Research and Publishing Guidelines - What I Need to Know

I want to do research… what do I need to know?

1

Do an initial review of your question to see what has been done in the past. Begin with a general idea and search for some relevant information using tools such as Google Scholar or some of the sites listed.

Use as specific a term as possible! For example, use K-12 education rather than education if you are interested in information related to schools.

2

Knowing how to read research articles is an important step to doing and implementing research. Several articles and websites provide guidance to non-academics and how they might approach research articles. These articles are readily accessible through these links:

The Three Pass Method

This article by Keshav (2016) outlines a practical three step review of research articles. At every pass, readers are encouraged to keep notes and to write questions that may be answered in subsequent passes. It has been used as a university course handout. https://web.stanford.edu/class/ee384m/Handouts/HowtoReadPaper.pdf

How to read and understand a scientific paper: a guide for non-scientists by Dr. Jennifer Raff (2016)

The article provides a checklist of how to approach scientific articles as well as advice on the steps to take before an article is read. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/05/09/how-to-read-and-understand-a-scientific-paper-a-guide-for-non-scientists/

Researcher Life

This website, although geared towards researchers, provides valuable insight and approaches to reading research to determine its relevance and utility. This approach is important in relation to literature reviews. https://researcher.life/blog/article/read-research-papers-quickly/

How to Read a Research Article

  1. A more thorough approach to reading a research article by Dr. Diane Hudson‐Barr (2004)
  2. Link to document is here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1088-145X.2004.00070.x

3

Following some preliminary reading and before any further research is designed, it is necessary to understand the ethics regarding research.

  1. Research must be conducted ethically and with care for the participants and researchers.
  2. The Tri-Council Policy Statement 2 (TCPS2) provides the expectations for conducting research with people and is the standard used in Canadian universities. School authorities are also responsible for ensuring that research conducted in schools is ethical. Sign in and take the TCPS2 Core module on ethical research.
  3. See https://tcps2core.ca/welcome

4

Copyright and Fair Dealing

  1. Written text, artwork, music, etc. are generally copyright protected. The owners of the original work decide how their work will be displayed or published. As educators, we are expected to adhere to Canadian copyright laws.
  2. For information about using copyright protected material, follow these links:
    1. Fair Dealing Canada – https://fair-dealing.ca/

5

Citations and Publication Standards

It is common for educational research to be presented in the American Psychological Association (APA) publication format. The latest publication manual (American Psychological Association, 2020) presents expectations for formal publishing like formatting a report, citing appropriately, writing style, use of tables and figures, references and publication processes. The APA 7 manual is the standard for publishing. One website that offers excellent guidance to this approach is Purdue University (see https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/index.html).

6

Work with a team!

Doing research is challenging at the best of times. There tends to be greater likelihood of completing and implementing research when it is done with a group of people who are interested in the same or similar questions.