chapter one research report

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HOW TO WRITE CHAPTER ONE OF RESEARCH PROJECTS

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RESEARCH WRITING – CHAPTER ONE

The outline of a well written Chapter One is supposed to include all or some of the following:

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

1.2 Statement of the Problem

1.3 Objectives or Purpose of the Study

1.4 Research Questions and /or Hypotheses

1.5 Significance of the Study

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study

1.7 Basic Assumptions

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

As can be seen above, the project outline constitutes a huge part of the project proposal and the student researcher just needs to perfect the approved research proposal with the view of using it as the Chapter One. The fact remains that all the other parts that as had been written for the project proposal would still stand, with the inclusion of Operational Definition of Terms. At this stage, it is important to understand and know what is contained under each of the subheadings in the first chapter and these are described thoroughly in this article: –

1.1     Background to the Study

Just as the name means, this section outlines the history of the subject matter under investigation; the evolution of the research problem; how the researcher became fascinated with the problem. He goes on to describe the specific situation surrounding the research problem, using facts from the literature to support various arguments. In this section also, the student researcher tries to ascertain the suitability and feasibility of the study, concluding from the sufficient evidences drawn from the previous literature.

In a nutshell, this is where the student researcher initiates the subject of his investigation using all obtainable evidences and figures to establish its groundwork. Note that even if there is no standard number of pages that this should take, the lengthier and well focused the Background to the Study, the better for a good and solid groundwork for that research being conducted.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

The Problem Statement, as it is otherwise described, is the reasonable conclusion of the problems/issues raised in the Background to the Study. The idea is that while the Background to the Study offers a wider or global perspective/standpoint to the subject matter of the research, the Problem Statement makes assumptions from there and concludes on the specifics as they relate to the specific investigation being conducted.

That is the reason Problem Statement is expected to flow, rather logically, from the Background to the Study; and it is not a good Problem Statement, one that deviates from this; given that they are not expected to be two unconnected entities, as it were. It is nevertheless different from Background to the Study in that it must be stated reasonably briefly and very clearly. All the descriptive components of the Background to the Study would have assisted to allow one go straight for the specifics under the Problem Statement.

This is why experienced project supervisors would maintain that the Problem Statement should be in the range of one to three paragraphs only. The idea is that the shorter, the clearer; and the clearer the better for the whole process of investigation. In a nutshell, one cannot overstate the need to state the research problem very clearly and accurately, since the entire course of the investigation depends on it.

Therefore, there is no doubt that a satisfactory statement of the research problem is the most important component of a research process. The plain reason for this claim is that the whole process of investigation centers on it and it is typically related to some of the following issues:

• A missing link
• One-sidedness
• An unanswered question.
• An unsatisfactory state of arrangements

Consequently, the Problem Statement offers direction to the rest of the project; signifying and highlighting the major variables of concern to the researcher as well as the exact relationship that exist between them.

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1.3     Objectives {Purpose} of the Study

Simply similar to every other component in a research project, the Objectives of the Study is strongly connected to the Research Problem. The former is derived directly from the latter. The Objectives of the Study, which is sometimes described as Purpose, stand for the aims of carrying out the investigation and could be categorized into general and specific.

The general objective describes the overall aim of a research project whereas the specific objective is concerned with the comprehensive list of intentions concerning what the research stands to accomplish at the end of the project. Typically, the specific objectives are stated in the form of declarative statements for example, the statement should start with “to examine”, “to analyze”, “to determine”, “to assess”, “to find out” etc. The Research Questions usually take the form of interrogative statement, the Objectives present the same thing, but in the statement form.

1.4. Research Questions and/or Hypotheses

Typically, these come immediately after the Research objectives because of their strong relationship. They do not just seek to convert the declarative statement of the objectives into interrogative form, but further break down the major problems compressed in the research objectives. As its name implies, Research Questions is presented just like interrogations seeking to create specific relations among the main variables of investigation.

As well, the Research Questions usually serve as the foundation from where the questionnaire items/questions would ultimately be derived. The difference between the two is that the items in the questionnaire offer a further breakdown of each of the research questions to a greater specification. This is to the level that a single research question can turn out the range of between three to five questionnaire items/questions. But the Research Questions are wide in nature, the questionnaire items are typically directed towards the details thereby getting down to more specifics.

In the case of Hypotheses, they are not the same as Research Questions even though they are sometimes used to substitute each other. In other words, it is not unusual to find projects which have both as well as others which have only one of them. Since they are not the same, they are not expected to replace each other. If they stand to do that, then one should be retained and the other disposed of. By this piece of information, one can easily know that it is not necessary that a project should have both; particularly at the elementary level, where in most of the times, the research questions would be okay.

By meaning, a Research Hypothesis is a clear, specific statement whose validity and workability can be tested by means of scientific method. Being a declarative statement of prediction, it tries to determine the relationship or difference that exists between one variable and the other; and to what degree. It is a form of clever guess or supposition regularly derived from the results of previous studies and/or theories originating from the literature. Hypotheses are formulated on the core of any of the areas and objectives listed below:

• To merely describe a occurrence or a statement of fact
• To compare two or more concepts, individuals and places
• To reveal the relationship between variable
• To reveal a cause/ effect situation between variables.

Usually, there are two kinds of hypotheses; basically referring to the way they are stated. They are the Null and the Alternative. While the former is frequently stated in the negative form of “No Significant Relationship” or “No Significant Difference” etc., the latter takes the positive form of statement; such as “There is a Significant Relationship”, “There is a Significant Difference” etc.

The Research Hypotheses specify the fundamental issues relating to the data to be gathered in the process of conducting the study. They serve as a theoretical conceptualization of what the researcher anticipated with respect to his research outcomes. These help him to test and verify his concepts on the basis of which he makes very tangible and reliable conclusions and generalizations. They also assist in sharpening researcher’s focus on the research problem with a view to determining the direction where to find the solution.

Therefore, some of the qualities of a good hypothesis must include that:

• It should be sensible {i.e. clever guesses}.
• It should be in line with known facts or theories.
• It should be constructed in such a manner that it is testable and found to be probably true or false.
• It should be in very simple, unambiguous terms.
• It should be directly connected to the problem of research.
• It should involve very few variables at a time.
• It should be quantifiable {i.e. operationally formulated}.

1.5.    Significance of the Study

It is anticipated that every research project must have something new to contribute to knowledge in that research field, no matter how small. In point of fact, no research should take place if it will not contribute anything to knowledge; as this represents the major feature of all research endeavors.

Consequently, this section is expected to clarify the possible benefits of the research and to whom such anticipated benefits would be meant. All these should be clearly stated. In any way, there is no standard detail as to the number of benefits that a research project should have or its length. It can be arranged sequentially or itemized or paraphrased depending on the person’s method of writing.

1.6.    Scope and Limitation of the Study

The scope of the study basically refers to the level of coverage of the research subject being investigated and the good statement of the problem will act as a helpful guide to doing this. That means, if the problem had been properly stated at the beginning, it helps, certainly, in defining the scope of the research. That is why the scope of the study is partially dependent on the title of the research project. If well formulated, the phrase of the title only does define the scope of the study and possibly, needs a little rider to make it clearer. The limitation of the study represents the things and issues that constituted challenges in the process of investigations.

Consequently, if the scope was concerned with the level of the research’s coverage, then, limitation implies building a fence around the subject of research. This is with a view to creating a foundation for the non-inclusion of certain things in the study for understandable reasons.

1.7.    Basic Assumptions

Even though many student researchers tend to mistake Assumptions with Hypotheses, it is important to state very clearly that they are not the same. We have already discussed about hypotheses; its meaning and significance in a research project. However, Assumptions are only mere statements, which are frequently, not subjected to any testing. They are, more or less, ordinary statements that are taken for granted. They cannot replace the Hypotheses; yet, they tend to duplicate the Hypotheses, because they are fairly similar.

It is because of these reasons that a lot of research experts have suggested that if the study has hypotheses, then assumptions would no longer be needed. For a study with Research Questions only nevertheless, it is suitable to have assumptions, to act as a guide towards the achievement of the research objectives.

Assumptions are typically itemized while the number varies.

1.9     Operational Definition of Terms

This section of the Chapter one (introduction) is used to offer a kind of working definition to all the concepts, which would be operationally used in the course of the research. The notion is that there are some terminologies, which have been “adapted” and so utilized restrictively for the purpose of the research project.

This implies that such terminologies would mean something somewhat different from the one adapted under a different circumstances; therefore the name Operational Definition of Terms. In defining terms operationally, individual concepts/words to be so defined are recognized and then itemized. Thus, operational definitions are typically given in such a manner that will imply that they are not the usually accepted as standard definitions but those peculiar to the study in specifically. This section typically comes last in the introductory chapter.

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>>>>> HOW TO WRITE CHAPTER TWO OF RESEARCH PROJECTS

23 comments.

excellent write up, this should help me in writing my chapter one

Excellent write up. Great job, really helped me with my chapter one in my MBA project write up.

However I would like to know if I can add justification of study to my chapter one since you didn’t mention it in your post?

Great write up nevertheless!

Well thank you for the special guardian for my first chapter write up, however I wish if you break up background of the study into theoretical background, conceptual background and contextual background to make me have better analysis on how they are framed

Thanks a lot

This really helped me out to have an approach to good chapter one of my project. Thank you very much.

I realy apreciate your work here. This article helped me alot.

Do you have another one on chapter 2 (literature review)

Thanks. “how to write chapter two”, an article that will guide researcher on how to write the literature review will soon be published.

tanx,tanx,tanx this really help me when I wrotte my exam on research topic on my N.C.E program

Nice one, I haven’t started but I think this is really a nice guide for a start.

This is a great light to me. Thanks for the post

This is a well analysed research procedure….

Good work , well articulated, unambiguous, simply & logically stated.

Thanks for the write up… This should help me writing my project… Thanks once again.

GOD BLESS YOU

I am so glad with your work,l have gone through.l think what I benefited from it, will definitely guide me in my project work.so l am so grateful to you for making me to discover what I am looking for.

Thaaaaanks A good guide i’ll do a study on chapter one

Truth be told, I wish I had come across this write up before now. This is the clearest article I’ve read about contents of the chapters of a research project, especially chapter two. I’ve sent the link to my colleague PG Students.

Thanks so much.

it will great if you can add examples of what these when properly written will look like.

good guidance, keep doing so to help us learn better, together we stand

God bless you ?

Omo thanks a bunch

Good work done keep it up, i think your write up have helped me alot

Thank you,I do really appreciate and I learned more about.

Thanks very much, I have found this piece to he very educative and resourceful to any researcher.

This is the best foundation of Researchers

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Chapter 11: Presenting Your Research

Writing a Research Report in American Psychological Association (APA) Style

Learning Objectives

• Identify the major sections of an APA-style research report and the basic contents of each section.
• Plan and write an effective APA-style research report.

In this section, we look at how to write an APA-style empirical research report , an article that presents the results of one or more new studies. Recall that the standard sections of an empirical research report provide a kind of outline. Here we consider each of these sections in detail, including what information it contains, how that information is formatted and organized, and tips for writing each section. At the end of this section is a sample APA-style research report that illustrates many of these principles.

Sections of a Research Report

Title page and abstract.

