When conducting your own research, it is important to record your work in such a way that others can and want to build on it. How do you do that? The research report offers a standard structure to report on research so that the most important parts are sure to be covered. Additionally, it is important to pay attention to your writing style, so your work comes across as professional and convincing.
This building block explains the standard structure of a research report, and provides tips for the writing process and business writing.
Questions or comments about this building block? Please contact Danny Plass (Saxion).
This building block was written by Jenny Oude Bos, and adapted for HBO-IT by Danny Plass, with additional learning materials from Saxion Studiesucces & taal (study success and language) en Esther Hageraats.
Learning goals
After this building block:
you know the components of a research report and what should be in it.
you can make use of differenth phases in the writing process to write your report.
you can write your report in a professional tone (business-like and to-the-point).
By writing a research report, your work itself becomes available as Available work to others (the right side of the framework). Moreover, this deliverable provides opportunities to let experts or peers look at your work, to improve it based on their feedback, using Showroom strategies in the DOT framework.
The structure
A research report is a report, so it contains a number of standard report components (below in black) and in the middle a number of components that are specific for reporting research (below in green):
Title, author (on a separate Title page for longer documents)
Summary (or Abstract),
Keywords (depending on the template)
Table of contents (for longer documents),
Glossary (optional, for difficult unknown terms)
Introduction,
Background,
Methods,
Results
Discussion, often combined with Conclusions
Conclusions,
References,
Appendices (optional)
Since this is research, there is also a relationship with the research cycle:
Asking questions - Introduction
Collecting data, analysing data - Methods and Results
Drawing conclusions - Discussion & Conclusions
Title
Your title is the first thing a reader sees of your work. Based on these initial words, the reader often already decides whether to stop here or to continue reading. So make sure it gives a good idea of what your report is actually about.
In the case of research, the title is often a variation on the main question you answered in your work. You can also indicate in a few words something about the approach you have used (interviews, literature study, case study, ...) or the result that has been obtained (guidelines, design patterns, a tool...).
Tip: While it can be fun to make the title funny or provocative, make sure that the reader can still make an accurate prediction about the contents.
Here are a few examples from actual research reports. What do you expect in terms of content based on these titles?
"Game design as marketing: How game mechanics create demand for virtual goods"
"Cooperative game design patterns and their effect on players' behaviours"
"Game design principles in everyday fitness applications"
"Educational video game design: A review of the literature"
"CHI and the future robot enslavement of humankind: a retrospective"
(Curious about the content based on these titles? You can look them up at scholar.google.com)
Summary / Abstract
An abstract or summary is at the beginning of your report. It is a short summary of the report that follows. Again, the goal is to briefly inform the reader about the contents of your report, so that the reader can determine whether the report contains the information he or she is looking for.
Generally, an abstract is between 150-250 words. Sometimes, an explicit maximum number of words is indicated, mostly within research and for official articles. When you write a report for a company or yourself, you have more freedom, but even then it is important to keep it concise.
In a summary or abstract of a research report, you briefly describe:
The purpose of your research / the problem your research focuses on
How you conducted the research (methods)
The results of your research (focus only on the most important)
And your conclusions
You only write one or two sentences per component, to keep it as succinct as possible.
Tip: A summary is usually written at the end, when you have already written everything else. You can then summarize each (relevant) chapter in 1-2 sentences.
Keywords
Keywords are mainly used to describe the key terms that the report is about. They are mainly used in published work, to increase the chances of people finding your work. As a reader, you can also briefly check whether the keywords match his or her reading goal.
A few examples from existing articles:
fitness games, design principles
game design, e-learning
gamification, game design, design patterns, persuasive technology
Introduction
The introduction is like a funnel,
from generic to specific.
Image by Clker, Pixabay
An introduction generally consists of three paragraphs containing:
The context and reason for the research. What is the current situation and what is the problem?
The relevance of your research. Why is this important?
The practical question and information questions that will provide the necessary information to answer it.
In the case of longer reports you can also provide:
a brief indication of your approach.
a reading guide, so the reader knows what to expect in the rest of the report and how these sections are connected.
In general, an introduction is shaped like a funnel, in which you start with more general information about the reason for your research (the problem), and then become more and more specific about what exactly you want to research and how.
Background
In the Background, you provide context to your research, so that people who have not studied your topic understand what your research is about. In this section, you explain theories, concepts, terms, and relationships between them, that are necessary for a reader to understand your work. This section may also include a bit of history if relevant.
What additional information do you need to provide so that the reader can understand your research report?
For most reports that you will write, you can assume that the reader is an IT professional just like you, but who has not familiar with this specific topic. You do not need to explain general IT knowledge, such as what an operating system is. Think back to when you just started this project: What knowledge on this subject did you not have at the time, which you did need to determine and implement your approach?
