Creating A Research Space or CARS

Congratulations! You've made it to the final move of the CARS model. This is where you get to shine by presenting your own research. You've set the stage by establishing your territory and carving out your niche. Now, it's time to show exactly how your study will contribute to the academic conversation.

Think of this move as your moment to step into the spotlight. You're no longer just talking about what others have done or what's missing – you're introducing your own work and explaining why it matters. Let's break this move down into its three key steps:

This is where you clearly state what your research aims to do. It's like declaring your mission statement. You want your readers to have a clear understanding of your objectives and why they're important.

When outlining your purposes, remember to:

• Be specific about your research goals
• Use clear, active language
• Show how your research relates to the gap or questions you identified earlier

For example: "This study aims to investigate how community-level social networks and cultural norms influence individual households' decisions to adopt solar energy in urban areas. By understanding these social factors, we seek to develop more effective strategies for promoting renewable energy adoption."

Useful phrases for outlining purposes:

• "The purpose of this study is to..."
• "This paper aims to..."
• "In this research, we investigate..."

If you've already completed your research, you can briefly mention your main results here. This gives your readers a preview of what's to come and can increase their interest in reading the rest of your paper.

When announcing your findings, be sure to:

• Keep it brief – you'll provide more details later in your paper
• Focus on your most significant or surprising results
• Use cautious language, as you'll discuss these findings in more depth later

For instance: "Our findings suggest that strong community networks and positive local attitudes towards sustainability are significant predictors of solar panel adoption, even more so than individual-level factors like income or education."

Useful phrases for announcing findings:

• "Our results indicate that..."
• "This study demonstrates..."
• "The findings suggest that..."

Finally, you want to give your readers a roadmap of what's to come in your paper. This helps them understand how you've organized your ideas and what to expect in each section.

When outlining your paper's structure:

• Briefly describe the main sections of your paper
• Explain the logic behind your organization
• Use clear signposting language to guide the reader

For example: "This paper begins by reviewing the literature on renewable energy adoption, focusing on both technological and social factors. We then describe our mixed-methods approach, which combines survey data with in-depth interviews. Next, we present our findings, highlighting the role of community networks and local culture in solar energy adoption. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for policy and practice, and suggest directions for future research."

Useful phrases for indicating structure:

• "This paper is organized as follows..."
• "The structure of this study is..."
• "This report consists of the following sections..."