It is thus mandatory for students at the college level and those pursuing their master’s studies to handle at least one research paper in the course of their program. 

Owing to this, we thought it necessary to guide you in the structure of a paper, helping your maneuver common pitfalls. This article will also illuminate the content of each research paper chapter to help focus your writing efforts. 

Research paper paragraph structure

How are research papers structured?

Research papers are structured into chapters that build up to your conclusion. The chapters build on the history of your paper, helping the reader analyze your paper’s essence. Additionally, the structure helps you analyze your claims and guides your reader through your research to your conclusion.

Research papers are thus structured to allow your reader to skim through key details of your paper and gain a gist of your argument. This structure also helps you logically organize your ideas, ensuring the flow of your argument. 

Research paper sections

Although most sections of a research paper are common across the globe, each faculty offers guidelines on their preferred structure of a research paper. We thus recommend that you consult the institution’s essay writing manual and ask your tutor for guidance on the sections to include in your paper. 

If there are no guidelines specified by your faculty, divide your research paper into the: title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, bibliographies, and appendixes. 

1. Title page

This page is the easily done section of a research paper provided that you know your name, your tutor’s name, and the topic of your paper. Be keen when writing this section and format in the manner guided by your teacher. 

We also recommend that you pay ample focus on topic selection to ensure that your title captures your reader’s interest. 

2. Abstract

The abstract is a summary of your work, ranging between two hundred and fifty and three hundred words. This section establishes the issue under discussion, some background to the topic, your research objectives, and the key findings of your research. 

The abstract is thus a condensed version of your paper that helps readers gauge how well your paper addresses their needs. It would be best to write the abstract last as you would be better placed to present a concise summary of your paper. 

3. Introduction

Like the former, the introduction is of key importance in hooking your reader and reeling them into your claims. The introduction delves deeper into the background of your study while justifying your investigation. 

This section also highlights your research objectives and introduces your thesis statement in the last sentence. 

4. Methods

After justifying your research and introducing your thesis, the methods section lays out the criteria you will employ to investigate your claims. Here, list down the tasks and tools used in your research to allow other scholars to test the credence of your conclusions.

5. Results

After writing your methods, present the results that were yielded by your study. The results should be expressed in simple-to-understand charts and tables. You shouldn’t show the minutia of your calculations here, instead, present it in your appendixes section. 

You could also present a summary of the results after your charts. Refrain from discussing the implications of your findings as this should be done within your discussion.

6. Discussion

Finally, tie-down your findings to the sources related to the topic and show how these, together, prove your claims. Note that each claim should either be corroborated by your research or the data from existing studies. Also, credit your sources where necessary, to avoid plagiarism claims. 

7. Conclusion

This chapter joins the other sections, showing the implications of your research and recommendations for future work. You could also use this opportunity to acknowledge various counterarguments and to dispel the misinformation relating to your topic. 

8. Bibliography

The bibliography is a crucial element of your paper and is common in the academic paper structure. This section lists down all sources that have been used, helping readers refer to in-text citations and relate them to their sources. 

9. Appendixes

This section comprises all additional elements that were of relevance to your investigation. 

Final take

We hope that this guide has helped you with all your questions regarding the structure of a scientific paper. Feel free to view our blog for tips on writing a quality paper and to consult our experts for custom assistance. 

The thesis statement also helps your reader gauge the relevance of your paper when looking at your abstract, introduction, and conclusion. You should thus select a good thesis statement to manage your paper in the manner dictated by your faculty. 

What’s the difference between the topic sentence and thesis statement?

The topic sentence shows the key idea of a passage/ paragraph and appears as the first sentence of the paragraph. This sentence is descriptive and only highlights what you could encounter in a paragraph.

Conversely, the thesis statement carries the key idea of your paper and expresses your stand on the topic. Unlike the former, the thesis statement comes at the end of your introductory paragraph, setting the ground for your arguments. 

As such, a thesis statement is a broad idea around which your paper is constructed, whereas the topic sentence is narrower and dictates the content of a paragraph.  

What is the purpose of a thesis statement?

The thesis statement introduces the reader to your argument and provides them with the scope, purpose, and perspective of your paper. This statement thus sparks a reader’s interest and allows them to gauge the relevance of your paper to their needs. 

Where is a thesis statement located?

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your introduction. Doing this allows you to transition smoothly from the background information into your arguments. The thesis statement could also be stated in your conclusion when showing how various research objectives have been achieved. 

Why is a thesis statement important?

The thesis statement is a vital component of your paper that helps create focus on your main idea. This helps the reader gauge the purpose of a paper and keeps the writer from veering off their key argument.

