QRMSS Ch.12 Writing Research Papers

Ch.12 of QRMSS tackles the actual task of writing your research paper. The topic of plagiarism is addressed immediately. The book defines plagiarism as, “copying sentences, paragraphs, or whole pages from a textbook, web site, or other written source without indicating the actual source of this material” (Berg & Lune, 2012, p.388). Remember to cite correctly and give credit where it’s due as this may jeopardize YOUR own credibility!

Professor Casso wants the order of our research papers to be similar of the guidelines presented in the book. The presentation of our paper will be close to the way our proposals were organized. We will not have a cover page, as we will jump right into our paper. First and foremost, we identify the purpose of our paper in the introduction. A quick summary of your idea should be sufficient. Begin to tie in your literature review by again, lightly summarizing the reviews you chose. Talk about the methods you used while conducting your research. For example, “I chose to use one on one interviews as well as a focus group, etc.). Here also, I will speak a bit of the participants I sought to use in this project. I will even look to create a demographic table describing these participants as a visual aid. I’ll be pulling information from my blog research page, as I’ve been documenting my journey there. Also, I will be mentioning what theoretical perspectives or lenses I chose to frame the project in the introduction.

After the introduction, I can begin next section with use of a bold or italicized header. Each section may be broken down into themes or patterns that I discovered in my content analysis. You could also see each theme as representing a chapter of your paper. This is where you merge the literature reviews, interview data and/or quotes, theoretical lenses, photos, etc. I can also use the method of autoethnography (or my self-reflection) to add to the paper. Remember to write in first person. Repeat again with next theme/chapter!

As you near your conclusion, it is time to reflect upon your work. State implications of your work, as it may help your future studies or future scholars in the same field. Reflect upon your qualitative process. Talk about what went right or wrong and how you could approach that in future research. Let the reader know if you enjoyed the process. Was this research intended to give back to the community?

Last, but not least, we have the references/appendix page. Here is where works cited and bibliography go. In the appendix section, I’ll have an updated copy of my proposal and blank interview guide, copies of blank consent form, and one transcribed interview. Also, I will have a picture of all my signed consent forms, any extra visuals, field notes and busy work. This allows people studying my research into the process of how I obtained my information.

Finally, the time has come to put this research paper together! I look forward to having the final copy ready for reading, as I’ve really enjoyed the subject matter and journey/process of collecting the info!