UNIVERSITY OF OSNABRUECK - ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
Writing a research paper is above all an intellectual challenge. It is a
complex, time-consuming task and mental activity, it is also a way that two
minds meet (your own and that of your other ”experts” including your ”instructor”).
In short, one can say that the advantages of writing a research paper (next
to shorter forms of written products like writing the minutes, a statement,
definitions, position papers etc.) are the following:
-
It is an intensified way of content-/topic-oriented
learning.
-
It is a way to get initiated into a rational, scientific form
of inquiry and discourse.
-
It is a chance to apply, develop and improve cognitive and
linguistic skills (inter-
relatedly).
-
It is an opportunity to move further towards autonomous forms
of working and thinking.
-
It is a way of becoming anchored in a certain topic, to develop
an ”expertise” in certain
areas,
It is a chance to get to know oneself much better, to experiment and make
plans for changes/improvement.
Die in diesem Arbeitspaper gegebenen Tipps wirken vermutlich noch besser,
wenn das Prinzip der 'Selbstan
w
endung' gilt: d.h. für die endgültige Fassung, die ja dann auch wohl (mit
site-internen 'Rauten'-Links) als html-Dokument im Internet stehen wird,
schlage ich im Kopf eine Inhaltsübersicht vor mit durchnummerierten Gliederungspunkten,
z.B. "1
INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overall
goal 1.2 The importance of criteria
" etc. --
Außerdem sollten Aufzählungen wohl noch mit optischen Kohäsionsmitteln
wie Spiegelstrichen gekennzeichnet werden.It is an opportunity
to develop and practice writing a longer, more comprehensive piece of work
like the one required in the final exam (Staatsexamensarbeit) or,
in longer-rang
e professional terms, like any written presentation you will be expected
to do as a future teacher, as an academic, an employee,
as a citizen etc.
So use this challenge as a chance to grow
and to develop the necessary compete
n
cies and skills for your future professional life. You can count on us as
staff me
m
bers as critical companions, evalu
a
tors and supporters of your individual processes for which you are self-responsible.
Normally, writing a paper is based on systematic inquiry and its results
which implies a complex research process. This actual search, preparation
and writing process cannot be dealt with here, but it is described and visualized
elsewhere (cf. PREPARING AN ORAL PRESENTATION AND PRODUCING A WRITTEN VERSION
OF IT, available since February 12, 2002). Rather, the focus of this outline
is how to structure your paper (once you have finished the preparatory work)
and what to observe in formal terms so that your paper will meet the given
conventions and requirements when you hand it in.
Some of your findings you will already have presented orally, so you will
know to some extent what scientific work is all about, what kinds of expectation
you will have to meet and what a good presentation is. For the written
version of your orally presented paper you will most likely have to process
more of the existing research literature and consult additional sources of
information, develop a deepened understanding of the topic and become more
specialized or expert in it. At the same time you will have to observe certain
formal conventions which make the paper easy to read and understand, to follow
your line of thought/argumentation and to find out what you think yourself
(how and where you position yourself vis-à-vis the topic, issue, research
question and the prior work of others). Therefore, it is important to clearly
distinguish between
a (relatively objective) description
of facts
/
contents
/
the position of the author
(s)
on the one hand and
personal opinions/evaluations/norm-orient
ied statements (involving your subjective views and values)
on the other hand
, and clearly mark the latter
.
Accordingly, you should also
distinguish between quotation (the wording of others) and paraphrase
d
(your own wording); see below under 14 and 15
.
It is very important that in order to reach these goals you should give yourself
enough time (and also to enjoy this experience) and to concentrate on one
task/paper at a time, if you wish to do so – but that is totally up to you,
your working conditions and your preferences.
After you have done the ground work and when you are in the process of drawing
up a final outline of your paper, here is what you should know/keep in mind
for structuring it and giving it the right form:
1
. Cover sheet/Title page
Your title page should include the name of our university, the semester,
the title of the seminar and the name of the staff member responsible (on
the upper left-hand corner).
