Research Studies
According to Creswell (2014), writing is a way of thinking. Creswell highlighted some of the most important strategies which can be used by anyone intending to write. Two strategies which Creswell described are voice, tense, and “fat”, and improvement of the readability of the manuscript.
Voice, Tense, and “Fat.”
Creswell pointed out that although it is important to focus on the paragraphs and broad thoughts, one should not forget the importance of good grammar, word choice, and sentence construction. Good grammar, selection of appropriate words, and well-constructed sentences improve the reader’s ability to understand the written work. Creswell highlighted the importance of choosing the right tenses. According to Berg and Latin (2004), tenses can be a bit confusing when writing a research proposal because different parts require the use of different tenses. For example, a literature review is written in past tense, while hypothesis, purpose, limitations, and methodology are written in future tense. Wolcott in Creswell (2014) suggested that honing editorial skills include eliminating unnecessary words, scaling down of qualifiers, avoiding overused phrases, and considering using active voice instead of passive voice. Wolcott further added that a writer should avoid excessive use of italics, quotations, and parenthetical comments. Creswell also suggested that apart from using strong verbs which are appropriate to the passage, one should also be careful about the tenses of the verbs used. Another suggestion highlighted in his discussion is the need to revise the draft several times so as to “trim fat.” By “trimming fat”, he meant the elimination of unnecessary words.
Readability
Creswell (2014) also stressed the need to write a proposal which is readable. He then suggested that one should enhance the readability of the proposal so that other people can find it easier to read and understand the contents. He stated that some of the ways which can be used to enhance the readability of a proposal included staging and foreshadowing of ideas, using consistent terminologies, and building coherence into the plan. Tarshis in Creswell (2014) suggested four different types of narrative thoughts which can be used to guide the reader and include little thoughts, umbrella thoughts, big thoughts, and attention/interest thoughts. Kumar (2011) also pointed out that content determination (discussing relevant information to include in the text) and discourse planning (overall organization of what to be presented) are important aspects of the well written proposal. He also pointed out a writer should employ sentence aggregation, lexical choice, and realization (p.184).
References
Berg, K.E., Latin, R.W. (2004). Essentials of Research Methods in Health, Physical Education, Exercise Science, and Recreation. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. London: SAGE Publications.
Kumar, E. (2011). Natural Language Processing. New Delhi: I.K. International Publishing House.
