How does one begin to write a formal research paper?

The first step in writing a formal paper is to determine the type of paper and the
topic. There are two basic types of research paper:

■
In an argumentative research paper the author writes a thesis statement then text
that builds a case for the thesis in a persuasive manner.

■
In an analytical research paper an author uses research questions or hypotheses to
investigate a research problem in an objective manner.1

Topic selection
The next step is topic selection. Some factors to think about are:

■
What interests you?

■
What topic would be useful in your future career?

Another strategy is to browse some scholarly journals in the relevant field, browse
a scholarly database, or talk to a subject specialist such as an academic professor
or a reference librarian.

Selecting sources
Once the topic is selected, it is time to search for scholarly sources. Typically,
an academic research paper should use several types of sources including journals,
books, encyclopedias, newspapers, and perhaps some websites.

■
Reference works, particularly subject encyclopedias and dictionaries, can provide
background information for the introduction.

■
Peer-reviewed research articles from scholarly academic journals can provide the
most reliable sources for the paper.

■
Scholarly books may provide in-depth information.

■
Websites may provide statistics, organizational information and other information.

Search terms
■
Once the topic is identified, list the terms and concepts that describe the topic.

■
These terms will become the keywords used to search library catalogs, indexes, and
databases for information on the topic.

Research topic example

As stated in Chapter 5, it is advisable to have at least one source for every page
of content in the paper. For example, for a 20-page paper, you would want to have
at least 20 sources. You may not use all of your sources, but it is better to have
a few too many sources than to have too few and have to scramble to find more at
the last minute.
■
Topic: Alzheimer’s disease in women.

■
Keywords: dementia, cognition disorders, brain, senior citizens.

Outlining the paper

Once you have located and read the relevant sources gathered for the paper, think
about the various subtopics or areas that will be included in the paper. First
brainstorm and list all the subjects related to the topic of the paper, then use
this list to construct an outline of headings and subheadings for the paper. This
will help you organize the paper in a logical manner. After the outline is done,
work on one section at a time. When the paper is complete, proofread for errors and
to check for logical flow and consistency. This is a good time to re-read the paper
instructions to be sure they were followed and to have a friend or colleague
proofread the paper and give you feedback.

Grammar checklist
1.
Do not use contractions in formal or scholarly writing, especially when writing
formal reports or research papers.

2.
Possessive its is not a contraction and does not contain an apostrophe.

3.
Do use bulleted lists in scholarly writing to improve readability.

4.
Be sure that items in a bulleted list or a listing in a sentence all begin with the
same part of speech, e.g. noun, verb, adjective, adverb. Using this method is an
example of parallelism.

5.
Use two spaces after periods, colons, and question marks when writing scholarly
letters and documents.

6.
Be sure an independent clause precedes a colon. However, lists introduced by a verb
should not have a colon.

7.
Personal pronouns may be used in reflective, informal writing but avoid using
first-person or second-person pronouns in scholarly or formal documents. These
documents should have an objective tone and use third-person pronouns.
–
First person pronouns include the words I, me, my, we, our.

–
Second person pronouns include the words you, your.

–
Third person pronouns include the words he, she, they, their, him, her, it.

8.
Avoid ending sentences with prepositions, e.g. ‘Where is the meeting at?’

9.
Use a comma with the word which in a sentence as this word introduces non-essential
information; do not use commas with the word that as this word introduces essential
information.

10.
Capitalize proper nouns that are names of specific persons, places, or things. Do
not capitalize words that are not proper nouns. Use italics or underlining for
placing special emphasis on words.

11.
Within the text of a document, enclose article titles in quotation marks; book or
journal titles should be underlined or in italics. Acronyms of journal titles
should also be underlined or in italics (JASIS).

12.
Internet is now a proper noun and should be capitalized; e-mail and e-journal are
not capitalized.

13.
Use an en dash (not a hyphen) to denote the term through, e.g. (1999–2000).

14.
The words thank you should be hyphenated when followed by a noun, e.g. thank-you
note. (Rule: Two adjectives preceding a noun are hyphenated, e.g. all-important
fact.)

