RESEARCH PAPER

What is a Research Paper?

• A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis,

interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research
• Research papers are similar to academic essays, but they are usually
longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your
writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research
• Writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge
of your topic, engage with a variety of sources, and make an original
contribution to the debate
• Writing a research paper is an ideal way to organize thoughts, craft
narratives or make arguments based on research, and
share your newfound knowledge with the world
Checklist for an Effective Research
Paper Writing
1. Understand the assignment
2. Choose a research paper topic
3. Conduct preliminary research
4. Develop a thesis statement
5. Create a research paper outline
6. Write a first draft of the research paper
7. Write the introduction
8. Write a compelling body of text
9. Write the conclusion
10. The second draft
11. The revision process
12. Research paper checklist
 Writing a Research Paper
Discovering, Narrowing, and Focusing a Researchable Topic
• Try to find a topic that truly interests you
• Try writing your way to a topic
• Talk with your course instructor and classmates about your topic
• Pose your topic as a question to be answered or a problem to be solved

Finding, Selecting, and Reading Sources

• You will need to look at the following types of sources:
• library catalog, periodical indexes, bibliographies, suggestions from your
instructor
• primary vs. secondary sources
• journals, books, other documents
Grouping, Sequencing, and Documenting Information
• The following systems will help keep you organized:
 a system for noting sources on bibliography cards
 a system for organizing material according to its relative importance
 a system for taking notes

Writing an Outline and a Prospectus for Yourself

• Consider the following questions:
 What is the topic?
 Why is it significant?
 What background material is relevant?
 What is my thesis or purpose statement?
 What organizational plan will best support my purpose?
Writing an Outline and a Prospectus for Yourself
• Consider the following questions:
 What is the topic?
 Why is it significant?
 What background material is relevant?
 What is my thesis or purpose statement?
 What organizational plan will best support my purpose?

Writing the Introduction

• In the introduction you will need to do the following things:
 Present relevant background or contextual material
 Define terms or concepts when necessary
 Explain the focus of the paper and your specific purpose
 Reveal your plan of organization

Writing the Body

• Use your outline and prospectus as flexible guides
• Build your essay around points you want to make (i.e., don’t let your sources organize
your paper)
• Integrate your sources into your discussion
• Summarize, analyze, explain, and evaluate published work rather than merely reporting
it
• Move up and down the “ladder of abstraction” from generalization to varying levels of
detail back to generalization
Writing the Conclusion
• If the argument or point of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the
argument for your reader
• If prior to your conclusion you have not yet explained the significance of your
findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to add your
points up, to explain their significance
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to
the context provided by the introduction
• Perhaps suggest what about this topic needs further research

Revising the Final Draft

• Check overall organization: logical flow of introduction, coherence and depth of
discussion in body, effectiveness of conclusion
• Paragraph level concerns: topic sentences, sequence of ideas within paragraphs,
use of details to support generalizations, summary sentences where necessary, use
of transitions within and between paragraphs
• Sentence level concerns: sentence structure, word choices, punctuation, spelling
• Documentation: consistent use of one system, citation of all material not
considered common knowledge, appropriate use of endnotes or footnotes,
accuracy of list of works cited
 Parts of a Common Research Paper
• A complete research paper is reporting on experimental research
• It typically contains the following:
1. Title page (Title of the paper, list of authors and their affiliation)
2. Abstract
3. Keywords
4. Introduction
5. Materials and methods
6. Results
7. Discussion
8. Conclusion
9. Acknowledgment
10. References
• Title Page
 What is this paper called and who wrote it? – the first page of the paper;
this includes the name of the paper, a “running head”, authors, and
institutional affiliation of the authors
 The institutional affiliation is usually listed in an Author Note that is placed
towards the bottom of the title page
 In some cases, the Author Note also contains an acknowledgment of any
funding support and of any individuals that assisted with the research
project

• Abstract
 One-paragraph summary of the entire study – typically no more than 250
words in length (and in many cases it is well shorter than that), the
Abstract provides an overview of the study.
• Introduction
 What is the topic and why is it worth studying? – the first major section of text
in the paper, the Introduction commonly describes the topic under
investigation, summarizes or discusses relevant prior research, identifies
unresolved issues that the current research will address, and provides an
overview of the research that is to be described in greater detail in the
sections to follow