An APA-style research report begins with a  title page . The title is centred in the upper half of the page, with each important word capitalized. The title should clearly and concisely (in about 12 words or fewer) communicate the primary variables and research questions. This sometimes requires a main title followed by a subtitle that elaborates on the main title, in which case the main title and subtitle are separated by a colon. Here are some titles from recent issues of professional journals published by the American Psychological Association.

• Sex Differences in Coping Styles and Implications for Depressed Mood
• Effects of Aging and Divided Attention on Memory for Items and Their Contexts
• Computer-Assisted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Child Anxiety: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial
• Virtual Driving and Risk Taking: Do Racing Games Increase Risk-Taking Cognitions, Affect, and Behaviour?

Below the title are the authors’ names and, on the next line, their institutional affiliation—the university or other institution where the authors worked when they conducted the research. As we have already seen, the authors are listed in an order that reflects their contribution to the research. When multiple authors have made equal contributions to the research, they often list their names alphabetically or in a randomly determined order.

In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as “cute.” They usually take the form of a play on words or a well-known expression that relates to the topic under study. Here are some examples from recent issues of the Journal Psychological Science .

• “Smells Like Clean Spirit: Nonconscious Effects of Scent on Cognition and Behavior”
• “Time Crawls: The Temporal Resolution of Infants’ Visual Attention”
• “Scent of a Woman: Men’s Testosterone Responses to Olfactory Ovulation Cues”
• “Apocalypse Soon?: Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs”
• “Serial vs. Parallel Processing: Sometimes They Look Like Tweedledum and Tweedledee but They Can (and Should) Be Distinguished”
• “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Words: The Social Effects of Expressive Writing”

Individual researchers differ quite a bit in their preference for such titles. Some use them regularly, while others never use them. What might be some of the pros and cons of using cute article titles?

For articles that are being submitted for publication, the title page also includes an author note that lists the authors’ full institutional affiliations, any acknowledgments the authors wish to make to agencies that funded the research or to colleagues who commented on it, and contact information for the authors. For student papers that are not being submitted for publication—including theses—author notes are generally not necessary.

The  abstract  is a summary of the study. It is the second page of the manuscript and is headed with the word  Abstract . The first line is not indented. The abstract presents the research question, a summary of the method, the basic results, and the most important conclusions. Because the abstract is usually limited to about 200 words, it can be a challenge to write a good one.

Introduction

The  introduction  begins on the third page of the manuscript. The heading at the top of this page is the full title of the manuscript, with each important word capitalized as on the title page. The introduction includes three distinct subsections, although these are typically not identified by separate headings. The opening introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting, the literature review discusses relevant previous research, and the closing restates the research question and comments on the method used to answer it.

The Opening

The  opening , which is usually a paragraph or two in length, introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting. To capture the reader’s attention, researcher Daryl Bem recommends starting with general observations about the topic under study, expressed in ordinary language (not technical jargon)—observations that are about people and their behaviour (not about researchers or their research; Bem, 2003 [1] ). Concrete examples are often very useful here. According to Bem, this would be a poor way to begin a research report:

Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance received a great deal of attention during the latter part of the 20th century (p. 191)

The following would be much better:

The individual who holds two beliefs that are inconsistent with one another may feel uncomfortable. For example, the person who knows that he or she enjoys smoking but believes it to be unhealthy may experience discomfort arising from the inconsistency or disharmony between these two thoughts or cognitions. This feeling of discomfort was called cognitive dissonance by social psychologist Leon Festinger (1957), who suggested that individuals will be motivated to remove this dissonance in whatever way they can (p. 191).

After capturing the reader’s attention, the opening should go on to introduce the research question and explain why it is interesting. Will the answer fill a gap in the literature? Will it provide a test of an important theory? Does it have practical implications? Giving readers a clear sense of what the research is about and why they should care about it will motivate them to continue reading the literature review—and will help them make sense of it.

Breaking the Rules

Researcher Larry Jacoby reported several studies showing that a word that people see or hear repeatedly can seem more familiar even when they do not recall the repetitions—and that this tendency is especially pronounced among older adults. He opened his article with the following humourous anecdote:

A friend whose mother is suffering symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) tells the story of taking her mother to visit a nursing home, preliminary to her mother’s moving there. During an orientation meeting at the nursing home, the rules and regulations were explained, one of which regarded the dining room. The dining room was described as similar to a fine restaurant except that tipping was not required. The absence of tipping was a central theme in the orientation lecture, mentioned frequently to emphasize the quality of care along with the advantages of having paid in advance. At the end of the meeting, the friend’s mother was asked whether she had any questions. She replied that she only had one question: “Should I tip?” (Jacoby, 1999, p. 3)

Although both humour and personal anecdotes are generally discouraged in APA-style writing, this example is a highly effective way to start because it both engages the reader and provides an excellent real-world example of the topic under study.

The Literature Review

Immediately after the opening comes the  literature review , which describes relevant previous research on the topic and can be anywhere from several paragraphs to several pages in length. However, the literature review is not simply a list of past studies. Instead, it constitutes a kind of argument for why the research question is worth addressing. By the end of the literature review, readers should be convinced that the research question makes sense and that the present study is a logical next step in the ongoing research process.

Like any effective argument, the literature review must have some kind of structure. For example, it might begin by describing a phenomenon in a general way along with several studies that demonstrate it, then describing two or more competing theories of the phenomenon, and finally presenting a hypothesis to test one or more of the theories. Or it might describe one phenomenon, then describe another phenomenon that seems inconsistent with the first one, then propose a theory that resolves the inconsistency, and finally present a hypothesis to test that theory. In applied research, it might describe a phenomenon or theory, then describe how that phenomenon or theory applies to some important real-world situation, and finally suggest a way to test whether it does, in fact, apply to that situation.

Looking at the literature review in this way emphasizes a few things. First, it is extremely important to start with an outline of the main points that you want to make, organized in the order that you want to make them. The basic structure of your argument, then, should be apparent from the outline itself. Second, it is important to emphasize the structure of your argument in your writing. One way to do this is to begin the literature review by summarizing your argument even before you begin to make it. “In this article, I will describe two apparently contradictory phenomena, present a new theory that has the potential to resolve the apparent contradiction, and finally present a novel hypothesis to test the theory.” Another way is to open each paragraph with a sentence that summarizes the main point of the paragraph and links it to the preceding points. These opening sentences provide the “transitions” that many beginning researchers have difficulty with. Instead of beginning a paragraph by launching into a description of a previous study, such as “Williams (2004) found that…,” it is better to start by indicating something about why you are describing this particular study. Here are some simple examples:

Another example of this phenomenon comes from the work of Williams (2004).

Williams (2004) offers one explanation of this phenomenon.

An alternative perspective has been provided by Williams (2004).

We used a method based on the one used by Williams (2004).

Finally, remember that your goal is to construct an argument for why your research question is interesting and worth addressing—not necessarily why your favourite answer to it is correct. In other words, your literature review must be balanced. If you want to emphasize the generality of a phenomenon, then of course you should discuss various studies that have demonstrated it. However, if there are other studies that have failed to demonstrate it, you should discuss them too. Or if you are proposing a new theory, then of course you should discuss findings that are consistent with that theory. However, if there are other findings that are inconsistent with it, again, you should discuss them too. It is acceptable to argue that the  balance  of the research supports the existence of a phenomenon or is consistent with a theory (and that is usually the best that researchers in psychology can hope for), but it is not acceptable to  ignore contradictory evidence. Besides, a large part of what makes a research question interesting is uncertainty about its answer.

The Closing

The  closing  of the introduction—typically the final paragraph or two—usually includes two important elements. The first is a clear statement of the main research question or hypothesis. This statement tends to be more formal and precise than in the opening and is often expressed in terms of operational definitions of the key variables. The second is a brief overview of the method and some comment on its appropriateness. Here, for example, is how Darley and Latané (1968) [2] concluded the introduction to their classic article on the bystander effect:

These considerations lead to the hypothesis that the more bystanders to an emergency, the less likely, or the more slowly, any one bystander will intervene to provide aid. To test this proposition it would be necessary to create a situation in which a realistic “emergency” could plausibly occur. Each subject should also be blocked from communicating with others to prevent his getting information about their behaviour during the emergency. Finally, the experimental situation should allow for the assessment of the speed and frequency of the subjects’ reaction to the emergency. The experiment reported below attempted to fulfill these conditions. (p. 378)

Thus the introduction leads smoothly into the next major section of the article—the method section.

The  method section  is where you describe how you conducted your study. An important principle for writing a method section is that it should be clear and detailed enough that other researchers could replicate the study by following your “recipe.” This means that it must describe all the important elements of the study—basic demographic characteristics of the participants, how they were recruited, whether they were randomly assigned, how the variables were manipulated or measured, how counterbalancing was accomplished, and so on. At the same time, it should avoid irrelevant details such as the fact that the study was conducted in Classroom 37B of the Industrial Technology Building or that the questionnaire was double-sided and completed using pencils.

The method section begins immediately after the introduction ends with the heading “Method” (not “Methods”) centred on the page. Immediately after this is the subheading “Participants,” left justified and in italics. The participants subsection indicates how many participants there were, the number of women and men, some indication of their age, other demographics that may be relevant to the study, and how they were recruited, including any incentives given for participation.

After the participants section, the structure can vary a bit. Figure 11.1 shows three common approaches. In the first, the participants section is followed by a design and procedure subsection, which describes the rest of the method. This works well for methods that are relatively simple and can be described adequately in a few paragraphs. In the second approach, the participants section is followed by separate design and procedure subsections. This works well when both the design and the procedure are relatively complicated and each requires multiple paragraphs.

What is the difference between design and procedure? The design of a study is its overall structure. What were the independent and dependent variables? Was the independent variable manipulated, and if so, was it manipulated between or within subjects? How were the variables operationally defined? The procedure is how the study was carried out. It often works well to describe the procedure in terms of what the participants did rather than what the researchers did. For example, the participants gave their informed consent, read a set of instructions, completed a block of four practice trials, completed a block of 20 test trials, completed two questionnaires, and were debriefed and excused.

In the third basic way to organize a method section, the participants subsection is followed by a materials subsection before the design and procedure subsections. This works well when there are complicated materials to describe. This might mean multiple questionnaires, written vignettes that participants read and respond to, perceptual stimuli, and so on. The heading of this subsection can be modified to reflect its content. Instead of “Materials,” it can be “Questionnaires,” “Stimuli,” and so on.

The  results section  is where you present the main results of the study, including the results of the statistical analyses. Although it does not include the raw data—individual participants’ responses or scores—researchers should save their raw data and make them available to other researchers who request them. Several journals now encourage the open sharing of raw data online.

Although there are no standard subsections, it is still important for the results section to be logically organized. Typically it begins with certain preliminary issues. One is whether any participants or responses were excluded from the analyses and why. The rationale for excluding data should be described clearly so that other researchers can decide whether it is appropriate. A second preliminary issue is how multiple responses were combined to produce the primary variables in the analyses. For example, if participants rated the attractiveness of 20 stimulus people, you might have to explain that you began by computing the mean attractiveness rating for each participant. Or if they recalled as many items as they could from study list of 20 words, did you count the number correctly recalled, compute the percentage correctly recalled, or perhaps compute the number correct minus the number incorrect? A third preliminary issue is the reliability of the measures. This is where you would present test-retest correlations, Cronbach’s α, or other statistics to show that the measures are consistent across time and across items. A final preliminary issue is whether the manipulation was successful. This is where you would report the results of any manipulation checks.

