Important Sections of the Research Paper

An assignment that most college students will encounter is the research paper. It is a very challenging project requiring students to test or observe something.

If you have such an assignment this semester, then continue reading to learn about the research paper’s important sections.

• Abstract

After the title page, the abstract presents a summary of what the reader can expect to see in the paper. For researchers, this allows them to quickly know if your paper is helpful to their study or if it will be a waste of their time.

• Introduction

This portion of the paper explains the context of the topic, giving the reader background knowledge so that the purpose of the paper makes more sense. The Intro also presents the significance of the research and who it may help. The last part of the Introduction presents the hypotheses that the study will try to prove.

• Literature Review

Here is where the theories and other studies that are related to your issue are presented. This gives the reader an idea of who else tried to do something similar and their results. The theories are shown here so that you can refer to them in the Results.

• Method

This is where the details of the experiment or qualitative observation are shared. The idea is to make it clear enough for others to follow so they can replicate it (if they wish to) or confirm your research’s validity. Thus, you list the experimental process, the participants included, equipment used, and statistical tools employed.

• Results

This is where the findings of your experiment or observation are revealed. Most of the tables of data are presented here. However, if the data is too much, it should be placed in the Appendix and referenced instead.

• Discussion

After presenting the data, everything is discussed in relation to your expectations (hypothesis), theories of experts, and research results of others. But whether your hypothesis was right or wrong is not of importance; instead, what matters is that the experiment was conducted properly, and explanations for the truth are sought.

• Conclusion

In the Conclusion, the main parts of your study are summarized for the reader, and the biggest findings are highlighted. The paper should also end strongly, causing the reader to feel like they have learned something new, allowing them to act upon this new knowledge.

• References

This section shows all the references used for the paper. Many of these are those seen in the Literature Review. However, this also contains other sources that you looked at but were never cited within the paper.

• Appendix

This final part of the paper lists all the surveys and questionnaires you used. All your data is also mentioned here in case the reader would like to look at all the values.

Summary

Your research paper will require much patience and hard work, but it can be accomplished with the help of writing experts from DissertationTeam.com who can write your thesis or a research paper for you. So take note of the necessary sections above before you begin so you have an idea of what you will create.