• Methods
 What is the topic and why is it worth studying? – the first major section of text
in the paper, the Introduction commonly describes the topic under
investigation, summarizes or discusses relevant prior research, identifies
unresolved issues that the current research will address, and provides an
overview of the research that is to be described in greater detail in the
sections to follow

• Results
 What did you find? – a section which describes the data that was collected and
the results of any statistical tests that were performed. It may also be
prefaced by a description of the analysis procedure that was used. If there
were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate
Results section
• Discussion
 What is the significance of your results? – the final major section of text in
the paper. The Discussion commonly features a summary of the results
that were obtained in the study, describes how those results address the
topic under investigation and/or the issues that the research was designed
to address, and may expand upon the implications of those
findings. Limitations and directions for future research are also commonly
addressed

• References
 List of articles and any books cited – an alphabetized list of the sources
that are cited in the paper (by last name of the first author of each
source). Each reference should follow specific APA guidelines regarding
author names, dates, article titles, journal titles, journal volume numbers,
page numbers, book publishers, publisher locations, websites, and so on
(for more information, please see Citing References in APA Style)
• Discussion
 Graphs and data (optional in some cases) – depending on the type of
research being performed, there may be Tables and/or Figures (however,
in some cases, there may be neither). Each Table and each Figure is
placed on a separate page and all Tables and Figures are included after the
References. Tables are included first, followed by Figures. However, for
some journals and undergraduate research papers, Tables and Figures may
be embedded in the text

• Appendix
 Supplementary information (optional) – in some cases, additional
information that is not critical to understanding the research paper, such
as a list of experiment stimuli, details of a secondary analysis, or
programming code, is provided. This is often placed in an Appendix
 Citing References
• In your research paper, whenever you refer to prior research or to ideas
that were generated by others, you should cite the source or sources in
the text and in a References section at the end of the paper

In-Text Citations:
• References are cited in the text using the last name of the author(s) and
the publication date
1. For example, if you are citing an article written by John Wixted in 2004, the
in-text citation would typically be enclosed in parentheses as “(Wixted,
2004)”. For example: Research in the fields of psychology and neuroscience
provides support for the theory that forgetting often stems from retroactive
interference (Wixted, 2004)
 2. Alternatively, if you are referring directly to the name of the author in
the text, then the name is followed by the year of publication. The year
of publication is enclosed in parentheses. For example: Wixted (2004)
reviewed psychology and neuroscience research that provides support
for the theory that forgetting often stems from retroactive interference
3. If the reference has between two to five authors, then the last names
of all authors are listed as part of the first in-text citation of that
reference in the article. For example: Taking practice tests has been
shown to boost 8th grade students’ memory of U.S. history facts, relative
to a restudy control condition, on a final test administered 16 weeks
later (Carpenter, Pashler, & Cepeda, 2009)
4. After that initial in-text citation, all subsequent in-text citations for
that reference only list the last name of the first author followed by et
al. For example: The relative benefits of practice testing over restudy
were larger on the final test administered 16 weeks later than on a final
test administered 1 week later (Carpenter et al., 2009)

• If the reference has more than five authors, the last name of the first
author, followed by et al., is used for all in-text citations.
• Further each peer-reviewed article is listed in a
References section towards the end of the research
paper.
– Each reference of a journal article names the author(s), publication
date, article title, name of journal, volume, and page number. For
example: Wixted, J. T. (2004). The psychology and neuroscience of
forgetting. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 235-269
– Similarly, each reference of a book names the author(s), the
editor(s) if applicable, book title, page numbers (if applicable), as
well as publisher name and location. For example : Healy, A. F.,
Wohldmann, E. L., & Bourne, L. E., Jr. (2005). The procedural
reinstatement principle: Studies on training, retention, and transfer.
In A. F. Healy (Ed.), Experimental cognitive psychology and its
applications; experimental cognitive psychology and its
applications (pp. 59-71). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association
• As with in-text citations, the above examples represent
two common cases of including a source in a Reference
list; there are many other cases
 Types of journal articles
Original Research:

• This is the most common type of journal manuscript used to publish full
reports of data from research
• It may be called an Original Article, Research Article, Research, or
just Article, depending on the journal
• The Original Research format is suitable for many different fields and
different types of studies
• It includes full Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections
Short reports or Letters:

• These papers communicate brief reports of data from original research

that editors believe will be interesting to many researchers, and that will
likely stimulate further research in the field
• As they are relatively short the format is useful for scientists with results
that are time sensitive (for example, those in highly competitive or
quickly-changing disciplines)
• This format often has strict length limits, so some experimental details
may not be published until the authors write a full Original
Research manuscript
• These papers are also sometimes called Brief communications
Review Articles:

• Review Articles provide a comprehensive summary of research on a

certain topic, and a perspective on the state of the field and where it is
heading
• They are often written by leaders in a particular discipline after invitation
from the editors of a journal
• Reviews are often widely read (for example, by researchers looking for a
full introduction to a field) and highly cited
• Reviews commonly cite approximately 100 primary research articles.
• TIP: If you would like to write a Review but have not been invited by a
journal, be sure to check the journal website as some journals to not
consider unsolicited Reviews. If the website does not mention whether
Reviews are commissioned it is wise to send a pre-submission enquiry
letter to the journal editor to propose your Review manuscript before you
spend time writing it.
Case Studies:

• These articles report specific instances of interesting phenomena. A

goal of Case Studies is to make other researchers aware of the
possibility that a specific phenomenon might occur
• This type of study is often used in medicine to report the
occurrence of previously unknown or emerging pathologies

Methodologies or Methods:

