How to write a Research Paper

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The workshop on “How to write a research paper” is intended to deliver the essentials of a research paper. What motivated to a project of this manner is the witnessing of the daily struggle of the undergraduate and postgraduate associates. Conclusion is, though every scholar has sharpened their minds for researching, majority of them lacked in the process of converting ideas into letters and words. Through the delivery of this workshop, we have managed to cater this need successfully by providing instructions and resolutions to all the queries directed by participants. Ultimatum of this project is gifting uncountable number of high standard articles to the research community.

 

Prof. Dushantha K. Jayakody accepted our invitation for the resource person and shared his expertise with participants from all around the world. Prof. Dushantha K. Jayakody is the head of the school of postgraduate studies at Sri Lanka Technological Campus and an associate professor at the school of Computer science and Robotics, National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia.

Due to the prevailing pandemic situation in Sri Lanka, the workshop was forced to be held virtually. As a result, we were able to reach all corners of the earth. Gaining attention of more than 1000 participants from all around the world.

 

Publicity strategies

The main publicity strategy was sharing information about the workshop via social media platforms. Flyers were consistently posted and shared starting on 07/11/2020 (14 days prior to the date of workshop) and the sharing of a series of memes is confirmed to be unique and highly efficient.

 

With the help of the coordination team, we made calls and notified more than 30 universities and IEEE student branches all around Sri Lanka, and we managed to contact universities and IEEE branches all around the world bringing the total count near to 100.

Registration of Members

Registration links were attached to the flyers and sent to IEEE branches and universities around the globe via emails, meanwhile these flyers were shared on social media platforms as well. (especially those facilitating IEEE members).

With the registration links we were able to obtain contact information, a brief idea about the participants and expected content to be covered in the workshop.

Registration accepting window was closed on 17/11/2020 12.00 am, giving birth to a 3-day countdown via emails, delivered to the registered participants.

Link for the virtual event was sent out on 20/11/2020 via emails.

 

There was section in the registration form where the participants could forward their questions about the webinar, we addressed all of the questions as an FAQ document which was sent out to the participants via an email, as soon as we initiated this process it came out to notice that among the provided email addresses, there are incorrect addresses as well. So, we reached out to those participants to obtain correct information over the phone.

At the point of conclusion, the count of the number of registered participants had reached more than two thousand. Most registered participants were of the Sri Lanka Technological campus, followed by the university of Sabaragamuwa and Peradeniya.

A 100 plus foreign head count enabled this project to reach new heights. Most of the participants were from the Indian institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli and Russia’s Tomsk Polytechnic University along with participants from institutes in United Kingdom, Australia and Bhutan

With a 1000 plus participant count, virtual workshop proceedings were commenced on 6.30 pm (21st of November 2020). With the opening done by Mr. Manodya Nabadawewa, the moderator, proceedings were handed on to Mr. Leslie Uduwavidane who took the responsibility of welcoming the gathering.  Session was then rested upon the hands of Prof. Dushantha Jayakody marking the initiation into workshop content, then it was followed by the QA session and the vote of thanks by Project Chairperson Mr. Sasya Senarath.

 

 

QA session

At the very end of the proceedings, a QA session was held. We were able to address those inquiries by forwarding them to the speaker.

Below are few of the inquires we received on the QA session,

 

·        “If a student submits an article and is accepted in a journal or a congress (Indexed in a scientific database as Scopus), what is the process to follow to get help from the university for the payment of the article?”

-Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) Russia /Cristian Gallardo

 

·        “What is the difference between a research paper, Review article and thesis? What should be included in them?”

-Ramathi LPU India

 

·        “I have encountered a topic named 'Literature Review' in some publications and have seen discussion based on other publications in it. Could you please deliberate the usage of "literature review" in a paper?”

-University of Moratuwa/Amila Premakumara

 

·        “How shall we maintain the flow of the paper and how should we stick to hypotheses? And when we use reference papers should we request the permission to extract parts?”

-Gimila Chandula/University of Peradeniya

 

·        “I am currently conducting a research on Swarm algorithms in prevention of COVID-19. I am unable to conduct practical’s physically. As there are less amount of literature reviews to be found under this novel topic, I am trying to present the framework along with some stochastic geometry and algorithms. Is it possible to provide a framework or a design study and continue presenting the developments of the same survey in another paper? Is appendix acceptable in IEEE research papers?”

-Fathima Minza/SLTC

 

We were able to address 14 questions within the session itself alongside with the above, and the rest we responded back to the participants via email.

 

Backup Plan 1

The weather conditions were not ideal for a virtual webinar on the 21st of November 2020 at 6.30 pm, therefore multiple backup plans were in place and Backup Plan number 1 comes into action when the main host’s internet/electricity or other key factor fails. When this plan is in place, a standby person takes control over the session handling all technicalities.

 

Backup Plan 2

There was a certain limit of the number of participants we can admit to the zoom platform. And the possibility of arising of connectivity issues in participants’ side is also taken into account. If any error had occurred, Backup Plan 2 is activated. A Facebook Live was already in progress, if we cannot admit more participants into the zoom platform, they would be directed to the Facebook Live.

 

Post Session Feedback Form

A feedback form alongside with a note of appreciation were sent via email to all the participants soon after the workshop. At the point of finalizing this document, we have received a response count closer to 100.  

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6.30 p.m. – Start

6.35 p.m. – Moderator’s opening speech

6.40 p.m. – Welcome speech by Mr. Leslie Uduwavidane 

6.45 p.m. – Guest lecture by Prof. Dushantha Jayakody

8.05 p.m. – Q & A session

8.25 p.m. – Vote of thanks by Webinar Chairman

8.30 p.m. – End

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