15.
Use appropriate in-text references; include page number(s) for a direct or indirect
quote.

16.
Be careful about subject–verb agreement, particularly with Latin words: datum is
singular, data are plural; medium is singular, media are plural; analysis is
singular, analyses are plural; criterion is singular, criteria are plural; thesis
is singular, theses are plural; hypothesis is singular, hypotheses are plural.

17.
Tables (data in columns and rows) and figures (charts, graphs, images) should be
appropriately numbered and titled (capitalize major words in title) and should be
referenced in the text (Table 1).

18.
When creating tables, remember that numbers are right-aligned and text is left-
aligned.2

Research paper format

The research paper format varies according to the discipline and the professor’s
instructions, but below is one example of the required format for an analytical
paper.

[Research paper title page format: an appropriate title for the paper should be
centered with major words capitalized.]

Research Paper Title

Student Name

E-mail address

Course Number
 Date

[Research paper body format: distinguish between topic headings and

subtopics/subheadings; for example, center main topics or headings, left-align
subtopics/subheadings.]

Introduction
Background information about the topic of the study and importance of the study.
(The importance of the study may come at the beginning or the end of the
introduction section.)

Purpose of the study

Clear, concise and focused purpose of the study: the problem statement including
sub-problems.

Research questions or hypotheses

Clearly state the specific research questions or hypotheses. Choose one but not
both. Use the present tense and number appropriately: R1, R2, etc. for research
questions; H1, H2, etc, for hypotheses.

Definitions
List relevant terms or acronyms and their definitions. Properly cite the source(s)
of the definitions.

Limitations and delimitations of the study

State what is included in the study and what is excluded from the study.

Assumptions
State the assumptions embedded in the research design.

Importance of the study

End the introduction section with a statement about the importance of the study
unless this is addressed in the introductory paragraphs.

Literature review
The literature review paints the background for the research, creating a frame of
reference and context. Research builds upon previous research so it is important to
recognize and credit previous studies that are similar in topic and methodology.

Use subtopics if appropriate. Some topics have a previous body of research that is
related to the topic and methodology but students may find research related to the
topic and other studies that use the same or similar methodology but few or no
previous studies that use the same methodology to study the same topic. In this
instance, it is appropriate to have a subtopic on studies related to the subject or
topic of the study and another subtopic related to studies that use the same
methodology as this study on similar topics.

Subtopics should follow a logical flow. For instance, when reviewing the studies
that use a particular methodology, it would be useful to put them in chronological
order within that subtopic to indicate a progression of the research that leads up
to this research.

Each review of a scholarly study should include a summary of the methodology and
results. It should be clear to the reader how each study reviewed is related to
this study. End with a concluding paragraph about how this study is similar to or
different from the studies reviewed.

Methodology
Begin the methodology section with a description of the methodology used in this
study. Include details of data sources, how appropriate data are identified, and
data collection procedures (detailed enough so that it could be replicated by
others). State how data are compiled and analyzed, including software used such as
Word tables or Excel. (For a research proposal, the methodology should be written
in the future tense; for a final research report, the methodology should be changed
to the past tense).

Results
Restate each research question or hypothesis (these may be used as subheadings),
then the results of the data analysis. Research questions are answered or
addressed; hypotheses are tested and supported or not supported by the data (do not
use the word ‘prove’). It is desirable to use tables (data in columns and rows) and
figures (charts, graphs, images) to illustrate data analysis. Each table or figure
should be appropriately titled and numbered and referenced in the text (‘see Table
1’). Tables or figures longer than three-quarters of a page may be placed at the
end of the paper as an appendix and referenced appropriately in the text (‘see
Appendix’). If the study is a survey, include the survey instrument as an appendix.
Number appendices if there is more than one (‘see Appendix 1’). Data in tables or
figures may be single-spaced or 1½ spaced. Journal or book titles in tables or
figures should be italicized or underlined just as in the text.

Discussion
Summarize and discuss the research results. Compare the results with the results of
previous studies reviewed in the literature review. Discuss possible general
conclusions (using cautious language) that may be drawn from the study results. End
with a concluding paragraph that suggests further research related to this study.

Bibliography (or References or Works cited)

List citations of works referenced in the paper in chronological order by author.
Use the required citation style (or the style of your choice if permitted) and be
consistent.