In the centre part you will write the TITLE (perhaps as large as 20 or 24
as font size)
On the lower left-hand corner you should write your name, your majors (
Studiengang), how far you are advanced (Sem.zahl), your enrolment
no., your address, your tel. number and
e-mail address.
The Table of Contents should appear on the page after the title page.
Your paper should be clearly structured using the Arabic decimal system (everything
left-bound); do not go deeper than the fourth level. Example:
1.
Introduction: Formulating your essay/research question
2. State of the art/Stand
der Diskussion
2.1.
2.1.1.
2.1.1.1.
2.1.1.2
2.1.2
2.1.3.
2.2.
2.3.
3. Finding/Position/Theoretical
approach 1
4. Finding/Position/Theoretical
approach 2
5. Finding/Position/Theoretical
approach 3
6. Relationship between
the positions: Weighing the arguments, their
relevance/importance
7. Answering the Research
Question: Own Position, Reasons
8. Summary / Conclusions
9. Bibliography
1. Introduction
In the Introduction you should do three to four things:
(a)
Name the topic or issue clearly and explicitly, preferably you should formulate
it as a research question
(b) Mention your main source(s), particularly in the Grundstudium, when you
sometimes base
yourself on one main source
like one particular book or chapter of a book.
(c)
Give an overview of the chapters to come and name each of their focus respectively
(d)
Identify what you do not deal with in this paper and why (constraints
of time, space etc).
Chapters 2 and following will contain the main parts of your paper. You might
want to start with a description of the research situation, the so-called
”state of the art”.
Chapter
2. Research situation/findings so far/State of the Art (or a similar heading)
In this chapter you could present an overview of the research situation related
to your topic or question. It is to prepare a closer look at some of the
sub-issues implied, at some of the influential authors in the field or the
positions taken by them – all of which will be presented in Chapters 3, 4,
5 (or more chapters).
Chapter 6. In your next chapter you should then formulate the relationship
between different authors, findings, theories or approaches: you could, for
example, weigh the different arguments one against the other, you could assess
and evaluate the importance or relevance of certain findings and thus prepare
your most important next chapter.
In Chapter 7. You should pick up your research topic or question stated in
the Introduction (Chapter 1.) and answer it as best as possible, given your
material, the arguments put forward in the preceding chapters and the one
immediately preceding where you reflected on the relationship between the
different positions. At this point (in Chapter 7) you should clearly state
your own opinion and position (you are allowed to write in the I-form which
makes it easier to distinguish what you yourself think and what others think
or said before you. It is also perfectly OK to agree with someone’s position
if you argue that it is the most convincing one and why this is so. But I
really do want to know your own personal judgement and ”expert” position.
The final chapter content-wise (in this example Chapter 8.) is reserved for
some sort of summary of your whole paper, drawing on the very main points
and findings once more. Additionally, you should reflect about conclusions
and consequences (what follows from what you presented). This part could
include pointing our what has been left unsettled or unresolved, what came
up as new questions, what needs further investigation etc.
Then follows the Bibliography (see below), in which you list all the works
used and cited.
If you have an Appendix or Appendices they should always be added at the
very end, after the Bibliography.
4
. STYLE
You are writing an academic paper: the language register chosen should
therefore be a formal one, with no colloquial expressions or orally acceptable/standard
contractions. Be as explicit as you can be (as necessary) and at the same
time as concise as appropriate. Try to avoid ”Germanism” and keep your sentence
structure simple: Do not form overly long and complex sentences (as this
register in German tends to do). Rather, break complex ideas up into a sequence
of simpler ones, and find ways of linking subordinate ideas/issues/reasons/conditions
and the like not only by using hyper-/hypotactic sentence constructions,
but above all by using main clauses and stating the relationship to the preceding
ones explicitly. Use the appropriate verbs and verb forms instead of nominal
constructions (these are often way too clumsy!). If you report on the findings
or position of someone else, characterize this clearly by using reported
speech or the appropriate verb(s) like: ”X thinks/poses/holds/argues etc
that... ”.