The results section should then tackle the primary research questions, one at a time. Again, there should be a clear organization. One approach would be to answer the most general questions and then proceed to answer more specific ones. Another would be to answer the main question first and then to answer secondary ones. Regardless, Bem (2003) [3] suggests the following basic structure for discussing each new result:

• Remind the reader of the research question.
• Give the answer to the research question in words.
• Present the relevant statistics.
• Qualify the answer if necessary.
• Summarize the result.

Notice that only Step 3 necessarily involves numbers. The rest of the steps involve presenting the research question and the answer to it in words. In fact, the basic results should be clear even to a reader who skips over the numbers.

The  discussion  is the last major section of the research report. Discussions usually consist of some combination of the following elements:

• Summary of the research
• Theoretical implications
• Practical implications
• Limitations
• Suggestions for future research

The discussion typically begins with a summary of the study that provides a clear answer to the research question. In a short report with a single study, this might require no more than a sentence. In a longer report with multiple studies, it might require a paragraph or even two. The summary is often followed by a discussion of the theoretical implications of the research. Do the results provide support for any existing theories? If not, how  can  they be explained? Although you do not have to provide a definitive explanation or detailed theory for your results, you at least need to outline one or more possible explanations. In applied research—and often in basic research—there is also some discussion of the practical implications of the research. How can the results be used, and by whom, to accomplish some real-world goal?

The theoretical and practical implications are often followed by a discussion of the study’s limitations. Perhaps there are problems with its internal or external validity. Perhaps the manipulation was not very effective or the measures not very reliable. Perhaps there is some evidence that participants did not fully understand their task or that they were suspicious of the intent of the researchers. Now is the time to discuss these issues and how they might have affected the results. But do not overdo it. All studies have limitations, and most readers will understand that a different sample or different measures might have produced different results. Unless there is good reason to think they  would have, however, there is no reason to mention these routine issues. Instead, pick two or three limitations that seem like they could have influenced the results, explain how they could have influenced the results, and suggest ways to deal with them.

Most discussions end with some suggestions for future research. If the study did not satisfactorily answer the original research question, what will it take to do so? What  new  research questions has the study raised? This part of the discussion, however, is not just a list of new questions. It is a discussion of two or three of the most important unresolved issues. This means identifying and clarifying each question, suggesting some alternative answers, and even suggesting ways they could be studied.

Finally, some researchers are quite good at ending their articles with a sweeping or thought-provoking conclusion. Darley and Latané (1968) [4] , for example, ended their article on the bystander effect by discussing the idea that whether people help others may depend more on the situation than on their personalities. Their final sentence is, “If people understand the situational forces that can make them hesitate to intervene, they may better overcome them” (p. 383). However, this kind of ending can be difficult to pull off. It can sound overreaching or just banal and end up detracting from the overall impact of the article. It is often better simply to end when you have made your final point (although you should avoid ending on a limitation).

The references section begins on a new page with the heading “References” centred at the top of the page. All references cited in the text are then listed in the format presented earlier. They are listed alphabetically by the last name of the first author. If two sources have the same first author, they are listed alphabetically by the last name of the second author. If all the authors are the same, then they are listed chronologically by the year of publication. Everything in the reference list is double-spaced both within and between references.

Appendices, Tables, and Figures

Appendices, tables, and figures come after the references. An  appendix  is appropriate for supplemental material that would interrupt the flow of the research report if it were presented within any of the major sections. An appendix could be used to present lists of stimulus words, questionnaire items, detailed descriptions of special equipment or unusual statistical analyses, or references to the studies that are included in a meta-analysis. Each appendix begins on a new page. If there is only one, the heading is “Appendix,” centred at the top of the page. If there is more than one, the headings are “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on, and they appear in the order they were first mentioned in the text of the report.

After any appendices come tables and then figures. Tables and figures are both used to present results. Figures can also be used to illustrate theories (e.g., in the form of a flowchart), display stimuli, outline procedures, and present many other kinds of information. Each table and figure appears on its own page. Tables are numbered in the order that they are first mentioned in the text (“Table 1,” “Table 2,” and so on). Figures are numbered the same way (“Figure 1,” “Figure 2,” and so on). A brief explanatory title, with the important words capitalized, appears above each table. Each figure is given a brief explanatory caption, where (aside from proper nouns or names) only the first word of each sentence is capitalized. More details on preparing APA-style tables and figures are presented later in the book.

Sample APA-Style Research Report

Figures 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, and 11.5 show some sample pages from an APA-style empirical research report originally written by undergraduate student Tomoe Suyama at California State University, Fresno. The main purpose of these figures is to illustrate the basic organization and formatting of an APA-style empirical research report, although many high-level and low-level style conventions can be seen here too.

Key Takeaways

• An APA-style empirical research report consists of several standard sections. The main ones are the abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, and references.
• The introduction consists of an opening that presents the research question, a literature review that describes previous research on the topic, and a closing that restates the research question and comments on the method. The literature review constitutes an argument for why the current study is worth doing.
• The method section describes the method in enough detail that another researcher could replicate the study. At a minimum, it consists of a participants subsection and a design and procedure subsection.
• The results section describes the results in an organized fashion. Each primary result is presented in terms of statistical results but also explained in words.
• The discussion typically summarizes the study, discusses theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the study, and offers suggestions for further research.
• Practice: Look through an issue of a general interest professional journal (e.g.,  Psychological Science ). Read the opening of the first five articles and rate the effectiveness of each one from 1 ( very ineffective ) to 5 ( very effective ). Write a sentence or two explaining each rating.
• Practice: Find a recent article in a professional journal and identify where the opening, literature review, and closing of the introduction begin and end.
• Practice: Find a recent article in a professional journal and highlight in a different colour each of the following elements in the discussion: summary, theoretical implications, practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

Long Descriptions

Figure 11.1 long description: Table showing three ways of organizing an APA-style method section.

In the simple method, there are two subheadings: “Participants” (which might begin “The participants were…”) and “Design and procedure” (which might begin “There were three conditions…”).

In the typical method, there are three subheadings: “Participants” (“The participants were…”), “Design” (“There were three conditions…”), and “Procedure” (“Participants viewed each stimulus on the computer screen…”).

In the complex method, there are four subheadings: “Participants” (“The participants were…”), “Materials” (“The stimuli were…”), “Design” (“There were three conditions…”), and “Procedure” (“Participants viewed each stimulus on the computer screen…”). [Return to Figure 11.1]

• Bem, D. J. (2003). Writing the empirical journal article. In J. M. Darley, M. P. Zanna, & H. R. Roediger III (Eds.),  The compleat academic: A practical guide for the beginning social scientist  (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
• Darley, J. M., & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4 , 377–383. ↵

A type of research article which describes one or more new empirical studies conducted by the authors.

The page at the beginning of an APA-style research report containing the title of the article, the authors’ names, and their institutional affiliation.

A summary of a research study.

The third page of a manuscript containing the research question, the literature review, and comments about how to answer the research question.

An introduction to the research question and explanation for why this question is interesting.

A description of relevant previous research on the topic being discusses and an argument for why the research is worth addressing.

The end of the introduction, where the research question is reiterated and the method is commented upon.

The section of a research report where the method used to conduct the study is described.

The main results of the study, including the results from statistical analyses, are presented in a research article.

Section of a research report that summarizes the study's results and interprets them by referring back to the study's theoretical background.

Part of a research report which contains supplemental material.

Research Methods in Psychology - 2nd Canadian Edition Copyright © 2015 by Paul C. Price, Rajiv Jhangiani, & I-Chant A. Chiang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write a Research Paper | A Beginner's Guide

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research.

Research papers are similar to academic essays , but they are usually longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research. Writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic, engage with a variety of sources, and make an original contribution to the debate.

This step-by-step guide takes you through the entire writing process, from understanding your assignment to proofreading your final draft.

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Table of contents

Understand the assignment, choose a research paper topic, conduct preliminary research, develop a thesis statement, create a research paper outline, write a first draft of the research paper, write the introduction, write a compelling body of text, write the conclusion, the second draft, the revision process, research paper checklist, free lecture slides.

Completing a research paper successfully means accomplishing the specific tasks set out for you. Before you start, make sure you thoroughly understanding the assignment task sheet:

• Read it carefully, looking for anything confusing you might need to clarify with your professor.
• Identify the assignment goal, deadline, length specifications, formatting, and submission method.
• Make a bulleted list of the key points, then go back and cross completed items off as you’re writing.

Carefully consider your timeframe and word limit: be realistic, and plan enough time to research, write, and edit.

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There are many ways to generate an idea for a research paper, from brainstorming with pen and paper to talking it through with a fellow student or professor.

You can try free writing, which involves taking a broad topic and writing continuously for two or three minutes to identify absolutely anything relevant that could be interesting.

You can also gain inspiration from other research. The discussion or recommendations sections of research papers often include ideas for other specific topics that require further examination.

Once you have a broad subject area, narrow it down to choose a topic that interests you, m eets the criteria of your assignment, and i s possible to research. Aim for ideas that are both original and specific:

• A paper following the chronology of World War II would not be original or specific enough.
• A paper on the experience of Danish citizens living close to the German border during World War II would be specific and could be original enough.

Note any discussions that seem important to the topic, and try to find an issue that you can focus your paper around. Use a variety of sources , including journals, books, and reliable websites, to ensure you do not miss anything glaring.

Do not only verify the ideas you have in mind, but look for sources that contradict your point of view.

• Is there anything people seem to overlook in the sources you research?
• Are there any heated debates you can address?
• Do you have a unique take on your topic?
• Have there been some recent developments that build on the extant research?

In this stage, you might find it helpful to formulate some research questions to help guide you. To write research questions, try to finish the following sentence: “I want to know how/what/why…”

A thesis statement is a statement of your central argument — it establishes the purpose and position of your paper. If you started with a research question, the thesis statement should answer it. It should also show what evidence and reasoning you’ll use to support that answer.

The thesis statement should be concise, contentious, and coherent. That means it should briefly summarize your argument in a sentence or two, make a claim that requires further evidence or analysis, and make a coherent point that relates to every part of the paper.

You will probably revise and refine the thesis statement as you do more research, but it can serve as a guide throughout the writing process. Every paragraph should aim to support and develop this central claim.

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A research paper outline is essentially a list of the key topics, arguments, and evidence you want to include, divided into sections with headings so that you know roughly what the paper will look like before you start writing.

A structure outline can help make the writing process much more efficient, so it’s worth dedicating some time to create one.

Your first draft won’t be perfect — you can polish later on. Your priorities at this stage are as follows:

• Maintaining forward momentum — write now, perfect later.
• Paying attention to clear organization and logical ordering of paragraphs and sentences, which will help when you come to the second draft.
• Expressing your ideas as clearly as possible, so you know what you were trying to say when you come back to the text.

You do not need to start by writing the introduction. Begin where it feels most natural for you — some prefer to finish the most difficult sections first, while others choose to start with the easiest part. If you created an outline, use it as a map while you work.

Do not delete large sections of text. If you begin to dislike something you have written or find it doesn’t quite fit, move it to a different document, but don’t lose it completely — you never know if it might come in useful later.

Paragraph structure

Paragraphs are the basic building blocks of research papers. Each one should focus on a single claim or idea that helps to establish the overall argument or purpose of the paper.

