ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY (COL MBA/MPA Programme) *** Standard Guidelines for Writing a Research Article The

main sections of most research articles are given below: Abstract Introduction Literature Review/Related Information and Research Model Methods Results Discussion and Managerial Implications Limitations and Future Research Appendices Here are the main purposes of each section, and what you should focus your attention on in each.

Abstract
The abstract succinctly introduces the paper. We advise that it should not exceed 100 150 words. The abstract is conceptually divided into three sections. Background: include here a statement of the main research question. Methodology/Principal Findings: include here the techniques used without going into methodological detail, together with a summary of the most important findings with key numerical results given, with measures of error and not just p values. Conclusions/Significance: concisely summarize the studys implications. Please do not include any citations in the abstract. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible.

Introduction
This section provides several important features of a research article. It is advised that you may typically provide some background to the topic (e.g., why this is an important topic, worthy of investigation), as well as the purpose of the study. You may also provide a justification for actually conducting the study. You may also identify to who the results of the study may be of interest. This section also typically includes the research questions and/or hypotheses. In some research articles, you may also find sections discussing any limitations or delimitations to the study and definitions of any important terms.

Literature Review/Related Information and Research Model

This section provides a summary of research already conducted on the topic. Its purpose is to convey to a reader the historical context of the topic, any trends experienced by the topic, and how theory on the topic has informed practice of the topic (and vice versa). However, a literature review is more than just an annotated study-by-study summary. It is a well-organized, cohesive "essay" that flows smoothly in order to create a sound view of research and discover on the topic over time. In action research articles, this is also the

section where you will likely find discussions of additional information gathering, or reconnaissance. You also provide dialogue about additional sources of information that helped to frame your action research study. You should focus on the description of the situation or problem, and explanation of why the problem has occurred and how the study will potentially address it.

Methods
Arguably, this is the most crucial section in an empirical research article. This section allows the reader to essentially judge the quality of the research that was conducted. The methods section recounts the specific details of exactly how the study was conducted. Included in this section, some subsections described the participants in the study, the specific instruments used to collect data, the procedures used to collect data, and how the data were analyzed. You can learn a great deal about how to conduct sound research by studying methods sections of high quality research articles. At the same time, you should also be able to identify weaknesses of research studies by the details provided (or not provided) in methods sections of other articles.

Results
This section contains the findings that have resulted from the analysis of collected data. In this section, you may use tables or figures to support your discussions of analytical findings. This section of your research article includes usually the quantitative studies which may be briefer (depending on the nature and number of research questions). If you feel intimidated by the use of statistical terminology, or by the use of statistical symbols and analytical results, try to focus your attention on the sentences provided in the article that describe those statistical findings (in words, not in numbers). This is essentially that you explain and interpret of your statistical results. The information in the results sections should be parallel according to your research questions and/or hypotheses.

Discussion and Managerial Implications

In this section (which also sometimes called the "Discussion" or "Implications" section) you will focus on the summarization of your research results, draw salient conclusions, and tie your study back into the body of literature (that was reviewed earlier in the article). You may also provide discussion of both practical and theoretical implications, as well as make recommendations for extending research and advancing knowledge on this particular topic. Furthermore, you did not allow to "going beyond" of your data and results. In other words, your studys conclusion should follow logically from its findings.

Limitations and Future Research

This section containing your research limitations regarding sample data, selected variables, research design or any other information which should be the part of your research but you did not mention. This section also gives direction for future in which the research can be take place.

References
Only published or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Meetings abstracts, conference talks, or papers that have been submitted but not yet accepted should not be cited. There are several possible ways to organize this section. However, you are required to mention references in APA (American Psychological Association) style.

Appendices
This section contains questionnaire, tables and figures which are the part of your research article.