INTEGRATED STUDY
Literature Review & Report Writing
Please refer to the Integrated Study (Applied Sciences) Student Handbook.
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Agenda
• Right Writing Styles
• Write Skills
• Layout & Format
• Writing the Key Sections
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Topic Originality and Relevance
The topic should be original and relevant
•
to your programme.
Criteria for a good topic:
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Originality;
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Interesting and appealing to both scholars
•
and practitioners of the field;
Feasible and practicable implication for
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project investigation and implementation.
Not too long and not too brief.
•
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Proposal (500 - 800 words)
• Title of the Study
• Objectives of the Study
• Approach of the Study
• Background/Theoretical model/Company issues to be
used for the study
• Significance/Expected contribution of the study
• Information to be collected (what and how)
• References (not included in word count)
• Working timeline (not included in word count)
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Progress Report (600 – 1,000 words)
• (Updated) Title of the Study
• (Updated) Objectives of the Study
• Literature Review
• Progress update and work accomplished (e.g. no. of
journal articles or management reports read, problems
found & recommended solution, industry analysis,
company analysis & issues identified for case study,
personal goal & career aspiration, etc)
• (Updated) References (not included in word count)
• (Updated) Working Timeline (not included in word count)
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Final Report
Final Report
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• 3,000 - 4,000 words
• Excludes
• title page, abstract, table of contents, references and
bibliography, and appendices
• 5 approaches
Penalty
•
• Supervisors/Markers are not required to read beyond
4,000 words in assessing your report
• A penalty of 10% of the total mark will be deducted for
excessive length
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Each approach can be supported by
primary or secondary data if relevant
If your study involves colleting personal data (such
as names, phone numbers, addresses, identity
card numbers, photos, medical records and
employment records), please ensure you comply
with the Data Privacy Law, for details, please visit
www.pcpd.org.hk.
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The Six Approaches
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Writing Style
Academic writing style
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Clear language
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Concise writing style
•
• Learn from William Strunk
(The Elements of Style http://www.bartleby.com/141/)
First person references (I, we, us) should NOT be
•
used unless it is appropriate.
Prefer active voice to passive voice
•
• e.g. Active: The participant signed the ethics consent
form prior to the interview.
• e.g. Passive: The ethics consent form was signed prior
to the interview by the participant.
Writing Skills
• Should read the instructions and understand what is
required.
• Adopt the recommended format and layout for report
writing.
• Avoid long paragraphs. First person references (I, we, us)
should NOT be used unless it is appropriate.
• To learn about paraphrasing skills:
• https://www2.open.ac.uk/students/skillsforstudy/paraphrasing.php
• https://student.unsw.edu.au/paraphrasing-summarising-and-quoting
• http://www.higherscore.ca/downloads/Higher%20Score%20Free%20Advice%202%20-
%20Paraphrasing.pdf
• Read articles in the Working Paper Series to learn more about academic writing:
• http://www.speed-polyu.edu.hk/workingpaperseries.php
Writing Skills
– typical marker comments
• The poor writing skills and language have significant
implications in this report, which contains some very good
points and arguments.
• There is room for improvement in the writing and presentation
skills, and the use of language.
• Improve the grammar and sentence structure.
• Better and appropriate use of language will certainly add value
and strength to the paper.
• There is evidence of inadequate proof-reading, demonstrating
a lack of efforts in writing up this report.
• More reference should be made to academic publications.
• Avoid long paragraphs.
• Avoid short paragraphs.
• The conclusion is too brief.
Writing Skills – typical marker comments
• Some of the arguments are not sound and are not supported by the
literature.
• Avoid quoting the news.
• The suggestions are too few and are described too briefly. Moreover,
the three measures are not supported by strong evidence or
academic studies.
• Beware of the high similarity of 29%.
• Bad habit:
• Nowadays, people were spent too much time for …
• This is typical chinglish.
• And this paper will be analysis nowadays the situation in Hong Kong of XXX Disease
problem and solution .
• in this year summer “in the summer of 2017 …”
• Describe in full when the abbreviation first appears.
• Do not use abbreviated terms like “it’s”, etc in academic writing.
• It is not necessary to say “To sum up, …” in the Conclusion.
• Past tense should not be used in most parts of this paper.
