Research papers

Two Research Paper Formats:Argumentative & Problem Solution

ESL501Created by Betsy DivineAdapted from Susan faivre1Warm-up questionsWhy do you think there are various styles and formats for research papers (e.g. problem-solution, argumentative, IMRD)?

What type of research paper is most common in your field? Why do you think that might be the case?

If you know your 501 paper topic, what type of research paper do you think you will be writing? Why is that the best choice given your topic?2Research Papers: Striving for PublicationMost research paper (RP) authors operate in a highly competitive environment. Thus, they need to convince publishers that their content is of importance and interest. They need to demonstrate that they are familiar with the relevant literature so as to show that their research questions have not already been answered. Thus, the goals of RP authors are primarily to show relevance, significance, and make a contribute their field. Argumentative Research Paper: Requirements

Take a stand on an issue

Compare/contrast different perspectives on a given topic

Uses evidence or analyses to support a perspective on a given topic

4Problem-Solution Research Paper: Requirements

Identify a problem that is not yet or insufficiently investigated

Propose one or multiple solutions

Evaluate solutions

Explain how to implement the solutions to solve the problem

Solution evaluation may somehow be considered argumentative. However, it doesnt have to be the case. It can simply objective description of the pros and cons of each solution. 5Selecting The Best FormatConsidering these topics, would a problem-solution or argumentative paper be more appropriate? Why?

Reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oilProblem SolutionDoes the hydrated electron occupy a cavity?ArgumentativeCutting or raising taxes to spur economic growthArgumentativeFinding the missing heritability of complex diseasesProblem Solution

The first and forth topics can be developed into problem-solution papers whereas the second and third topics are more argumentative in nature.6Cautions Argumentative and problem-solution can overlap in the following ways:

1. Both may involve some sort of evaluationwhich is more key to argumentative essays

2. Both may involve some sort of solution proposalwhich is more key to problem-solution papers

HoweverArgumentative essays tend to argue for one way than the otherProblem-solution papers try to answer questions or solve problems that are not properly addressed in either approach (models, methods)

7Literature Review: The BasicsLiterature Reviews give background on previous research done on the subject. They are a means to demonstrate your knowledge, provide the reader with adequate background, and show that your argument is new and valid.

In IMRD papers, they are given at the beginning of a paper and end commonly with the thesis.

They are not a common component of Argument and P-S Papers as supporting sources are integrated into the text.

Lucky for you, however, we will do doing them in this class for practice.

8Problem-Solution (PS)Papers:Common StructurePS papers commonly have four parts:

Description of a situationIdentification of a problemDescription of a solution Evaluation of the solutionPattern 1: Problem Solving Pattern

I. IntroductionA. Attention GetterB. Background, interesting information: startling statistics, facts, quotation, personal experience, anecdoteC. Lead-in to thesisD. Thesis: Somebody should do something

II. Identify and demonstrate the problemA. Current Condition or current policy showing why it is ineffectiveB. Weakness of current conditionC. Explore causes and effects of the problem that the current condition does not solve1. causes2.effectsIII. Present Solution(s)

