Research Reports, Organization of

Style Guidelines and Organization

Different forums for communication research specify particular styles to organize material. Generally, academic journals and books in the social scientific tradition (e.g., research on interpersonal communication, organizational communication, media studies) employ the style guide of the American Psychological Association (APA), whereas those skewing toward the humanities (e.g., rhetorical studies, critical-cultural communication) adopt the guide of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the Chicago Manual of Style. These distinctions are not watertight. For instance, several studies of interpersonal communication might take on a more humanities hue and use MLA or Chicago style, and there are several outlets that accept only one specific style for all submissions (regardless of epistemology) or are open to all styles. While the styles have distinct instructions on micro-aspects of writing research (e.g., headings, citations), they have in common a broad commitment to making a clear argument.

The type of publication also influences the organization of research. For instance, in literature reviews, the emphasis is on highlighting how extant scholarship has covered an issue, usually on the basis of an underlying theme. This thematic arrangement prevents a haphazard listing, or even a purely temporal order that might falsely suggest a simplistic linear progression of research, but allows a more nuanced understanding to how scholarly understanding of the topic developed. This thematic arrangement also makes the literature review more relevant and accessible to readers, who might not be aware of the complete history of the topic.

On the other hand, empirical studies synthesize past scholarship to further their main goal of presenting new findings and arguments. Empirical research includes textual and rhetorical analysis, interviews with participants, surveys, focus groups, ethnography, social network analysis, and analysis of secondary data sets—or a combination of these. The research report begins with a broad introduction to the goals of the study, then reviews existing literature and/or theoretical frameworks, details the methods used to collect and analyze data, presents the study’s findings, and concludes by discussing its implications. While this format is arguably more common in social scientific projects, humanist research also adopts a similar argument frame, with slight modifications—for instance, the methods of data collection and analysis might be less prominent, or blended with preceding discussions of theory and extant scholarship.

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