Report writing

• sections of an academic article

  Abstract

  Introduction

  Method

  Results

  Discussion

  Appendices
• Acronym for sections of an academic article

  Always

  Introduce

  Men

  Remember

  Don't

  Assume
• abstract

  this is a summary of the research which briefly outlines the aims, method, participants, results and key conclusions
• introduction


  this sections provides background information to the study and discusses previous research which is focused on the same topic, explains the reason for carrying out the current research and the aims/hypotheses
• method


  contains a detailed description of the sample and sampling method, the procedure followed, experimental design, any material used and the IVs and DVs in the study. This is so the study can be repeated
• results

  this will contain a summary of the data collected as well as graphs, measures of central tendency and dispersion
• discussion


  this section focuses on what the study has discovered, how the finding/conclusions relate to previous research, as well as evaluating and giving suggestions for future research to further the understanding
• appendices


  this will contain any additional resources which are not in the main article such as the tables of raw data or any calculation made, copies of the original interview/questionnaire questions, instructions given to participants, etc
• When referring to articles published in academic journals, you should always follow this format:

  1. author or authors
  2. year of publication of the article (in brackets)
  3. article title (in single inverted commas)
  4. journal title (in italics)
  5. volume of journal
  6. issue number of journal (in brackets)
  7. page range of article
• why must articles be referred to like this

  anyone wishing to locate the original version of the article would then know which journal to consult and even which pages to turn to within the journal for them to be able to locate the article. this is important in terms of scientific research being 'open' so that other academics can interrogate the work (peer review it) and also potentially try to replicate the study (to see whether it is reporting a reliable effect)
• peer review

  academic articles need to be read and evaluated by experts in the same field before being published so that they can ensure that the methodology used is robust (i.e. valid and reliable measures have been used to collect the results)
• strengths of peer review

  can be used to check that research will be useful before it is funded

  ensures only the most relevant and robust research is published

  it ensures that only valid results are published so the journals retain their reputation
• weaknesses of peer review

  can take a long time

  some reviewers may not pass research that contradicts their own

  may not be possible to detect research that has used false data