IV. Answering possible objections, costs, drawbacks

V. Conclusion: implementation of plan; call to action

Pattern 2: Point-by-Point

I. Introduction

II. The overall problem: identify and demonstrate

III. One part of the problem, solution, evidence, answers to possible objections, feasibility.

IV. Second part of the problem, solution, evidence, answers to possible objections, feasibility.

V. Third part of the problem, solution, evidence, answers to possible objections, feasibility

VI. Conclusion: implementation of plan; call to action

Pattern 3: Alternative Pattern

I. Introduction

II. The problem: identify and demonstrate

III. Alternative solution 1: why its not satisfactory

IV. Alternative solution 2: why its not satisfactory

V. Alternative solution 3: why it is best: give evidence, objections, feasibility

VI. Conclusion: implementation of plan

For over twenty years now biologists have been alarmed that certain populations of amphibians have been declining. These declines have occurred both in areas populated by humans as well as areas seemingly undisturbed by people. However, offering clear proof of the declining numbers of amphibians has been difficult because in most cases there is no reliable data on past population sizes with which to compare recent numbers. Moreover, it is not entirely clear whether the decline are actually part of a natural fluctuation in populations arising from droughts or a scarcity in food.To address this problem biologists are changing the way that they observe amphibian populations. One good documentation method involves counting species over the course of several years and under a variety of climatic conditions. This method should yield reliable data that will help researchers understand the extent to which amphibian populations are in danger and begin to determine what can be done to stem the decline in populations. Read the following and identify the four componentsIdentifying the Four Parts For over twenty years now biologists have been alarmed that certain populations of amphibians have been declining. These declines have occurred both in areas populated by humans as well as areas seemingly undisturbed by people. However, offering clear proof of the declining numbers of amphibians has been difficult because in most cases there is no reliable data on past population sizes with which to compare recent numbers. Moreover, it is not entirely clear whether the decline are actually part of a natural fluctuation in populations arising from droughts or a scarcity in food.To address this problem biologists are changing the way that they observe amphibian populations. One good documentation method involves counting species over the course of several years and under a variety of climatic conditions. This method should yield reliable data that will help researchers understand the extent to which amphibian populations are in danger and begin to determine what can be done to stem the decline in populations14Identification Activity #2 Please read the paper titled, The Role of English in Research and Scholarship and identify the four main parts.The Four Parts of The PS PaperSituation- Background information about claims for research English

Problem- Reasons for doubting the accuracy of the figures

Solution- Alternative data leading to more accurate figures.

Evaluation- Assessment of the merits of the proposed answer. Argument Paper: General ComponentsIntroductionThesisRefutationConformationDigression (optional)Conclusion

IntroductionThe introduction should present the topic of your paper. In academic writing, the introduction most often begins with a general reference to the topic and narrows down to your thesis within four to six sentences. The thesis should be clear, concise, well stated and identifiable. In other words, the reader should have no question about what will be discussed within the paper.

Statement of the CaseThe statement of case in the essay is the presentation of all pertinent information for your argument. In this section of the paper, at least one paragraph should be dedicated to each element of the argument.

Proposition statementThe proposition statement is used very much in the same way that a thesis statement is used. This statement should clearly define and detail the scope of the essay, but it should also be a debatable statement. Ex: Hispanic county officials must show their support of bilingual education programs because . . .

RefutationIn the refutation section of the essay, you will have the opportunity to refute any claims made against your argument. It is imperative that you research your audience and their views that oppose the elements of your argument. This section will make your argument that much stronger if you can show that opposing ideas have been considered and disproved.

ConformationDuring the conformation section of the essay, you will reinforce the elements of your argument that refute the oppositions argument. All three areas, the proposition statement, the refutation section, and the conformation section, should be parallel. Digression (optional)At this point in the essay, you may want to include some kind of anecdotal information. You could give information from a case study, or from a personal story that has been documented in a journal. Keep in mind that this information, like all information presented in the essay, should be factual and well documented. ConclusionYou must remember that this is your last chance to state your case. Think of the conclusion as the summation in a court case; you have to be convincing.

17IdentifyIn the following slide, an introduction to a basic research paper is provided.

Identify the following:Background/Previous ResearchWhere and how the gap is establishedTransition into thesisThesis

NOTICE! You may need to include definitions of key terminology.

NOT18Argument Paper Intro ExampleThe public awareness of scientific fraud has increased remarkably since the late 1980s when controversy made front page new, in which a paper investigated for fraud had coauthored a Nobel Laureate [1]. During the 1990s scientific fraud was disclosed on numerous occasions [2]. In fact, it was recently suggested that fraud now is endemic in many scientific disciplines and in most countries [3]. However, the clandestine character and consequential lack of reliable information make it difficult to study scientific fraud. The characteristics and frequency of scientific fraud, therefore, are generally unknown, and its impact on medical research unknown. Biostatisticians routinely work closely with physicians and scientists in many branches of medical research and have unique insight into data. In addition, they have the methodological competence to detect fraud and could be expected to have a special professional interest in the validity of the results. Biostatisticians therefore could provide unique and reliable information on the characteristics of fraud in medical research. Identification of Key PartsThe public awareness of scientific fraud has increased remarkably since the late 1980s when controversy made front page new, in which a paper investigated for fraud had coauthored a Nobel Laureate [1]. During the 1990s scientific fraud was disclosed on numerous occasions [2]. In fact, it was recently suggested that fraud now is endemic in many scientific disciplines and in most countries [3]. However, the clandestine character and consequential lack of reliable information make it difficult to study scientific fraud. The characteristics and frequency of scientific fraud, therefore, are generally unknown, and its impact on medical research unknown. Biostatisticians routinely work closely with physicians and scientists in many branches of medical research and have unique insight into data. In addition, they have the methodological competence to detect fraud and could be expected to have a special professional interest in the validity of the results. Biostatisticians therefore could provide unique and reliable information on the characteristics of fraud in medical research.

