Guidelines for Writing
Accounting and Auditing Research Papers

The following guidelines represent an accumulation of information from various authors, professors and my own experience. I generally emphasize four main areas when reviewing research papers: ideas, organization, format, mechanics and wording. A discussion of each of these areas is presented below.

Ideas

This area includes both the thesis (main idea) of the paper and the support (points, examples, details) for the thesis. All points should be clearly related to the thesis - no unnecessary padding. No necessary points should be overlooked.

Thesis - The thesis, or main idea, of your paper should make an assertion about your topic. In exploratory research papers, the thesis (often called the "purpose of the paper") identifies the specific area which your paper is exploring. Thesis statements (or statements of purpose) should be:

Specific enough to address all relevant issues within the paper, but broad enough to provide interesting coverage.
Explicitly identified early in the paper.
Explanatory, analytical, more than mere description

Motivation - The motivation may be explicitly stated or implicit in your introduction. Make sure your reader understands why (s)he should care about this paper, why it matters, and to whom it matters?

Body of the paper - The majority of your paper should be dedicated to providing support (evidence) for your thesis. You are responsible for using a variety of tools including rational argument, evidence, logical reasoning, etc. to lead your reader to a particular conclusion about the assertions contained in your thesis. When presenting this support for your thesis, remember:

Externally obtained support (quotes or paraphrases of other authors) is often necessary, but not sufficient evidence for your thesis. Your analysis or explanation is important to provide a contextual framework, credibility, and link this support to the thesis.
When part of your paper involves a review of the related literature (see organization section), it is more important that you demonstrate your ability to synthesize and analyze the literature. This may involve identifying similar paradigms, research methods, consistently unanswered questions, etc.

Organization

In writing for business, it is common to use a "standard" organization for research papers. The purpose of using this standard is to increase the accessibility of the paper to readers or evaluators. Obviously, you are not bound to this organization if it does not accomplish this purpose for your subject.

General Framework - Recall that your paper is attempting to lead the reader to your conclusions. Assuming your ideas (see previous section) are in good shape, the paper's organization is a primary determinant of whether you can accomplish this task. A well organized paper provides an unobstructed, clear path to your conclusions. These organizational techniques are common:

Use clearly labeled section headings and subheadings.
Identify the sections of the paper in the introduction.
Ensure that the sections are logically ordered (i.e. that it makes sense for one section to precede or follow another).
Use transition statements to reinforce the logic of the section ordering.
Omit any sections that are not relevant to your paper (parsimony).
Include all items that are relevant to your paper (completeness).

Subdividing the paper - Your paper will be subdivided into sections (possibly subsections) and paragraphs. Each of these areas should include a single topic (a unifying thought) around which the remainder of the section is centered.

Ensure that the topic is clearly stated.
Ensure that all content in that section relates to the topic.
Practice parsimony and completeness.
When numerous ideas are competing in a paragraph, split the paragraph.
Make sure that the logical ordering within paragraphs or sections and between paragraphs or sections is apparent. (Transitions)
Use summaries to reinforce ideas (particularly at the end of a long section where the reader may have forgotten what the topic was).

Format

Recall that your paper should provide a clear, unobstructed, easy-to-follow path to your conclusions. While great formatting will certainly not compensate for lack of ideas or organization, bad formatting can easily detract from great ideas or organization. There are a number of useful style books that provide significant assistance on formatting issues. Here are some of my basic requirements:

Provide your reader with a double-spaced, neatly typed paper with 1" margins.

Make headings different enough from the rest of the text so they are easy to identify. For example, first level headings should be all caps, centered and in bold. Second level headings should be in bold at the left margin. Third level headings should be underlined.

Use standard citation references (author, year) within the paper, and easy-to-read references in your bibliography.

Number all pages.

Use a cover page that identifies the title, your name, for what purpose and when the paper was submitted.

Mechanics and Wording

Like formatting, poor mechanics certainly can ruin an otherwise great paper. If your reader has to work too hard to overcome syntax, grammar, wording, punctuation, etc. errors in order to understand your writing, you've probably lost him or her. If you know that these areas are not your strength, you should:

Convince a peer to edit your work for mechanics

Get a good writing reference (Strunk and White, Hacker)

Revision and Review

Preparing a paper that meets all of these goals is not a "quick and dirty" task. Plan to spend some time revising, ensuring that every word you've written matters. Once you're somewhat comfortable with what you've written, ask someone else (a peer or the tutors at the Writing Center) to read through your paper and help you think about how well you've acheived your objectives, particularly those related to content and organization. As for the final draft, proofread it carefully and then ask someone else to proofread it again. And, always, always, always run a spell check before you turn your paper in!

Back to Burke Home Page

Last revised July 2000.