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BookWatch: Writing & presenting research

Do you ever wonder about the best way to report your research? Should you use conventional reporting formats and styles, or try for something a little different which may attract more attention?

This book can help you make these decisions. The author discusses both conventional and alternative formats, defining each, describing possibilities and noting advantages and disadvantages. The research covered is mainly in the social sciences, arts and humanities disciplines; health is included as a social science. Theses, dissertations, books and book chapters, academic and professional journal articles and general media items are all included. Oral presentations (lectures, conference papers, and alternative formats) are reviewed.

There are five sections, covering preparation, selection and reduction, production, publication and valediction. The first section discusses guiding principles for making choices about the type of format you will use. In the second section, these principles are applied to selecting and reducing the information that you will provide for your audience so that they understand what your research is about, and what you have found.

The 'Production' section discusses styles (conventional, artistic, narrative) which can be used to present your findings. Section four, 'Publication', is concerned with the end products of your research, which are presentations and publications, and the legalities of these. The final section reviews the literature and the methodology used for the book, and provides references, a bibliography, and the author's biography.

The breadth and depth of information will be of great use to experienced and novice researchers alike. The author gives the reader the opportunity to pause and reflect on what she has written, and to think about examples provided, using 'Reflections' boxes.

This book is for anyone who has undertaken research and considered how and what to report about it, how to tailor this to specific audiences and which format would be most appropriate.

Reference
Thody, A. 2006. Writing and Presenting Research. Sage Publications (Sage Study Skills).