Overview Of Research Paper
A research paper is basically a document that people undertaking any type of research, either for academic or professional purposes, use for the presentation of their findings.
Groups of people who might find themselves having to write a research paper at some point or another therefore include college and university students (who are often required to conduct various research projects, and write research papers as part of their coursework), professional researchers and members of certain professions – especially the academic and scientific professions, who often have to undertake research as part of their day to day work, or at least in a ‘once-in-a-while effort’ to maintain their professional credibility.
The exact format of a research paper varies from institution to institution, but a number of features hold constant in all cases.
For one, all research papers have titles; and most (especially the professional variety) tend to come with full and highly detailed title pages. Details to be found in the title page include the research project on which the research paper is based, the name of the researcher(s), the institution sponsoring the research and the date of the research.
All research papers come with quite detailed introductions, giving a background as to where the whole research idea is coming from. On the introduction page, too, the researcher might give insights into the societal problems that their research is supposed to provide solutions to; and how exactly the findings of their research are supposed to be applied in solving those problems. Ideally, though, the researcher must not ‘run ahead of themselves’ and start divulging the inner workings/results of the research on the introduction page; and their tone in writing should sound therefore as if they have not yet started on the research at this point, to spur the interest of the reader to read onto the document.
Another feature that all research papers tend to come with nowadays is a table of contents. The need for a table of contents in the shortest of research papers (some of which can be as short as two or three pages long) might be questioned, but there is no denying that including a table of contents in the research paper does make the work look more professional and credible; which is important because credibility is one of the factors people tend to look at keenly in things like research papers.
Of course, a research paper has to have a main body section, describing the research in question, how it was undertaken, and what it revealed. The style of writing employed in making the main body of the research paper is what is referred to as academic writing; where for every major statement one makes, a credible academic authority on the subject at hand is quoted.
A research paper has to come with a conclusion section; and this has to be written with the care – because in a research paper, it is often the conclusion that forms the core of the document, rather than the body as with other types of writings. The deductions and inferences made from the research undertaken are stated here, and supported accordingly with data as required.
Finally, a research paper has to come with an appendix. The least that the appendix can have is a bibliography of the literature explored and cited in the document’s introduction, main body and conclusion. More sophisticated research paper appendices come with glossaries explaining the various explanation-worthy things mentioned in the document; lists of abbreviations coming up in the whole document and so on.
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