WRITING THE PRELIMINARY PAGES OF A GOOD RESEARCH PROJECT IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

1. WRITING THE PRELIMINARY PAGES OF A GOOD RESEARCH PROJECT IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Olupona Akin UNICEF WASH Consultant, Isoko South LGA, Delta State

2. Introduction • For a research to be termed acceptable (to research coordinator or project supervisor), the preliminary pages of the work must be all encompassing and concise enough to make great meaning.This paper will attempt to discuss the preliminary pages in a research project. • Preliminary pages are those write ups that come before the chapter one of every project or research work

3. Introduction • Standard preliminary pages has the following features in these chronological order: • Cover page • Declaration • Certification • Dedication • Acknowledgement • Table of contents • Abstract

4. Cover Page of the Research Work • The cover page of a research page is the first page of the work which contains: • The full topic of the project work. • The case study of the project/research work. • The researchers/student’s name, starting with the surname and registration number. • The institution of study. • The year and month the project work was completed. • The above specifications must be done with block letters.

5. Sample of Cover Page • APPRAISING THE ROLES OF AN ACCOUNTANT IN LOANS AND CREDIT CONTROLS MANAGEMENT • (A CASE STUDY OF THE UNITED BANK OF AFRICA PLC, LAGOS BRANCH (2009-2011) • A RESEARCH PROJECT • BY • OKORO MOHAMMED BOLA • 10/PG/CE/BSC/DBA/100 • SUBMITTED TO • THE FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION • UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA • ENUGU STATE. • IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION • NOVEMBER, 2015.

6. Declaration of the research work • Every research work must be deemed original and void of plagiarism. • To this effect the declaration is more of an affidavit stating in clear terms that the work is an original work and was not copied from any source.  • In declaring that the work of a researcher is original, it has to be done with his full names and the full names of the researcher observer or project supervisor who guided him through the research work and the date the research was concluded.

7. Sample: Declaration of the research work • DECLARATION • I declare that this project on “appraising the roles of an accountant in loans and credit controls and management” is an original work done by me under the supervision of Dr. A.A. Akai, faculty of business administration, university of Nigeria, Nsuka. • OKORO, MOHAMMED BOLA.                    

8. Certification of the research work • As the name depicts, certification of a research work is just a confirmation that the work or research was actually embarked upon by a researcher. • In drafting certification of the research work, it must be with full names of researcher beginning with surname followed by other names, the registration number, space for the name date and signature of project supervisor and finally a space for the name, signature and date of the external supervisor where necessary.        

9. Sample: Certification of the research work • CERTIFICATION • This is to certify that this research work on “appraising the roles of accountants in loan and credit controls and management was carried out by OKORO, MOHAMMED BOLA; with the registration Number: 10/PG/CE/BSC/DBA/100. • We examined and found it acceptable for the award of postgraduate diploma in Business Administration, University of Nigeria, Nsuka. • Dr. A.A. Akai: ………………………………………………………………. • Signature ………………………   Date…………………………………… • Supervisor/head of accounting department • Dr. W.S. Ugwu: ………………………………………………………………. • Signature ………………………   Date…………………………………… • Coordinator, post graduate diploma • Business administration

10. Dedication of the research work • Dedication is one of the preliminary pages of a research work. • It has to do with dedicating the complete work to loved ones or people the researcher hold in high regard

11. Sample: Dedication of the research work • DEDICATION • This research project is dedicated first to “THE ALMIGHTY GOD” for his enabling strength he bestowed on me in completing this work. • Secondly to my wonderful wife Mrs. Okoro Mohammed Bola

12. Acknowledgement of the research work • This is where the researcher appreciates people who contributed directly or indirectly in the actualization of the project work. • Acknowledgement in a research work takes into cognizance, the project or research supervisor for availing his time to making your work a success, the relations or loved ones for morally and financially supporting the researcher through this work and other people he/she may have in mind for what they did towards their direct or indirect contribution to the success of the work

13. Sample: Acknowledgement of the research work • ACKNOWLEDEGEMNT • I am most grateful to God Almighty, the sole provider of knowledge, wisdom, love, mercy and grace for his protections throughout the period of the programme. I sincerely appreciate my supervisor, Dr. A.A. Akai who offered timely criticism and corrections that led me through the various stages of this project. • I appreciate my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Afika Akara, my siblings and friends for their unquantifiable love and financial assistance during this period. • May God bless you all in Jesus name, Amen

14. How to Write an Abstract? • Writing an abstract is an important phase in the research process; hence in-order to make good grades with in research project and impress readers, one must be familiar with the techniques of writing a good, concise and standard abstract. • An abstract in simple terms is a summary of a research project, thesis, dissertation, research journal etc. • Abstracts are usually seen at the beginning of research paper. • In-order to write good and standard abstract, students must first know how abstracts should be structured and things to avoid when writing one.

