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HOW AN OUTPUT OF A RESEARCH PROJECT SHOULD LOOK LIKE?

HOW AN OUTPUT OF A RESEARCH PROJECT SHOULD LOOK LIKE?. Karel Janda Institute of Economic Studies (IES) Charles University Prague , Czech Republic. Goal of the research project. The goal is to produce a research paper that could be shared with others .

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HOW AN OUTPUT OF A RESEARCH PROJECT SHOULD LOOK LIKE?

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  1. HOW AN OUTPUT OF A RESEARCH PROJECT SHOULD LOOK LIKE? Karel Janda Institute of Economic Studies (IES) Charles University Prague , Czech Republic

  2. Goal of the research project • The goal is to produce a research paper that could be shared with others. • The aim is to convey your own original contribution and thus generate new knowledge. • BUT how to get there?

  3. Golden rule of writing • How to write a good research paper? Write a sequence of papers! • Start writing before you are “ready”! • Proceed step by step • 1. Write a literature survey paper • 2. Write a descriptive paper • 3. Finish with research paper including elements of 1 and 2. • Do not try to do all at once “when you are ready”!You will run into unexpected problems and end up empty handed.

  4. The steps towards a good research paper • Have an approximate idea what you want to write about • as covered in your Research Proposal Example: Government financial support to rural development in a low income transition country. • Start writing before you are “ready”! • Write down the first sketch of your ideas Example: Compare the cost of credit subsidies and guarantees. • Find relevant books and articles • Browse and read some; they will lead you to new sources • Update your ideas for your project • Write down the second sketch of your ideas Example: Incentive problems in provision of credit guarantees and subsidies

  5. The survey paper • Start writing before you are ready! • Write the literature survey paper based on: • Initial sketches of your argument • Comprehensive review of literature • international (western) literature • other transition, developing countries experience • local literature • 5 to 10 pages should be enough • Do not say: • There in nothing written about my topic. • Search for applicable and similar papers.

  6. Your comparative advantages • Local knowledge = your comparative advantage • Keep it down to earth • collect the descriptive information about your topic in country and region • use local language sources - government reports, statistics, newspapers, studies • if possible compare approaches in different comparable countries in your region • Example: K. Janda, M. Cajka: Czech and Slovak Agricultural Financial Institutions, IES WP 84, 2005 • Make original contribution by merging international theory and local knowledge and data

  7. The first draft of description • Start writing before you are “ready”! • Write the first draft of the descriptive paper: • Remember your comparative advantages • Be aware that information which may be obvious to economists in your country and industry, may be helpful contribution to international literature. • Typically it could be 15 to 25 pages long Example: Brokes, G., Donhauser, F., and Janda, K.: The Effectiveness of Agricultural Credit Market in the CR, Research Paper, PAU of Czech Ministry of Agriculture, 1996

  8. Getting ready! • Work on theory – think about applications of theoretical models to the specific situation in your country • Start writing before you are “ready”! Example: Janda, K. Credit Rationing Under Asymmetric Information and the Fund of Guarantees for Agriculture and Forestry, CERGE-EI WP 70, 1994

  9. Now you are ready! • Finish the project = write final paper by • integrating theoretical contribution with • the policy relevant institutions in your country • adding a conclusion • writing an introduction • doing all the formal technicalities Example: Janda, K. The Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Budget Cost of the Czech SGAFF, IES WP 86, 2005. • Note good ideas for the related research projects! • Example: SBC and bankruptcy in Janda, K., Bankruptcy Procedures with Ex Post Moral Hazard, IES WP 61, 2004

  10. Time management • Where to find a time to do it all? • Synergize: • your research topic should be related to your other work • use it for dissertation/qualification for higher degrees • write more than one masterpiece “when you are ready” • write a number of smaller papers “before you are ready” and submit them and present them at various forums

  11. Sequence of research output • Scientific output should undergo a “testing procedure” as • discussion paper • working paper, • part of project report • chapter in book (takes longer to publish) • peer-reviewed journal articles (takes very long to publish) • Different outlets for your output • electronic versions, hard copy versions, • ISBN (books), ISSN (journals) helpful