• These articles present a new experimental method, test or

procedure
• The method described may either be completely new, or may offer
a better version of an existing method
• The article should describe a demonstrable advance on what is
currently available
 Key points for Structuring your
manuscript
• Once you have completed your experiments it is time write it up into a
coherent and concise paper which tells the story of your research
• Researchers are busy people and so it is imperative that research articles
are quick and easy to read
• For this reason papers generally follow a standard structure which allows
readers to easily find the information they are looking for
• Refers to the standard structure of the body of research manuscripts
• Gives a logical flow to the content
• One recommended strategy is to write your manuscript in the following
order: Materials and Methods; Results; Introduction; Discussion;
Conclusion; Title; Abstract. Following this order will help you write a
logical and consistent manuscript
• Use the different sections of a manuscript to ‘tell a story’ about your
research and its implications
 How to give a research presentation?
• Preparing for the presentation by using PowerPoint judiciously
1. What is the purpose of the presentation?
2. Who is the audience, why will they be there, and how many will there be?
3. How long should the presentation be?
4. How formal will the presentation be?
• Planning the presentation
1. Introduction/Overview
2. The body of the presentation (Theortical framework/research question;
Methodology/case selection; Background/literature review; Discussion data/results;
Analysis; Conclusion)
3. Summary
4. Using graphics
5. Practise, practise, practise!
6. Supporting documents
• Deliver the presentation
1. The audience wants to hear about your research. Tell them. Don’t Read Your
presentation
2. Give your audience something to remember. Keep To Your Time Limit
3. Body language and appearance counts
4. Answering questions to the points
 Presenting your research effectively
1. Planning: What should be included?
• First and foremost, it is always important to refer to the guidelines
• Second, prior to building any presentation, consider your audience. Will they be
scientists who are familiar with your research area or will they be individuals who
work in other areas? Based on the answer to this question, you will want to make
sure you structure your presentation with the appropriate depth and terminology
• Determining the main messages you want to communicate in your presentation (i.e.,
take-home messages for the audience) is often a good first step in organizing the
details of your research
• As you create your presentation, sometimes it is difficult to determine whether a
particular piece of information is important or necessary. Consider the value added
by each piece of content as you determine whether to include or exclude information
• Often, the background and theory for your research must be presented concisely in
order for you to have time to present your study and findings
• Ten minutes is not much time; share what needs to be shared and emphasize the
main points so that your audience has a clear understanding of your take-home
messages
• When you start planning, writing out content on individual post-it notes can be a
great way to visually organize your thoughts and, ultimately, your presentation
2. Building slides: The do's and don'ts
• After content has been decided the real fun begins: designing slides
• There are no hard-and-fast rules for how to build a slide, but here are a few
suggestions to keep in mind. Remember that you want to tell a story, not lecture
people
• The oral presentation as a whole should be a work of art and the slides should be
second and supplementary to the story that you are trying to convey
• When laying out content and designing slides, remember that less is more. Having
more slides with less content on each will help keep your audience focused more on
what you are saying and prevent them from staring blankly at your slides
• Your audience may be stayed engaged with your story and this makes the three-
seconds rule a good one to apply when building a slide. If it takes more than three
seconds to read the slide it may be advantageous to start a new slide
• Having less content on each slide may leave more white space, but this is acceptable
and even desirable
• Each presentation should have its own color palette that consists of approximately
three complementary colors
• Try not to use many more than three colors and be aware of the emotion that may be
attached to certain colors
• In addition to color, animation is another customizable option of presentations, but
it may not be a worthwhile effort
• Animation can be distracting and make it difficult for the audience to stay with the
story being told. When in doubt about animation, remember to ask what value is
being added
• There may be times when you really want to add emphasis to a specific word or
phrase. If this is the case, and you deem it necessary, animation may be an
acceptable choice
• It is important to have highly readable slides with good contrast between the words
and background. Choose a font that is easy to read and be aware that each font has
a different personality and sends a different message
• Other important considerations include typesetting and the spacing of letters,
words and lines. These all affect readability, but can also be used as a way to add
emphasis
• Sometimes you may feel a need to use bullet points
• If you find that your slides mainly contain words, remember that a picture, chart or
diagram can convey a thousand words
• People often depend on vision as their primary sense; this gives your audience a
potential preference for visual information beyond words on the screen
3. Presenting data: Think about what kind of graph is best
• When sharing information, specifically about data, bar graphs should usually be the
first choice with scatter plots a close second
• Keep the chart or graph simple. The same suggestion about having more slides with
less content on each applies to charts and graphs
• If the graph or chart will look cleaner using two graphs instead of one, utilize a
second graph
• Accuracy of a graph is important. For example, it is easy to convey the wrong message
simply by altering the range of the y-axis. A restricted y-axis can make the differences
between groups look much larger than they actually are to those audience members
who do not look closely
• It is always important to be ethical and to ensure that information, especially about
data, is not being misrepresented
• Strive to make charts and graphs easily interpretable, and try not to clutter them with
additional numbers if it can be avoided.
• Building presentations does not need to be a challenge. Presenting should be an
opportunity to share with others something very important to you — your research
 Tips for Making a Good Research Presentation
Organize your thoughts:
1. Identify the important ideas first and then determine the most