Related work
Part of the Background section can be Related work, if relevant. In this section, you can provide an overview of what has been done on this topic until now. What is already known? What does available work already show? What is the difference between your work and what has already been done?
As an example for the Curiosity course: Suppose you are researching the types of players in your class. As part of the Background, you explain what types of players you mean (for example, based on Bartle's taxonomy of player types). As for Related work, it might be interesting to show existing research on the distribution of player types, for example in a certain country or on a certain platform. The difference with your research will be that you will look specifically at your class as a target group. Perhaps the distribution of player types is comparable to this existing work, but it could also be quite different, as your classmates are all HBO-IT students!
State of the art
Within the Curiosity course, we are mainly doing research to familiarize ourselves with the domain of game development, but for more standard IT research (as part of the development of a product) it is always wise to take a good look at the state of the art. What existing solutions are already available? Can you reuse parts of it? What is already known from these existing solutions, such as problems you have to watch out for? What is and what is not suitable for your specific situation?
Methods
In this chapter, you explain exactly what research you have done and how you have done it. How did you answer your questions?
How did you collect and analyse your data? (the procedure)
Did you use certain materials (hardware, software, questionnaires, ...)?
Did you have any participants? For a questionnaire, for example, indicate how many people have participated, and other possibly important statistics such as their age and gender. In the case of interviews, indicate who you have interviewed and why them.
You can write this part before you have conducted your research. Then write it in the past tense anyway. When the reader reads your report, the investigation is already complete!
P.S. Check whether your approach fits the question you want to answer. The research cycle can help with this by thinking about whether you answer the original question (Are you doing the right thing? Are you doing it right?). The DOT framework can provide insight into whether the chosen method is in line with what you want to achieve with your research (expertise or fit? overview or certainty? data or inspiration?) and what en wat alternative methods could be.
Results
Geef je resultaten overzichtelijk weer.
Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay.
In this section you will show the main results of the data you have collected and analyzed in your research. Mainly focus on the results that are relevant to answering your research question, but there may also be other striking findings to report that you did not expect.
You can use tables, graphs and other visualizations to display your results clearly. By using bold text or color, for example, you can emphasize certain aspects to the reader. Always add a short explanation so the reader understands what he sees and what is important.
In the case of multiple sub-questions, you can use subsections to indicate which paragraphs concern which questions. This makes it easier for the reader to understand the structure of your report.
Warning! In the Results, you do not yet discuss what these results mean for answering your research questions. This is done in Discussion and Conclusions.
Discussion & Conclusions
The Discussion & Conclusions section consists of:
A brief summary of the initial problem, what you have done and your most important results.
Answers to your sub-questions and then your main questions (using the results)
The limitations of your research.
Every research has limitations, because of limited time, people, or other resources, or sometimes simply because you made a mistake or did not foresee something. Be open about these limitations of your work, so that others can take them into account when making decisions based on your report (Would you bet your smartphone (or: your reputation) on the answer you provide here?)
Recommendations for the project / product / people you did this research for, and for any follow-up research (based on the results, conclusions and limitations of the research).
References / bibliography
In References (sometimes also called Bibliography) you list all the sources (articles, books, websites, ...) you have used in your report.
As already mentioned in the building block about Citing sources, there are various reasons for explicitly indicating the sources for all the information you have used from elsewhere:
That (other) experts also say this, provides additional persuasiveness,
Others can read on in the cited resource if they want to know more,
You show that you are aware of what others have done on this topic,
By being clear about what pieces of text are from others, you cannot be accused of plagiarism.
These reasons are just as valid if you have written the information in your own words, as when you quoted them literally!
Word has a useful tool for citing sources
in the References tab.
Word has a useful tool for citing, which allows you to automatically generate a Bibliography and ensures correct referencing to sources in your text.
Make sure to set the citation style to APA. This is the standard used within Saxion.
Appendices
Appendices are, as the word implies, extras. This more detailed information is not necessary for understanding the work described in the report, but it can be useful to the reader. For example, a reader may want to know which questions were included in a questoinnaire, perhaps to check whether he agrees with your conclusion based on that, or because he wants to reuse this questionnaire himself. Appendices are often used to keep the report itself concise for the reader, but still offer this extra information for those who are interested.
Common appendices include:
Questoinnaires used, with a brief description included in the report itself to give an idea of the content, and a reference to the appendix should the reader wish to see the complete list of questions.
More results, analysies, elaborations, for example a table of all the results before a particular analysis has been applied, a more complete table with also the less relevant results after analysis (if a shorter version is included in the text with, for example, only the top 10), or transcripts or notes from interviews. It may also concern, for example, detailed designs. The report itself then contains part of these results with a reference to the appendix. In the report itself, some sort of summary can be included, a few examples, or just those results that were most important in coming to a conclusion or advice.