Example paragraph

George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” has had an enduring impact on thought about the relationship between politics and language. This impact is particularly obvious in light of the various critical review articles that have recently referenced the essay. For example, consider Mark Falcoff’s 2009 article in The National Review Online, “The Perversion of Language; or, Orwell Revisited,” in which he analyzes several common words (“activist,” “civil-rights leader,” “diversity,” and more). Falcoff’s close analysis of the ambiguity built into political language intentionally mirrors Orwell’s own point-by-point analysis of the political language of his day. Even 63 years after its publication, Orwell’s essay is emulated by contemporary thinkers.

Citing sources

It’s also important to keep track of citations at this stage to avoid accidental plagiarism . Each time you use a source, make sure to take note of where the information came from.

You can use our free citation generators to automatically create citations and save your reference list as you go.

APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator

The research paper introduction should address three questions: What, why, and how? After finishing the introduction, the reader should know what the paper is about, why it is worth reading, and how you’ll build your arguments.

What? Be specific about the topic of the paper, introduce the background, and define key terms or concepts.

Why? This is the most important, but also the most difficult, part of the introduction. Try to provide brief answers to the following questions: What new material or insight are you offering? What important issues does your essay help define or answer?

How? To let the reader know what to expect from the rest of the paper, the introduction should include a “map” of what will be discussed, briefly presenting the key elements of the paper in chronological order.

The major struggle faced by most writers is how to organize the information presented in the paper, which is one reason an outline is so useful. However, remember that the outline is only a guide and, when writing, you can be flexible with the order in which the information and arguments are presented.

One way to stay on track is to use your thesis statement and topic sentences . Check:

• topic sentences against the thesis statement;
• topic sentences against each other, for similarities and logical ordering;
• and each sentence against the topic sentence of that paragraph.

Be aware of paragraphs that seem to cover the same things. If two paragraphs discuss something similar, they must approach that topic in different ways. Aim to create smooth transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.

The research paper conclusion is designed to help your reader out of the paper’s argument, giving them a sense of finality.

Trace the course of the paper, emphasizing how it all comes together to prove your thesis statement. Give the paper a sense of finality by making sure the reader understands how you’ve settled the issues raised in the introduction.

You might also discuss the more general consequences of the argument, outline what the paper offers to future students of the topic, and suggest any questions the paper’s argument raises but cannot or does not try to answer.

You should not :

• Offer new arguments or essential information
• Take up any more space than necessary
• Begin with stock phrases that signal you are ending the paper (e.g. “In conclusion”)

There are four main considerations when it comes to the second draft.

• Check how your vision of the paper lines up with the first draft and, more importantly, that your paper still answers the assignment.
• Identify any assumptions that might require (more substantial) justification, keeping your reader’s perspective foremost in mind. Remove these points if you cannot substantiate them further.
• Be open to rearranging your ideas. Check whether any sections feel out of place and whether your ideas could be better organized.
• If you find that old ideas do not fit as well as you anticipated, you should cut them out or condense them. You might also find that new and well-suited ideas occurred to you during the writing of the first draft — now is the time to make them part of the paper.

The goal during the revision and proofreading process is to ensure you have completed all the necessary tasks and that the paper is as well-articulated as possible. You can speed up the proofreading process by using the AI proofreader .

Global concerns

• Confirm that your paper completes every task specified in your assignment sheet.
• Check for logical organization and flow of paragraphs.
• Check paragraphs against the introduction and thesis statement.

Fine-grained details

Check the content of each paragraph, making sure that:

• each sentence helps support the topic sentence.
• no unnecessary or irrelevant information is present.
• all technical terms your audience might not know are identified.

Next, think about sentence structure , grammatical errors, and formatting . Check that you have correctly used transition words and phrases to show the connections between your ideas. Look for typos, cut unnecessary words, and check for consistency in aspects such as heading formatting and spellings .

Finally, you need to make sure your paper is correctly formatted according to the rules of the citation style you are using. For example, you might need to include an MLA heading  or create an APA title page .

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Checklist: Research paper

I have followed all instructions in the assignment sheet.

My introduction presents my topic in an engaging way and provides necessary background information.

My introduction presents a clear, focused research problem and/or thesis statement .

My paper is logically organized using paragraphs and (if relevant) section headings .

Each paragraph is clearly focused on one central idea, expressed in a clear topic sentence .

Each paragraph is relevant to my research problem or thesis statement.

I have used appropriate transitions  to clarify the connections between sections, paragraphs, and sentences.

My conclusion provides a concise answer to the research question or emphasizes how the thesis has been supported.

My conclusion shows how my research has contributed to knowledge or understanding of my topic.

My conclusion does not present any new points or information essential to my argument.

I have provided an in-text citation every time I refer to ideas or information from a source.

I have included a reference list at the end of my paper, consistently formatted according to a specific citation style .

I have thoroughly revised my paper and addressed any feedback from my professor or supervisor.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (page numbers, headers, spacing, etc.).

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

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• Online Guide to Writing

Structuring the Research Paper

Formal research structure.

These are the primary purposes for formal research:

enter the discourse, or conversation, of other writers and scholars in your field

learn how others in your field use primary and secondary resources

find and understand raw data and information

For the formal academic research assignment, consider an organizational pattern typically used for primary academic research.  The pattern includes the following: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions/recommendations.

Usually, research papers flow from the general to the specific and back to the general in their organization. The introduction uses a general-to-specific movement in its organization, establishing the thesis and setting the context for the conversation. The methods and results sections are more detailed and specific, providing support for the generalizations made in the introduction. The discussion section moves toward an increasingly more general discussion of the subject, leading to the conclusions and recommendations, which then generalize the conversation again.

Sections of a Formal Structure

The introduction section.

Many students will find that writing a structured  introduction  gets them started and gives them the focus needed to significantly improve their entire paper. 

Introductions usually have three parts:

presentation of the problem statement, the topic, or the research inquiry

purpose and focus of your paper

summary or overview of the writer’s position or arguments

In the first part of the introduction—the presentation of the problem or the research inquiry—state the problem or express it so that the question is implied. Then, sketch the background on the problem and review the literature on it to give your readers a context that shows them how your research inquiry fits into the conversation currently ongoing in your subject area. 

In the second part of the introduction, state your purpose and focus. Here, you may even present your actual thesis. Sometimes your purpose statement can take the place of the thesis by letting your reader know your intentions. 

The third part of the introduction, the summary or overview of the paper, briefly leads readers through the discussion, forecasting the main ideas and giving readers a blueprint for the paper. 

The following example provides a blueprint for a well-organized introduction.

Example of an Introduction

Entrepreneurial Marketing: The Critical Difference

In an article in the Harvard Business Review, John A. Welsh and Jerry F. White remind us that “a small business is not a little big business.” An entrepreneur is not a multinational conglomerate but a profit-seeking individual. To survive, he must have a different outlook and must apply different principles to his endeavors than does the president of a large or even medium-sized corporation. Not only does the scale of small and big businesses differ, but small businesses also suffer from what the Harvard Business Review article calls “resource poverty.” This is a problem and opportunity that requires an entirely different approach to marketing. Where large ad budgets are not necessary or feasible, where expensive ad production squanders limited capital, where every marketing dollar must do the work of two dollars, if not five dollars or even ten, where a person’s company, capital, and material well-being are all on the line—that is, where guerrilla marketing can save the day and secure the bottom line (Levinson, 1984, p. 9).

By reviewing the introductions to research articles in the discipline in which you are writing your research paper, you can get an idea of what is considered the norm for that discipline. Study several of these before you begin your paper so that you know what may be expected. If you are unsure of the kind of introduction your paper needs, ask your professor for more information.  The introduction is normally written in present tense.

THE METHODS SECTION

The methods section of your research paper should describe in detail what methodology and special materials if any, you used to think through or perform your research. You should include any materials you used or designed for yourself, such as questionnaires or interview questions, to generate data or information for your research paper. You want to include any methodologies that are specific to your particular field of study, such as lab procedures for a lab experiment or data-gathering instruments for field research. The methods section is usually written in the past tense.

THE RESULTS SECTION

How you present the results of your research depends on what kind of research you did, your subject matter, and your readers’ expectations. 

Quantitative information —data that can be measured—can be presented systematically and economically in tables, charts, and graphs. Quantitative information includes quantities and comparisons of sets of data. 

Qualitative information , which includes brief descriptions, explanations, or instructions, can also be presented in prose tables. This kind of descriptive or explanatory information, however, is often presented in essay-like prose or even lists.

There are specific conventions for creating tables, charts, and graphs and organizing the information they contain. In general, you should use them only when you are sure they will enlighten your readers rather than confuse them. In the accompanying explanation and discussion, always refer to the graphic by number and explain specifically what you are referring to; you can also provide a caption for the graphic. The rule of thumb for presenting a graphic is first to introduce it by name, show it, and then interpret it. The results section is usually written in the past tense.

THE DISCUSSION SECTION

Your discussion section should generalize what you have learned from your research. One way to generalize is to explain the consequences or meaning of your results and then make your points that support and refer back to the statements you made in your introduction. Your discussion should be organized so that it relates directly to your thesis. You want to avoid introducing new ideas here or discussing tangential issues not directly related to the exploration and discovery of your thesis. The discussion section, along with the introduction, is usually written in the present tense.

THE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SECTION

Your conclusion ties your research to your thesis, binding together all the main ideas in your thinking and writing. By presenting the logical outcome of your research and thinking, your conclusion answers your research inquiry for your reader. Your conclusions should relate directly to the ideas presented in your introduction section and should not present any new ideas.

You may be asked to present your recommendations separately in your research assignment. If so, you will want to add some elements to your conclusion section. For example, you may be asked to recommend a course of action, make a prediction, propose a solution to a problem, offer a judgment, or speculate on the implications and consequences of your ideas. The conclusions and recommendations section is usually written in the present tense.

Key Takeaways

• For the formal academic research assignment, consider an organizational pattern typically used for primary academic research. 
•  The pattern includes the following: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions/recommendations.

