Basics of writing a research paper...

       Writing a research paper is not an easy job. It takes lots and lots of patience as well as hard work. You need to go through numerous references, practical work, errors, corrections, documentation, and disappointments and so on. The list is so long. Mostly students persuading their masters and PhD have to write a research paper on their work and get it published in an academic journal. They do it under the guidance of experienced mentors. 

      Today’s blog is especially for such students who are about to write their first ever research paper. My purpose here, is to give you an idea about writing a research paper in the simplest way I can so that readers don’t get much confused.

     Research papers represent original research work done by the author(s). It includes detailed information about the methods used in the research, procedure, results, discussion and references and other factors so that other researchers could use it for their study as a reference.  

     Basic components of a research paper are abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and reference. Some additions can be done depending on the type of research. 

Abstract: It is an overview of the components of the research paper. I.e. a brief explanation about the introduction, methods, results and discussion of the research paper so that readers/researchers get an idea about topic and contents of the research paper.

Introduction: It gives a background about the research topic along with different point of view about the pros and cons, literature, facts, problems etc. related to the topic. Basically, it contains the purpose of research.

Methods: The detailed information about each step followed during the research must be explained properly in the research paper. Starting from the permissions taken for the research, participants(human/animal), instruments, chemicals, percentage of each component, precautions taken  and other information should be mentioned. The medical history of participants,  the written consent, drug dose, side effects (if any) along with preventive measures and time required for study etc. should also be mentioned in the research paper.

Results: These are the outcomes of the whole research work. Results can be represented in different form of charts, tables, graphs etc. for easy understanding of the findings. 

Discussion: It summarizes the results found throughout the study and explains the possible reasons for the results along with the help of previous findings on the same topic. Also, the limitations as well as further scope of the study is discussed in a research paper.

References: List of articles, books, magazines, journals etc. There are different forms/types for writing the references in a research paper which are easily available on internet.

In addition to these points, there are some other components that could be mentioned in a research paper such as summary, conflicts of interest, acknowledgement, contribution etc. For more detailed understanding of writing a research paper you can refer to research papers which are published in academic journals. There are some research papers which are easily available on internet for free so that everyone can refer it. 

Most important thing is that you should know what you are writing and make sure that it will present your research and hard work in an understandable way. 

This was a simple and short article on writing a research paper. I hope you find it easy to understand and at least you get an idea about what a research paper is and how to write it.

If you have any doubt or queries or suggestions you can write it in the comments box. Thank you for visiting my blog and if you like the article please share, like and subscribe to my blog for free!!!