important supportive details
2. Determine details that are unnecessary
3. Use only those that are of value to your point
4. Using a top-down approach, create an outline that includes:
– A statement of the problem (What?)
– Your motivation for examining the problem and its possible significance (Why? and Why
we should care?)
– A high-level view of the results (How?)
– Details of results
– Significance of your results
– Conclusions and future directions for your work
5. Remember:
– First are big ideas
– Second are details.
– Third is the summary
Create your visuals:
• Avoid squeezing too much information on one slide
• Remember your slides are an outline of your presentation and not a word-
for-word copy of your talk
• Include your main points with sub points and leave details to written notes
for your reference
• Soft, light-colored backgrounds are generally better than white with dark
text color or use dark backgrounds with light-colored text
• For projector purposes, maintain a one-inch margin around each slide to
avoid information cut off
• Use 18-point size font or larger
• Remember as a general rule, it should take two to three minutes to talk
through the material on one slide
• There is no restriction on the number of slides used, but limit your
presentation to no longer than 20 minutes
• If you include website addresses in the presentation, do not include live
links
• Presentations must be PowerPoint files
Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again:
• Prepare notes (Not a copy of your presentation but key phrases that will
prompt you to the next topic or ideas that you do not want to forget)
• After your slides are prepared, give a practice run-through of your talk in
front of at least one person
• Stand in a room for 20 minutes and talk through all your slides (out loud).
This should be a timed dress rehearsal
• Don't stop and fix slides as you go, and don't let your audience ask
questions or suggest fixes until your practice talk is over
• You need to force yourself to talk through your entire talk without
interruptions
• If your talk is too long, you should cut out some material to get it to fit into
the time slot (your audience will not mind if your talk ends five minutes
early, but they will mind if it goes five minutes over)
• Ask whomever is listening to you to take notes of places where you can
make improvements or where something seems unclear. Ask that person
to jot down questions
• After you finish your rehearsal, talk about the suggestions and answer the
questions
Delivering your presentation:
• Two alternative ways to begin:
– Give your audience a road-map or outline of your talk. (main organization of your talk)
– Give the audience information that will motivate the general topic (Why should we
care?)
• Transition between topics:
– Use transitional phrases that reinforce points and link them together
• Remind the audience what they just saw or heard
– “Now that you have seen…”
– “As you now know…”
– Tell the audience if you are going to expand a previous point or move to a new one
• “Based on what we found, we proceeded to…” (expand or extend)
• “Once we examined (blank), we realized we needed to explore…” (move on)
– Redisplay your outline slide to keep your audience oriented to where you are in the
presentation. (It also helps keep you on track).
• Repeat your point:
– Repetition is important to understanding. One rule of thumb says your audience has to
hear something three times before they will remember
• Tell them what you are going to say
• Say it
• Summarize what you said
• Talk to your audience:
– Don’t read your presentation from notes or off the computer or screen
– If you draw a blank, then looking at your slides can help you get back on track
– It is okay to pause and refer to your notes if you need to
– Try to make eye contact with as many people as possible
• Remember that being nervous is common:
– Taking a deep breath can be calming. You may want to take a deep breath between each
slide
– Talking fast is often a result of being nervous. Slow down. Take a few seconds to think
about a question before you respond. No one will notice if you pause a few seconds
between slides
– Don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember that you do not have to know the answer to
every question. “I don’t know is an acceptable response” or “I hadn’t thought of that.
Please send me your email and I will try to find the answer and get back with you.”. It is
okay to say "I don't know" or better yet "gee, I hadn't thought about that, but one
possible approach would be to..."
 Review Committee Process
Reviews
 A policy for the formal tracking of research progress of graduate thesis
students approved by the University, and is mandatory for all departments in
the university
Steps involved
 Every master’s and PhD students will take up research activities to meet out
their research objectives/expectations within a reasonable period of time
 Periodically, student, supervisor(s) and members of the review committee will
meet to discuss and assess the research progress that has been achieved by
the student toward the agreed research objectives
 Student will present their research progress via PowerPoint presentation
(presentation followed by questions and deliberation) to the review panel
 Ultimately, the ‘Research Progress Evaluation’ would be completed and signed
by the review panel members that would be consisted of supervisor and
review committee members (may be composed of Faculty members who are
most familiar with the area of the student's research, so as to provide the
most thorough, critical, and constructive advice to the students throughout
their studies)
 Expectations
 Through this review process, students are assessed for the development
of their knowledge, critical thinking and their progress in research
 Presentations must consist of background material in the research area,
research objectives, research plan and results
 The first review will in particular stress an understanding of the objectives,
background and proposed research plan, while also discussing pertinent
results achieved to date
 It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the Progress Tracking
Report is completed on the review day, and submitted to the Review
Committee
 In the event that research progress is deemed unsatisfactory by the review
committee, a new set of objectives will be developed for the student and
re‐evaluation of progress should take place within the following term.
A Review Committee’s Guide for Evaluating the
Qualitative Proposals
 When a Candidate Presents his/her Research Proposal

Key points Review Committee Members Look Upto

during the Evaluation Process
1. Originality (potential of new knowledge)
2. Anticipated significance (the proposed research addresses a significant
need or gap)
3. Clarity of long‐ and short‐term objectives
4. Literature review completeness and relevance
5. Suitability of proposed methodology
6. Feasibility and anticipation of difficulties
7. Innovative aspects