Session On How to Write a Research Paper

“Research is seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.”
– Albert Szent-Györgyi

The Bhawanipur Education Society College organised a two-day interactive session on how to write a Research Paper. The session was held on January 17 and 18, 2024 from 11.00 am in the Society Hall of the college. The two guest speakers who were invited to conduct the session over two days were Ms. Aditi Jhunjhunwala, Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India & Dr. Debasri Dey, MBA in Operation Research, engaged as a State Aided Faculty member at Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata. The objective of holding a session like this was to orient the students on how to write a research paper and arouse interest in them to participate in the upcoming AON’S Student Conference to be held on April 2nd, 2024.

DAY 1

The first day of the session commenced with the introductory speech delivered by the Rector and Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Dilip Shah. Prof. Shah deliberated on the importance of research in daily life and how it is an extremely engaging process, which cannot leave you unanswered. Prof. Minakshi Chaturvedi, Coordinator B.Com (Morning)then welcomed the guest, Ms.Aditi Jhunjhunwala, who is an Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and a practicing Company Secretary with an experience of over 12 years in corporate law practice including practice before the National Company Law Tribunal.

Ms. Aditi showed a PowerPoint presentation in which she elaborated on the significance of research in everyday life and how to develop a ‘concept’ or ‘idea’, which is important to write a research paper. She explained the relevance of the 4 Ws of research, namely, What is the topic, When was it acted upon, Why is it relevant, Where has it led to and its present state. She expounded on the 4Ws concept by giving an example of financial leverage or the net profit of a company. She further informed that a Research paper is divided into four parts- Background of the Research and Introduction, Body and Methods of Conducting the research, Interpretation, and Analysis of the Data and Conclusion & Literature Review, and lastly Bibliography and references which must be included.

She also elucidated the difference between an academic paper and independent research, where she taught the attendees how to write an abstract. An abstract is a summary of the research paper highlighting the key points listed in the research paper. She enlightened the students by stating the points that are essential to make research authentic and distinctive. Knowing the target audience and presenting the research data in the form of a question, survey, or comparative study helps to write a good research paper.
At the end of the session, she presented a sample of a research paper to the students and addressed the questions asked by them. Towards the end, Mrs. Aditi Jhunjhunwala was felicitated by Prof. Minakshi Chaturvedi and a note of thanks was conveyed to her on behalf of the college. The session ended at 1:00 pm.

Day 2

The second day of the session was conducted by Dr. Debasri Dey, a Doctorate in Management (Supply Chain Management), MCA, and MBA in Operation Research, engaged as a State Aided Faculty member in Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata. Ms. Dey initiated an interactive session by presenting a PowerPoint presentation on the Objectives of the Research Paper. Where she classified Research into three types- Application based research, Objective research, and Inquiry Employed Research. She taught the students about research methodology, with explanations on how research study can be carried out with four objectives: Descriptive, Correlational, Explanatory, and Exploratory. Then she showed step by step how to write a research paper, with 5 steps essential to plan a research study, namely: Formulating a research paper, conceptualizing a research design, constructing an instrument for data collection, selecting a sample, and writing a research proposal. The eight necessary elements of a research paper listed by her, were: Topic, Title, Introduction, Methodology and Literature Review, Hypothesis and Data Collection, Analysis & Interpretation, Conclusion and Reference. At the end of the session, a few questions were raised by the students, and it was evident that the 2-day session enabled the students to gear up for the upcoming Students Conference that will be held on 2nd April 2024. Student feedback was taken after the session ended and it was truly an enriching experience for the students of The Bhawanipur Education Society College.

Reporter – Kasis Shaw
Photographer – Ankit Maji