MARKIN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH PROGRAM
in Health & Wellness
Markin USRP Final Report Guidelines:
a. Please indicate that this project is a result of a Markin Undergraduate Student
Research Program (USRP) in Health & Wellness Studentship
b. Minimum eight (8) pages double-spaced (not including references)
c. There is no maximum page limit but a general guideline would be 15 – 20
pages double-spaced (not including references).
d. Submit electronically to usrp@ucalgary.ca
e. Please include the date of submission and the session of your Markin USRP
Studentship.
f. Deadline: February 29, 2016
g. Content:
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Methods
 Results (Major Findings)
 Discussion
 Conclusions
 References
h. Your Faculty Mentor (FM) is your best resource for learning how to write a
final report. However, if you would like more detailed guidelines, please
refer to the subsequent pages.
For more information about the final report, please contact:
Stephanie Vahaaho
USRP Program Coordinator
Phone: (403) 220-2278
E-mail: usrp@ucalgary.ca
THE ORDER AND CONTENT OF THE
USRP FINAL REPORT SECTIONS
The order of the sections in the USRP Final Report is as follows: title page, abstract,
introduction, methods (participants, materials, procedure), results and figures, discussion and
references.
TITLE PAGE
The title should be a concise statement of the main topic, and should identify the variables
or issues under investigation and the relationship between them. Each word of the title is
capitalized. Below the title, your name (student’s name) and faculty should appear, and
below that, the Faculty Mentor’s name and faculty, and below that, the name of the
University. The title page should also contain a statement recognizing that your project is
the result of a Markin USRP in Health & Wellness studentship. Items should all be centered
and double-spaced, in 12-point font.
ABSTRACT
The abstract is a summary of the contents of the paper. The heading for this page is
‘Abstract’. The abstract should be concise and specific. In the abstract, numbers should be
typed in numerical form (not in text form) unless they begin a sentence. The abstract should
not exceed 120 words and is in block format (not indented). It is a brief but comprehensive
summary of the contents of the paper, but there are to be no references in the abstract.
The entire USRP report, including the abstract, is written in the past tense and in the third
person (no use of I, we, us, or names of individuals). The abstract summarizes the main
findings of the paper. It includes a statement of the purpose of the experiment and the
methods (briefly summarize the subject characteristics and procedures). The abstract
also includes main results, and one or two concluding sentences. No new information
should be introduced in the abstract (if it is not in the paper, do not mention it here).
INTRODUCTION
The USRP report starts with an introduction. In your introduction you present and describe
the problem or issue that the paper will discuss. It will address what the problem is and why
it is important. Developing background on the issue involves discussing previous research
in the area. One approach is to review research historically (i.e., the progression of what has
happened in the area over the years). In the introduction, you do not support or justify your
position, you are merely informing the reader of necessary information. The introduction
should end with a hypothesis or purpose. This is where you explain what you intend to
show, or what you expect to happen and why.
METHOD
This section describes in detail how the study was conducted. There are usually subsections,
which break down the methods into participants, materials, and procedure.
Participants: Here you must identify the general characteristics of the group; who they are,
where they are from, how many there are, health status, age, height, weight, sex, etc. *Note:
You may refer reader to a table if the list of characteristics is extensive.
Materials: Here you describe the equipment you used, who made it, how it worked, where
it came from, etc.
Procedure: Here you describe what you did; what steps you took; how you used the
materials; what you did to the participants, animals or cells; and what measurements you
took. This section includes what you did and how you did it to such a degree that someone
else could take your paper and replicate what you did.
RESULTS
This section summarizes the data you collected and the statistics that you conducted.
Generally, when writing a results section, it is a good idea to revisit the purpose of your
investigation. What is the main thing you were trying to find out? Before you write this
section, make a list of all your findings, and order them in a manner that makes sense.
Generally, the order in which you write your results is the order in which you should discuss
them. Write the result in words, and then include any pertinent number values. For
example, ‘There was a significant difference between the means for exercise blood pressure
for males and females (200/85 and 178/80 mmHg, respectively).’ In this section, you state
main findings and trends. Refer to tables and figures in the results section. Instead of typing
out a bunch of numbers that will confuse the reader, present the information in a table or
figure and refer to it. If you are describing a trend, it may be wise to refer the reader to a
figure that gives a visual representation of the trend. Remember, the results tell the reader
what happened, not why.
DISCUSSION
This is probably the most difficult section to write well. In a discussion, you must evaluate
and interpret the findings, and discuss their implications – what do they mean?
A discussion usually begins with a brief review of the purpose of the study. If you had a
hypothesis in the beginning, state whether or not it was supported by the data you collected.
Start with the first result/finding you reported in the results section. State the finding you
are about to discuss: Did it agree with what is generally found in the literature/was the
finding expected? How is it similar/different? If the result is different, can you explain
why? What do the results means in practical terms? What might be some potential factors
that influenced the data? For each finding, you should work through this process to explain
and interpret each result. Do not be too wordy, just answer the questions as clearly and
concisely as you can. The discussion section usually ends with a concluding paragraph or
two. What is the big picture? What is the big message you want the reader to take home
with them? What was the point?
REFERENCES
The reference list should be started on a new page. The word ‘References’ is the heading for
this page. The items in a reference differ depending on the type of source, but generally
include a combination of: author(s), publication year, title of article/chapter, source (title of
journal/book), volume and journal number, pages of article/chapter, publisher, publication
city and state/province (and country if outside the United States). The citations in the
reference list appear in alphabetical order starting with the first author’s surname and
proceeding with the other authors’ names if applicable.
GENERAL WRITING GUIDELINES
A good report or manuscript must be clearly written and well organized.
Proper
organization begins with the outline. Present thoughts in a logical sequence that will make
sense to the reader. Provide enough background information so that the reader understands
the topic before you present arguments.
CONCISE WRITING
Be concise when you write; wordiness can cause problems. By saying only what you need to
say, you do not confuse or irritate the reader with ‘filler’. If you are struggling to write a tenpage paper because you only have seven pages of solid material, do not try to produce three
pages of filler to meet your page quota. Instead, look for areas that you may strengthen the
paper with more research support. It is obvious to the marker when you adjust page
margins and fonts, or add unnecessary ‘filler’ to meet page quotas. The priority to the reader
is the quality of the work (seven pages of quality is better than ten pages of babble).
Part of being concise is the avoidance of ‘extra’ words. For example, “… based on the fact that
…” could be “… because …”; “… there were several students who completed …” could be “… several
students completed …”; and “… at the present time …” could be “… now …”. Sentence length
should vary between short and long. Concise sentences are important, but too many short
sentences produce choppy and boring paragraphs. You should avoid redundancy in your
writing. Phrases such as, “… a total of 68 participants …” and “… summarize briefly …” should
become “…68 participants …” and “… summarize …”, respectively. If you notice that you
tend to use one particular word repeatedly, you may use the ‘thesaurus’ function in Microsoft
Word to try to find a suitable alternative.
CLEAR WRITING
Say what you intend to say; choose words that reflect exactly what you mean. For example,
saying, “… we feel …” can substitute for “…we think …” or “… we believe …” (*Note: keep in
mind that for scientific papers, the use of the First Person pronouns (I and We) is not generally
accepted). Sloppy pronoun use can also lead to confusion for the reader. Using “this, that, these,
and those” too often may cause the reader to search previous sentences to find out what, in
particular, you are talking about. Instead, identify the subject, such as “…this study …” or
“…those books …”.
GRAMMAR
There are so many potential grammar errors, they cannot possibly be listed here.
Commonly, mistakes are made in the following areas: subject-verb agreement, shifting verb
tenses, parallel structure, punctuation, and proper use of nouns in scientific papers.