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Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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1 Introduction Scientists initially sounded the warning that human activities were changing the global climate in 1957 (Revelle and Suess, 1957). In the seven decades since, climate science has greatly expanded understanding of the scope, pace, and impacts of climate change on human societies and the natural world. It is now possible to obtain detailed projections of changes in climatic conditions and rising sea levels, build models to estimate economic damages and risks, predict altered flow in major river basins, and analyze health risks due to climate-related hazards over the coming three months (USGCRP, 2024), among a host of ways that science can inform decision-making. The scientific basis of this knowledge is validated by peer reviews, tests of consistency, transparency of data, modeling methods, and reporting procedures, contributing over time to a robust consensus. The salience of climate change as a public issue has also risen (Brimicombe, 2022; Tyson and Kennedy, 2023), contributing to a widening range of decisions made possible by the growing scientific understanding of climate change. Along with scientific consensus, collaboration has increased both nationally and internationally to model and understand the changing climate, collect data on climate changes and their impacts, and develop policies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Following the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the parties to the treaty (Conference of the Parties [COP]) have met regularly; the most recent meeting is known as COP28. At the same time, global climate scientific consensus efforts, most notably culminating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports, have produced assessments of the state of the climate, global contributions to climate change, and standardized future policy and emissions pathways. Within the United States, there is a similar need to coordinate and synthesize the growing body of climate science, both to build scientific consensus and to make it accessible to broader audiences. In 1990, Congress enacted and President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Global Change Research Act (GCRA).1 This statute created the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP, or the Program), an interagency unit in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,2 coordinating and synthesizing climate research in 15 federal agencies. The GCRA mandated that USGCRP organize an authoritative statement of knowledge of global environmental changes, particularly the changing climate. Such a statement, the National Climate Assessment (NCA), has been released five times, most recently in 2023. The NCA has grown greatly over time, starting at roughly 100 pages and growing to about 2,000 pages, further accompanied by supplemental specialized reports and tools. From the outset, USGCRP has developed the NCA with inclusiveness and transparency as core values. By engaging with sources of knowledge across a wide spectrum and sharing sources, data, and modeling assumptions, this approach can enhance the legitimacy of the findings of climate science among those using the NCA. Although the understanding of climate change has grown in both the natural and social sciences, there is only a limited grasp of how this knowledge is informing decision-making (see Moss et al., 2019)—the purpose set out in the GCRA. At the request of USGCRP, this committee was created and charged with developing a framework for evaluating the use of the NCA and related products to inform decision-making. To be clear, this committee is not evaluating the NCA but providing advice to USGCRP, and the evaluators it works with, on how to approach the task of evaluating the use of USGCRP products. 1 Global Change Research Act of 1990, 15 U.S.C. 56, Public Law 101-606, 104 Stat. 3096-3104. 2 The International Climate Councils Network (ICCN) was launched in 2021 as a forum for climate councils around the world. The United States is not a party to ICCN, but USGCRP functions as a climate council to facilitate coordination and provide data, and the Program works with other nations and their climate councils in various settings. Prepublication Copy 9 

10 Developing a Strategy to Evaluate the National Climate Assessment Designing an evaluation in the current context is complex, with different audiences needing different types of information, and with climate change–related information being disseminated through many sources. Creating an evaluation design specifically to measure the impact of the NCA—outcomes of the NCA in terms of who uses the NCA, how they use it, and how it could be more useful—requires considerable thought. This report, accordingly, aims to inform how USGCRP can prepare evaluations directed at improving future national assessments to make them more useful to the very wide audience of people and organizations affected by and responding to a changing climate. EVALUATIONS This section discusses the benefits of evaluation and why this evaluation requires special care. The Benefits of Evaluations Program evaluations seek to provide systematic and objective assessments of the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of programs or interventions (Vedung, 2017). Evaluation provides insights and data to inform decision-making, program improvement, and future planning, as it aims to determine whether and how programs are achieving their intended outcomes. Program evaluation has been used to identify best practices, areas of improvement, and areas where resources could be better allocated; demonstrate accountability to intended beneficiaries, other participants, and funders; and ensure transparency in program implementation. The use of evaluation in federal climate change–related programs has been modest compared with other fields (e.g., health care), but it can play an important role in helping organizations and policymakers assess programs’ effectiveness and impact, including scientific research, collaboration with participants, and providing information to target audiences. Evaluation can also help identify and prioritize gaps in existing research and highlight opportunities to address those gaps to better meet the needs of policymakers and other organizations addressing climate change. Global, scientific, consensus- based efforts, such as the IPCC Assessment Reports,3 have been the subject of a range of formal and informal evaluation efforts, mostly focused on processes leading up to the production of assessment reports, as well as their effects on climate science (O’Reilly et al., 2024; Schulte-Uebbing et al., 2015; Vasileiadou et al., 2011). These evaluations have helped shape improvements in process, presentation, and communication, contributing to the provision of accessible and widely used reports and other products. The NCA has also been the subject of a number of informal evaluations (Jacobs et al., 2016; Meyer, 2011; Morgan et al., 2005; Moser, 2005; NRC, 2007; Parson et al., 2003) and one formal effort (Dantzker et al., 2016); these have provided suggestions for improving the NCA process and products. As reliable knowledge of a changing climate has become increasingly relevant, continuous improvement in the NCA process is increasingly important. At the same time, a targeted effort to understand outcomes and utilization of the NCA among various audiences can support the more effective allocation of resources by USGCRP and its member agencies, and understanding of how better to serve the needs of the Program’s priority audiences and participants. Why This Evaluation Requires Special Care Efforts Related to Climate Change Are Widespread U.S. activities to address climate change are both extensive and diverse, although much of this effort ranges beyond climate science. The president’s budget for 2023 proposed over $5 billion for climate science research, and over $18 billion for climate resilience and adaptation programs (OMB, 3 Through USGCRP and its member agencies, the United States contributes to the worldwide research effort that supports the periodic global assessments of the IPCC (2023; see also NASEM, 2007). Prepublication Copy 

Introduction 11 2022). In a report examining federal funding from 2010 through 2017, the Government Accountability Office (2018) identified 18 programs whose primary purpose is to address climate change and 515 additional programs that included other program goals in addition to addressing climate change. For fiscal year 2017, the programs were spread across 19 agencies. These statistics understate the diversity of federally related activities concerning climate change, since, for example, a single grant program may encompass a variety of grants, each with a particular research design and goal. Additionally, climate change–related activities in the United States are not limited to the federal government, but include state, tribal, local, nonprofit, and business activities. To investigate if and how the NCA is informing these broad investments and efforts, an evaluation would need to consider a wide range of actors, the actions they are undertaking, and the climate information that informs their activities. Actors’ Roles Regarding Climate Change Are Highly Variable Just as many actors are involved in addressing climate change, their roles vary greatly. For example, a federal agency might set national policy, perform or fund research, disseminate information, or carry out activities—such as water management—that rely on climate science information. A nongovernmental organization (NGO) might be involved in disseminating information; it might be taking actions such as planting trees or helping disadvantaged populations; or it might be advocating for policy change. Local city and town officials might be preparing for extreme weather events through better stormwater management or erosion control. The climate information needs and knowledge levels of these actors vary. They may access different sources of information and their intended uses range from increasing awareness to targeted and specific use of climate projections and data. Their interactions with other actors addressing climate change may range from being highly integrated to being relatively isolated. They may or may not be organized to work together and may be centrally located or highly dispersed. These variations have implications for how evaluations may be performed. Some groups will be easier to reach than others, and topics that are highly salient to one group may be irrelevant to another. In light of the variety of users and uses of climate information, USGCRP needs to clarify its objectives and the audiences and participants it seeks to reach, both directly and indirectly. This enables an evaluator, working with the Program, to design an evaluation that takes into account the priorities of the Program and provides useful insights into the outcomes of the NCA. Guidance to inform this design is the objective of this report. Measures of Impact The purpose of the NCA is to provide information to support the needs of a wide range of decision-makers, needs that might include developing policy, mitigating climate change, or improving resilience on local to national scales. Measuring the impact of providing information for such a wide range of uses is difficult. There is no practical way of measuring changes in knowledge of climate change across the vast array of NCA audiences. Moreover, different users will need different kinds of information, so a test that is appropriate for one group might be inappropriate for another. Perhaps the most straightforward quantitative measure of outcomes would be a measure of the number of citations of the NCA, but people might use NCA information without citing it, or may even use NCA information without knowing that the NCA was the original source. As such, it will be important to define the scope of the audiences broadly, not limiting the study to those who are known users of the NCA. Only by including potential nonusers and indirect users can one measure the extent of use of the NCA, and it may be that the data from nonusers are the most important for determining barriers to use. Except for bibliographic searches, an evaluation of the uses of the NCA will largely depend on users’ perceptions and self-reports. Evaluation measures might address topics such as people’s knowledge of the NCA, their ability to access the information they are seeking, and their success in applying the information. Ideally, such measures will capture both direct and indirect use of the NCA (indirect use is Prepublication Copy 

12 Developing a Strategy to Evaluate the National Climate Assessment when NCA information is transmitted and perhaps modified by intermediaries before reaching the ultimate users). The data will be subjective but still informative, more likely to be helpful for program improvement purposes (e.g., in making the NCA more accessible and identifying unreached groups) than for measuring impact. This would be consistent with USGCRP’s interest in continuous improvement. Chapter 3 provides further discussion on different aims of evaluation and concludes; it argues that, based on the statement of task, USGCRP is most interested in an outcome evaluation rather than an impact evaluation. STATEMENT OF TASK The process of generating the NCA has been, from the outset, a conversation between the federal government and the scientific community. In that role, USGCRP has both created and facilitated a network of diverse actors and organizations, which in turn has facilitated information exchanges between researchers and decision-makers, and promoted communication that evolves with each iteration of the NCA. This study is intended to support that continuing conversation. USGCRP asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene an expert committee to prepare an evaluation strategy for examining the uses of the NCA. The statement of task (Box 1-1) for this study is an articulation by USGCRP of important issues that could, if addressed, improve the usefulness of future USGCRP products, as well as illuminate the contributions and challenges of the most recent NCA. The committee sought to respond to each element of the questions listed in the statement of task, as spelled out in Chapter 3. We have articulated an approach to evaluating the NCA that aims to capture its dynamism and complexity, as the nation responds to the challenges of climate change. The committee anticipates that implementing the approach articulated in this report would require working with the Program to help it conduct a self-examination, which is outside of the committee’s statement of task. Based on the committee’s current, limited understanding, USGCRP has developed programming to address many, varied demands for information on climate change, and these have not been prioritized systemically. Over the years, USGCRP has expanded the focus and anticipated audiences of the NCA, so that the original legislative mandate reflects only a small part of what the NCA now delivers. Following are some topics to be examined by USGCRP that constitute necessary groundwork for creating a detailed evaluation design. Some of these might be addressed before hiring an evaluator, and others might be examined with the help of the evaluator. As discussed later in this report, creating a logic model could be helpful in making the Program’s priorities explicit, providing a strong foundation for an evaluation design. In the absence of such groundwork, this report focuses on the statement of task’s request for a strategy that might be used to develop a logic model and evaluation design. • What are the important audiences that the NCA is intended to reach? These should be given priority in the evaluation. The original audiences as specified in legislation are Congress and the president, but a current list of audiences as presented by USGCRP includes federal agencies; state, local and tribal governments; practitioners (including nurses, farmers, adaptation specialists, urban planners, utility managers, engineers, and grant/research funders, and others); NGOs; private and financial sectors; and other decision-makers (such as people buying a home or making investments). The statement of task also emphasizes the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice principles, as well as inclusion of underrepresented groups. These are too many audiences to be adequately covered in a single evaluation. Moreover, these audiences are highly segmented, requiring multiple data collections. Evaluation also may provide information that helps in setting priorities; for that reason alone priorities may change over time. • How is the NCA meant to fit with other resources on climate change? Is it meant to complement the other sources, filling in gaps left by the other sources; provide a comprehensive summary of all sources; provide a tool which others can expand upon; eliminate the need for any other information sources; or some combination of these goals? Prepublication Copy 

