Aresearchpaperhasseveralmainparts.Eachparthasaspecificjob.Understandingthesepartsmakeswritingeasier.

Thefirstpartisthetitle.Thetitletellsthereaderwhatthepaperisabout.Itshouldbeclearandshort.Agoodtitleusessimplewords.

Nextcomestheabstract.Thisisashortsummaryofthewholepaper.Itisusuallyoneparagraph.Theabstractexplainstheresearchquestion.Itdescribesthemethodsused.Itstatesthemostimportantresults.Itgivesthemainconclusion.Peopleoftenreadtheabstractfirst.Theydecideiftheywillreadthefullpaper.

Theintroductionisthebeginningofthepaper.Itpresentsthetopic.Itprovidesbackgroundinformation.Itexplainswhythetopicisimportant.Theintroductionstatestheresearchproblem.Ittellsthereaderwhatquestionthepapertriestoanswer.Itoftenendswiththepaper'smaingoalorthesisstatement.

Theliteraturereviewcomesnext.Thissectiondiscussesotherstudies.Ittalksaboutwhatotherresearchershavealreadydone.Itshowswhatisknownaboutthetopic.Itpointsoutgapsinknowledge.Theliteraturereviewconnectsthecurrentpapertoexistingwork.Itshowshowthenewresearchfitsin.

Themethodssectionisveryimportant.Itexplainshowtheresearchwasdone.Itdescribesthestepstaken.Ittellswhatmaterialswereused.Itexplainswhoorwhatwasstudied.Forexample,itmightdescribeanexperiment.Itmighttalkaboutasurvey.Itmustgiveenoughdetail.Anotherresearchershouldbeabletorepeatthestudyusingthissection.Themethodssectionshouldbeclearanddirect.

Theresultssectioncomesaftermethods.Here,thewriterpresentsthefindings.Thewritershowsthedatacollectedfromtheresearch.Thissectionincludesfactsandnumbers.Itmayhavetables,charts,orgraphs.Thewriterdescribeswhatwasfound.Thewriterdoesnotexplainthemeaningyet.Thatcomeslater.Thissectionisjustfortheplainresults.

Thediscussionsectioniswherethewritertalksabouttheresults.Thewriterexplainswhattheresultsmean.Thewriteranswerstheresearchquestionfromtheintroduction.Thewritercomparesthenewresultstoolderstudiesfromtheliteraturereview.Thewriterdiscussesiftheresultswereexpected.Thewritertalksaboutsurprisesorproblems.Thissectioninterpretsthefindings.

Theconclusionisafinalstatement.Itsummarizesthemainanswertotheresearchquestion.Ithighlightsthemostimportantpointfromthediscussion.Itmaysuggestwhatshouldbedonenext.Itmightproposenewquestionsforfutureresearch.

Afterthemainparts,thereareothersections.Thereferenceslistallthesourcesused.Everybook,article,orpapermentionedinthetextmustbehere.Thisallowsreaderstofindtheoriginalsources.Theformatmustbeconsistent.

Sometimesthereareappendices.Appendicesholdextramaterial.Thismaterialistoodetailedforthemaintext.Itmightbelongtables,interviewquestions,orcomplexcalculations.Notallpapershaveappendices.

Writingaresearchpaperislikebuildingahouse.Eachparthasapurpose.Thetitleistheaddress.Theabstractisaquicklookatthefrontdoor.Theintroductionisthefoundation.Theliteraturereviewistheneighborhoodmap.Themethodsarethebuildingtoolsandblueprint.Theresultsarethefinishedrooms.Thediscussionisexplaininghowyouliveinthehouse.Theconclusionislockingthedoorandstatingwhatyoubuilt.

Goodpapersusesimplelanguage.Theyavoidverylongsentences.Theyexplaincomplexideasinbasicterms.Theypresentinformationinalogicalorder.Theydonotusefancywordswhensimplewordsworkbetter.Forexample,use"start"insteadof"commence."Use"use"insteadof"utilize."Use"end"insteadof"terminate."Clarityisthemostimportantgoal.

Themainpartsguidethereader.Thereaderknowswheretofindeachtypeofinformation.Awell-organizedpaperiseasytofollow.Thereaderdoesnotgetlost.Theideasflowfromonesectiontothenext.

Researchpapersshareknowledge.Theytellothersaboutnewdiscoveries.Theyhelpscienceandlearningmoveforward.Astudentmustlearnthisstructure.Ascientistusesthisstructureeveryday.Theformatisstandardacrossmanyfields.Itcreatesacommonlanguageforresearchersworldwide.

Writingclearlytakespractice.Readingmanypapershelps.Startwiththemainparts.Outlineeachsectionbeforewriting.Putoneideaineachparagraph.Useheadingsforeachmainpart.Checkthateverysentencehasaclearpurpose.Removeunnecessarywords.Letthefactsandthelogicspeakforthemselves.Thestrengthoftheresearchisthemostimportantthing.Goodstructuremakesthatstrengthvisibletoeveryone.