written as a standalone piece, so the reader can selectively identify the report sections they are interested in, rather than reading the whole report through in one go from start to finish. It is important to keep this in mind when writing the report because your marker may in fact follow this practice when marking the actual report (see marking schedule). An important element of report writing is that it is an unbiased and objective form of writing (i.e. stick to the facts not opinions). Reports sway more towards the process of identifying and reviewing the range of issues in the body of the report, and then reaching an objective conclusion or position at the end, as a consequence of the issues represented in the report's body. Your report should be written to describe and analyse an experiment that explores a scientific concept. By doing this, it will enable you to: •Conduct scientific research. •Formulate a hypothesis about a particular stimulus, event, and/or behaviour. •Review relevant literature to justify your hypothesis. •Allow someone to replicate your study by providing precise details. •Apply statistics to test your hypothesis. •Explore theoretical explanations. •Evaluate research objectively and methodically. •Communicate concisely and precisely. Remember that with reports it may be impossible to rely on a single explanation for your findings. Therefore, it is vital that you provide as many potential and relevant interpretations as possible. Even if your findings do not support your hypothesis, they are still valuable because you can then demonstrate that within the contextual constraints of your study, your argument was not reliable, and you can then move on to consider other areas for research, without having to do down the same path. Further, this may open up avenues for others to investigate your hypothesis under different conditions. Nevertheless, there may have been unforeseen circumstances or conditions that were not possible to isolate and control, which you can use to help justify your results. It is also important to be clear about the voice or grammatical style in which you write your report. For instance, traditionally, reports have been written in the passive voice, and used the third person pronoun, as in "The study was conducted by Smith and Jones (1996)" and "It was hypothesised that…". However, more recently, it has become acceptable to use the active voice, as in "Smith and Jones (1996) conducted the study", as well as make reference to yourself where relevant, as in "I hypothesised that…". Given the time constraints, I will allow this report to be written in the 1st voice if this is desired but please keep the voice consistent throughout the report. Report Structure 1) Abstract The abstract functions as a short, yet detailed, summary of the whole report. Hence, it is far easier to write at the very end, once you have completed the report. Ideally, you may be able to extract a sentence or two from each main section of the report to build your abstract. In creating your summary, it is important to include a sentence or two about each of the following: •A statement about the topic, which demonstrates some reasoning for formulating the hypothesis. •The hypothesis •Brief details about how the study was conducted, including:  Number of participants.  Participant characteristics, such as gender.  How they were recruited, and assigned to experimental conditions where appropriate.  Any special equipment used to carry out the research. •The main findings and whether they supported or disconfirmed the hypothesis. •Identify theoretical explanations for the findings, as well as any major inconsistencies and/or alternative explanations, where word space permits. •Research avenues for the future or implications of the research. The abstract can vary in word length from a minimum of 120 words through to 250 words. Your abstract should be no longer than 200 words. 2) Introduction This is the first main section of the report and may be easiest to write in conjunction with the discussion section because it is often important to follow-up, in your discussion, on at least one or two of the studies you mentioned in your introduction. The central purpose of the introduction is to justify your hypothesis. However, to begin the introduction, you need to start back at a more general area of interest that is relevant to your study. From there, you move rapidly into any major theories or models, as well as studies that have been conducted, which relate to the focus of your hypothesis. Provide in-text references with these theories/case studies. When considering what studies to include, it is always useful to mention an original, pioneering study that may have been carried out many years ago, in the 60s or 70s, which led the research path. In some instances, the topic area may be an emerging one, and the original study or several pioneering works may have occurred in more recent times. Then from here, you have a range of options. It may be the case that the research findings in the topic area have been fairly consistent, except for one or two outcomes. In that case, it would probably be helpful to include the inconsistent studies to at least highlight the lack of consistency and hence the need to continue the investigation. In other cases, it may be more difficult, in that there may be a range of studies which all highlight diverse aspects of the study you have conducted. Here, you will need to prioritise which studies are most relevant to the current one – whether it be the particular technique used or the actual findings and type of research question. The introduction can occasionally be one of the most difficult sections of a report to write because it is difficult to develop a sense of direction about where to start and how much to include at the beginning. Write the introduction in pieces by summarising one study at a time, or one theoretical framework at a time. Then return as appropriate to shaping these pieces together to get a sense of the order in which these items can be best placed to most convincingly lead up to the reasoning for your hypothesis. Do not forget to also include definitions of any relevant terms and concepts, including the use of acronyms throughout your report. In terms of how much word space to allocate to the introduction, it is probably the second most important section, so assign words accordingly. For a 2500 word lab report, about 600 words would be a fair figure to aim for, depending on how many words are required to adequately describe the method and results sections. If these take substantially fewer words, you may be able to increase the introduction accordingly. 