5
. CHAPTERS, SECTIONS, PARAGRAPHS, SENTENCES
Please make sure that your chapters are unified in themselves and that each
chapter has a different and clear focus. The same is true for sections (and
subsections) and their respective headings. Paragraphs combine a number of
ideas/thoughts on the same topic and should be rationally subdivided one
from the other. So do not mix up the functions of paragraphs and sentences
by using single sentences as paragraphs (unless you have good reasons for
it).
Between chapters you should not leave more than two or three blank lines:
in other words, do not start a new page with each chapter (that is a loss
of valuable space and paper).
No indenting of paragraphs, please, except for a quote longer than 40 words
(see below 9.)
6
. COHESION (LINKING) AND COHERENCE (Overall
UNITY, COMPREHENSI-
BILI
TY, MEANING
, MESSAGE)
Each sentence, paragraph, section and chapter in your paper should be connected
logically and thus more or less explicitly to the one before and after so
to construct a scientific, argumentative text as a whole. This requires techniques
of linking and the appropriate choice of words or linking expressions.
The most important feature of your paper, however, should be that it is conclusive,
precise and to the point: you should answer your stated question at the end
as best as possible or relate to the issue(s) raised as a thinking person
or even as an ”expert” making your point(s). This procedure has to be practised;
it will make your text a unified whole and ensure coherence as the most important
feature of it (as of any text).
7
. HOW LONG SHOULD THE PAPER BE?
A written paper (Schriftliche Hausarbeit) should comprise
1. 10-12 pages for beginning students
(Grundstudium)
2.
15-20 pages for advanced students (Hautpstudium)
3.
60-100 pages for your written examination paper (Staatsarbeit)
8
. PREFERRED TYPE/SIZE OF FONT (Schriftart/Schriftgrad)
9
. SPACING
18 pt (1,5-zeilig)
Only exception: longer quotations which are indented should be single-lined.
Also the bibliography should be single-lined, with the second/third line
indented (Hängend, ca. 1 cm)
Stick to one rule of spelling, either British or American English, please.
1
1. MARGINS
Please use Blocksatz.
At the left hand side of you page you should leave a margin of at least 3
cm, at the right hand side at least 4 cm (for future corrections, commentaries,
or suggestions).
You should number your pages either at the top of each page or at the bottom
of it, either centered or conclusive with the right-hand margin.
You should start numbering with the Table of Contents or with the third page,
normally the one beginnig with 1. Introduction.
As to quoting or referring to other sources consulted and used, you could
obtain the so-called STYLE SHEET: HOW TO QUOTE IN A RESEARCH PAPER,
available from the Foreign Language Office (”Fremdsprachensekretariat”, 2.
Stock, Room 209, Frau Bonadonna in the morning or Frau Crombée in the afternoon,
usually until 3:30 or 4:00 pm). There you will find what the staff of the
English Department agreed upon as formal requirements in writing a paper.
It basically advocates the abolishment of footnotes: ”The bibliographic
footnote is dead. Forget your ”a. a. O.,” ”loc. cit.,” or even your ”ibid/ebd.”
! No more 1, 2, 3.” You are referred to the MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers. Fourth Edition. New York: Modern Language Association,
1995, by Joseph Gibaldi, which greatly simplifies matters and even tells
you how to quote from the Internet. And yet, the new MLA Handbook is sometimes
still too complicated.
Therefore, we in Linguistics and in Didactics advocate another standard
which is based on the recommendations of the American Psychological
Association (APA
-standard). We find it is characterized by even greater
simplicity, time economy and reader friendliness, it is definitely preferred
to the MLA conventions by linguists and people
in Fachdidaktik worldwide - and
also by
students of other
courses
discipl
in
es like
of studies Health/Nursing Science etc.. Here is how it works:
You insert name(s) of author(s), year of publication and page references (if appropriate) in the text in round brackets, immediately after the point referred to. If you refer to more than one source, you will have to separate them by a semicolon in alphabetical (not in chronological!) sequence. Here are some examples: (Faerch & Kasper 1987; Krashen 1975a, 1975b, in print, to appear; Lambert, Just & Segalowitz 1970). (Müller 1954, quoted in Barnabas 1960).
If you refer to a particular idea or place in a book without actually quoting,
you should specify that place in the following way: (cf. Krashen 1975a, 98f.)
or (cf. Krashen 1985, chapter 3) or (cf. Krashen 1985, 69-85).
