- •1. Establishing why your topic (X) is important
- •2. Outlining the past-present history of the study of X (no direct references to the literature)
- •3. Outlining the possible future of X
- •4. Indicating the gap in knowledge and possible limitations
- •5. Stating the aim of your paper and its contribution
- •6. Explaining the key terminology in your field
- •7. Explaining how you will use terminology and acronyms in your paper
- •10. Reviewing past literature
- •11. Reviewing subsequent and more recent literature
- •8. Giving the structure of paper - what is and is not included
- •9. Giving general panorama of past-to-present literature
- •12. Reporting what specific authors of have said
- •13. Mentioning positive aspects of others’ work
- •14. Highlighting limitations of previous studies - authors not mentioned by name
- •15. Highlighting limitations of previous studies - authors mentioned by name
- •16. Using the opinions of others to justify your criticism of someone’s work
- •17. Describing purpose of testing / methods used
- •18. Outlining similarities with other authors’ models, systems etc.
- •19. Describing the apparatus and materials used and their source
- •20. Reporting software used
- •21. Reporting customizations performed
- •22. Formulating equations, theories and theorems
- •23. Explaining why you chose your specific method, model, equipment, sample etc.
- •24. Explaining the preparation of samples, solutions etc.
- •25. Outlining selection procedure for samples, surveys etc.
- •26. Indicating the time frame (past tenses)
- •27. Indicating the time frame in a general process (present tenses)
- •28. Indicating that care must be taken
- •29. Describing benefits of your method, equipment etc.
- •30. Outlining alternative approaches
- •31. Explaining how you got your results
- •32. Reporting results from questionnaires and interviews
- •33. Stating what you found
- •34. Stating what you did not find
- •35. Highlighting significant results and achievements
- •36. Stating that your results confirm previous evidence
- •37. Stating that your results are in contrast with previous evidence
- •38. Stating and justifying the acceptability of your results
- •39. Expressing caution regarding the interpretation of results
- •40. Outlining undesired or unexpected results
- •41. Admitting limitations
- •42. Explaining and justifying undesired or unexpected results
- •43. Minimizing undesired or unexpected results
- •44. Expressing opinions and probabilities
- •45. Announcing your conclusions and summarizing content
- •46. Restating the results (Conclusions section)
- •47. Highlighting achievements (Conclusions section)
- •48. Highlighting limitations (Conclusions section)
- •49. Outlining possible applications and implications of your work
- •50. Future work already underway or planned by the authors
- •51. Future work proposed for third parties to carry out
- •52. Acknowledgements
- •53. Referring to tables and figures, and to their implications
- •54. Making transitions, focusing on a new topic
- •55. Referring backwards and forwards in the paper
- •56. Referring back to your research aim
- •57. Referring outside the paper
30. Outlining alternative approaches
A less lengthy / time-consuming / cumbersome / costly approach is …
A neater / more elegant / simplified / more practical solution for this problem …
An alternative solution, though with high overheads / slightly more complicated / less exhaustive is …
One / One possible / A good way to avoid the use of X is to use Y instead.
31. Explaining how you got your results
To assess X / evaluate X / distinguish between X and Y, Z was used.
X analysis was used to test / predict / confirm Y.
Changes in X were identified / calculated / compared using …
The correlation / difference between X and Y was tested.
The first set of analyses investigated / examined / confirmed / highlighted the impact of …
32. Reporting results from questionnaires and interviews
Of the study population / initial sample / initial cohort, 90 subjects completed and returned the questionnaire.
The response rate was 70% at / after / for the first six months and …
The majority of respondents / those who responded felt that ….
Over half / Sixty per cent of those surveyed / questioned reported that …
Almost / Just under / Approximately two-thirds of the participants (64%) said / felt / commented that …
Only / Just a small number / Fifteen per cent of those interviewed reported / suggested / indicated that …
Of the 82 subjects who completed the questionnaire / took part in the survey / agreed to participate, just under / over half replied that ….
A small minority of / Hardly any / Very few participants (4%) indicated …
In response to Question 1, most / nearly all / the majority of those surveyed indicated that …
When the subjects were asked about / questioned on X the majority commented that ….
The overall response to this question was surprisingly / unexpectedly / very / quite negative.
33. Stating what you found
These tests revealed / showed / highlighted that …
Strong / Some / No evidence of X was found …
Interestingly / Surprisingly / Unexpectedly, for high values of X, Y was found ..
There was a significant positive / no correlation between …
On average / Generally speaking / Broadly speaking, we found values for X of …
The average / mean score for X was …
This result is significant only / exclusively at an X level.
Further analysis / analyses / tests / examinations / replications showed that …
34. Stating what you did not find
No significant difference / correlation was found / identified / revealed / detected / observed/ highlighted between ….
There were no significant differences between X and Y in terms of Z / with regard to Z / as far as Z is concerned.
The analysis did not show / reveal / identify / confirm any significant differences between …
None of these differences were / Not one of these differences was statistically significant.
Overall / Taken as a whole / Generally speaking / With a few exceptions, our results show X did not affect Y.
35. Highlighting significant results and achievements
The most striking / remarkable result to emerge from the data is that …
Interestingly / Curiously / Remarkably / Inexplicably, this correlation is related to ….
Significantly / Importantly / Crucially / Critically, X is …
The correlation between X and Y is interesting / of interest / worth noting / noteworthy / worth mentioning because …
The most surprising / remarkable / intriguing correlation is with the …
The single most striking / conspicuous / marked observation to emerge from the data comparison was …
It is interesting / critical / crucial / important / fundamental to note that …
We believe that / As far as we know / As far as we aware this is the first time that X …
We believe that / We are of the opinion that / In our view the result emphasizes the validity of our model.
This result has further strengthened our confidence in X / conviction that X is / hypothesis that X is …
Our technique shows a clear / clearly has an advantage over …
The importance of X cannot be stressed / emphasized too much.
This underlines / highlights / stresses / proves / demonstrates just how important X is.
The utility of X is thus underlined / highlighted / stressed / proved / demonstrated.
This finding confirms / points to / highlights / reinforces / validates the usefulness of X as a …
Our study provides additional support for / further evidence for / considerable insight into X.
These results extend / further / widen our knowledge of X.
These results offer compelling / indisputable / crucial / overwhelming / powerful / invaluable / unprecedented / unique / vital evidence for …