Minggu, 18 Maret 2012

Resep Asli Menulis Ilmiah

Beberapa bulan yang lalu saya dengan sok-taunya memberikan resep tentang bagaimana membuat tulisan ilmuah yang baik (menurut saya lho ya!). Nah, beberapa hari yang lalu giliran saya dan temen-temen di bawah bimbingan profesor yang sama, menerima email dari beliau tentang bagaimana menulis sebuah karya ilmiah yang baik. Gak tau apakah itu karena kami sebagai muridnya rada-rada kurang dong apa bagaimana, yang pasti emailnya panjang dan banyak huruf besarnya!

Tapi saya rasa isinya bersifat umum, siapa tau seperti biasa berguna bagi Anda semua. Inilah versi lengkapnya, berikut semua huruf besarnya:

SOME GUIDANCE NOTES FOR MY TAX STUDENTS WRITING UP THEIR PHD’S AND ALSO OF SOME RELEVANCE TO JOURNAL PAPERS

See official Curtin guidelines for writing up.

ALWAYS CITE PAGE NUMBERS UNLESS A GENERIC REFERENCE USUALLY IN LITERATURE REVIEW; KEEP TO ABSOLUTE MINIMUM

STYLE

1. Start each chapter (e.g.):

3.1 TITLE

3.1.1 Sub heading/number (3.1.1) straightaway after 3.1. ie not a few paras later.


For each chapter:

INTRODUCTION, SUB-HEADINGS, CHAPTER SUMMARY – generally one paragraph although results chapters can go up to one page to the chapter justice.

Table/Figs follow first mention in text (i.e. not pages later)

LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA/DETAILED DESCIPTIONS EG ACTS, QUESTIONNAIRES, STATISTICAL TESTS, SHOULD GO IN AN APPENDIX (A, B, C D, ETC).

NUMBERS under ten put in words; 10 or over in numbers OK. 10,000 – always use comma for thousands plus!

In tables (and possibly text) the word ‘Overall’ is often better than Total or Average. USE INDENT AND/OR ITALICS TO HIGHLIGHT.

Every table/figure must have Source: author and yr. If it is an original then source is: Author i.e. YOU!!!

Use Table Notes (TN; put above Source) to clarify major issues even if discussed in text.


CROSS REFERENCING IN A FOOTNOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT – HELP THE READER/EXAMINER!

DO NOT OVERUSE THE SAME WORD ESP VERB AS IT GETS BORING FOR READER AND IS A POOR STYLE

USE A DICTIONARY AND THESAURUS


ENGLISH

Be careful of singular/plural and present/past tense. BE CONSISTENT

English/Australian spelling NOT USA!

Gender neutral i.e. use he/she not just he

USEFUL WORDS/phrases etc:

This (research) i.e. not The …

Analysis/discussion/synthesis etc NEVER USE THE WORD DESCRIBE/DESCRIPTION

Succinct (rather than short)

NEVER BE DEFINITIVE IE DO NOT USE THE WORD “PROVES”

Use words such as “The data suggests …; probably/possibly indicates…; It appears that …” i.e. qualify and be cautious.

ALWAYS USE ‘… IN ORDER TO…’ not just the word ‘to”

MOST OVERSEAS STUDENTS DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO USE “A” AND “THE”. JUST DO BEST YOU CAN AND READ SENTENCE OUT ALOUD FOR SENSE OF WHERE TO PUT (OR LEAVE OUT). A GOOD PROOF-READER/EDITOR CAN SORT THIS OUT AT THE END. I CAN INDICATE SOME BUT NOT ALL AS TOO MANY IN A WHOLE THESIS!!!


LITERATURE REVIEW

Be more critical.

You must not merely describe each study.

You need to: e.g. GROUP STUDIES BY THEME/FINDINGS; BE CRITICAL EG SMALL, BIASED SURVEY; OUTDATED ETC ETC.

IF LARGE LIT SURVEY IN A TABLE THEN COUNT UP SIMILAR STUDIES BY METHODOLOGY, IN TERMS OF YEAR OF STUDY OR WHATEVER IE DO SOMETHING ORIGINAL TO SUMMARISE COMPLEX LIT.

SIMPLE E.g. “There are 36 studies in this field, with over 80% more than 20 years old. Of recent studies three used a similar methodology of ….
Details are summarized in Table 3.X and a full list of studies is presented in Appendix C.”

You must be up to date with recent refs – not just the ones you did for Candidacy!