Meines Wissens — ich werde das APA-Buch
morgen mal mitbringen —
ist das "cf." gänzlich out. Dagegen legt die APA schon noch Wert
auf das "p./pp." vor Seitenzahlen. NOTE: Year and page
number(s) are separated by a comma!
If the name is part of the text itself, you will put the year of publication
and the page number(s) (if applicable) immediately behind the name. Example:
As Poulisse, Bongaerts
& Kellerman (1987) or (1987, 213) point out, the issue is not as simple
as that ...
As year of publication take the one mentioned in the copyright notice. In
case a book has been reprinted, you may refer to it in the following way:
... Trubetzkoy (1939/1967)...
If a piece of work (monography, contribution in a book, article) has more
than two authors, all of them will have to be listed in the text at the place
of first mention (e.g. Baldegger, Müller, Schneider & Näf 1980); however,
if you refer to the same group of authors again at a later stage, you will
only have to list the first of the names followed by ”et al.”.
Example: ... Baldegger et al.
(1980) ... . [et al. stands for lat. ”et alies”, dt. u.a. = und andere]
15
. QUOTING (VERBATIM)
Word-for word quotations should be put into double ”inverted commas” (English
convention – if you write your text in German, however, the inverted commas
will have to start at the bottom line of a word). If a quoted text implies
another quotation itself, you will have to indicate this by using simple
‘inverted commas’. Verbatim quotations longer than 40 words should be put
into a block citation (single-lined, separated from the running text by a
free space line before and after. You may also indent this block quotation
by 1 cm to the left hand side).
If you leave something out in verbatim quotations you will have to indicate
this in the following way: [...].
If the author(s) of a quotation are already mentioned in the running text
before the quote, you will only insert the following information after the
quote itself: ”...” (1999, 23). Otherwise you will have to add the name before
the year and page reference: ”...” (Ellis 1996, 89).
16
. PLAGIARISM
Avoid to use (or steal) other people’s thoughts or even take over formulations
from them without indicating your source (this would be plagiarism
). In the US this behavior has become quite a problem in the last years (especially
with the internet access to all kinds of information), it is considered as
a way of being dishonest and of cheating by misusing another person’s intellectual
products and claiming it as one’s own property. Fortunately, in Europe this
issue has not become so critical as yet. There are easy ways nowadays to
find out about the true origin of certain passages and ideas – so do not
even try to cheat yourself. If you base yourself heavily on one particular
line of thought/theory or one specific piece of work/book/volume you should
mention this already in your Introduction so as to relieve you from referring
to this source over and over again.
Instead of underlining you should use italics for reference
to works, books, pieces in the text itself. Italics should also be
used for foreign words in your text (like Gemütlichkeit, lingua franca
or Fachdidaktik). If you write in German, all English, French,
Latin words etc. would have to be put into italics.
Sample sentences/utterances either taken from other sources or made up by
yourself should be numbered through like this
(1)
I have been living in London ever since 1999.
In addition, they could be put into italics and/or you highlight only a certain
portion in italics:
(2)
My brother has been living in London ever since 1999.
Diagrams or Tables should also be numbered through with Arabic numbers in
the running text: e.g. ”... as shown in Table 1”. The actual table has to
be subtitled like this:
Dimension 1
Dimension 2
Table 1: Frequency of cases in bilingual and
bicultural adults
20
. FOOTNOTES
Footnotes for bibliographical reference are dead! Only use footnotes (on
the bottom of the same page) if you think you will have to present an important
modification of your main argument and if you think you should not do this
in the running text, but rather in a footnote of less importance and prominence.
Use as few footnotes as possible: they are work and often superfluous!
The bibliography at the end of your paper should list the works cited in
alphabetical order (German Umlaute are dealt with like the non-
Umlaut-vowels, according to the DUDEN). If you have used more than one
piece of work by the same author, list the oldest one first, e.g. Sapir (1921).
The
first names of authors and editors can be spelled out (if possible), but
it is OK to give the initial(s) only (like in Bachman, L.F.).
