Writing a working paper

To ensure the quality and consistency of a written academic/professional document , following guide lines have been prepared to assist the researchers in the preparation of working papers to be submitted for a preliminary review by peers of the SLEA or to the Sri Lanka Economic Journal for publication or to a conference.

Basically, working paper can be outlined as a preliminary academic or technical paper, in case of economics it could be a preliminary results of a theoretical or empirical investigation. Often, authors will release working papers to share ideas about a topic or to provoke feedback before submitting to be presented to the general public in a
seminar, workshop or a conference or considered for publication in an academic journal.

• Sometimes the term working paper is used synonymously as preliminary reports or preliminary practical papers or informal writings. Working papers are typically student hosted on websites, belonging either to the author or the author's affiliated institution. The international institutions such as the United Nations uses the term "working paper" in approximately this sense for the draft of a report or resolution.
  
• Documents required for a student/ apprentice/ novice to get a job in certain institution or countries are also known as working papers. Such papers usually require the approval of the employer, parent, authorities in school, some other responsible person or a physician in case of medical document to agree to the terms of work laid out by the profession, employer.
  
• Audit working papers: Documents required on an audit if a company's financial statements. The working papers are the property of the accounting firm conducting the audit. These papers are formally referred to as Audit Documentation or sometimes as the audit file. The documents serve as proof of audit procedures performed, evidence obtained and the conclusion or opinion the auditor reached.

General guidelines
Working papers should focus on the topics stated by the organization attached to or general topic.
They must not have been previously published or presented in a conferences or symposia or any other form.
They should be appropriate in length and must avoid unnecessary details, repetitions, working details. In any case word limit may be taken as 5000 words initially but can vary according to the type and nature of the essay.
It should highlight the main issues, problems and challenges associated with the topic and must provide tips for overcoming them and should contain the developmental aspects and insights of the topic.
Working paper should provide statistical information, if any, for the topic and should be written in a correct language, clearly and orderly presented.
Drawings and graphs should be properly inserted where relevant, and directly concerned with the subject matter of the paper.
References and sources should be documented for easy referencing ideally following standard style guide recommended. For example Harvard, APA , Oxford are some of the popular styles. SLEA prefers APA style guide for referencing which is popular among social scientists.
Preferably submitted electronically.

Outline

• Title page: the cover page should include title, the writers, name job title, employer if any, and date of writing , where it is presented.
• Table of contents, Where it is relevant this item known as list of contents of the paper with page numbers may be included. Parts of the tiled separately can be included this way.
  
• Abstract; it contains the objectives contents main issues, and brief results and policy implications/recommendations. Restrict to one page.
  
• The main text, theoretical framework, literature and analysis: it includes the introduction, background, problem statement or issue addressed, description of current status, based on the literature available on the area, major challenges ad issues relevant to the topic, the major results and insights.
  
• Problem; This probably is the most difficult part even for experienced researchers. The identification of the problem to investigate is important for the rest of the paper as it determines the entire structure of the work. It should come with the background information and then developed into, what, how, why, when, where, type of a question.
• Questions: develop research questions based on the problem identified
• Objectives: once the question(s) developed your answer will be the objective of dealing with the question.
• Suggestions and final recommendations or policy implications: this part should contain major suggestions and final policy implications proposed by the researcher, in addition to the proposed mechanisms for implementing these suggestions.
• Conclusion: It reviews the major results reached in the paper, the insights and future propositions, which the researcher believes important to focus on in the future while preparing research and implementing symposia and meetings.
• References: They document all references used be the researcher whereby the titles, writers, dates, and publisher details of the paper are included. The use of a standard reference style such as Harvard, APA or Oxford is recommended.
• Annexes: in some cases it would be important to add an annex. This may include tables graphs and any other item relevant to the working paper which cannot be included into the main text
• Conclusion: It reviews the major results reached in the paper, the insights and future propositions, which the researcher believes important to focus on in the future while preparing research and implementing symposia and meetings.
• References: They document all references used be the researcher whereby the titles, writers, dates, and publisher details of the paper are included. The use of a standard reference style such as Harvard, APA or Oxford is recommended.
• Annexes: in some cases it would be important to add an annex. This may include tables graphs and any other item relevant to the working paper which cannot be included into the main text
• Problem; This probably is the most difficult part even for experienced researchers. The identification of the problem to investigate is important for the rest of the paper as it determines the entire structure of the work. It should come with the background information and then developed into, what, how, why, when, where, type of a question.
• Questions: develop research questions based on the problem identified
• Objectives: once the question(s) developed your answer will be the objective of dealing with the question.
• Suggestions and final recommendations or policy implications: this part should contain major suggestions and final policy implications proposed by the researcher, in addition to the proposed mechanisms for implementing these suggestions.
  
• Conclusion: It reviews the major results reached in the paper, the insights and future propositions, which the researcher believes important to focus on in the future while preparing research and implementing symposia and meetings.
• References: They document all references used be the researcher whereby the titles, writers, dates, and publisher details of the paper are included. The use of a standard reference style such as Harvard, APA or Oxford is recommended.
• Annexes: in some cases it would be important to add an annex. This may include tables graphs and any other item relevant to the working paper which cannot be included into the main text
• Conclusion: It reviews the major results reached in the paper, the insights and future propositions, which the researcher believes important to focus on in the future while preparing research and implementing symposia and meetings.
• References: They document all references used be the researcher whereby the titles, writers, dates, and publisher details of the paper are included. The use of a standard reference style such as Harvard, APA or Oxford is recommended.
  
• Annexes: in some cases it would be important to add an annex. This may include tables graphs and any other item relevant to the working paper which cannot be included into the main text