The purpose of competent design of the research work is to show students' skills in independent developments conducted by modern techniques. In addition, it consists in analyzing the results obtained and comparing them with book data. Pupils and students must demonstrate the ability to come to scientifically sound conclusions.
Today we’ll talk about both the structure of the research work and the basic principles of its design. The main requirements here are accuracy, capacity, brevity and the most complete compliance with the content. There are even examples of research papers for kindergartens! But today we will talk about the work of students and schoolchildren.
What to write about in the introduction
The purpose of this section is to briefly characterize the problem in its current state, justify the relevance of the implementation, and the significance from the point of view of science (as well as practice). In addition, to formulate the main tasks and goals of the work, to designate the subject of research and its object, to put forward the main hypothesis. Even an example of the design of research work in elementary school contains the same requirements (perhaps in a somewhat simplified form).
Justifying the relevance of the chosen topic, avoid verbosity. The main thing is to show its significance and timeliness, as well as the essence of the existing problem.
A classic example of the rules for designing the research work of a schoolchild or student requires the following statement of the main goal and clarification of specific tasks that this work will have to solve. As a rule, information is presented in the form of a list - which particular aspects should be identified, studied, restored, described, and so on. For a single purpose, several tasks can be put forward. Their optimal number is from three to five.
The statement of purpose should contain an indication of the general meaning and direction of the study. It should fit in one sentence. The goal is organically attached to the topic and should be completely in tune with it.
But what are tasks?
With the indicated tasks, we clarify our goal and pave the way for its achievement. The wording of each of them corresponds to the next stage of the content and most often serves as the heading of a specific chapter.
In the introduction, it is necessary to formulate both the object of study and its subject. The first refers to the phenomena (or processes) that give rise to this problematic situation, which are to be studied. The subject of research is only part of the object. He defines the topic, taken out as a title on the title page.
If there is an example of the design of the research work with the wording of the topic in a figurative style, the name should be duplicated in more scientific terms.
The hypothesis is one of the most important elements of research. What it is? This term refers to a scientifically substantiated assumption regarding the explanation of the (rather conditional) certain phenomena, their causes, or regular relationships. The area of hypothesis is the natural environment, social life, or the human mind.
Literature Review Section
In it, the author is required to demonstrate ownership of information on those basic works that are available on the topic of the issue under study. Another necessary skill concerns the ability to purposefully work with book materials, to compile, analyze and compare the facts available in them. Any example of the design of a research work encourages the author to demonstrate his own familiarity with the designated area in the context of at least several sources, which allows him to set serious scientific tasks.
The text of the section is accompanied by links to material used for work. The same applies to existing tables and figures. Conducting a review of the literature, you should only touch on selected topics. It is not necessary to set out in detail all the information read, most of which only indirectly affects the problem.
Examples of the design of the research work of schoolchildren and students demonstrate that this section is recommended to end with a brief conclusion regarding the prospects for future study of the topic.
If our work is conceived in the natural sciences and relates to materials obtained in the field, then the following sections should be provided.
Research Methodology and Material
An example of the design of research work in this part contains an indication of the area where the data was collected, the dates of the collection of materials, information about who carried out the observation, its objects are listed. If we are talking about experimental work, you should definitely indicate the place of its implementation.
By research methods are meant those methods and techniques that the author has resorted to in his work. They depend on the tasks and act as tools in the extraction of factual material. Among these, we can distinguish methods related to general (in the form of observation, comparison, measurement, modeling, synthesis, analysis, experiment, questionnaire, testing, interviewing) and others (private), which are used to deprive only a narrow range of tasks.
What is the difference between a method and a technique? You will find these concepts in any example of research design. The latter concerns diagnostics and data processing methods, and also explains the result. If the methodology is not author's (the description is contained in the available literature), a detailed statement of the essence is not required. It is enough to limit yourself to a link to the appropriate source. If changes are made to it, they should be described in detail with justification for this need. The same applies to a completely original technique.
What else to consider
An example of the design of the research work of a schoolchild and student implies, among other things, in this section, a listing of the tools and instruments used in the work, indicating the permissible measurement error of all parameters.
The section characterizing the study area is compiled using literature. Its value is quite large in the development of a natural-scientific nature, geo- and biological, etc. In such works, this section is very extensive.
About research results
The "Results" section is usually the main one. Here you can find examples of the design of the practical part of the research work. Usually it is divided into several parts in accordance with a number of specific tasks. Its content consists in a detailed presentation of the identified results with their illustration (if necessary) of drawings, tables, graphs, charts and photos. A comparison is made with data obtained from third-party sources.
Links to tables or figures in the text of this section are required. According to the design rules, which we will discuss below, each subsection briefly summarizes the most important points (usually without using the word "conclusion").
In the case of a large amount of material, an independent section can be devoted to a comparative analysis of the revealed data. Here, the author will have to show off the ability to reflect, draw the necessary conclusions and compare facts or data. It is here that he agrees with a generally accepted point of view or a reasoned objection.
Strict results should be subject to statistical processing. This is done using well-known computer programs like Excel or thanks to special algorithms written specifically for this study (which may be one of its tasks).
conclusions
The objective of this section is to briefly formulate the results in the context of each item, give practical recommendations and outline the prospect of future research. In the absence of specific results, the conclusions are replaced by a more or less lengthy conclusion. It plays the role of the ending, logically draws up the results and ties them to the tasks to be solved and the overall goal of the work.
The findings must indicate whether the author has achieved his goal, and to what extent. This requirement is always presented for example, the correct design of research work.