Titles of books and of journals are to be put into italics. Giving
the number of an issue of a journal is only necessary if each issue starts
again with page number 1. The number of the issue will then have to be put
into (brackets) after the volume number (see the case of Lübke in the examples
given below). Articles do not have to be put into ”inverted commas”
any more!
You
can use the following abbreviations: ch. (for chapter), ed./eds. (for editor(s)),
ed. (for edition), p. (for page), pp. (for pages) Vol./Vols. (for volume(s)),
No (for number), Suppl. (for Supplement). [If you write in German: S. (für
Seite), Hrsg. (Herausgeber), Bd. (für
Band) usw.
Journal
names and names of publishers/publishing houses should not be abbreviated,
unless they are known worldwide (like PMLA = Publications of the Modern Language
Association, CUP = Cambridge University Press or OUP = Oxford University
Press)
EXAMPLES FOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRIES
Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) (1998), ALTE Handbuch
europäischer Sprachprüfungen und Prüfungsverfahren.
Cambridge: The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES).
Bachman, L.F. (1990).
Fundamental considerations in language testing
. Oxford: OUP.
Baldegger, M., Müller M. & Schneider, G. in Zusammenarbeit mit Näf, A.
(1980). Kontaktschwelle Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Berlin: Langenscheidt.
Cronbach, Lee J. (1984).
Essentials of psychological testing
(4th edition). New York: Harper & Row.
Deutscher Industrie-und Handelstag (im Verbund mit dem Bundesverband Deutscher
Privatschulen und dem WTB Weiterbildungs-Testsysteme GmbH) (Hrsg.) (o.J.):
Arbeitsplatz Europa: Sprachkompetenz wird messbar.
Berlin: DIHT (vermutlich 2001).
van Dijk, Teun A. (1980a). Story comprehension: an introduction. Poetics,
8, 7-29.
Ellis, Rod (1994). Implicit and explicit learning in an L2. In Nick Ellis
(ed.), Implicit and explicit knowledge.
Cambridge: CUP, 213-238.
Faerch, Claus & Kasper, Gabriele (eds.)
(1987). Introspection in second language research. Clevedon, Avon:
Multilingual Matters.
Gammond, Peter (ed.) (1977). Duke Ellington: His Life and Music. New
York: Da Capo.
Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes (Hrsg.) (2001). Gemeinsamer Europäischer
Referenzrahmen für Sprachen: lernen, lehren, beurteilen. Berlin/München:
Langenscheidt.
Hitchcock, H. Wiley (1974). Music in the United States: An Introduction
(2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Horricks, Raymond (1977). The Orchestral Suites.
In Gammond (ed.) (1977), 122-31.
Krechel, Hans-Ludwig (1999): Sprach- und Textarbeit im Rahmen von flexiblen
bilingualen Modulen. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht,
4(2), 1-9 (Online-Ms.:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~german/ejournal/krechel1.htm
) [Osnabrück, 20.8.2001, 20:43]
Lübke, Diethard (1989). Benutzerfreundlichkeit französischer Schulgrammatiken.
Der fremdsprachliche Unterricht, 23(96), 23-26.
Schröder, Konrad. (ed.) (1989). Sprachreisen. [Thematic Issue]. Die Neueren
Sprachen, 88(2).
Scotto, Peter (1994). Censorship, Reading, and Interpretation: A Case Study
from the Soviet Union. PMLA,
109, 61-70.
Stelzl, Ingeborg (1987). Experiment. In Erwin Roth (Hrsg.), Sozialwissenschaftliche
Methoden. Lehr- und Handbuch für Forschung und Praxis (2. Aufl.). München:
Oldenbourg, 200-237.
Trubetzkoy, Nikolaj S. (1939/1967). Grundzüge der Phonologie (4
th edition). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Wolff, Dieter (2000). Bilingual teaching. (Online: Internet address) [place,
date, time].
So you see, it is relatively easy: just keep in mind that italics
are used for book and journal titles. The edition/Auflage is part of the
title, but not put into italics, rather in brackets.
Corporate authors are included into the alphabetical order. If a year of
publication is unknown, it should be mentioned accordingly: (no year) or
(o.J.) = dt. ohne Jahr.