3) Method(s) This is a relatively formulaic section in that there is a clearly marked out structure to follow, namely, three sub-sections: participants or species, materials or apparatus and procedure. The method section can be the easiest to write because it follows a straight forward structure. Therefore, it is often the best section to start with when writing-up your report. 3.1. Participants (if using people as your research subjects) In this section, give enough details about the participants so that someone could repeat the study using people with the same characteristics. Hence, you will need to mention the number of participants, their gender, whether they are students or not, as well as how they were recruited. It's also important to mention whether participants volunteered and whether they were randomly assigned to experimental conditions. You will need to follow all ethical consent guidelines if you plan on gathering names, ethnicities and/or any information that may identify a particular person. Ask your lecturer about this BEFORE you start. 3.2. Species (if using animals as your research subjects) In this section, list all species names using binomial nomenclature (i.e. Genus then species e.g. a cat is: Felis catus. Note: all scientific names, whether they are for plants or animals should be in italics or underlined. You will need to provide site information including the habitat of the species, their location, and numbers studied etc. 3.3. Materials or Apparatus Here you need to give details about the equipment required to carry out the study. This may include a particular type of technology, in which case you may need a model number and brand name. If you used a paper-pencil survey, which was designed specifically for the study, then you need to provide enough details so that someone could replicate it if they wanted to repeat the study. In such cases, it may be appropriate to attach a copy of the survey or field data sheet in an appendix at the end of the report. 3.4. Procedure In this section, you need to repeat the exact instructions that you designed or were given to the participants. If it is important in conducting the study to express instructions to participants using particular words and phrases, then mention these exactly as they were stated in the study. You may also need to include activities and tasks undertaken by the researcher. 4) Results The results section is often a good section to write after the method because it can provide clarity on the findings, before you embark on thinking about possible explanations for the findings in your discussion. The results provide the reader with information about what you found. Consequently, one of the key features of the results section is to ensure that you only mention the findings, and not what they mean in relation to the study. It may be useful to begin by naming the type of analysis carried out on the data, and if the data had been changed in any way from its raw form before you undertook the analysis i.e. you transformed the data. Then mention the difference or lack of difference between groups with respect to the activity they participated in during the study. If relevant, you can express this difference (or lack of) by including each group's score numerically in brackets. This then needs to be backed up with statistical evidence to support the difference (or lack of). In this case, you will need to mention the name of the statistical test using appropriate statistical symbols, such as t, F, M. With each test, include the degrees of freedom, the value of the statistic, and the level of probability. For some tests, you may also need to provide the N value or number of participants. Most importantly, you also need to state whether the difference was "significant" or "not significant". When you have a lot of data, it may be convenient to display this in a table or graph and then summarise the main features or patterns in words. However, remember not to duplicate information. So, if you have a table with data contained within it, and then go on to repeat much of this data in the form of sentences, the written expression of the data will be redundant. When using tables, the title appears at the top of the table; when using graphs, the title appears below. 5) Discussion This section is allocated the most marks, so it is well worth your investment in time to do it thoroughly. You typically begin with a sentence or paragraph, summarising your results, including whether they support or disconfirm the hypothesis. You can then choose to highlight the similarities in findings with the current study and previous ones, include in-text references when you do this. It is then relevant to move on to the most challenging part of the Discussion: explaining your findings. A good proportion of your discussion should be devoted to explaining, interpreting, and where relevant, justifying your findings. This can involve repeating some of the theoretical frameworks or models mentioned in the Introduction, but with a greater focus towards making sense of the outcomes in the current study. Beyond affirming the theory, you should also consider any alternative explanations for the findings. These may be drawn from studies that presented inconsistent findings with the theory. Additionally, you may also be able to draw on aspects of the study which may have been left to chance, rather than being experimentally controlled. This may include explaining about outliers or extraneous results. In the last part of the discussion, it is beneficial to mention any flaws in the study, such as a lack of diversity amongst participants/species, sample size, and other characteristics of the sample population. If you can think of other disadvantages associated with the design of the study, this will most certainly add bonus marks. 