15. Structure of a Standard Abstract • Most well written abstracts by outstanding researchers all over the world are structured as follows: • Overview of the study/Background • Methods • Results or Findings • Recommendations and Conclusion • In details, see them one after the other

16. Overview of the Study • This is usually the first part of an abstract. • It depicts the central focus of the study. • When writing an abstract, students should know the central idea behind their study. • This section is very important as it tells readers whether to continue reading or not. • In essence when giving an overview of the study, the researcher should make it concise and interesting enough to encourage readers to read your whole work. • Researcher must ensure readers easily get a clue of what the research objectives are as well as problems motivating the researcher to pick up interest in the study.

17. Methodology • Methodology employed by the researcher constitutes the second part of an abstract. • With a semi-paragraph or a sentence, the researcher state research methods. • This is where the researcher briefly let readers know the data collection methods, research instruments employed, sample size and so on. • To some extent depending on the institution’s research project format, the researcher can state how the research instruments were validated and distributed (i.e. was it face-to-face distribution? or through email?).

18. Results • The third section of an abstract is a brief summary of the key findings or results. • Findings or important results recorded in the study must be briefly stated in the abstract

19. Recommedations/Conclusions • The last section of most abstracts tells readers recommendations or suggestions made by the researcher. • This section is the most important section in an abstract as it brings out the essence of research which is solving identified problems, developing better ways of doing things and adding to the body of knowledge

20. Things to avoid when writing abstract • In-order to present a good abstract for academic award(s), the following should be observed by the researcher: • Avoid Ambiguous Words and Complex Grammar • Remember an abstract is like a tip of the iceberg. • Complex and ambiguous words/sentences may discourage readers from reading the full content of research. • Using keywords at the end of an abstract may help in letting the readers know the central theme or idea of the study.

21. Things to avoid when writing abstract • Do not Lose Focus: when writing an abstract, the researcher should go straight to the point. • He should not beat about the bush. • Definition of terms, long stories that are not interesting may make abstract too lengthy and boring (it is better to leave all definitions and stories for introduction). • Avoid Lengthy Abstracts: abstracts are meant to be brief and concise. • The researcher should avoid writing numerous pages and calling it ‘Abstract’. • An ideal abstract should be on a single page. • However, if the researcher wish to write more, he should seek the advice of his/her supervisor first.

22. Things to avoid when writing abstract • Avoid Writing Abstracts before completion of Study: this particular point one is of great interest. It has been found out that students write abstracts before completing their research studies, this calls for questioning. • How did they get findings and recommendations before data analysis and interpretation? • An abstract is meant to be a summary of the entire work; hence it should be after the work has been conducted.

23. Sample of an abstract • ABSTRACT  • This study was intended to evaluate the extent to which strategic planning affects organizational performance. • The study was guided by the following objectives; to identify the various components and phases of strategic planning used in company ABC, to find out other factors affecting organizational performance other than strategic planning and to find out the relationship between strategic planning and organizational performance.   • The study employed descriptive and explanatory design; questionnaires in addition to library research were applied in order to collect data.

24. Sample of an abstract: contd. • Primary and secondary data sources were used and data was analyzed using statistical package which was presented in frequency tables and percentage. The respondents under the study were 30 employees of ABC, DEF branch. The study majorly focused on phases and components of strategic planning and how they affect the organizational performance.   • The study findings revealed that there is lack of information gathering, where strategic planning does not begin with collection of the necessary information, there is strong review of the past performance where by past performance is considered to make the strategic plans.

25. Sample of an abstract: contd. • Pearson correlation coefficient is 0.692 significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed), 0.00 indicates the significance of interaction between two variables an indication that the significant is under the range of 0.0 and 0.05.   • Using the above findings, it implied that there is a strong relationship between strategic planning and organization performance. According to the study, strategic planning contributes 69.2% towards performance in banking services and this implied that other factors contribute 30.8%.  Improvements should be made in the information altering systems and information should be gathered first before making the strategic plans.  Company ABC should involve all the employees in decision making so as to improve on the performance.

26. Thank you