What is Research Paper Writing?

Research paper writing is an individual investigation that is carried out on a topic of interest, mostly assigned by a teacher. Unlike an essay, it is not a one-hour task as ideas, topics and sources need to be researched and selected accurately. A research paper needs to be either analytical and informative or argumentative.

An abstract is what the research writing begins with. It is usually a brief, mostly a 200, words; summary of what the research paper writing is all about. It tells the purpose of the research paper, experiments and the results of the research and additionally summarizes the work done. The abstract is mostly a single paragraph, written in brief manner and separate from other parts of the research paper writing.

The introduction follows the abstract and has number of questions. To begin with, the introduction must give reasons and the importance of the research, while providing a rationale. It also indicates the reasons why the author chose particular hypotheses. Finally, it introduces a thesis statement. A good research paper thesis is always arguable as it would not make sense investigation a concept that is agreed upon by all people. Thus a good thesis statement will be a form to an answer such as “why or how”.

Materials and methods come after the introduction. The section is very vital in that it details the practical steps used to receive important information. The author should begin by describing materials that were important to the research however eliminating the most obvious of them. Focus should instead be on specific and exclusive materials that are not available on an ordinary basis. It is important that the writer remains neutral and critical when giving an overview of the research. He should not summarize but rather critique the ideas.

The results show the outcomes of the research and experiments. Writers are advised to include graphs, raw collected data and statistics. To make the section interesting, it is advisable that writer tries to illustrate the most important findings.

The discussion part covers the results that the writer came up with in the course of research. It is supposed to advance every single hypotheses used in the paper. Additionally, the writer needs to scrutinize and determine whether the statement have been supported throughout the research. Lastly, a research paper will need the references or the works cited page, this basically refers to list of sources used as additional materials in the research. Sources need to be listed alphabetically.