How to Outline a Research Paper
Research is the fundamental groundwork of all academic and scientific discoveries. All recent knowledge is almost always based on research data, and people making sound explorations and analysis of existing data. If you need to create a good outline for your research paper, here are some tips.
Background
The background of the research gives the reader an idea of what your research is all about. Researchers use other research outputs to conduct their own studies. The background is the fastest way for them to get to know more about your research. The background should include the following:
Objectives: what your research aims to do, explore, or accomplish. The objectives of the study must be clear. You may also add a research hypothesis that will be tested, and debunked or validated by the data you have in your research.
Significance: the importance of your study. While there is personal and professional satisfaction gained by writing and doing research, the output should also contribute to the pool of knowledge already available.
Scope and limitations. There’s no such thing as a research that covers everything about a specific topic. You should outline the scope of your study, and the methodologies and perspectives that your research is limited to.
Review of Related Literature
Related literature can frame your study into a particular framework of inquiry and analysis. A review of related literature is a concise, brief overview of the frames of reference that you used in your study. Here you must practice good scholarship by using proper citations of your references. You should also avoid plagiarism, and attribute ideas that are not your own to the people who have written about them.
Methodology
The research methodology outlines the way you conducted your research:
Quantitative analysis relies on statistical tools to derive research data.
Qualitative analysis uses textual analysis, focus-group discussions, interviews, and other non-mathematical methods to derive data.
In the humanities and the social sciences, a combination of both research methods may be used in research. In the hard sciences, however, pure quantitative analysis is recommended.
Results and Analysis
With the data you have on hand, you should present your results and perform the analysis needed to establish your research:
Exploratory analysis is recommended if you don’t have the time to complete your research (like for school projects), or if it’s stated on your scope and limitations. Exploratory analysis is also useful if you’re working on a whole new dimension of scientific research.
Exhaustive. If data already exists, or if there are tools to study the data as completely and as comprehensively as possible, you should use exhaustive analytical methods.
Conclusion
The conclusion ties up your entire research. The conclusion is a summary of research findings, and relates the data to the introduction. Conclusions either support or disprove the hypotheses made in the introduction. The conclusion may also include suggestions for further research on the topic.
A research paper is not just an academic requirement: it can set the stage for other researches and studies on the topic you chose to study. With these tips, you can get started on the first draft of your research paper.