HOW TO PUT TOGETHER A RESEARCHPAPER
RESEARCH PAPER CONTENT
• Title Page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Review of literature/Background
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References
HOW TO FORMULATE YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION
• See information on topic of interest from authoritative sites such as the World Health Organization
(WHO), Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
• Find review papers to build a foundation on what information is out there
• Formulate Questions:The PICO Format
• Once the important relationships have been identified, these relationships need to be expressed as focused
questions. Focused questions in the evidence analysis process generally include the following elements:
• (P) Population with a specificproblem
• (I) Intervention, procedure, or approach (for example,the type,amount,or timing of Medical Nutrition
Therapy)
• (C) Comparison intervention (other approaches tocare)
• (O) Outcome ofinterest
• Incorporating these four elements is referred to as the “PICO” format.
Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
HOW TO FORMULATE YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION: PICO FORMAT
Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
POOR QUESTIONS VS GOOD QUESTIONS
• Questions should be specific enough to focus our search for applicable research, but broad enough to
not overly limit the scope of the literature search. For instance:
• Poor questions:
• Is a one-shot motivational interviewing session effective for reducing after-school soda consumption among
teens? (too specific)
• Is Medical Nutrition Therapy effective? (too broad)
• Good questions:
• How effective, in terms of weight loss and maintenance, are low carbohydrate diets (defined as <35% kcals from
carbohydrate) in healthy adults?
• What is the relationship between consuming nuts and the risk of coronary heart disease in patients with
hyperlipidemia?
• Always explicitly include the population of interest in the question.
Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
TYPES OF QUESTIONS IN EVIDENCE APPRAISAL
1. Diagnosis and Screening: Is a nutrition related problem or condition present? How do youdetermine
when and how the problem is treated?
• Is there a validated questionnaire that can be used to determine readiness for nutrition intervention and
behavior change for adults with weight issues?
• Among overweight and obese adults, what factors indicate who should be screened for metabolic
syndrome?
2. Natural History and Prognosis: What is the progression of the nutrition related problem prior to
and after diagnosis?
• What risk factors have been associated with the onset of unintentional weight loss in nursing home
residents?
Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
TYPES OF QUESTIONS IN EVIDENCE APPRAISAL
3.Therapy,Prevention and Control, Performance Improvement [Treatment/Intervention]: What action is effective
in a givensituation?
• For a patient with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, what distribution of carbohydrate maintains normoglucose throughout the
day? Should lower carbohydrate be recommended at breakfast?
• For asymptomatic adults with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), what is the most effective intervention
for reducing serum LDL-C: access to US Dietary Guidelines for Americans, MNT for hyperlipidemia provided bya registered
dietitian, or physician-provided dietary advice?
• What is the probability of cardiac decompensation for heart failure patients with and without sodium restricted diets?
4. Etiology, Causation, Harm: What is the potential for positive and/or negative consequences of a specific aspect of
nutritional care (or its absence)?
• Is the recommendation for healthy adults to increase fish consumption associated with mercury? Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
QUESTION FORMULATION ISAN ITERATIVE PROCESS
• Questions should not be too specific, and not too broad, but“just right.”
• Of course, as the evidence analysis proceeds, the expert panel and evidence analysts may
find that a question is answered by an unmanageable amount of research and needs to be
narrowed down to the most relevant and important aspect of the overall question.
• Alternatively, the evidence analysis team may find that there is simply not enough
research to answer a particular question and so the question may need to be broadened
or refocused.
Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
PARTS OF THE RESEARCH PAPER
TITLE PAGE
• Make sure to include a title page which contains:
• Your title/research question
• Your name
• Your school
• Title of the Course
ABSTRACT EXAMPLE
• The following is an example how
the abstract section should be
formatted in your paper. This
example is from an article in the
Journal of Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics.
ABSTRACT EXAMPLE
• The following is an other example
how the abstract section should be
formatted in your paper.
Pediatrics. 2008 Apr;121(4):766-76. doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-0054.
Growth and nutrient intakes of human milk-fed preterm
infants provided with extra energy and nutrients after
hospital discharge.
INTRODUCTION
Societal Context
Prevalence of Problem
Knowledge Gap
Purpose Statement
Research Questions
Coccia PPT
INTRODUCTION
• Societal Context – the environment of people that surrounds something’s creationor
intended audience. Social context reflects how the people around something use and
interpret it.The social context influences how something is viewed
• Prevalence of Problem – how prevalent is the problem that you arestudying
Coccia PPT
INTRODUCTION
• Knowledge Gap – defines the gaps in the literature and how your study
will help to fill this gap. Not being done before is not enough of an argument
to justify conducting a research study so get creative and look at
interventions or area of research that may be similar to yours
Coccia PPT
INTRODUCTION
• Purpose Statement – this is a broad statement that underlines what
you are trying to do with your study. This should summarize the specific
topic or goals of your paper
• Research questions – these are specific questions that you are asking
within the context of your study
Coccia PPT
REVIEW OF LITERATURE/BACKGROUND
• Set up history of topic
• Review articles or meta-analysis of topic
• Clarity of subject matter (key terms/definitions)
METHODS
• In this section, you explain how you found your articles.