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Layout and Format
• Double-sided printing; white A4 paper
• Font: Times New Roman font size 12
• Spacing: Single line spacing
• Page numbers - at the bottom of each page
• All sections and subsections should be numbered and
given a title
• Legibility of all submitted copies should be ensured,
i.e., text and image of the copy should be ready for
reproduction from a photocopier;
• Color printing is not necessary.
Format and Layout
– typical marker comments
• One font, Times New Roman, and one size of characters, ie
12, are recommended.
• Having section and subsection titles will make the report more
systematic, the flow more smoothly and ideas easier to follow.
• Sometimes, it may not be necessary to have subsections if
they are essentially short paragraphs.
• Photographs, tables and drawings are usually included in the
appendix section at the end.
• It is not necessary to start a new page with new sections.
• Remember page numbering.
• Content page without page numbers is meaningless
• 1,657 words are a bit far from the required 2,000 word report.
• Use of bullet points is acceptable but not in excess.
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Referencing
General Referencing Skills
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All citations in the text must appear in the
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reference list
All references must be cited in the text
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• In-text citation
• In the text, cite the author’s surname and year of
publication
• List references alphabetically by author’s
surname
Do not quote lecture notes as references
•
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Referencing Style
• The APA referencing system:
https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation/apa
• consistent throughout the written
• Examples in section 5.3.1.
Information on APA citation style:
a) http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/referencing/APA.aspx#undefined
b) http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/referenceMachineNe
t.htm#Example
In-text citations
• It is mandatory to have the in-text citations referred to.
• The fullstop is placed after the brackets.
• … negative consequences will be happened (Tarkang & Zotor, 2015).
• This is not the format of in-text citation of APA system.
… including evening hours and weekends.”3
• Some In-text citation references are missing.
• Surname of the author is listed in an in-text citation. (the
format)
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The Title
A clear, precise, concise/succinct statement of
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the question or issue being investigated
Identify:
•
• the actual variables, or
• theoretical issues under investigation
• relationship between theoretical issues
Predicts the contents
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Catches attention of readers
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Key words for search
•
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The Title
Examples:
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• “Factors affecting the implementation of voluntary
health insurance scheme in Hong Kong”
• "M-learning: A Mobile Acceptance Model for the next
generation hotel training system"
• "Using the WebQual to Critically Review of Web
Hosting Options for Small and Medium Enterprises in
Hong Kong".
• “Continuous Professional Development and Lifelong
Learning: Needs Assessment and Way Forward for
Hong Kong’s Business and Industries”
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Table of Contents (TOC)
• Lists all the parts of the report
• except the title page
• Number all the chapters
• Subheadings (optional)
• Format
• Capitalization and wording of all entries should agree exactly
with the way they appear in the body of the report
• Format of page numbers
• Right justification
• Following a line of ‘period leaders’
• List of figures & tables
• on separate pages following TOC
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Abstract
No more than 150 words
•
Summary of the study
•
• Do not introduce any things new!
Highlight the following
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• Problem statement
• Sampling design (if any)
• Data collection methods
• Results/findings of data analysis
• Frameworks/Recommendations
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Introduction & Research Questions
Introduction
• What is the research aim/objective?
• What you want to achieve through your research
• What are your research questions?
• State the major focus of the research in question
• Incorporate the key idea that he research seeks to
investigate &/or explain
• Key concepts of the research
• Why is it important?
• What knowledge have you gained/produced through
the process of doing your research?
(Walter, 2013, pp. 21, 28 & 363)
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Literature Review
Use several forms of literature:
• (1) Theoretical literature
• about the topic of your study
• (2) Empirical literature
• about earlier research in the field of your study or similar
fields
• (3) Methodological literature
• about how to do your research
• about how to use the methods you choose
• (4) Theoretical & empirical literature
• - to contextualise, compare, & generalise your findings
(Flick, 2014, p. 66)
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Literature Review
Questions
• What have others said about your topic?
• What aspects of this topic have not been granted much research
attention?
Steps
• (1) Describe
• Describe your research that has been conducted in your proposed
study area
• Investigate into:
• Theoretical approach
• Size of the study
• Location of the study
• Type of analysis conducted
(Walter, 2013, pp. 358-359 & 363)
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Literature Review
Steps (… continued)
• (2) Compare
• Compare studies
• Assess the quality of the research
• Did the researchers encounter any problems collecting their data?
