In writing a research paper, take careful note of its parts. The research paper has at least nine essential parts although, of course, there may be additional parts depending on the discretion of your instructor. The basic principle to consider in writing research paper is that you should first consider and familiarize yourself with the “works” of others and then try to compare them with your ideas.
1. Title Page
Oftentimes referred to as the ‘cover page,’ this section is where you indicate the title of your research, your name, institutional information and a few other relevant information prescribed by your instructor.
Ex:
Republic of the Philippines
Angono Campus
Angono, Rizal
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
THE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS CREATED
BY THE STUDENTS OF AB ENGLISH
FOR THE SCHOOL
YEAR 2012
by
JUAN C. DELA CRUZ
AB-English I
2. Introduction
Introduce to your reader the “problem” by providing a brief background of your research. Include the basic reasons how and why you came-up with the problem, and the probable solutions that you can offer. In general, the introduction summarizes the purpose of the research paper.
3. Review of Related Literature
This section is where you will be providing all the relevant readings from previous works. Provide brief summaries or descriptions of the works of other authors. Make sure that your research materials are from credible sources such as academic books and peer-reviewed journals. Also, make sure that your reading materials are directly relevant to the topic of your research paper. The literature review typically includes the names of the authors, the titles of their works and the year of the publication of these works.
4. Conceptual Framework
This is a set of coherent ideas or concepts organized in a manner that makes them easy to communicate to others. A framework can help us to explain why we are doing a project in a particular way. It can also help us to understand and use the ideas of others who have done similar things.
We can use a framework like a travel map. We can read a map, because others before us have come up with common symbols to mark streets, lakes, highways, cities, mountains, rivers, etc...The scale on a map tells us how far apart different places are, so we will get an idea how long it might take us to get from one point to the next. A map also shows us that there may be many different paths that can be taken to get to the same place.
A framework can help us decide and explain the route we are taking: why would we use certain methods and not others to get to a certain point. People might have tried a similar path before and have had different experiences using one road versus another. Or, there may be paths that have never been explored. With a conceptual framework, we can explain why we would try this or that path, based on the experiences of others, and on what we ourselves would like to explore or discover.
5. Methodology
This section is where you will be providing the methods that you will be using in your research. Typical methodologies include laboratory experiments, statistical or mathematical calculations/computations, and comparison of existing literature.
5. Analysis of Data
This section is where you will be analyzing the data that you have obtained from the methodological operation that you have chosen. Depending on the type of your research paper, data analysis instruments and operations may vary. Common data analysis methods include but are not limited to SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) which is a form of a qualitative data analysis.
6. Results / Findings / Presentation of Data
This section is where you will be presenting the actual results of the analysis that you have made based on your chosen methodology.
7. Discussion / Implication of Data Analysis
This is where you will be discussing more of the results of your research, its implications on other fields as well as the possible improvements that can be made in order to further develop the concerns of your research. This is also the section where you need to present the importance of your study and how it will be able to contribute to the field.
8. Conclusion
Provide the conclusion to your research paper. While it is important to restate your general thesis in this section, it is also important to include a brief restatement of the other parts of the research paper such as the methodology, data analysis and results.
9. Reference Page / Bibliography
This section is where you list down all the academic materials you have used as sources of information in your research paper. Typical reference formats/styles include but are not limited to APA 5th, Harvard, MLA and Chicago/Turabian.
10. Appendices
This is the last few pages that support your analysis (especially repetitive or lengthy information), validates your conclusions or pursues a related point should be placed in an appendix (plural appendices). Sometimes excerpts from this supporting information (i.e. part of the data set) will be placed in the body of the report but the complete set of information ( i.e. all of the data set) will be included in the appendix. Examples of information that could be included in an appendix include figures/tables/charts/graphs of results, statistics, questionnaires, transcripts of interviews, pictures, lengthy derivations of equations, maps, drawings, letters, specification or data sheets, computer program information.
The information included in the appendix must bear directly relate to the research problem or the report's purpose. Each separate appendix should be lettered (Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix B1, Appendix B2, Appendix C, etc). The order they are presented in is dictated by the order they are mentioned in the text of the report.