Components of a thesis statement

Like all components of academic writing, the thesis statement is geared to achieve a certain goal in bringing out your key arguments. A good thesis statement contains the argument proposal and the support for your claim. 

The argument proposal shines a light on the topic of your paper while the support shows where you stand concerning a topic. In some instances, your thesis statement could entail the counterarguments to your topic. 

How long is a thesis statement?

The thesis statement ranges between one to two sentences. This equates to a word count between 25 and 50 words. 

However, complex topics may have longer complex thesis statements spanning up to four lines. As such, gauge your thesis by its ability to express your topic idea and stand and not its length. 

If your thesis statement exceeds four lines, consider rechecking it to determine the frivolous words you could omit from your thesis.  

Steps to writing a thesis statement

Learning how to write a hook and thesis statement is a crucial skill for writing a quality paper. Some of the steps we recommend when writing your thesis statement are:

1. Brainstorm a good topic for your essay

Topic selection is the crucial step to writing a good paper. We thus recommend that you gauge the topics that are familiar with the general idea of your research question. Be keen to avoid complex claims as they may be hard to exhaust within the provided word count. 

Narrow down your topic to a specific idea that piques your interest to gain the impetus to exhaust your research topic.

2. Express your topic as a question and provide an answer

This is a great approach to quickly preparing a catchy statement that captures the critical details of your paper. If you want to write an essay arguing that social media is behind the surge in moral decadence, your could structure your thesis statement as:

“What factors are promoting moral decadence in society?” Next, research your answers and select the strongest argument that supports the role of social media. After this, you could pair the answer and question to make a thesis statement.

I.e., Limited censorship on social media platforms is the key cause of moral decadence in the society. 

This statement gives your readers a hint of the argument and allows them to derive your paper’s purpose. 

Can a thesis statement be a question?

No. Your thesis statement aims at presenting your readers with answers to a question. As such, asking a question does not inspire any confidence in your essay, and loses the declarative purpose of a thesis statement. 

Unfortunately, many students struggle with various components of an analytical research paper. This article will cover the tips for an analytical research essay, helping you manage your paper with ease and score a decent grade. We will also highlight some analytical research paper topics to guide your topic selection. 

What is an analytical research paper?

An analytical research paper is a paper geared toward analyzing various perspectives from which a topic may be analyzed. Here, you don’t have to persuade a reader toward a specific argument. 

Instead, you are tasked with gauging the data available on a topic and making logical conclusions based on the existing research. The research paper thus calls for extensive research to cover all bases of an argument, making a solid conclusion. 

How to write an analytical research paper

Like other academic tasks, the analytical research paper requires a well-structured approach to ensure a quality paper. Some of the steps to follow when writing an analytical research paper include:

1. Select a topic

If the topic has not been selected, brainstorm some of the trending issues in your field. Next, narrow down on these ideas and select those that have not been exhausted. When your tutor has provided you with a topic, select a specific idea within the general topic. This idea should be manageable within the provided word count and interesting for your reader. 

2. Gather relevant resources

After selecting your topic, scour various platforms for sources that could be used to support your arguments. Be keen to ensure that your sources are up to date and free of any bias. It is best for you to select published work and journals. 

You may however use Wikipedia as a platform to guide you on the necessary sources for your topic. We recommend that you keep a record of these resources to easily retrieve the sources at any point in your writing process.

3. Make an outline

Failure to plan is a plan for failure. A common mantra in fields ranging from sports to life goals. An outline helps you plan your ideas and to gauge the completeness of your arguments, ensuring a smooth flow and solid arguments. 

Analytical research paper outline

The outline of an analytical paper varies depending on the tutor’s instructions and the recommendations from your faculty. We thus recommend that you consult your tutor if you are uncertain of the chapters to cater for in your analytical paper.

The standard analytical paper comprises the: 

1. Title page

This page contains your administrative details and the title of your paper. The key focus in your title page should be to prepare an attention-grabbing title comprising your paper’s key phrases. 

2. Abstract

The abstract is a crucial chapter of your research paper. This chapter highlights the key points of your paper, helping the reader deduce what your research entails and the methodology used to establish your findings. 

3. Introduction

The introduction should highlight the relevance of your research, the background information, and the problem statement. Here, show your readers the pain points necessitating research, and how your methods are suited to addressing your research problems. 

4. Literature review

This portion of your research paper shows your reader that your work is based on solid sources as opposed to unfounded claims. The literature review enlists various sources you gathered to prepare your research and an analysis of how well they cover your idea. 