The second line of a reference should always be indented by 1 or 1,25 cm
(Format/Absatz /Extra/Hängend) for greater readability (see examples
above). End each entry with a full stop.
Before you hand in your paper you should read it
out aloud once more (or even twice) and also have it read by someone
else. This way you will have a better chance to do last-minute corrections
and a better basis for a critical self-evaluation and/or feedback from an
outside reader. This will help you to assess, perhaps improve and certainly
finalize the first official version of your paper, which is the one you hand
in. You do not have to give this in person to me, it suffices when you put
it in due time into my pigeonhole in the Dean’s Office (box No. 6).
23
. Deadlines
The deadlines for handing in your paper are at the end of each semester,
that is March 31 and September 30 (of each year). For exceptional reasons
you can ask for prolongation of this deadline. Try to write up your paper
as soon as possible after your oral presentation because then you are still
in the flow of the topic. Avoid carrying a piece of unfinished work into
the new semester: It will be a burden and prevent you from opening to new
challenges in the following term!
24
. Reading, Evaluating, and Correcting your paper
Your
paper will be closely read and commented upon by me. I will also give a first
evaluation on the quality of your paper and how I would mark it. The criteria
for the evaluation are published on a separate sheet, entitled ”CRITERIA
FOR (SELF-) EVALUATING AND EDITING A RESEARCH PAPER”, dated February 2, 2002.
You should know these criteria and should have consulted the respective sheet
(also to be found in this folder, in the Foreign Language Office (Room 209)
or to be downloaded from the Internet under my name from SS 2003 onwards).
I will let you know (either orally or by e-mail) when your paper is ready
for discussion with me.
25
. Appointment for discussing your paper
The staff usually takes a lot of care, time and effort to go through your
written paper (since it is one of the best ways to get to know you in your
own intellectual development and achievement).
The staff member will make an appointment with you for discussing it (usually
during office hours). It is vitally important that you have once more
carefully read your paper before you come into the office hour and that you
bring a second copy of your paper. Otherwise the staff member will know
your paper much better than you yourself, that is very frustrating and uneconomical.
So, please, be well prepared when you come to talk about your research paper:
This is when you are confronted with your own intellectual (and linguistic)
self, when you can learn most about yourself and hopefully experience a productive
student-staff relationship.
26
. CORRECTIONS, IMPROVEMENTS, POSSIBLY WRITING A SECOND VERSION
The goal of this discussion is to give you a chance to explain certain choices
you have made or arguments you have put forward. It is also to point out
strengths and weaknesses in your paper, to make you understand my evaluation
and to help you prepare possible corrections and edit your paper once more
by writing a second official, improved version (if necessary). This correction
and editing process should be seen and accepted by you as a rare chance of
dealing with yourself, your own style of thinking and writing, of becoming
logically and verbally explicit, precise and to the point – while at the
same time exercising and improving your (academic) English.
I strongly urge you to accept this challenge of first presenting some research
results in an oral fashion and then writing up a more comprehensive and formal
research paper on a topic of your choice. You will realize that whatever
topic you chose, once you have worked your way into it you will get involved
and relate to it, you will find it more and more interesting, get to know
details and the methods of inquiry bringing them about. You will also get
to know different theoretically motivated or practically-minded positions,
schools of thought and analysis or competing arguments. You will have to
work your way through them and find your own reasoning and rational positioning
at the end. This is what research and scientific progress is all about: ADDING
YOUR OWN THOUGHTS TO THOSE OF OTHERS (WHICH YOU BORROW). This is at the heart
of higher education. This will give you the basis for transferring and applying
similar procedures to new and other types of issues arising professionally
and/or socially/politically life-long. In addition, you will learn a lot
about yourself, your own ways of thinking, your cognitive and learning styles,
your working and learning techniques, your preferences in tackling or avoiding
certain tasks of difficulties, your strengths and weaknesses in speaking
and writing in general and in English in particular. Make this a most fruitful
learning experience for yourself. You may also want to document the process
for yourself (for example, by way of journal entries).
In other words: Accept these challenges!
GOOD LUCK!