• See next slide for example of how to document your search plan in table format (Be sure
to title and number the table, as well as explain what is described in the table with a brief
statement written above the table):
Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
METHODS: INFORMATION TO INCLUDE
• Sample
• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Number of participants
• Research design
• Longitudinal
• Cross-sectional
• Research Instruments
• Survey
• Laboratory
• Focus groupsCoccia PPT
METHODS: HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR METHODS WITH A TABLE
• This is an example of a template which can be used
for the methods section (though not necessary. See
other way to put together methods in the next
slide)
• Make sure to include what was done in the study
and the study population
• Make sure to number (Table 1,Table 2) and title
the table
• Keep limitations of the study out of this section
(Limitations can be included in the discussion).
Focus only on what procedures were done in the
study
Methods
The following table explains the methods for the five
primary articles analyzed in this review.
Table 1:The effects of food advertisements on the
weight status of children aged 2-7 years
Evidence Analysis Manual 2012
OTHER WAY TO PUT TOGETHER THE METHODS SECTION
• The methods section can also be written in a paragraph format, separating the discussion of the methods
of each study by using the author’s name. This helps to explain the methods in a more organized format.
• For example:
Methods
Kim et al.
*discuss methods of this study*
Yi etal.
*discuss methods of this study*
RESULTS
• The results should answer the research questions.
• Provide a paragraph describing results of each presented article
• Describe statistics
• Pure results that pertain to your research question
Abel PPT
DISCUSSION
• This section should include:
• Heading for discussion (Title)
• Compare and contrast the research articles
• Overall summary of the reviewed research articles. Was youe research question answered by
these articles?
• Gaps in the research
• Overall strengths of the research articles
• Overall weaknesses of the research articles
• Needed future work in the field (discuss further practice and research implications)
CONCLUSION
• This section should include:
• Summary of objectives and approach of the paper
• Restate the purpose of the paper
• Summarize the major findings of the paper
• Important implications of the paper’s findings
• Recommendations based upon the review of the research articles
CITATIONS
• The citation style for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style.
General Formatting for Reference Lists:
• References should be listed in the order that they appear in the academic work.
• References should be single-spaced within each listing and double-spaced between each listing.
• List the authors’ names in the order that they appear in the published source.This order is determined by their role
in the research described in the article. Do not list the names alphabetically.
• When listing an author’s name, use the last name first, followed by the first and middle initials.There is no comma
after the last name, and no commas, spaces, or periods between first and middle initials.
• With the exception of the first word and proper nouns, the title of an article should be in all lowercase letters.
• Include up to 6 authors.
• For more than six,provide the names of the first three author and then add et al.
JAND CitationPDF
CITATIONS CONT.
General Formatting for Reference ListsCont.
• For journal titles,use the NLM catalog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals) to look up the NLM TitleAbbreviation,which
is used in the reference.
• For example: In a reference, Journal of Pediatrics and Mother Care would be abbreviated as J Pediatr Mother Care (note that the journal
should be italicized as well in the reference).
• One-word journal titles are written in full. Examples: Pediatrics, Cancer,Diabetes.
• Periodical and book titles are italicized and capitalized.
• For periodicals, there is no space between the year, the volume, or the pagenumbers.
• Page numbers are always written as "257-259", not "257-59."
• Web site material that is only online (i.e. not an online version of a journal or other print publication) should include author or
organization, the title of the page, the URL, and the access date.The title should not be italicized.
• Publication and update dates, and access dates for Internet sites cited must be included. For example: Smith J. Risk Factors for Cancer.
Cancer Risk FactorsWeb site.http://www.cancerriskfactors.gov .Published December 1,2000.Updated January 15,2008.Accessed
February 1,2008.JAND CitationPDF
CITATION EXAMPLES
Scholarly JournalArticles
• Basic Format
• Author AA.Title of article.Title of Journal.Year;Volume(Issue):Pages.
• Example
• Seagle HM, Strain GW, MakrisA,Reeves RS.Position of theAmerican DieteticAssociation:weight
management.JAm DietAssoc.2009;109(2):330-346.
Books
• Basic Format
• AuthorAA.Title of Book.Publisher City,Publisher StateAbbreviation: Publisher;Year.
• Example
• Whitney E,Rolfes SR.Understanding Nutrition.12th ed.Belmont,CA:Wadsworth;2011JAND CitationPDF
CITATION EXAMPLES
Chapter in a Book
• Basic Format
• Author AA of the book chapter. Chapter title. In: Book author(s). BookTitle. Place of publication:
Publisher; year of publication: page number(s) of chapter.
• Example
• Solensky R. Drug allergy: desensitization and treatment of reactions to antibiotics and aspirin. In:
Lockey P,ed.Allergens andAllergen Immunotherapy.3rd ed.NewYork,NY: Marcel Dekker; 2004:585-
606.
JAND CitationPDF
CITATION EXAMPLES
Government Publications
• Basic Format
• Author.Title.Publisher City,Publisher StateAbbreviation:Publisher;Year.
• Example
• U.S.Department ofAgriculture and U.S.Department of Health and Human Services.Dietary Guidelines forAmericans,2010.7th Edition.
Washington,DC: U.S.Government Printing Office;2010.
Websites
• Basic Format
• AuthorAA.Title of article.Name of web site.Web site url: .Publication month date,year.Access month date,year.
• Example
• DeNoon DJ. FDA Panel Opposes New Type of Diabetes Drug.WebMD Web site. Available at:
http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20110719/fda-panel-9-6-no-vote-on-new-typediabetesdrug. Published July 19, 2011.Accessed August 19,
2011.JAND CitationPDF