• Did this affect their results?
• Are the findings generalisable?
• (3) Identify the gap
• Identify any gaps within the literature
(Walter, 2013, pp. 360-361)
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Methods
What methods have you used to answer your
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research question?
Why did you choose that strategy?
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Choice of Method
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• Quantitative research
• Data are numbers
• e.g. questionnaire survey
• Qualitative research
• Data are words, opinions, etc.
• e.g. in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, case study
• Triangulation
• combination of different research methods
(Walter, 2013, p. 363)
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Findings
What evidence have you uncovered?
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Contain summaries of the data that focus on
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the main findings of the research
Ideally present data in the form of tables or
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graphs
Tell the readers what has happened
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(Gray, 2014, p. 641; Walter, 2013, p. 363)
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Findings – Presentation
Clear language
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Logical, well-supported arguments
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Effective ordering of material
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Use of chart & tables to present complex data
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Use of examples (including quotations & visual
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images)
(Walter, 2013, p. 364)
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Discussion
• How does the evidence you have collected answer
your question?
• How does the evidence you have collected supported
your central claim?
• Draw interferences from the results/findings (what do
the data mean?)
• Look at relationships between sets of data & also
differences
• Tell you how & why something happened (not what
have happened!)
(Gray, 2014, p. 641; Walter, 2013, p. 363)
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Conclusion
A ‘logical outcome’ of the report’s objectives.
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Do not introduce anything new or irrelevant
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here!
What knowledge have you gained/produced
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through the process of research?
Recommendations / Policy implications
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What future research questions need to be
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answered?
(Gray, 2014, pp. 52 & 641; Walter, 2013, p. 363)
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Conclusion
– Achieving Strong Conclusion
(1) Returns to the major research question
• Explain how effectively you have been able to
respond to this question
(2) State the key findings
• Highlights how these confirm or challenge existing
research in this field
• What knowledge have you gained/produced
through the process of doing this study?
(Walter, 2013, p. 369)
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Conclusion
– Achieving Strong Conclusion
(3) Reflect on the significance of the research methods
• Have you facilitated a new innovative line of enquiry?
• What are the potential or limitations of your research
methods?
(4) Policy Implication (if any)
• Make explicit link between the research findings with the
implications for future policy development
(5) Insight
• Offer insight into new research questions & topics that
require future attention
(Walter, 2013, p. 369)
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Acknowledgements (if any)
• A short acknowledgement section can be written
between the conclusion and the references.
Sponsorship and financial support acknowledgments
should be included here. Acknowledging the
contributions of other colleagues who are not included in
the authorship of this paper is also added in this section.
If no acknowledgement is necessary, this section should
not appear in the paper.
• We wish to thank Dr Vincent Law for sharing the
teaching materials on Integrated Study.
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References
• Coker, B. (2013). Antecedents to website satisfaction, loyalty, and word-of-
mouth. JISTEM - Journal of Information Systems and Technology
Management, 10(2), 209-218. https://dx.doi.org/10.4301/S1807-
17752013000200001
• Flick, U. (2014). An Introduction to Qualitative Research, 5th edn. Los Angeles:
SAGE.
• Gray, David E. (2014). Doing Research in Real World, 3rd edn. Los Angeles:
SAGE.
• Strunk, W. Jr. (1999). ‘The Elements of Style’. Retrieved 9 January 2016 from
http://www.bartleby.com/141/
• Walter, M. (ed.) (2013). Social Research Methods, 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
• Yuen, P., Chan, J.K.Y., Ho, F.,& Law, V. (2014) Continuous Professional
Development and Lifelong Learning: Needs Assessment and Way Forward
for Hong Kong’s Business and Industries, Public Administration and Policy:
An Asia-Pacific Journal -- Special Issue on Tertiary Education (I), 17(2), 29-40.
Hong Kong’s Business and Industries. Retrieved 27 March 2015 from
http://journal.hkpaa.org.hk/index.php/paap-journal/fall-2014
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THE END
Appendices:
• Examples of APA Referencing Style