"Literature" and "Applications"
These sections are devoted to listing in alphabetical order the full list of used works. In the case when part of them is published in foreign languages, they are also listed alphabetically, after a list of Russian-language sources. The numbering is cross-cutting in this case.
Most of the supplementary and auxiliary materials are taken out in the “Appendices” to avoid cluttering the main text. Their content can be very different. We are talking about the originals of certain documents and research protocols indicating specific data.
The form of materials can be graphics, text, map, table, illustration, photo, etc. Any of the applications exists as a separate sheet, in the corner (top right) of which the word "Application" is affixed with a specific heading. If there are several, their numbering is carried out without the sign No. using Arabic numerals. It also has a cross-cutting character and is a continuation of the numbering of sheets of the entire text of the work. The applications are linked to the main document through links ("see Appendix 1").
Research work: example (sample) design
Perform it on standard sheets of white writing paper in A4 format. The location is vertical. Each sheet contains fields (2 cm above and below, 1 cm to the right and 3 cm to the left). You do not need to circle them.
The optimum total sheet volume should be followed. It should not be too big. Best when the number of pages is from 15 to 20.
Text is printed, usually on a computer, using a line spacing of one and a half characters. Place it on only one side of each sheet, align with word wrap across the width of the text. The decimal point is a period.
Necessary Nuances
All abbreviations must be decrypted. If abbreviations are necessary, then an explanation of each of them is made at the first mention.
Pagination is carried out with the fourth in a row. The figure is put in the upper field in the middle of the sheet. The first page is the title page. If there are references to plants, animals, microorganisms, after each of them in brackets is given in Latin and their species name. The name of the author who first described this phenomenon is also indicated.
If the study is conducted in the field of botany, the appropriate herbarium must be attached to the work.
Work structure
The first (title) sheet indicates the full name (legal nature) of the institution where the work was carried out. Further in capital letters - the name of the work itself, then the surname, name of the person who completed it, his class or group, as well as information about the manager and consultant (if any). If available, it is necessary to mention the position and academic degree of each. This applies mainly to examples of the design of student research. The designation of the settlement and the year of completion are put down.
The second sheet is always devoted to the content of labor (table of contents). It necessarily contains the full composition of the headings and subheadings of the study, whose strict compliance with the text must be respected. The page numbers from which each section begins are given.
Any heading is capitalized. The point at the end is not set. Headings are numbered according to the indexing system (1.1, 1.2, ...).
We pass to the text
The third sheet is dedicated to the introduction. Its volume, according to the classic example of the design of research work, usually does not exceed the page size.
Starting from the fourth sheet, we move on to the main part of the work with the sections mentioned above. It is always framed in the form of solid text, separated by small intervals. Each of the sections should be highlighted by double numbering (3.1, 3.2, etc.), the headings of all subsections should also be included in the list of references.
At the end of the main part, a conclusion is made (or conclusions are written). To do this, use separate sheets of paper. Literature is also listed on the new page.
How to draw illustrative material
All tables have end-to-end numbering. Their location on the sheet can be horizontal or vertical. On the right should be indicated: "Table number ...". In the middle of the line below is its name.
In case of reprint from any literary source, an indication in brackets after the name of the link to it is required. If the table is an alternation of results and literature data, the links are placed in its corresponding parts. If necessary, under the table are all the necessary notes.
When its size is too large (does not fit on one sheet), it is possible to transfer to the next one (in brackets is “continued” or “ending”). The table title is provided only once.
All graphic images, which can exist in the form of diagrams, photographs, diagrams, graphs or drawings, also have continuous numbering and are designated as drawings. Perform them with mascara or black paste. The designations necessary for the author are displayed in the figure using numbers or icons. Below the figure is its designation - "Fig. (Number)" and the name. A numbered list of conventions may be given below.
As in the case of tables, reference is made to drawings borrowed from the literature. If the picture is reproduced with changes relative to the original, this should be indicated next to it.
Research: Link Design Example
The form of reference to them depends on the source. The latter are articles or books that have an author or several, as well as reference books, dictionaries and school books.
If a book or article has one or two authors, links are made with their names in parentheses without initials, separated by commas along with the year of publication. Another option is to indicate the name of the author in the text of the work. In this case, the initials are affixed, the year of publication is indicated in parentheses.
If the team of authors consists of more than two people, they mention the name of only the first of them with the addition of "and others." or "with co-authors." In the case when there are too many authors (this applies to encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.), instead of the surname, only the name with the year of publication of the book is given.
As a rule, long names of literary sources are given no more than once. In the future, they are subject to reduction. If a literal quote is used in the text, the number of the page with the cited fragment is indicated through a comma.
How to make a list of references
This is done according to specific bibliographic rules for different sources. An example of the design of the research work of a schoolchild or student contains exactly the same requirements. Any of the articles or books is written in alphabetical order with a red line. At first, as already mentioned, works are given in Russian, below - in foreign ones.
Mandatory for all types of sources indicating the information about the authors, titles, output data and quantitative characteristics. Imprint refers to the name of the publisher, its location, and year of release. The names of cities are given in full, with the exception of Moscow and St. Petersburg, which are commonly used in abbreviation.
Under the quantitative characteristic refers to the number of pages. If we are talking about a magazine or a collection, only those pages that are directly related to the publication are given. In this case, the information exists in the form of an indication through a dash of numbers of the first and last of them.
Referring to the website, in addition to the author and title, the address of the web page is placed in the list of sources.