Writing Education Studies for Publication

Abstract

In researching a topic, authors likely have amassed a large number of articles, abstracts, websites, and books. Authors should remember they are describing their own research, not writing a review of the topic. To that end, careful selection of articles to support the need for the study is critical. Authors should start with 1 to 3 sentences in support of the topic's importance and relevance to the journal's usual audience. Next, it is essential to document the current state of the evidence on the topic, in particular, the research or evidence gap that the study will attempt to fill. If there is no research gap, there is no reason to study the issue or publish the results. One to two paragraphs is usually sufficient to review the pertinent evidence related to the study and should lead directly to a clear statement of the research question or hypothesis. Once the author has defined the research gap, the question will flow naturally. Often, there is more than one hypothesis or question. If so, those hypotheses or questions should be stated in the order they will be addressed in the “Methods,” “Results,” and “Discussion” sections. That is, authors should maintain the framework for presenting the evidence gap and subsequent hypotheses in parallel throughout the paper. This will enhance readers' understanding.