How to Write a Research Paper: Parts of the Paper
- Choosing Your Topic
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- Critical Thinking
- Evaluating Information
- Parts of the Paper
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Parts of the Research Paper Papers should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your introductory paragraph should grab the reader's attention, state your main idea, and indicate how you will support it. The body of the paper should expand on what you have stated in the introduction. Finally, the conclusion restates the paper's thesis and should explain what you have learned, giving a wrap up of your main ideas.
1. The Title The title should be specific and indicate the theme of the research and what ideas it addresses. Use keywords that help explain your paper's topic to the reader. Try to avoid abbreviations and jargon. Think about keywords that people would use to search for your paper and include them in your title.
2. The Abstract The abstract is used by readers to get a quick overview of your paper. Typically, they are about 200 words in length (120 words minimum to 250 words maximum). The abstract should introduce the topic and thesis, and should provide a general statement about what you have found in your research. The abstract allows you to mention each major aspect of your topic and helps readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Because it is a summary of the entire research paper, it is often written last.
3. The Introduction The introduction should be designed to attract the reader's attention and explain the focus of the research. You will introduce your overview of the topic, your main points of information, and why this subject is important. You can introduce the current understanding and background information about the topic. Toward the end of the introduction, you add your thesis statement, and explain how you will provide information to support your research questions. This provides the purpose and focus for the rest of the paper.
4. Thesis Statement Most papers will have a thesis statement or main idea and supporting facts/ideas/arguments. State your main idea (something of interest or something to be proven or argued for or against) as your thesis statement, and then provide your supporting facts and arguments. A thesis statement is a declarative sentence that asserts the position a paper will be taking. It also points toward the paper's development. This statement should be both specific and arguable. Generally, the thesis statement will be placed at the end of the first paragraph of your paper. The remainder of your paper will support this thesis.
Students often learn to write a thesis as a first step in the writing process, but often, after research, a writer's viewpoint may change. Therefore a thesis statement may be one of the final steps in writing.
Examples of Thesis Statements from Purdue OWL
5. The Literature Review The purpose of the literature review is to describe past important research and how it specifically relates to the research thesis. It should be a synthesis of the previous literature and the new idea being researched. The review should examine the major theories related to the topic to date and their contributors. It should include all relevant findings from credible sources, such as academic books and peer-reviewed journal articles. You will want to:
- Explain how the literature helps the researcher understand the topic.
- Try to show connections and any disparities between the literature.
- Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
- Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.
More about writing a literature review. . .
6. The Discussion The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe what you have learned from your research. Make the reader understand why your topic is important. The discussion should always demonstrate what you have learned from your readings (and viewings) and how that learning has made the topic evolve, especially from the short description of main points in the introduction.Explain any new understanding or insights you have had after reading your articles and/or books. Paragraphs should use transitioning sentences to develop how one paragraph idea leads to the next. The discussion will always connect to the introduction, your thesis statement, and the literature you reviewed, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the introduction. You want to:
- Demonstrate critical thinking, not just reporting back facts that you gathered.
- If possible, tell how the topic has evolved over the past and give it's implications for the future.
- Fully explain your main ideas with supporting information.
- Explain why your thesis is correct giving arguments to counter points.
7. The Conclusion A concluding paragraph is a brief summary of your main ideas and restates the paper's main thesis, giving the reader the sense that the stated goal of the paper has been accomplished. What have you learned by doing this research that you didn't know before? What conclusions have you drawn? You may also want to suggest further areas of study, improvement of research possibilities, etc. to demonstrate your critical thinking regarding your research.
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This document provides guidelines for writing different chapters of a research paper, including the introduction, statement of the problem, theoretical framework, conceptual framework, assumptions, hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and delimitation, and definition of terms.
The document outlines the typical structure and components of a research paper, including an introduction with background and statement of the problem, literature review, methodology, results and data analysis, conclusions and recommendations.
A typical dissertation/research proposal consists of three chapters or parts: the Introduction (Chapter 1), the Review of Related Literature and/or Research (Chapter 2), and the Methodology (Chapter 3).
Often, after data analysis is complete, the first three chapters will need. revisions to reflect a more in-depth understanding of the topic and to ensure consistency. your very first draft. Each section within the proposal or dissertation should be well. organized and easy for the reader to follow. Each paragraph should be short, clear, and.
Dissertation proposals should include the elements normally found in Chapters 1, 2, 3, and the References of a dissertation. Both your proposal and dissertation are major written documents that must convey complex ideas.
n of your dissertation. This broad overview is a prelude to the steps involved in each of the chapters that are described and . emonstrated in Part II. While certain elements are common to most dissertations, please note that dissertation requireme.
Chapter I: Introduction. Chapter II: Review of the Literature. CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD (or METHODOLOGY) (Qualitative) CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD (or METHODOLOGY) (Quantitative) CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD (or METHODOLOGY) (Mixed) CHAPTER IV: PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH (or RESULTS) CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS, and OUTCOMES (or DISCUSSION)
make your first sentence a compelling “hook.” State the major thesis that guides your study. paragraphs. study. argument. This will be even more important in Chapter 2 than in Chapter 1. level. After a brief introduction, list your questions in a numbered list. These research.
Papers should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your introductory paragraph should grab the reader's attention, state your main idea, and indicate how you will support it. The body of the paper should expand on what you have stated in the introduction.
Chapter 1 is the introduction, which outlines the background, problem statement, and significance of the research. Chapter 2 is the literature review and requires extensive research and critical analysis. Chapter 3 elucidates the methodology, requiring clarity on the research design and data collection methods.