The writing process
The writing process can be split into five phases:
Selecting the topic / problem to write about
Collecting and analyzing the necessary information
Gathering ideas you want to write about (drafting)
Improving the structure (revising)
Improving your writing style (editing)
The topic depends on the type of report. In the case of research, this is about asking questions (Curiosity wk 1). Information literacy has been discussed in the building blocks on finding, evaluating and referring to information. Data collection and analysis are briefly explained in the research cycle. Over the course of the HBO-IT study programme, you will become more acquainted with the different methods that are widely used within IT.
In this building block, we will explain the last three phases of the writing process in more detail.
Getting your ideas on paper (drafting)
In this phase of writing, you put your ideas on (digital) paper. The focus is still on the content, a bit on structure, but certainly not yet on correct use of language (this is for the final writing phase).
Below are a few helpful tips to help you write down your ideas:
Log book: Maintain a log throughout your project. For example, briefly write at the end of the day the main things you have done, choices you have made, and other things that might be of interest for writing your report.
Freewriting: The idea of this technique is to just write freely about the topic / problem of your report (or a certain sub-topic within it), for a fixed amount of time, between 5 and 15 minutes. Write down everything that comes to mind. This can give you ideas and is also a useful tool to just start writing.
Brainstorming: Like with freewriting, you write for a set amount of time, but this time your aim is to write down everything, every detail you know about the topic. You may be able to use (part of) what you have written as a preliminary outline for your report. Or there may be certain points about which you want to continue freewriting.
Native language: If your native language is not English, it can be helpful to start writing in your mother tongue, and translate it into English later on. This approach can help you get your ideas on paper more easily.
Providing structure (revising)
After you have written your first (or seciond) draft, try to organize your ideas, to provide structure to your report. Here are a few tips on how to do that:
Mindmap: Creating a mindmap of your chosen topic can be helpful to get an idea of the relationships between the different parts of what you want to write about. This way, you can also cluster ideas together that belong together, and distinguish the main points from less important matters.
Outline: Developing an outline (a "skeleton" of your work) can help you structure your report. In an outline, you write for each section of your report (introduction, methods, results, etc.) what you want to discuss there in a few sentences or keywords. This provides guidance when writing.
Topic sentence summary: Find the topic sentences of each paragraph. The topic sentence contains the main idea of that paragraph. In theory, all the topic sentences together should provide a summary of your report. Does this yield a logical story? Does it contain unnecessary things or are you missing a step in your chain of logic? Does a different order make more sense perhaps?
If there are more core sentences in one paragraph, it is better to split it up to increase readability.
Read like a reader who does not know the topic: Make sure you write for people who have no knowledge of the topic you are focusing on in your research. This means that you have to explain your argument step by step, explain more and give examples, so that the reader can follow your reasoning.
Improving your text (editing)
Rewrite your draft in a professional writing style where necessary. See the tips in the next section.
Read your own text aloud. This way you can hear whether there are language or spelling errors, and whether there are unclear sentences that need to be rewritten.
Use a language and spell checker
Print your text, so you can easily check it. Moreover, because of the different format, you will likely notice different issues.
Have your text read by somebody else. A second reader who does not yet know your text will easily notice if the text is missing information, is not logically ordered, or if it contains spelling mistakes.
Leave your text for a few days. This way you can look at your report with fresh eyes again, and you will notice errors that you previously overlooked.
Professional writing
Business writing
To make your text appear more professional and convincing, it is important to write business-like. What does that mean?
Objective, factual - Try to leave out personal value judgements (whether you think something is fascinating, good, bad, etc.) and remain as objective as possible in your report. Support your opinion with facts or advise from experts.
Specific, concrete - Avoid vague words, such as "maybe", "really", "a bit", "a lot". Try to make things clear with concrete examples and specific numbers, for example.
Impersonal - Avoid personal pronouns such as "I", "we" and "you" (except to express your personal opinion). This also makes the text more objective.
Formal - Beware of colloquial language and especially slang.
When writing, think of the style of an objective news article, not a personal diary entry.
Compare the following two sentences:
"I think Mac OS is the very best operating system."
"Mac OS is less attacked by hackers than Windows (Haslam, 2019)."
Which elements make the first sentence less business-like?
Which sentence is more convincing?
Concise writing
Another aspect of effective professional writing is to keep your text concise. This way, the core message of your text comes across more clearly.
Delete unnecessary words. For example, the word "actually" can actually always be removed.
Replace groups of verbs with 1 verb. For example, the sentence "With this tool, bugs can be found." can be shortened to "This tool finds bugs". This often concerns verbs such as could, should, will, may.
