Ed. Ross Woods, 2022, '23. With thanks to Duncαn Κοεrbεr
Can you answer ‘Yes’ to the following questions?
Note: This check list is helpful but not comprehensive. As it is quite difficult to appraise your own work, it will probably be most useful as a discussion guide with a colleague or supervisor.
| Title | ls the title clear and unambiguous and no more than about ten words? | |
|---|---|---|
| Does it accurately reflect the content? | ||
| ls it concise? | ||
| Abstract or summary | ls the abstract a succinct overview? Does it follow the prescribed formula? |
|
| Does it state the purpose of the project and the methods to be used? | ||
Will it sellthe project to the reader? |
||
| ls it less than one page long? | ||
| Background, context or rationale | Have you demonstrated your awareness of relevant literature, policy, theory or practice? | |
| Have you explained how your project will contribute to literature, policy, theory or practice? | ||
| Will the reader be convinced that your project is relevant, important and timely? | ||
| Aim and objectives | Do your stated aim and objectives support your research question? | |
| Does the aim comprise a high level statement about what you wish to explore? | ||
| Are the objectives specific and narrowly focused? | ||
| If possible, are your objectives SMART? | ||
| Is the thesis statement or argument very clear so that reviewers won’t need to guess at what you're trying to say. | ||
| Is the thesis statement or argument close to the evidence in the paper? | ||
| If you are testing an hypothesis … | Have you stated both the research and the null hypotheses? | |
| Are you confident that you will be able to conduct the necessary statistical analysis to test the hypothesis? | ||
| Literature review | Have you examined an appropriate selection of relevant literature e.g. scholarly, policy, in-house? | |
| Have you demonstrated that you are aware of key themes, theories, methods and issues relevant to your project? | ||
| Methodology | Have you explained your methodology and justified your choices? | |
| Have you described your methods of data collection? Are they clear enough for someone else to replicate your research? | ||
| Have you planned your data collection tools and a way of pre-testing or validating them? | ||
| Have you described your methods of analysis? | ||
| Conclusions | ||
| Have you stated your conclusions clearly and succinctly? | Are your conclusions supported by the evidence? | |
| Have you compared your results to existing research? | ||
| Have you mentioned possibilities for further research? | ||
| Presentation | ||
| Have you chosen the right journal, in both subject matter and methodology? | Have you edited the article so that it flows well? Have you proofread it thoroughly? | |
| Have you complied with the journal's style guide and length requirements? |