Be keen to properly reference each idea, preventing unintentional plagiarism within your work. 

5. Research design 

This section highlights the research objectives, the methodology, and the results gained from your investigation of these facts. This chapter should guide your readers on the procedure used to establish your claims, helping them gauge your paper’s relevance to their research problems.

6. Conclusion

This chapter could be covered as a whole or divided into a summary, discussion, and recommendations. This chapter thus highlights the findings of your research, the implication of your findings, and suggestions to improve future research.

Analytical paper rubric

Topics for an analytical paper

• Examine the main reasons why athletes utilize drugs.
• The negative consequences of animal testing and how to avoid them.
• Investigate the causes of adolescent alcoholism. 
• Is it possible to achieve gender parity and equality?
• In today’s world, what is more important?
• The primary reasons for rapid climate change. 
• What can be done to raise educational standards? 
• What can you do to boost your academic performance? 
• Describe the importance of art in schooling. 

Unfortunately, plagiarism may present its ugly head into your work without your intention. How can one manage plagiarism in research? Which technique is useful for avoiding plagiarism? This article will cover the forms of plagiarism, highlight various approaches to managing plagiarism, and prepare a unique paper. 

What is plagiarism?

After the murder, plagiarism ranks as the worst crime you could commit in the scholarly field. Plagiarism is a situation where you present the ideas of another scholar as your own. This includes the deliberate cases where you ‘borrow’ a paper without acknowledging the owner or the cases where you accidentally omit the reference to a work that’s cited within your paper. 

How much plagiarism is accepted in a research paper?

If possible, there should be no plagiarism in your work. As such, you should address a unique problem and acknowledge the sources used in structuring your paper. However, the reference section does not add to the total plagiarism of your work. 

How to not plagiarize a research paper: strategies for preventing plagiarism

When working on your paper, we recommend the following tips for curbing plagiarism. 

1. Paraphrase your work

When using other authors’ work to support your argument, avoid the verbatim presentation of these ideas. Instead, read the work and understand the message they are communicating in the article. Next, express these ideas in your own words, avoiding high degrees of plagiarism.

Next, include the proper reference of the site where you found these ideas. Avoid using article spinners as they could distort your message, compromising your argument. Also, avoid changing the key terminologies that are relevant to your topic as this could dilute your arguments. 

2. Use quotations

If you intend to borrow words exactly the way they appear in a document, present them in your work in the form of quotations. Quotes give credit to the source you used when structuring the content, thus reducing the consequence of plagiarism. 

When using quotations:

• Use double quote words to separate the quoted content from the rest of your article.
• Start your quotation with a capital letter

3. Cite the sources used properly

A key piece of advice on how to avoid accidental plagiarism is to countercheck your work and the recommended referencing style. When citing your sources, be keen to indicate the author, the book title, and the year of publication as prescribed by your selected style.

Be keen to follow the style that has been recommended by your tutor, avoiding various negative consequences. Finally, follow each intext citation with its reference in the bibliography section. Countercheck your work to ensure that all the sources in the reference list are well indicated in the body. 

4. Keep meticulous records of your resources

Retracing a source used in writing your paper is a key struggle many students encounter. After taking tons of time to research your topic, you may struggle to gather all sources for the sake of reference.

5. Write from scratch

Another reason why students submit plagiarized work is because of mixing up chunks of paragraphs from articles and using these to make their argument. We recommend that you write from scratch, as opposed to patching up sections from other papers and journals. 

6. Use a plagiarism checker

If you have worked hard on your paper and credited the sources used in creating your article, we recommend using a plagiarism checker to nub inadvertent plagiarism. Plagiarism checkers are software that compares your work with tons of publications on online databases, highlighting cases where you’ve not properly credited your sources. 

This software thus helps you nub such issues and rectify various faults before you submit your work. 

What are some examples of accidental plagiarism?

1. Using the arguments as they are presented in another scholar’s paper. 
2. Accidentally using an argument as it is on another source
3. Shuffling a sentence or changing a few words from the idea you picked from a source.
4. Misattributing a citation to an idea borrowed from a source. 
5. Using a quotation without proper citation
6. Use an image, table, or picture as your result without crediting the source.
7. Citing a source too much in your paper. This may cause your paper to seem like a restatement of another writer’s paper. It is thus best to write your paper based on several sources that cover the ideas within your work. 

Final take

What makes a good research study? Besides proper research, crediting your sources plays a key role in making a quality paper. These tips should come in handy to help you structure a quality, original paper. Feel free to consult our experts for custom paper help and support when dealing with urgent tasks.