MPH Proposal Format.docx

How to format an Academic research Plagerism **Typing** 1\. Spacing: Double-space throughout the entire report, including the title page, abstract, references, appendixes, footnotes, tables, figures captions and sentence terminators such as the period or full stop (.), question mark (?), and excl...

How to format an Academic research Plagerism **Typing** 1\. Spacing: Double-space throughout the entire report, including the title page, abstract, references, appendixes, footnotes, tables, figures captions and sentence terminators such as the period or full stop (.), question mark (?), and exclamation mark (!). In addition, double space between lines of body text and titles, headings and block quotations. Again, do not leave extra spaces between headings and body text. 2\. Margins: Use one inch margins on the left, right, top, and bottom of the page. 3\. Paragraph Indentation: indent the first line ½ inch for all the paragraphs in the report except the abstract, block quotes, titles and headings, subheadings, references, tables, notes, and figure captions. 4\. Font size and Type: Use 12-point font and Times New Roman for the text of the report. Use 12-point font Ariel for Figure labels. 5\. Pagination and Numbering: Insert the page number one inch from the top right edge of the paper on the first line of every page (except Figures), beginning with the title page. Number the pages preceding chapter one with small Roman numerals. Number the pages from the chapter one to the end of the report in Arabic numerals. 6\. Capitalisation: Capitalisation the first letter following a colon if the clause following the colon is a complete sentence. 7\. Alignment: Make sure the text is left aligned and not justified ( creating uneven right margin) 8\. Hyphenation: Do not hyphenate (split) words at the end of a line. 9\. Title: Centre the title of the report. Use uppercase or capital letters. 24 10\. Headings: Centre the main chapter numbers (e. g. Chapter one, Chapter two, e.t.c) In addition, centre chapter headings such as introduction, Review of Related Literature, Methodology, Results of the Study, Summary and Conclusions, References, and Appendix. Use capital letters for the chapter numbers and chapter headings. Flush left, and use capital and small letters for subheadings such as Samples, Instruments, and Procedures. **Writing in General** 1\. Language Use: Simple, clear and direct language. Avoid flowery language and ambiguity. 2\. Sentence Structure: Use Complete sentences. In addition, the first sentence of a paragraph must be independent or able to stand on its own. 3\. Slang: Try not to use the slang or archaic expressions. 4\. Contradictions: Do not use contractions. That is instead of *its*, use *it is.* 5\. Spelling: If you are doubtful about the spelling of a word, do not guess. Look up the correct spelling in an appropriate reference source. In addition, do not mix up American and British spellings use one type only, preferably British spelling. 6\. Edit: proofread the copy that you submit. Correct Minor typographical errors, formatting, spellings or even the wording. these corrections are inevitable and will communicate that you are serious about your work. 7\. Sexist language: Avoid the use of sexist language. Avoid the use Pronouns. 8\. Unnecessary wfords: Avoid using empty words or words that serve no purpose. For example, *in the Mordedzi (2008) study it was found that...* should read more like *Mordedzi (2008) found that...* 9\. Voice: Generally use the active voice rather than the passive voice. For example use the "*this study shows that..."* rather than "*this study has shown that..."* 10\. Tense: Use the past tense in the abstract, purpose statement, literature review, and methods. use the past or present tense perfect tense in the other sections of the introduction. Use the past tense to present to present the findings. use the present tense to discuss the results and present research conclusions and interpretations. Do not use the future tense, except, in research proposals. the following are examples:  I collected data as follows  I found that....  the data suggested the following conclusions  data in the table 1 show that....  The purpose of this study was.... 11\. Verb usage: Do not use the verb as an adverb or adjective. 12\. Person: Use the singular form of the first person personal pronoun. Donot use the third person in a classroom action research report. That is, use the term *I* rather than *the researcher* in a classroom action research report. 13\. Definitive and tentative statements: Be definitive about procedures, data and statistics. Be tentative about interpretations and conclusions. Do not present conclusions and 25 interpretations as if they are certain. The following are examples of definitive and tentative statements:  The mean and the standard deviation was....(definite statement)  Seventy five Percent of the respondents indicated that...(definitive statement)  The coefficient of correlation was...(Tentative statement)  the following conclusions appear to....(tentative statement)  the true mean probably lies between...(Tentative statement) 14\. Consistency: Be consistent in style, wording and the use of special and terms throughout the report. Use the same term each time you mention a variable in a quantitative study or a key concept in a qualitative study or a key concept in a qualitative study. Avoid shifts in tense and subject verb agreement. in addition do not use synonyms. 15\. Coherence: use coherence to add to the readability of the research report. sentences, paragraphs, and chapters must flow smoothly into each other. You can achieve coherence in the following ways  Repeat variables in the title, purpose statement, research questions, hypothesis, and the literature review headings.  Use transitional words, phrases, or sentences to connect sentences and paragraphs. **Numbers** 1\. Report all measurements in Metric units. In other words, use centimetres and metres rather than inches and feet. 2\. Spell out the numbers zero through nine (except except when it is a table or figure number, or a metric measurement, etc.). The numbers 10 and above are written as numbers. 3\. Capitalise nouns followed by numerals or letters that denote a specific place in a numbered series. For example, *As can be seen in Figure 3, during Block 4 of session 2 the performance of the students improved by 15%.* 4\. In the abstract, use digits for all the numbers except when they begin a sentence. 5\. Spell out any number when it begins a sentence. For example, the sentence *34 students were used,* at the beginning of the sentence should read *Thirty four students were used.* 6\. Try to be consistent with the number formats. That is, if you are reporting a series of related numbers, they should all be presented with the same number of decimal places. **Abbreviations** 1\. When abbreviating any terms, spell them out the first time (in both the abstract and again in the body of the manuscript, if need be). For example *The Learning Style Inventory (LSI)* was used to... 2\. Do not use too many abbreviations. Whereas one, two, or three can be helpful, four or five can be confusing. 3\. You will often see the following Latin abbreviations in a research report: 26 **cf.** compare **etc.** and so forth **e.g.,** for example **i.e.,** that is **et al.** and others **vs.** versus, against 4\. Except for *et al* use these abbreviations in a parenthetic material. In non-parenthetic material use the English translation. 5\. Do not use *E* and *S* as abbreviations for *experimenter* and *subject.* 6\. Do not use periods with the following common abbreviations. **cm** centimeter **s** seconds **mg** milligrams **min** minutes **g** grams **hr** hours **M** mean **IQ** intelligence For example, *the bar was 2.5 cm wide and 1.0 cm high.*