Rewrite sentences in the passive voice with an active voice when possible. Again, see the example sentence above.
Break up complex sentences. The sentence "To calculate the final score, which determines whether you have won, add only the ten highest scores." is more clear as: "The final score determines whether you have won. For this, add up only the ten highest scores."
Tip:Do use linking words to help the reader see the relationships between words and sentences. The message becomes less clear if you omit these words.
Verb tense (future, present, past)
Should you write your research report in future, past or present tense?
Some parts of the report can be written before you have conducted the research itself, such as Background and Methods. It can be tempting to write in future tense (e.g. "The tools will be tested by creating a simple pong game with each of them."). Keep in mind, however, that when the reader reads your report, your research will be finished! As a general guideline, write your report in the past tense ("The tools were tested") or present perfect ("The tools have been tested"). Similarly, when describing research done by others, this has been done in the past.
For facts and findings that still hold true, you shift to present tense ("The tools are free to use." or "Playtesting improves the quality of the end product (Blizzard, 2020).").
Practical tips
Create atopic sentence summary highlighting the topic sentence in each paragraph. Is everything in the right place? Does the whole form a logical story?
You don't have to get the perfect report on paper in one stroke. Make use of the 3 steps in the writing process.
Keep alog. For example, write down every day (that you work on the research) anything that could be relevant for your report (actions, choices, insights). Later you can draw on this when writing your report itself.
Use the language and spelling checker in Word. Also, have your report read by somebody else.
Make sure your text comes across as professional, by writing business-like, concise and with few mistakes.
Assignments
Individual ex) Freewriting
Open a text file. Write the topic of your report at the top. Set a timer for 10 minutes and start writing down everything you know about the subject.
You can also do this exercise for a specific part of the report. For example, write down everything you know about your methods for 10 minutes.
(In subsequent steps you can then structure this information, and rewrite it objectively and concisely.)
Individual ex) Structure
Open your report.
In each paragraph, highlight the topic sentence, that indicates the core idea of the paragraph.
For each paragraph, determine which part of the research report it belongs to when you look at the content. Does it describe the problem? A question? A method? A recommendation?
Individual ex) Editing
Print the current version of your report and look at it as if you were reviewing someone else's text. Is it business-like, clear and concise? Or are there pieces that still seem a bit informal, vague or long-winded? Mark the parts you want to rewrite.
Bibliography
Benders, L. (2020, July 21). Onderzoeksresultaten opschrijven in je scriptie. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://www.scribbr.nl/scriptie-structuur/onderzoeksresultaten/
Bryson, S. (2020, September 24). How to Revise an Essay in 3 Simple Steps. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/revising/
Forshaw, M. (2013). Your Undergraduate Psychology Project. Wiley.
Fowler, H., & Aaron, J. E. (2009). The Little, Brown Handbook (11de editie). Rodopi, Editions.
Greetham, B. (2013). How to Write Better Essays. Macmillan Publishers.
Hageraats, E. (2014). Onderzoek 1: Informatievaardigheden. Saxion, ITSM.
McCombes, S. (2020, August 13). How to Write an Abstract: 4 Steps & Examples. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/abstract/
Renkema, J. (2002). Schrijfwijzer. Sdu.
Saxion Studiesucces & Taal (2016). Ik wil zakelijk schrijven. Blackboard (Saxion intern).
Strunk, W. (2000). The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. Pearson.
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Toelichting
When conducting your own research, it is important to record your work in a way so that others can and want to build on it, but how do you do that? The research report offers a standard structure for this, so that the most important parts are sure to be covered. In addition, it is important to pay attention to your writing style, so that your work comes across as professional and convincing. This building block explains the standard structure of a research report and provides tips for the writing process and business writing. This is a HBO-IT building block for Research in Education.
Leerniveau
HBO - Bachelor;
Leerinhoud en doelen
Informatica;
Eindgebruiker
leerling/student
Moeilijkheidsgraad
makkelijk
Studiebelasting
2 uur en 0 minuten
Trefwoorden
available work, beschikbaar werk, bouwsteen, building block, hbo ict oio, onderzoek, onderzoek doen, research, showroom, werkplaats
1.1.6 Writing a research report (basics)
en
Saxion HBO-ICT
2021-04-09 14:46:50
When conducting your own research, it is important to record your work in a way so that others can and want to build on it, but how do you do that? The research report offers a standard structure for this, so that the most important parts are sure to be covered. In addition, it is important to pay attention to your writing style, so that your work comes across as professional and convincing. This building block explains the standard structure of a research report and provides tips for the writing process and business writing. This is a HBO-IT building block for Research in Education.
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