Page 291 - English for Writing Research Papers

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16.1 What’s the buzz?

1) For which of the following research projects do you think it would be the most
difficult to write a Methods section? What difficulties would be involved? Which

one would you most like to study?
Calculating the speed at which Santa Claus would have to travel to visit all the children in
the world.
Elucidating why fire-walkers don’t burn their feet while walking on fi re.

Determining the minimum size for Noah’s Ark assuming two animals of every known spe-
cies plus sufficient foodstuff for six weeks.

Studying why attractive people become even more attractive when wearing glasses.

Proving that a particular homeopathic medicine works.

Investigating the hypothesis that mankind would have developed differently if the dinosaurs
had not become extinct.

Understanding whether a seven-month child is more or less intelligent that a seven-year old cat.
Devising an apparatus that would enable someone to weigh their own head.

2) What is the key problem with this extract from the Methods section? What other
problems are there? The extract describes a methodology for defusing a bomb
that is contained inside a box.

First , the lid at the top of the box should be carefully removed, provided that it has been
ascertained that there is no trigger device. Second, the three wires at the side of the explo-
sive device should be identified before proceeding with step three: the cutting of the green

wire. Finally, the red wire should also be subjected to a cutting process after the blue wire
has been disconnected.
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This section of a paper has several different names including: ‘Methods’, ‘Methods
and Materials’, ‘Experimental’, ‘Method Description and Validation’. Hereafter, I
will refer to it as the Methods section.
In most journals the Methods section follows the Literature Review, in others it fol-
lows the Conclusions.

The secret of writing this section is to be able to describe the materials you used in
your experiments and/or the methods you used to carry out your research, in a way
that is sufficiently detailed to enable others in your field to easily follow your

method and, if desired, even replicate your work. A key skill is to make sure the
descriptions are complete and yet are also as concise as possible, for example by