Introduction 13 • Is the NCA intended to counteract misinformation about climate change? • What level of training/sophistication is expected on the part of the user? Is the NCA meant to be appropriate across multiple levels of sophistication? • Can the transmission of NCA information through networks be considered a kind of informal partnership, extending the reach of the NCA? Answering these questions will help support the evaluation design in many ways, including helping to establish which audiences to examine, indicating the extent to which data on other sources are needed, determining what kinds of data are needed and what questions to ask audiences, and prioritizing audiences to determine the most appropriate methodologies. BOX 1-1 Statement of Task At the request of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) will establish an ad hoc committee to develop a strategy for evaluating stakeholder use of the National Climate Assessment (NCA) and selected other USGCRP products. The committee will develop criteria to prioritize the stakeholder groups that should be involved in such an evaluation, a conceptual and methodological framework and design for an evaluation, and plans for data collection and other information-gathering activities. The evaluation strategy will be designed to help determine to what extent these products meet decision and informational needs of selected stakeholder groups. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) principles will be considered and incorporated in the evaluation strategy. The committee will not provide a technical review of the assessments. The evaluation strategy will address the following questions: Regarding usefulness • How and to what extent have stakeholders found NCA materials to be useful? What specifically has been useful? • Does the selection of topics, regions, sectors, and level of detail (e.g., time frame, spatial resolution, subsector concerns) in the NCA (and USGCRP products it references as well as related USGCRP products) adequately address the stakeholders’ needs? • What decision or informational needs were well-addressed by the NCA? What decisions can stakeholders make given the level of information provided? Regarding decision making, future needs and missing information/details/tools • What future needs are anticipated? What additional types of decisions (if any) do stakeholders anticipate they would revisit given different topics and/or levels of detail? What information would be required to meet needs that USGCRP is not meeting already? • What decision or information needs did the stakeholders expect would be met by the NCA but were not? • For stakeholders whose decision or informational needs were not met by the NCA and selected USGCRP products, what is the reason? What other products/materials, including other USGCRP and non-USGCRP products, did they use, if any? Stakeholder awareness and engagement • How aware or involved were different stakeholder groups in the NCA development process and how did this influence their use of the report? For stakeholders who were not previously aware of the NCA development process, how did they become aware of the NCA? • How effectively does the NCA development process engage historically marginalized communities and underrepresented stakeholders? • How understandable and navigable is the NCA, including the report documents and findings, and underlying supporting data? Is the NCA information presented in a format that informs decision making? Prepublication Copy 

14 Developing a Strategy to Evaluate the National Climate Assessment Given these ambiguities and unanswered questions, this report does not provide a finalized evaluation design. Instead, consistent with the committee’s charge, it provides a framework (or strategy, as called for in the statement of task) that can be used by USGCRP to work with its evaluator in creating an evaluation design. In addition (as discussed in Chapter 7), different evaluation techniques will have very different costs and timelines. It is not feasible to develop an evaluation design without understanding the available resources that will be allocated to the evaluation. This report focuses particularly on a tool often used in evaluation, the logic model: a systematic account of how an organization, program, or project seeks to affect its audiences and the decisions they make. Although not specifically requested in the statement of task, the committee feels that a logic model can be a key component in developing and interpreting the evaluation. The logic model spells out the intentions guiding the program and forms the basis of an evaluation. An important stage of the proposed strategy, then, is for USGCRP, working with its evaluator, to develop a logic model, followed by the development of a set of questions to be investigated in an evaluation. Guided by the illustrative logic model it developed, the committee proposes—again, only as an example—a set of overarching evaluation questions, which guide the methods and examples developed in succeeding chapters. Appendix C spells out the relationship between the evaluation questions in this illustration and the questions posed in the statement of task. THE COMMITTEE’S APPROACH Several challenges have important implications for how an evaluation can be conducted and what information it might provide: • The NCA’s primary purpose is to inform decision-making, not to conduct original research or to implement public policy. Thus, its outcomes are measured by others’ use of its information. Much of that information is obtained indirectly, as discussed in Chapter 4. • The NCA has many actual and potential audiences.4 Two of these audiences—Congress and the president—are specifically named in the legislation creating USGCRP, but the range of those needing and making use of information on climate science is much larger. The profusion of audiences makes it difficult to develop a comprehensive list. It is also challenging to identify organizations and individuals as are potential but not current users of the NCA; however, their feedback could be important in measuring why some are not using the NCA (e.g., because they view it as irrelevant or inaccessible or are not aware that there is climate science that could be useful to them). • The NCA is operating in a complex environment with many sources of information for decision-makers and the public, some making use of the NCA and others using independent sources. In such an environment, it can be difficult to isolate the impact of the NCA, with some users (especially those who get NCA information indirectly) unaware that NCA is the source of the information they use. For example, both the news media and professional organizations may publish information from the NCA without audiences knowing the source; those receiving the information may attribute the information to the news media or professional organizations. • Particularly for the general public, current events can have a large impact on people’s attitudes and information, including mentions of climate change in political discourse and the 4 The statement of task uses the term stakeholders for these audiences. The committee interpreted this word to refer to audiences and participants with which USGCRP works and seeks to share knowledge. Although commonly used as a synonym, to some audiences the word carries connotations that conflict with the inclusiveness to which USGCRP is committed (CDC, 2022; Reed et al., 2024). The committee prefers to use the term audience in this report, except where stakeholder appears in a direct quote. Other words whose ordinary language meaning overlaps with stakeholder are also used in context, including participant, user, contributor, and partner. Prepublication Copy 

Introduction 15 occurrence of extreme weather events. These can be important drivers of public policy, and they form an important part of the context in which USGCRP operates. • USGCRP expressed interest in using an evaluation to make program improvements, and in making evaluation a continuous activity rather than a one-time event. These goals have implications for what types of data need to be collected and the sequencing of data collection. Given these complexities, the committee determined that a helpful way to study the spread and use of information by multiple audiences is to think of them as a network of networks (Castells, 1996), as discussed in Chapter 4. That is, there are multiple individual networks, such as urban planners or health professionals, that exist across levels of government, NGOs, media, and individuals. These networks communicate information, plans, and strategies to their members. USGCRP both intersects with these networks, such as when they distribute information from the NCA, and seeks to increase its collaboration with them by involving multiple audiences in writing and reviewing the report. Through these networks, the NCA may reach some audiences indirectly without being recognized as a source, such as when a professional organization customizes NCA information to serve its members. Viewing the various audiences as a network of networks helps to frame the study design and provide a method for analyzing the data. Networks and audiences vary greatly in their characteristics, and thus in the feasibility of identifying and engaging them in an evaluation. Some audiences are relatively well-defined and identifiable, such as members of Congress or their staff, or climate programs within federal agencies; others are more difficult to define; still others, such as those not making any use of the NCA, may not be readily identifiable in any systematic manner. For some audiences, case studies may provide instructive data about how audiences interact with climate science information, which could lead to important insights on how USGCRP products could be improved to increase effectiveness. Such studies might also identify unanticipated uses of climate information that require further exploration. Chapter 6 discusses methodologies for evaluating how this might be done with different audiences and the uses that they make of information from the NCA. In sum, audiences of potential users of the NCA may need to be prioritized based on their importance to USGCRP’s goals and on their accessibility, and often will need to be approached through multiple stages of evaluation as information is gathered. The committee discussed at the outset what information it needed to complete its task. Collectively, the committee members brought experience in the development process for NCA; communications, dissemination, and audience engagement; the design and implementation of evaluations; and the use of climate assessments. The committee decided it needed more information on how the previous NCA evaluation was performed, on federal perspectives on the NCA, on NGOs’ use of NCA, and on historically underrepresented groups and the NCA. To obtain such information, the committee heard presentations from and interacted with the following speakers in public sessions: • Mike Kuperberg, Executive Director, USGCRP • Heather Dantzker, Dantzker Consulting, LLC • Allison Crimmins, USGCRP, Director, Fifth National Assessment • Allyza Luskin, USGCRP, member of the NCA staff • Darrel Winner, Environment Protection Agency, member of the NCA steering committee • Dan Barrie, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, member of the NCA steering committee • Juan Declet-Barreto, Union of Concerned Scientists • Ann Marie Chischilly, Northern Arizona University, Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals To address the statement of task, the committee conducted both meetings that were open to the public and closed meetings consisting of committee and National Academies staff only. The first meeting, which was closed, was devoted to discussing both the statement of task and the composition and balance Prepublication Copy 

16 Developing a Strategy to Evaluate the National Climate Assessment of the committee. The second meeting, also closed, examined what is already known about the outcomes of NCA, who the audiences are, what the committee needs to know about the various audiences’ needs, the organization of the final report, and the priorities for information gathering. The third meeting was hybrid, conducted primarily in person but with some virtual participants, and it had a mixture of open and closed segments. The open part of the meeting was devoted to information gathering, with presentations on the previous evaluation of the NCA, federal perspectives on the NCA, and audience perspectives among historically underrepresented groups. The closed portion was devoted to discussions of the preceding presentations and to organizing writing teams and the structure of the report. Between the third and fourth meetings, subgroups of the committee met in closed sessions to work on each chapter. Each committee member participated in multiple subgroups, and all subgroup decisions and processes were shared with the full committee for feedback and to support coordination across the chapters. The fourth, fifth, and sixth meetings were closed, consisting of reviewing drafts of the report, with the sixth meeting devoted to discussing comments received from the external reviewers. OUTLINE OF THE REPORT In addressing its charge to “[design] a strategy for evaluating stakeholder use of the National Climate Assessment and select other USGCRP products designed to help determine the extent to which these products meet the needs of stakeholders to support decision-making” (see Box 1-1), the committee considered the needs and insights provided by USGCRP and other experts in its open session, along with the aims expressed in the statement of task. The statement of task focuses on the users of the NCA, their awareness of and engagement with the NCA products, and the usefulness of the information contained in the NCA for decision-making; this focus critically informed the committee’s recommended evaluation strategy. In addition to recommending an approach to evaluation design, this report identifies critical questions and decisions to be addressed by USGCRP, in order to obtain an evaluation that meets its highest-priority needs for enhancing the accessibility, useability, and appropriateness of the NCA, given its wide range of audiences and users and its goal of informing decision-making. This focus on enabling decision-making was central to the committee’s work, as making information available is not the same as enabling decisions. Decision-making requires useful information—including at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales, in forms that are accessible, useable, and understandable to users; decisions also have important social dimensions that depend on networks of relationships, using shared information to address shared challenges. In the following chapters, this report provides the committee’s approach, aims, and recommendations for a strategy for evaluating the NCA to glean insights and guidance on the users and uses of the current NCA, and to inform development and use of future assessments and other USGCRP products, as part of a cycle of continuous improvement. Chapter 2 provides the overall context for the evaluation, describing the goals of the NCA, how it was created, how it operates, what audiences it serves, how it has grown and evolved over time, and what previous evaluations of NCA have determined. Each NCA is a statement emerging from an ongoing process. The history of the NCA and USCGRP matters: each NCA is an assessment of the current state of climate change, interpreted in light of the evolving priorities of USGCRP and the wide array of participants enlisted by the Program in assembling the NCA. One notable component of that history, and a fundamental theme in this evaluation strategy, is that the audiences making use of NCA have multiplied. Any evaluation of NCA must consider its expanded mission and consider whether and how it is reaching wider audiences, and whether those audiences find it useful. Furthermore, given that the needs of audiences continuously change, a process of ongoing evaluation may be most appropriate to support continuous improvement in the delivery of timely and relevant information to users. Chapter 3 discusses the goals of the evaluation in terms of what types of questions should be answered, presenting an illustrative logic model for identifying the most important factors and how they are intended to produce change, what interconnections appear among these factors, and what outcomes Prepublication Copy 

