Writing a research paper, term paper or dissertation is considered to be among the hardest and most time consuming of activities of college and graduate students. In order to turn you into an accomplished writer, your instructor will ask you to write several research papers that are related to studies done in class. College level research papers, term papers as well as dissertations and thesis are a long way from high school reports which essentially involve a summary of relevant literature on a topic.
One of the major aims of organizing a paper or dissertation is to
make it easy for readers to navigate through the various sections
of information so they can go directly to the information they are
looking for. For instance, a reader may be interested in looking at
the methods you have employed or may be just a summary of the paper.
Most professors and instructors expect the following sections to be
included in a standard research paper preferably in the same order.
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Topic Selection and Title Page
Selecting an informative topic is probably one of hardest tasks but also the most crucial. A great topic immediately sets apart a great paper from an ordinary paper. The title page should include information like name, address as well as the date submitted.
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Abstract
The abstract is essentially a summary of the whole topic and should be no more than 200 words. It is a concise single paragraph that lets the reader know about the rationale of the study including the general approach, results as well as significant conclusions and new issues raised by the study.
Introduction
The introductions should typically be less than 2 pages (double spaced). The aim of writing an introduction is to put the topic and the study within a theoretical context. The introduction includes details such as the significance of the study, defending a view as well as offering a rationale using particular hypotheses.
Materials and Methods
There are no specific guidelines on the page limit but generally brevity and clarity are highly sought in this section. The main objective of this section is to describe all specifi materials as well as a description of the procedures in order to judge the merit of the study and its results. Including the methodology and describing it in a comprehensive manner is essential Report methods under separate headings to describe specific procedures.
Results
The length of this section depends upon the amount as well as the types of data that are to be described. Brevity is also highly appreciated in this section in order to be able to present the results more effectively. The essential aim of this section is to present your findings in an objective manner and also to prevent any interpretation from getting into this section. Illustrating the results using with figures and tables is generally more appreciable,
Discussion
The objective is to include all the interpretation of your results as well as provide support for conclusions based on evidence from the methodology employed as well as the results. The importance of the main finding s should also be included.
References and Bibliography
All the literature cited which has been cited in the paper should be listed preferably primary literature. Using references from websites is typically less preferable than books and scientific journals. For more detailed information on the writing section, see the references and bibliography section.
How to effectively present your paper and give presentations
Presenting a research paper is a crucial aspect of class activities and is all kind of the “season finale” of a research paper. You can start with a brief overview of the paper typically lasting for about 10-15 minutes. This includes describing the introductory material as well as related work (literature review). The focus on what should be on what those authors actually did, how they did it as well as their results.
One of the keys to effectively presenting a research paper is to assume that all those listening have already gone through the paper just not as thoroughly as you. What this implies is that you may not want to say a lot about the detail in motivations but rather focus on technical details.
Always be ready with a few topics and notes for further discussion. These can be related to the technical aspects of the paper that support the explanation, new issues that have been raised in the paper as well as explanation that may not have been addressed in the paper.
Always feel free to ask the rest of the class for their questions and comments. The key is not to get stressed out about presenting the paper. Remember that the central aim is for all to develop a more thorough understanding of the papers. A number of research papers are hard to absorb and different people are likely to have diverse views on the topic, thus discussing them brings forwards new thoughts to the topic.
How to format your research and term papers
The format of a research paper in college is generally expected to
be the same as academic paper published in scientific journals. In
order to make a paper more readable, the following format is followed
in research papers and dissertations.
Print and type the research paper in 12 point font size in Times New
Roman, Geneva, Bookman and Helvetica. The text is commonly prepared
in double space on 8 1/2" and 11" paper along with one inch
margins, single sided. The pages are numbered consecutively and new
sections are started on new pages. The consecutively have to be respected
in order to achieve a great research paper.
One of the common mistakes made in formatting a paper is putting a
heading at the bottom of the page and putting the text on the following
page. A page break is necessary. All figures and tables should be
no bigger than a single page.
In all the sections of the research paper, the use of standard prose including articles is preferred. It is important to stay focused on the research topic and not stray away from it. The use of separate paragraphs to illustrate important points is essential except in the abstract. It is also very important to present points in a logical order. The research paper employs present tense for reporting known and accepted facts. Past tense is used to elaborate on results. It is essential to avoid informal wording that fails to address the reader directly.
How to quote other author’s work and prevent
The use of citations is commonly used in scholarly works as well as college term papers. This is done in order to give credit to as well as acknowledge of previous authors on the topic you are writing. Citations also allow people to verify and authenticate the claims or assertions made in the paper.
There are a variety of rules and practices set out for citations in scientific, legal as well as theological as well as patent and copyright law. The sheer differences in the practices of citations in these fields and the description of plagiarism as it applies to these fields differs so much between them that there is no universal practice of citations.
There are a variety of ways to make citations in the body text by parenthetical citations as well as in footnotes which are at the bottom of the page. Citations of consulted and used works are also added at the end of the document in the form of endnotes, references list or Bibliography. They may also be listed at the end of a document under the name “works cited” in MLA Style.
There are a variety of different guides that offer styles on how to format of citations. Many of these are subject and field related. For instance the AIP Style of the American Institute of Physics is employed in the vast majority of Physics papers.
The APA style was introduced by the American Psychological Association, and along with MLA Style, it is widely used in humanities papers. APA style essentially lists sources used at the end of the paper on a separate page under the heading “References”. APA style also employs parenthetical citation for citing within the text which lists the name of the author along with the year the work was published. The page number is also added at times especially when quoting directly. In the references page, at first the name of the author is cited followed by the year of publication in round brackets. This is followed by the title of the work, then the name of the publisher as well as its location. If citing from a journal, it is also important to make sure to include page numbers.
MLA style is a widely used citation style in humanities papers and was developed by Modern Language Association. MLA style employs a MLA style that lists works cited at the end of the paper. It also uses parenthetical citations which include the author’s name followed by page number within the text. In the Works Cited page, the author’s last name is followed by his or her first name, title of the work, followed by Original publication information as well as place of publication, publisher and finally year of publication.
Other commonly used citation styles used include Turabian (Chicago) Style, CSE/CBE Style, Harvard Reference Style, Vancouver Style, Oxford Reference Style and APSA Style among others.
How to write footnotes or endnotes
The purpose of adding footnotes is to provide information about the source of an idea or a quote in detail at the same time as the person is reading a specific page. It reveals information such as author’s name, year of publication, page number as well as details of the publishers. Footnotes and endnotes are used the most in Turabian (Chicago) Style which is among the oldest citation styles that are still employed in academic papers. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page and are more or less like a mini bibliographical entry. The footnotes are numbered sequentially. The end notes are also numbered but on the other hand, they are not found at the bottom of the page but rather at the end of the paper just before the Bibliography section. Footnotes are also used in APA Style in case the author being quoted is actually quoting another person.
How to add footnotes in MLA, Turabian and other Academic
Styles