  12. Technical details of a paper • Complying with the formal standards is a must! • Ideally, use a software package to do it (e.g. EndNote = bibliographic software, or LATEX family) • Otherwise you need to do it manually. • See examples on the following slides

  13. Front page of paper • [Title] The Comparative Statics of the Effects of Credit Guarantees ... • [Author] KAREL JANDA* • Abstract • We compare the effects of government credit subsidies ... • Keywords: Transition, Credit, Subsidies, Guarantees. • JEL Classification: D82, G28, P31 [see www.aeaweb.org] • Acknowledgements: • The work on this paper was supported by the research project of • the Czech Ministry of Education, grant number MSM 0021620841. • *Department of Microeconomics and Mathematical Methods, • Charles University, Opletalova 26, CZ–110 00 Prague • E-mail: Karel-Janda@seznam.cz.

  14. Typical structure/content • Theoretical paper (Comparative Statics of …) • 1 Introduction • 2 The Model • 3 The Solution of the Model • 3.1 Lump-sum Guarantees • 3.2 Interest Rate Subsidies • 4 Conclusions • Appendix - The Solution of the Asymmetric Information Problem

  15. Typical structure/content • Empirical paper, • e.g. Janda, Munich: The IIT of the CR in the Economic Transition • 1 Introduction • 2 Czech Trade in Transition • 3 Structure of the Czech Trade • 4 Measurement of IIT • 5 Empirical Results • 6 Conclusions • Convenient automated features: LATEX - table of contents, • references, titles, KEEPING UNIFIED STRUCTURE, not forgetting references

  16. Don’t bother with formatting • @TECHREPORT{Janda_2005WP, • AUTHOR = "Karel Janda", • TITLE = "The Comparative Statics of the Effects of Credit Guarantees and Subsidies", • INSTITUTION = "{IES FSV UK}", • TYPE = "Working Paper", • NUMBER = "82", • ADDRESS = "Prague, Czech Republic", • MONTH = "", • YEAR = "2005“} • Karel Janda. The comparative statics.... Working Paper 82, • IES FSV UK, Prague, Czech Republic, 2005. • Janda, K. (2005). The comparative statics.... Working Paper 82, • IES FSV UK, Prague, Czech Republic.

  17. References • References • [1] Chinneck, J. W. How to organize your thesis. • Carleton University, September 1999. • [2] Hamermesh, D. S. The young economist’s guide to professional etiquette. Journal of Economic Perspectives 6, 1 (Winter 1992), 169–179. • [3] Levine, J. Writing and presenting your thesis or dissertation. • Michigan State University, September 2005. • [4] Qaim, M. Guidelines for writing academic papers in • agricultural economics. University of Hohenheim, August 2005. • [5] Thomson, W. The young person’s guide to writing economic • theory. Journal of Economic Literature 37, 1 (March 1999), 157–183.

  18. Good ideas for “thinking about” • “Thinking about it” stage • do not eliminate ideas too quickly • write down your ideas • set a realistic goal • set time lines • try a preliminary study • Tailor your study. Ask some of the following questions: • what will the paper be used for? • by what channels will it circulate? • who are all the people, who may read your text? • what is their educational background? • what are your readers concerned with? • what are their goals, values, needs, constraints? • how will you make it easy for busy people to read and use? • what are the most effective arguments and approaches to raise interest • among your readers and convince them? • what objections might your readers raise?

  19. Good ideas for writing • Writing stage • begin writing with sections you know the best • read papers by others before you begin Examples:http://ies.fsv.cuni.cz Economics Education and Research Consortium (EERC) http://www.eerc.ru/ • introduce tables in the text, present it, describe it • write real conclusions and implications - don’t restate findings • make your Suggestions for Further Research meaningful • use “we” form instead of “I” form • minimize footnotes • Abstract, Introduction, Conclusions - really important parts

  20. Introduction, Conclusion, Abstract • Introduction • explain the topic of the paper and put it into a broader context • clearly state the paper’s objective • emphasize the importance of your contribution • name the concrete research questions • mention the methodological approach and data sources • give a short overview of the structure • Conclusion • summarize • raise questions for further research • Abstract • your audience reads it to decide whether to read the paper

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