Research article written in a style suitable for publication in a peer reviewed journal. This assessment accounts for 70% of the module mark
The word count for the research article is 6000 words.
Assesses learning outcomes 1-4
o Demonstrate knowledge of relevant literature and of research methods in order to identify areas for investigation and to develop a feasible research plan relevant to the programme of study- DIABETES
You must include a cover page with your signed declaration (Appendix A).
Assessment Requirements, Submission Deadlines & Details
Assessment 1
o Develop personal research skills through use of
academic literature, data collection and data analysis in order to undertake a Master’s
level research dissertation
o Synthesise findings from your own research with the research and scholarship of others. o Critically discuss the completed project highlighting the strengths, limitations and
implications for future study and/or investigation
The formatting of the research article should conform to the following guidelines:
Font style – Calibri (Body) (the same as this document)
Font size – size 10 for the main text. The font size for tables/figures should be slightly smaller, size 9.
Line spacing – single line spacing
Columns – the main text should be formatted into two columns (apart from the title, abstract,
tables and figures)
Page numbers – pages should be included as per the style of the BMC journal relevant to your programme
introduction (around 1500 words)
The main purpose of this section, as well as providing a concise critical review of the literature relevant to your research study, is to provide a clear rationale or purpose for the research that you have done.
The introduction should provide background that puts the article into context and allows readers outside the field to understand the purpose and significance of your research. You should define the problem you are addressing and why it is important. You should include a brief review of the literature that is key to your research area and note any relevant gaps in this current research area. The introduction should be concluded with a clear statement of the purpose of the research and the research question(s) should be clearly identified.
The introduction should essentially achieve the following:
Summarize existing research
Promote the need for your study by pointing out deficiencies in existing research.
Methods (around 1000 words)
The purpose of this section is to provide sufficient methodological information so that anyone who chooses to can evaluate the appropriateness (or validity) of your methods or can easily replicate it.
The Methods section should:
Tell the reader exactly what you have done;
Convince the reader that what you did was correct, i.e. it should clarify issues of validity, reliability, and describe widely accepted measurement techniques and protocols.
In order to aid clarity, it is important to arrange this information into sub-sections with subheadings. The methods section of a research article should be written in the past tense. Refer to previously published research articles methods sections for further guidance.
It is a good idea to ask someone who has no knowledge of your research to read this section. If it is detailed enough, the naïve reader should be able to exactly replicate your research.
Results (around 1000 words)
The results section should describe the results of your experiments. This section is normally supported by relevant figures and tables and includes clear empirical statements of your results
28
analysis. Again, put yourself in the position of the reader. This section must contain sufficient detail to enable full understanding of the results, allowing a clear conclusion to be made.
The data should be presented in logical sequence which follows the logical progression of your research – subheadings are encouraged to structure the results section.
Remember that you should only show data once, in the form of a graph or table and not in both graph and table form. As a general rule do not merely insert either tables or graphical material directly from SPSS – recast these in Word (tables) or Excel/Prism (graphical material) with a focus on the relevant material. If using Graphpad Prism software, graphs are easily exportable directly into your article, or can be saved as an image for use.
Tables should have a table, placed above the table
Figures should have a figure legend provided below the figure
Tables/ figures should not overlap pages
The research article should include summary tables and figures as appropriate. It is recommended that no more than six tables/figures be included. Remember that multiple figures can be combined as one figure that is split into a number of parts (A, B, C etc.), but the information presented should be related.
Although it is imperative that you accompany each table/figure with a text explanation, you must not go beyond an objective explanation. The results section is not the place to interpret or discuss your findings. It is not sufficient to merely refer to the table as in: The results of the analysis are shown in Table 1. Thus, you should highlight the main features of the results in your text, but do not attempt to interpret them (leave this for your discussion). It is important that you refer to the relevant figure/table within the main text.
Discussion (around 1700 words)
This section provides the opportunity to `make sense’ of your data in relation to previous research and your specific research question(s). The discussion is an important to section which allows you to demonstrate to the reader/marker that you can interpret the results correctly and that you understand the research undertaken.
The discussion section that allows you to put your work into a wider context; a description of each table and graph, which you included in the results section, is unlikely to be sufficient for a pass grade. You must attempt to synthesize your results and relate them to previous work – if the research was worth reviewing in the introduction, it is worth mentioning it again with respect to your findings.
Begin the discussion with a summary of the major findings (in relation to the aims of the study). Then proceed to explain systematically individual findings and support your discussion with relevant literature. In general, you should endeavor to determine whether the results:
answer your research question
are consistent with what other researchers have found in this area. If they differ, why might
this be so?
29
are likely to be due to any methodological shortcomings or flaws in the study;
have implications or applications for existing and/or future research.
You should write in an appropriately succinct style; this may be the section that lets you down. If you have relied too much on published work for the introduction, you may find it difficult to maintain the same style. You should aim to relate the findings of your study to most, if not all, the research evaluated in the introduction.
If you have followed the ‘hour-glass’ model of report writing, you will recall that the introduction became increasingly focused and ended with the hypotheses. The discussion should show a reversal of this pattern and begin with a statement emphasizing the primary findings of your study and whether or not the hypotheses were supported. The discussion should then become broader as these findings are discussed in relation to research that was reviewed in the introduction. Secondary findings (if appropriate) should also be discussed in a similar manner.
Do not worry if your findings are not consistent with those published previously. It is more important that you make an attempt to explain any inconsistencies; after all you are likely to have carried out your research under somewhat different conditions from that which was published. Inconsistencies with no explanation will be viewed somewhat negatively.
Limitations of your study should then be addressed along with implications these may have for your results (you may have begun to do this when explaining why your findings are not consistent with previous research in the area).
You should then make some recommendations for future research.
Conclusion (as a guide – 350 words)
Your report should end with concluding statements about the research. Your conclusions should provide a synthesis of your key results interpretations, and how these are relevant in a wider context – you should provide a succinct explanation of the implications of your findings.