Introduction 17 are intended and among what populations. For example, what knowledge is the Program trying to share? With whom does it seek to work, both in designing and assembling the NCA and in sharing the assessment? How does the Program believe users respond to the information in the assessment—do they find it salient, accessible, and useful in practice for making decisions? The model offered here is meant to be suggestive but not prescriptive—first, because USGCRP may develop a different logic model, and second, because the data collection and other inputs may suggest other important lines of analysis that were not anticipated when the logic model was initially designed. Based on the logic model, Chapter 3 examines what might be learned from an evaluation, and suggests key overarching questions that, when reviewed and revised in light of a refined logic model, could be the basis for a planned evaluation. As these questions were developed based on the illustrative logic model, they have a somewhat different structure than the questions in the statement of task; a crosswalk between the two sets of questions is provided in Appendix C. Chapter 4 discusses how network analysis can be used to advance the study. As discussed earlier in this chapter, one can picture the audiences for climate science as being diverse in their orientations and needs, with many different research and policy concerns. Collectively, they can be thought of as a network of networks. The science of networks is an evolving branch of applied mathematics that looks at the connections between nodes and how the nodes affect each other. In this way, network analysis can provide a framework in which a wide range of evaluation methods—including, among others, citations of scientific literature, internet-based queries, focus groups, case studies, and surveys—can be brought together to illuminate the networks through which the climate science in the NCA is used, providing a framework for their work and use of the NCA. Understanding networks is also necessary for understanding the full impact of the NCA since networks often act as intermediaries in disseminating and customizing NCA information to the needs of the various audiences. Determining how networks operate and how they shape the knowledge shared through them may be important in measuring the impacts of the NCA. Chapter 5 builds on the earlier discussion of diverse audiences for USGCRP products in order to articulate criteria for determining which audiences should be prioritized. Given that USGCRP is unlikely to have the knowledge or resources required to examine all potential audiences of the NCA, the Program will need to prioritize those audiences for evaluation, based either on their importance for policymaking or on their ability to provide useful information. After identifying priority audiences, an evaluator must determine how to collect data from or about those audiences. Chapter 6 provides guidance for selecting appropriate methods to do so, as well as illustrative examples of how a particular audience might be examined using a suite of methods tailored for that audience. It also illustrates how the overarching evaluation questions might be translated into granular questions that could be used in data collection instruments (i.e., overarching evaluation questions spell out what an evaluation as a whole seeks to learn, while much greater specificity might appear on a survey or interview guide). Chapter 7 discusses some of the practical considerations that appear when designing and implementing an evaluation and discusses the use of evaluation results to guide improvements in the NCA going forward. Chapter 8 brings together the committee’s conclusions and recommendations, as developed in the preceding chapters, in a succinct strategy that USGCRP may follow in designing and implementing an evaluation of the NCA. Evaluating the NCA is complicated because of the many audiences that the assessment can serve in informing decision-making. The guidance developed in this report will require substantial effort and resources from USGCRP, commensurate with its influence and the need for authoritative and reliable climate information as the nation navigates the impacts of a changing climate. Investing in the evaluation of these critical products may hold substantial benefits. The concepts discussed in the chapters that follow can increase the understanding of how the NCA is used, provide information needed to make future assessments more useful, and aid USGCRP in prioritizing assessment-related activities. The committee is grateful that USGCRP recognizes the need for evaluation by requesting this report, and the recommendations advanced below seek to respond to that need. Prepublication Copy 

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is a report produced periodically by the United States Global Change Research Program that takes a comprehensive look at global climate change. Before release, it undergoes intensive review for technical accuracy. What has not been studied in-depth are the users and uses of the NCA, and how the report has informed decision-making. To support evaluation of stakeholder use of the NCA, the National Academies prepared a strategy for creating and implementing an evaluation design that can inform ongoing and future NCAs and related products. This can support a process of continuous improvement.

The NCA serves a large number of audiences, and they vary in their needs and in access to climate information. An evaluation would benefit from understanding how the audiences for the NCA are interconnected through networks and how they use, modify, and transmit information from the report. The evaluation would also benefit by first creating a logic model to describe how the NCA is hypothesized to achieve its intended outcomes. The logic model can then be used to design a set of overarching evaluation questions, and to prioritize which audiences to target in the evaluation. Different research methods will be appropriate depending on the audience and the level of information available about the audience. Such an evaluation, taken in stages, can reveal the impact of federal climate science on decisions across the nation and help the USGCRP address any gaps and frailties in the NCA and related products and how they are communicated in the future.

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How To Write Chapter One Of Research Projects

The outline of a well written Chapter One is supposed to include all or some of the following:

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

1.2 Statement of the Problem

1.3 Objectives or Purpose of the Study

1.4 Research Questions and /or Hypotheses

1.5 Significance of the Study

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study

1.7 Basic Assumptions

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

As can be seen above, the project outline constitutes a huge part of the project proposal and the student researcher just needs to perfect the approved research proposal with the view of using it as the Chapter One. The fact remains that all the other parts that as had been written for the project proposal would still stand, with the inclusion of Operational Definition of Terms. At this stage, it is important to understand and know what is contained under each of the subheadings in the first chapter and these are described thoroughly in this article: –

1.1     Background to the Study

Just as the name means, this section outlines the history of the subject matter under investigation; the evolution of the research problem; how the researcher became fascinated with the problem. He goes on to describe the specific situation surrounding the research problem, using facts from the literature to support various arguments. In this section also, the student researcher tries to ascertain the suitability and feasibility of the study, concluding from the sufficient evidences drawn from the previous literature.

In a nutshell, this is where the student researcher initiates the subject of his investigation using all obtainable evidences and figures to establish its groundwork. Note that even if there is no standard number of pages that this should take, the lengthier and well focused the Background to the Study, the better for a good and solid groundwork for that research being conducted.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

The Problem Statement, as it is otherwise described, is the reasonable conclusion of the problems/issues raised in the Background to the Study. The idea is that while the Background to the Study offers a wider or global perspective/standpoint to the subject matter of the research, the Problem Statement makes assumptions from there and concludes on the specifics as they relate to the specific investigation being conducted.

That is the reason Problem Statement is expected to flow, rather logically, from the Background to the Study; and it is not a good Problem Statement, one that deviates from this; given that they are not expected to be two unconnected entities, as it were. It is nevertheless different from Background to the Study in that it must be stated reasonably briefly and very clearly. All the descriptive components of the Background to the Study would have assisted to allow one go straight for the specifics under the Problem Statement.

This is why experienced project supervisors would mainatain that the Problem Statement should be in the range of one to three paragraphs only. The idea is that the shorter, the clearer; and the clearer the better for the whole process of investigation. In a nutshell, one cannot overstate the need to state the research problem very clearly and accurately, since the entire course of the investigation depends on it.

Therefore, there is no doubt that a satisfactory statement of the research problem is the most important component of a research process. The plain reason for this claim is that the whole process of investigation centers on it and it is typically related to some of the following issues:

• A missing link
• One-sidedness
• An unanswered question.
• An unsatisfactory state of arrangements

Consequently, the Problem Statement offers direction to the rest of the project; signifying and highlighting the major variables of concern to the researcher as well as the exact relationship that exist between them.

1.3     Objectives {Purpose} of the Study

Simply similar to every other component in a research project, the Objectives of the Study is strongly connected to the Research Problem. The former is derived directly from the latter. The Objectives of the Study, which is sometimes described as Purpose, stand for the aims of carrying out the investigation and could be categorized into general and specific.

The general objective describes the overall aim of a research project whereas the specific objective is concerned with the comprehensive list of intentions concerning what the research stands to accomplish at the end of the project. Typically, the specific objectives are stated in the form of declarative statements for example, the statement should start with “to examine”, “to analyze”, “to determine”, “to assess”, “to find out” etc. The Research Questions usually take the form of interrogative statement, the Objectives present the same thing, but in the statement form.

1.4. Research Questions and/or Hypotheses

Typically, these come immediately after the Research objectives because of their strong relationship. They do not just seek to convert the declarative statement of the objectives into interrogative form, but further break down the major problems compressed in the research objectives. As its name implies, Research Questions is presented just like interrogations seeking to create specific relations among the main variables of investigation.

As well, the Research Questions usually serve as the foundation from where the questionnaire items/questions would ultimately be derived. The difference between the two is that the items in the questionnaire offer a further breakdown of each of the research questions to a greater specification. This is to the level that a single research question can turn out the range of between three to five questionnaire items/questions. But the Research Questions are wide in nature, the questionnaire items are typically directed towards the details thereby getting down to more specifics.

In the case of Hypotheses, they are not the same as Research Questions even though they are sometimes used to substitute each other. In other words, it is not unusual to find projects which have both as well as others which have only one of them. Since they are not the same, they are not expected to replace each other. If they stand to do that, then one should be retained and the other disposed of. By this piece of information, one can easily know that it is not necessary that a project should have both; particularly at the elementary level, where in most of the times, the research questions would be okay.

By meaning, a Research Hypothesis is a clear, specific statement whose validity and workability can be tested by means of scientific method. Being a declarative statement of prediction, it tries to determine the relationship or difference that exists between one variable and the other; and to what degree. It is a form of clever guess or supposition regularly derived from the results of previous studies and/or theories originating from the literature. Hypotheses are formulated on the core of any of the areas and objectives listed below:

• To merely describe a occurrence or a statement of fact
• To compare two or more concepts, individuals and places
• To reveal the relationship between variable
• To reveal a cause/ effect situation between variables.

Usually, there are two kinds of hypotheses; basically referring to the way they are stated. They are the Null and the Alternative. While the former is frequently stated in the negative form of “No Significant Relationship” or “No Significant Difference” etc., the latter takes the positive form of statement; such as “There is a Significant Relationship”, “There is a Significant Difference” etc.

The Research Hypotheses specify the fundamental issues relating to the data to be gathered in the process of conducting the study. They serve as a theoretical conceptualization of what the researcher anticipated with respect to his research outcomes. These help him to test and verify his concepts on the basis of which he makes very tangible and reliable conclusions and generalizations. They also assist in sharpening researcher’s focus on the research problem with a view to determining the direction where to find the solution.

Therefore, some of the qualities of a good hypothesis must include that:

• It should be sensible {i.e. clever guesses}.
• It should be in line with known facts or theories.
• It should be constructed in such a manner that it is testable and found to be probably true or false.
• It should be in very simple, unambiguous terms.
• It should be directly connected to the problem of research.
• It should involve very few variables at a time.
• It should be quantifiable {i.e. operationally formulated}.

1.5.    Significance of the Study

It is anticipated that every research project must have something new to contribute to knowledge in that research field, no matter how small. In point of fact, no research should take place if it will not contribute anything to knowledge; as this represents the major feature of all research endeavors.

Consequently, this section is expected to clarify the possible benefits of the research and to whom such anticipated benefits would be meant. All these should be clearly stated. In any way, there is no standard detail as to the number of benefits that a research project should have or its length. It can be arranged sequentially or itemized or paraphrased depending on the person’s method of writing.

1.6.    Scope and Limitation of the Study

The scope of the study basically refers to the level of coverage of the research subject being investigated and the good statement of the problem will act as a helpful guide to doing this. That means, if the problem had been properly stated at the beginning, it helps, certainly, in defining the scope of the research. That is why the scope of the study is partially dependent on the title of the research project. If well formulated, the phrase of the title only does define the scope of the study and possibly, needs a little rider to make it clearer. The limitation of the study represents the things and issues that constituted challenges in the process of investigations.