Background/previous researchGap in researchTransition into ThesisThesis20Reading Strategies: Reading for a PurposeIt is not advisable to try and understand every word when reading. Good readers use context and read considering their specific purpose. Here, we only need to get the gist in order to obtain our goal, which is to understand the structure of the these papers.

In the following research papers: Identify the components that make up a certain type of paper in terms ofGoal or motivation of the paper

How the literature is reviewed

Results

1. Does the paper argue for/against something vs. propose something to a problem2. Does the literature compare/contrast sources or methods vs. identify the gap/problem in the literature3. Does the methodology conduct experiments and compare two approaches efficacy vs. operationalize a solution to a problem certain ways and examine the results)

21Terminology in Research Paper 1Hierarchical feature extraction: In digital image processing, models are trained to extract features from a image. The features may be complex and clustered and therefore a hierarchy of learning algorithms is applied to reduce image classification errors and improve image identification performance.22Research Paper #1What is the goal/purpose of the paper?Identify the location of thesis in the abstract

Is this an Argumentative or P-S paper?Identify where this demonstrated in the paper.

How/Where is the Literature Reviewed? Identify the location and method

Where are the results located?What conclusions have they drawn from their results.Goal/Motivation of The Paper:Contrary to former hierarchical classification methods that only consider local structure of the hierarchy, we propose a novel cross-level hierarchical classification method that utilizes both global and local concept structures throughout the entire path decision-making process (p. 1007).

Literature ReviewedSection 2.1 reviews previous works on hierarchical classification. The authors state the advantage of such methods but also argue that one disadvantage of these methods is that it is hard to consider different data representation at different node. Another disadvantage is scalabilitythe high dimensionality of the new representation in tensor space significantly increases the complexity of the new problem compared with the original one (p. 1008). Section 2.2 reviews the literature that introduces the algorithm the authors will be using, which later connects to the methodological design in Section 3.

ResultsExperiment on a four-level twenty-one-node hierarchy in vehicle dataset demonstrates up to 1.5% accuracy improvement over the conventional classification. In the experiment on Caltech101, our proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art conventional classification by 1% with a 3-level hierarchy based on clustering (p. 1010).

Terminology in Research Paper 2Dopamine: a neurotransmitterthat helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers.It enables us not only to see rewards, but drives us to take action to get them.Dopamine deficiency would result in Parkinson's Disease, and people with low dopamine activity are found to be more subject to addiction

Pavlovian learning: an implicit learning via mental conditioning that does not require the subjects consciousness (the example of Pavlov's dog).In the original Pavlov's experiments on the dog, food is the unconditioned stimulus which elicits the secretion of saliva by native response. The unconditioned stimulus was preceded by a conditioned stimulus (the bell-ringing) which initially did not produce salivation. After a few paired stimulations, the bell-ringing itself could produce salivation. (from http://www.web-books.com/MoBio/Memory/Pavlovian.htm)27Research Paper #2What is the goal/purpose of the paper?Identify the location of thesis in the abstract

Is this an Argumentative or P-S paper?Identify where this demonstrated in the paper.

How/Where is the Literature Reviewed? Identify the location and method

Where are the results located?What conclusions have they drawn from their results.Goal/Motivation of The PaperUntil now it has been difficult to determine whether dopamine mediates the predictive or the motivational properties of reward-associated cues, because these two features are often acquired together. However, the extent to which a predictor of reward acquires incentive value differs between individuals, providing the opportunity to parse the role of dopamine in stimulusreward learning (p. 53)

Literature ReviewedThe authors first review stimulus-reward learning in rats that differ in the incentive motivational properties, bHR (high responders to novelty) and bLR rats (low responders to novelty). In the second section, the authors report that bHR and bLR rats produce fundamentally different patterns of dopamine release in response to reward-related stimuli during learning (p. 54). In the final section, they report how they tested whether the acquisition and performance of conditional responses were differentially dependent on dopamine transmission. ResultsIntact dopamine transmission is not required for all forms of learning in which reward cues become effective predictors. Rather, dopamine acts selectively in a form of stimulusreward learning in which incentive salience is assigned to reward cues (p. 53).ReferencesSwales, F., Feak, C. (2007) Academic Writing for Graduate Students, New York: New York