TECHNICAL WRITING GUIDELINES

The Research Proposal

 A plan on how the study will be undertaken
 It describes the steps that will be followed in the conduct of the study from
problem identification to data analysis
 Like a map, it serves as a guide fro the researcher in the implementation
of the study
 Includes the first three chapters (1,2,3) of a research paper
 Written in the future tense
 Printed and submitted before the oral presentation and defense
 Characteristics of a well-written proposal:
o Clear, Complete, Persuasive, Flexible

The Research Report

 Written to present the results of the study
 It includes the first three chapters and the last two chapters (1,2,3,4,5) of a
research paper
 Written in the past tense
 Must be presented in a research colloquium
 Printed and bounded at the University Book Center before submission
 Submitted as a requirement for the course

o Preliminary Section or Pages

 Title Page
 Approval Sheet (only with research report)
 Acknowledgement (only with research report)
 Abstract (only with research report)
 Table of Contents
 List of Figure/s
 List of Table/s
 List of Appendices

o Text or Body
 Chapter 1 – THE PROBLEM
 Introduction
 Theoretical and/or Conceptual Framework
 Research Paradigm
 Statement of the Problem
 Hypothesis/es
 Significance of the Study
 Scope and Limitations
 Definition of Terms
 Chapter 2 – REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
 Introduction
 Body (by theme or topic)
 Summary or Conclusion
 Chapter 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 Research Design
 Research Setting
 Respondents and Sampling Procedure
 Data Gathering Instrument/s (to include validity and
reliability process)
 Scoring Procedure/s
 Data Gathering Procedure
 Statistical Tools

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  Chapter 4 – PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
 Descriptive Analysis
 Inferential Analysis
 Chapter 5 – SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
 Summary of the Study Findings
 Conclusions and/or Implications
 Recommendations

o End Section or Reference Materials

 Bibliography
 Appendices
 Curriculum Vitae

 Technical Writing Aspect

o Style and format follows the American Psychological Association
(APA) and the XU format
o Font type Century Gothic or Arial, font size 12
o Double spacing
o Margins – (left, top, bottom) 1.5 inch, (right) 1.2 inch
o Justify the paragraphs, indention 1 tab or on the 4th line
o Capitalization of words only for: title of the study, preliminary section
headings, chapter headings, end section headings
o Do not “bold” the words in the text, except for the preliminary
section headings, chapter headings and paragraph titles, end
section headings
o No underlining of words
o No italizing of words in the text, except for run-in quotations (which is
written in single space)
o Preliminary Section Headings and Chapter Headings in the middle
of the page
o Paragraph titles in the left part of the page
o Page numbers of Preliminary Section follow small roman numeral
format and are written at the bottom center of each page
o Page numbers of the Body and References Sections follow Arabic
format and are written on right top portion of each page
o No page numbers on the title page and the first page of each
chapter
o Always use the 3rd person pronoun (we, you and I are not allowed)
 Title Page/Cover Page
o Includes the title of study, the requirement headings, name of
school, the course on which the paper is a requirement (Nursing
Research for the proposal – Bachelor of Science in Nursing for the
research report), the names of the researchers in alphabetical
order, and month and year of submission
o Title must be written as much as possible in one line; but when more
than one line is needed, it follows the inverted pyramid format, not
more than 20 words
 Approval Sheet
o Provides space for signatures of the research mentor or adviser, oral
defense panelists, research instructor, and college dean, indicating
their acceptance of the final research report
o Also includes the title of the study and the date of final defense
o Written in one page only

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 Acknowledgement
o Researchers express appreciation and gratitude for the assistance
and help they received in the conduct of the study
o Must be expressed simply, sincerely, and tactfully
o Written in 1 ½ - 2 pages only
 Abstract
o A brief descriptive summary of the research report, from the
problem to the results of the study
o Must be written in 1 ½ - 2 pages only
 Table of Contents
o Lists all parts of the report and their corresponding page numbers
o Only the beginning page number of each part or chapter is
indicated
o No use of dots (……………..)
o The wording, capitalization, and punctuation of titles and headings
must be consistent with what is written exactly in the text
 List of Figures/Tables/Appendices
o Indicates the number and title of all figures, tables and appendixes
used in the study and the page numbers where they are found
o Figures, tables and appendixes should be numbered consecutively
throughout the text
 Bibliography
o List in alphabetical order all the bibliographical sources used in the
study
o Authors are grouped according to: Books, Periodicals and Journals,
Internet Sources, Electronic Journals, Unpublished Materials (e.g.
theses or dissertations), and Other Documents (e.g. manuscripts,
manuals, handbooks, government papers etc).
o Follow format, see sample
o All sources/authors used in all chapters must be cited with complete
bibliographical entry
 Appendices
o Indicates all the other materials used in the study but are not found
in the text or chapters
o Arranged using letter of the alphabet (e.g. Appendix A)
o Each material serves as a support to the paper
 Letters (e.g. asking permission to conduct the study)
 Consent Form, Cover Letter
 Questionnaire or Instruments
 Statistical Formulas and/or Print out of the Statistical
Computations, Pictures,
 Curriculum Vitae
o Personal information about the researchers
o Must be brief (one page per member only) and informative(do not
include non-relevant information)
o Picture of each researcher, if included must be formal

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