ABSTRACT
Educational research has been portrayed as an activity whereby society accumulates knowledge. Knowledge is accumulated through the written word and researchers have an obligation to record and communicate their findings. There are various ways by which researchers spread their results. Their own teaching is an obvious method. There are also scholarly conferences where academics in each discipline gather annually to hear the latest results and findings from leading researchers. Researchers also publish research papers, reports and books which convey research literature. While some communication about research is in oral form, by far the most prevalent communication medium is the written word, whether in print form or through electronic or optical retrieval systems. For this reason, the researcher must know how to communicate. There are two aspects to the task, scholarly conventions and literary excellence. There are established scholarly conventions for making references, constructing tables and organizing results that prescribe how one conveys research information. The conventions followed by researchers have been developed over the years, and the new researcher is obliged to learn and follow them. Mastering these conventions is part of the socialization of researchers and denotes attainment of professional status as a researcher. There are also the literary conventions of the language which also need to be mastered if one is to convey information concisely, yet completely and clearly.