Subject-verb agreement refers to the subject (e.g., the reports, they, it) agreeing with the
verb with which it is associated. For example, “The percentage of correct responses as well as the
speed of the responses increase with practice” should read “The percentage of correct responses as well as
the speed of the responses increases with practice”.

Be sure that once you have selected a verb tense (past, present, or future), that you
maintain it throughout the paper.

Parallel structure refers to presenting items similarly within a sentence. For example,
“He preferred to bike, run, and swim” is more suitable than “He preferred to bike, running, and
swimming”.

With respect to punctuation, many errors occur with comma, semi-colon, and period
use. Sentence fragments and run-on sentences often occur when commas, semi-colons,
and periods are misplaced. Use a comma to separate independent clauses only if it is
followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, so, yet). Commas separate items
in a series of three or more. Commas also surround non-essential clauses (“a clause that
embellished a sentence but if removed would leave the grammatical structure and
meaning of the sentence intact”). A semi-colon separates two independent clauses that
are not joined by a conjunction. A colon is used “between a grammatically complete
introductory clause (one that could stand as a sentence) and a final phrase” that amplifies
the preceding thought. There is helpful information on the web regarding grammar and
writing skills (e.g., http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/).

Referring to a subject, table, or figure: The word Subject should be capitalized when
it is used as a proper noun. (i.e., ‘The results for Subject 1 indicated…’, as opposed to
‘Each subject in this study was asked to…’). Similarly, when referring to a table or figure
in text, the words ‘Table’ and ‘Figure’ should be capitalized (i.e., ‘Subject characteristics
are displayed in Table 1’, and ‘The two techniques were significantly different (see Figure
2).’)
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism refers to representing someone else’s ideas or words as one’s own. It is a serious
academic offence that may result in consequences as serious as expulsion from the
University. The University of Calgary calendar clearly describes the definitions of, and
sanctions for, plagiarism:
(http://www.ucalgary.ca/pubs/calendar/current/How/HOW_LB.htm).
As noted on the University Calendar web page, plagiarism exists when:
(a) the work submitted or presented was done, in whole or in part, by an individual other
than the one submitting or presenting the work (this includes substituting the work of
another for one’s own in a report),
(b) parts of the work are taken from another source without reference to the original
author, and/or,
(c) the whole work (e.g., USRP report) is copied from another source.
While it is recognized that scholarly work often involves reference to the ideas, data and
conclusions of other scholars, intellectual honesty requires that such references be explicitly
and clearly noted.
SOME ELECTRONIC RESOURCES FOR
WRITING PAPERS

General writing and grammar information:
http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

How to write a research paper and common pitfalls students encounter:
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html

Research guide for students, including information on formats and presentation tips:
http://www.aresearchguide.com/index.html

Tips for writing an effective research paper, including five exercises to improve your
paper:
http://spsp.clarion.edu/mm/RDE3/C14/C14.html

Guide to scientific writing:
http://www.an.psu.edu/jxm57/sciwrit.html