Consequently, if the scope was concerned with the level of the research’s coverage, then, limitation implies building a fence around the subject of research. This is with a view to creating a foundation for the non-inclusion of certain things in the study for understandable reasons.

1.7.    Basic Assumptions

Even though many student researchers tend to mistake Assumptions with Hypotheses, it is important to state very clearly that they are not the same. We have already discussed about hypotheses; its meaning and significance in a research project. However, Assumptions are only mere statements, which are frequently, not subjected to any testing. They are, more or less, ordinary statements that are taken for granted. They cannot replace the Hypotheses; yet, they tend to duplicate the Hypotheses, because they are fairly similar.

It is because of these reasons that a lot of research experts have suggested that if the study has hypotheses, then assumptions would no longer be needed. For a study with Research Questions only nevertheless, it is suitable to have assumptions, to act as a guide towards the achievement of the research objectives.

Assumptions are typically itemized while the number varies.

1.9     Operational Definition of Terms

This section of the Chapter one (introduction) is used to offer a kind of working definition to all the concepts, which would be operationally used in the course of the research. The notion is that there are some terminologies, which have been “adapted” and so utilized restrictively for the purpose of the research project.

This implies that such terminologies would mean something somewhat different from the one adapted under a different circumstances; therefore the name Operational Definition of Terms. In defining terms operationally, individual concepts/words to be so defined are recognized and then itemized. Thus, operational definitions are typically given in such a manner that will imply that they are not the usually accepted as standard definitions but those peculiar to the study in specifically. This section typically comes last in the introductory chapter.

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Low Latency Inference Chapter 1: Up to 1.9X Higher Llama 3.1 Performance with Medusa on NVIDIA HGX H200 with NVLink Switch

As large language models (LLMs) continue to grow in size and complexity, multi-GPU compute is a must-have to deliver the low latency and high throughput that real-time generative AI applications demand. 

Performance depends both on the ability for the combined GPUs to process requests as “one mighty GPU” with ultra-fast GPU-to-GPU communication and advanced software able to take full advantage of the multiple GPUs. By splitting the calculations of each model layer across the available GPUs using a technique called tensor parallelism in tandem with advanced algorithms like speculative decoding, token generation latency can be reduced, delivering an interactive user experience. 

For very low latency Llama 3.1 serving, cloud services can use a full NVIDIA HGX H200 server, each incorporating eight H200 Tensor Core GPUs and four all-to-all NVLink Switch chips. Each GPU within the server can communicate at the full 900 GB/s bandwidth to any other GPU via NVLink Switch. High GPU-to-GPU fabric bandwidth is required to keep multi-GPU communication from becoming the bottleneck in interactive use cases.

To efficiently implement optimization algorithms on NVIDIA H200 HGX systems, NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM is used. TensorRT-LLM is an open-source TensorRT library that delivers state-of-the-art inference performance on the latest LLMs using a variety of techniques, including tensor parallelism and speculative decoding.

Upcoming TensorRT-LLM optimizations, including the improvement of a speculative decoding algorithm called Medusa, provide outstanding low latency performance on Llama 3.1 70B and Llama 3.1 405B of 268 tokens/second/user and 108 tokens/second/user, respectively on HGX H200.

Medusa boosts token generation by up to 1.9X on NVIDIA HGX H200

Transformer-based LLMs are auto-regressive, meaning that tokens need to be generated sequentially, limiting throughput per generation step to just one token. Typically, during LLM inference, the rate at which a single token is generated depends on how quickly model weights are loaded into memory. This means that the workload can leave the substantial Tensor Core capabilities of H200 GPUs underutilized. 

Speculative decoding is a technique that increases token generation throughput per token generation step by using a “draft model” to try to predict multiple subsequent tokens beyond the next token. The target LLM then “batches” the prediction candidates and validates them in parallel with the next token, making more effective use of available parallel GPU compute resources. If any candidate sequence is accepted by the original LLM, multiple tokens are generated in the generation step and therefore accelerate token generation. 

Medusa, described in this paper , is a speculative decoding algorithm that uses the original model as the draft model, avoiding the system complexity and distribution discrepancy of using a separate draft model. This technique employs additional decoding “heads”, called Medusa heads, to predict candidate tokens beyond the next token. Each Medusa head generates a distribution of tokens beyond the previous. Then a tree-based attention mechanism samples some candidate sequences for the original model to validate. The number of parallel candidate sequences is called the draft length and the average number of tokens accepted per generation step is the acceptance rate. A greater acceptance rate increases overall token generation throughput. 

With Medusa, an HGX H200 is able to produce 268 tokens per second per user for Llama 3.1 70B and 108 for Llama 3.1 405B. This is over 1.5X faster on Llama 3.1 70B and over 1.9X faster on Llama 3.1 405B than without Medusa. Although there is variability in the Medusa acceptance rate between tasks depending on how the heads are fine-tuned, its overall performance is generalized across a wide range of tasks.

Medusa heads for both Llama 3.1 70B and Llama 3.1 405B were trained using the NVIDIA TensorRT Model Optimizer integration with NVIDIA NeMo framework. The Medusa head training used a frozen backbone, ensuring that use of Medusa yields identical accuracy to the base model.

NVIDIA full-stack innovation never stops

NVIDIA HGX H200 with NVLink Switch and TensorRT-LLM already delivers excellent real-time inference performance on popular and most demanding community models. To continue improving user experiences and reduce inference cost, we relentlessly innovate across every layer of the technology stack – chips, systems, software libraries, algorithms, and more. 

We look forward to sharing future updates on our low latency inference performance as both our platform and the LLM ecosystem advances. 

Related resources

• GTC session: Accelerated LLM Model Alignment and Deployment in NeMo, TensorRT-LLM, and Triton Inference Server
• GTC session: LLM Inference Sizing: Benchmarking End-to-End Inference Systems
• GTC session: AI/ML Speech Recognition/Inferencing: NVIDIA Riva on Red Hat OpenShift with PowerFlex
• NGC Containers: NVIDIA MLPerf Inference
• NGC Containers: Llama-3-Swallow-70B-Instruct-v0.1

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Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-warnings-from-democrats-about-project-2025-and-donald-trump

Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald Trump

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

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• Data library

New York City Rental Report: Rents Continue To Increase in July 2024

• In July 2024, the median asking rent in New York City registered at $3,421, increasing by $73, or 2.2%, compared with a year ago.
• The median asking rent for 0-2 bedrooms in the city was $3,322, reflecting an increase of $72, or 2.2%, from the previous year, while rent for 3-plus bedroom units declined by $262, or 5.0%, compared with July 2023, reaching $4,996 .
• While the median asking rent in Manhattan continued to decrease at an annual rate of 2.0%, rents in relatively affordable Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx continued to rise, indicating stronger demand in more affordable areas.

In July 2024, the median asking rent for all rental properties listed on Realtor.com® in New York City was $3,421. In contrast to the overall declining trend seen across the top 50 markets , the median asking rent in New York City continues to rise annually, increasing by $73, or 2.2%, compared with a year ago. Although New York City was one of the rental markets that saw the steepest rent declines during the COVID-19 pandemic, its median asking rent rebounded to pre-pandemic levels by spring 2022 and has continued to rise annually since then. As of July 2024, the median asking rent in New York City was $413, or 13.7%, higher than the same time in 2019 (pre-pandemic). 

Figure 1: Rents Continue To Increase in New York City–July 2024

Higher demand seen in affordable smaller units

There was greater demand for smaller rental units with 0-2 bedrooms compared with those with 3 or more bedrooms in New York City. In July 2024, the median asking rent for 0-2 bedrooms in the city was $3,322, marking an increase of $72, or 2.2%, from the previous year. Meanwhile, the median asking rent among larger units with 3-plus bedrooms fell to $4,996, experiencing a year-over-year rent decline of $262, or 5.0%, compared with July 2023.

Figure 2: Rents by Unit Size in New York City–July 2024

Table 1: New York City Rents by Unit Size–July 2024

Higher demand seen in relatively affordable boroughs

In July 2024, the median asking rent for all rental units in Manhattan was $4,489, down $91 or 2.0% from a year ago. It was the 13th consecutive month of annual declines, and rent was $362 (-7.5%) below the peak seen in August 2019.

Additionally, in July 2024, Manhattan’s median asking rent was still $171 (-3.7%) lower than its pre-pandemic level, suggesting a relatively lower demand in this most expensive borough, perhaps indicating an ongoing willingness of workers to commute and leverage flexible working arrangements to find housing affordability, as Realtor.com previously found in the for-sale market .

In fact, to afford renting a typical home in Manhattan without spending more than 30% of income on housing (including utilities)—the standard measure of affordability—a gross household income of $14,963 per month, or $179,560 per year, is required.  

Unlike the cooling rental market in Manhattan, the three relatively lower-rent boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens saw rents continue to increase yearly. Among these three, Queens saw the fastest annual rental growth in July, where the median asking rent reached $3,380, up $256 or 8.2% from the same time last year. It was the highest rent level seen in our data history and was $967 (40.1%) higher than five years ago. 

Meanwhile, the median asking rent in the Bronx increased by 7.7%, or $226, to $3,175 from a year ago. It was the second-highest rent level seen since March 2019 and was $1,202 (60.9%) higher than five years ago.

In Brooklyn, the median asking rent increased by 3.5%, or $124, on an annual basis, to $3,718 from a year ago. It was also the highest rent level seen in our data history and was $916 (32.7%) higher than five years ago. 

To afford renting a typical home in these three boroughs while adhering to the 30% rule of thumb, the gross monthly household income required for tenants in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx was $11,267, $12,393, and $10,583, respectively, or annual income of $135,200, $148,720, and $127,000 .

Figure 3: Rents by Borough in New York City–July 2024

Table 2: Rents by Borough in New York City 

Note: Data for Staten Island is currently under review.

Methodology.

New York City rental data as of July 2024 for all units advertised as for rent on Realtor.com®. Rental units include apartments as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). We use rental sources that reliably report data each month within New York City and each of its boroughs. Data for Staten Island is currently under review.

Realtor.com began publishing regular monthly rental trends reports for New York City in August 2024 with data history stretching back to March 2019.

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Writing up a Research Report

• First Online: 10 November 2021

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• Stefan Hunziker 3 &
• Michael Blankenagel 3  

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A research report is one big argument how and why you came up with your conclusions. To make it a convincing argument, a typical guiding structure has developed. In the different chapters, distinct issues need to be addressed to explain to the reader why your conclusions are valid. The governing principle for writing the report is full disclosure: to explain everything and ensure replicability by another researcher.

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Barros, L. O. (2016). The only academic phrasebook you’ll ever need. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

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Früh, M., Keimer, I., & Blankenagel, M. (2019). The impact of Balanced Scorecard excellence on shareholder returns. IFZ Working Paper No. 0003/2019. Retrieved June 09, 2021, from https://zenodo.org/record/2571603#.YMDUafkzZaQ .

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Hunziker, S., Blankenagel, M. (2021). Writing up a Research Report. In: Research Design in Business and Management. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34357-6_4

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34357-6_4

Published : 10 November 2021

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Online ISBN : 978-3-658-34357-6

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