6) Conclusion In the final part, it is a good idea to consider the future application of the findings in some way, and even the need for further investigations to ascertain unexplained aspects of the research outcomes. In closing the report, finish by reaffirming the findings and their significance to the research area. 7) Acknowledgments Typically the structure moves from thanking the most formal support to the least formal thanks as detailed above–funders, supervisors, other academics, colleagues, and finally family. It is important that a student acknowledges the formal carefully, though: any person or institution that has contributed funding to the project, other researchers who have been involved in the research, institutions that have aided the research in some way. They should also acknowledge proof-readers. Such formal thanks are usually in the first paragraph or two. Acknowledgements vary in length and will not contribute your word count. 8) References Referencing is the process of citing or documenting the sources of quotes, theories ideas, illustrations and diagrams that you have used in writing your report. When we acknowledge sources in this way, we give credit to another person's words, ideas or opinions in the form of a note and/or bibliographic reference or citation. You should find at least twenty (20) peerreviewed articles. 8.1. In-text citations In-text citations consist of the surname(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication. If there is no author, use the title (or a short form of the title, if it is lengthy) and the year. Titles that are italicized in the reference list are italicized in text; titles that are not italicized in the reference list appear in quotation marks. If there is no date, use "n.d." (without quotation marks) instead. 8.2. Using the internet When there is no author for a web page, the title moves to the first position of the reference entry: Example: All 33 Chile miners freed in flawless rescue. (2010, October 13). Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39625809/ns/world_news-americas/ Cite in text the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title or abbreviated title.: ("All 33 Chile Miners," 2010). Note: Use the full title of the web page if it is short for the parenthetical citation. Articles found on the web, like the example above, are not italicized in the reference entry and are not italicized but enclosed in quotations in the in-text citation, just like a newspaper or magazine article. Reports found on the web would be italicized in the reference list, as in Publication Manual (6th ed.) Examples 31, 32, and 33 on pp. 205–206. They would also be italicized in the in-text citation, just like a book. 8.3. For all other references Reference all your work using the APA format. See http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx or refer to: http://www.waiariki.ac.nz/Library/pdfs/APA%206th%20GUIDE.pdf Examples: Emerson, L., & Hampton, J. (Eds.). (2005). Writing guidelines for science and applied science students (2nd ed.). Southbank, Australia: Thomson/Dunmore Press. Eunson, B. (2005). Communicating in the 21st century for science and technology. Milton, Australia: John Wiley & Sons. Lobban, C. S., & Schefter, M. (1992). Successful lab reports: A manual for science students. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Silyn-Roberts, H. (2012). Writing for science: A practical handbook for science, engineering and technology students (3rd ed.). Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson. Van Emden, J. (2001). Effective communication for science and technology. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave. 9) Appendices An appendix normally includes research related material that does not fit easily or suitably in the body of the paper: • survey questionnaires, observation sheets, interview transcripts • supplementary data which adds useful information or insight but is not essential to the understanding of the paper • is numbered and titled • uses a different page numbering system Instructions for writing your report When writing your report, the following guidelines must be adhered to: I. Use 1.5 line spacing and use wide margins. II. Use Times Roman Font (12 point). III. Check your work for spelling and grammatical errors. Please re-read your work or preferably get someone else to read it. IV. Avoid technical jargon. If you use any technical jargon – explain what it means. V. Use the appropriate headings (as listed above). VI. Do not write overly long complex sentences. Keep things simple. VII. Use metric (SI) measurements VIII. There is a 2500 word limit as you need to write succinctly only providing the facts. Use the word count feature in MS Word to check the number of words in your report. IX. Items that are not included in the word count are: X. Tables and graphs XI. Titles of photographs or maps XII. Acknowledgements XIII. References XIV. Appendices. If you include extra information, then include this in your appendix. XV. Use APA referencing – see information provided above on writing references. XVI. Get your proposal in on time. If your work is not submitted by the due date it will be deemed as a resubmission and the maximum mark will be the minimum pass mark (= 50%). The due date will be 4pm on the day for final submission. See the date above. XVII. Your report must be submitted electronically. Please send this to [email protected] MARKING SCHEDULE (50%) Marking Criteria Standard Marks Your Marks Overall Document Presentation and Professionalism 10 General Quality/Presentation, page numbers, following layout instructions, correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation (you have proof-read your work) 10 Abstract 10 Your project has been summarised with all relevant details included 10 Introduction 15 Your research was introduced with appropriate background information along with the research question and hypothesis, applicable current literature introduced 15 Methods 10 You described your data collection procedures, how you analysed the data/information and described the equipment/apparatus used 10 Results 20 You presented your data in detailed with appropriate graphs/tables. 10 You have analysed your data correctly 10 Discussion 25 You have summarised your results, including whether they support your hypothesis or not. This involves explaining, interpreting, and where relevant, justifying your findings. 10 You addressed the strengths and limitations of the research 10 You provided a concluding paragraph reaffirming the findings and their significance to the research area and stated where one might go from here 5 References 10 Proper in-text citation and current references used in the APA writing style 10 Total 100