8 Common Mistakes Students Make When Embarking On Their Research Studies

Embarking on a research work is compulsory for every student who intends to graduate one day and as at when due. Research works are one of the final and most vital rituals in the curriculum for final year students. A lot of students who embark on their research studies may not actually know the little mistakes that may cost them their graduation or good grades. I have taken upon myself to educate students on the little mistakes students must pay attention to and avoid making during their research undertakings.

1. Plagiarism:plagiarism is considered as one of the most punishable offence in research works. Plagiarism can simply be defined as that act of copying word for word without any changes whatsoever. You can agree with me that trying as much as possible to avoid plagiarism is one sure way of making good grades in your research works. Lecturers and research supervisors look out for plagiarism and a slight copy and paste could be the end of achieving good grades in your research work.

2. Unnecessary background: most students make that mistake of writing up a background of the study that is not in any way relevant to your research proceedings. As the saying goes that the beginning of everything is important also implies to research works. In introducing your research topic, you must try as much as possible to put up a background of the study that is relevant to the research and avoid writing off point as this easily put project/research supervisors off and this could cost you valuable marks. Always try to make you background of the study as captivating as possible while at the same time try to cut off the unnecessary write ups that could be implicating as this would generate interest from project supervisors.

3. Lack of adequate referencing: a lot of students have this problem while embarking on their research work. A standard reference should have the author’s surname, the year of the publication and the page you are citing or referencing. For instance (Essien 2016:38). It must always be put in brackets.

4. The significance problem:Every research must have significance or importance. Most research supervisors look out for this section as this is what differentiates a research from a mere write up or newspaper duplication. Always brainstorm and craft out fascinating significances of your study as this would aid in actualizing set goals. The benefit of every research is its importance.

5. Grammatical spelling: grammatical spelling is one aspect of research that students overlook, for your research to be of standard, your research must be free of grammatically wrongly spelt words. Supervisors also look out for this in their judgment of researches conducted by students.

6. Lack of proof read: most researchers are guilty of not proof reading their research before final submission. It is of essence all write ups and thoroughly proof read and ensure that all I’s are dotted and all t’s dotted as this would minimize the risk of wrong grammatical spelling.

7. Lack of chronological order:research works are known for the chronological order they follow. Most students fall prey of not following the chronological order during their research works and this attracts a penalty of not likely presenting or outright cancellation. Every institution has an order every research should follow. Always endeavor to follow the chronological order set out as this would improve the authenticity of your research.

8. Lack of adequate time management:in undertaking a research, time management is of immense importance. Most students do not manage their time judiciously and they end up rushing to finish up and hence making a lot of mistakes. For adequate time management, set out the time frame for completion of each chapter or phase of your research.