A research paper is the face of your academic achievements, or we can say that it defines that you have completed your higher studies successfully and have enough knowledge about it. After submission of your research paper and its acceptance, you are eligible for high-level academic positions. So, to reach this level, it is necessary to know how to format a research paper.
Research papers are generally written by either academic professionals, scientists, subject matter experts or aspiring students and researchers who have some related aims in life. Academic professionals are experienced enough and generally do not need a guide but the aspiring students and researchers work under somebody’s guidance.
Select Your Topic that Relates to Your Specialized Subject
The first step is to choose a topic and it should relate to your subject specialization. Your guide should be approached for finalizing it and after the approval, you start working on it. Sometimes, it could take a few months’ time to write this paper but mostly, the guides give years’ time for a detailed thesis. Everything depends on your academic level and aspirations.
Your Guide Can Guide You the Best but We are Presenting an Applauded Way of Formatting a Research Paper
Your guide can tell you how to format your paper but there are some generic ways of formatting as well. You can write the paper topic, your and your guide’s name on the cover page, and then give the table of contents. Then comes Acknowledgement that is dedicated to all those who helped you in the thesis and special gratitude to the guide. After this, you give short Literature Review or an Executive Summary that hints about the paper’s significance and your hard work.
Next, comes the real paper, and you have to start with the Introduction. It can be long but you should be sure that it should never be longer or even equal to your research body and findings. Yet, it could be kept longer in comparison to other portions in the paper. Then you have to focus on your research type, whether it is a qualitative, quantitative, survey-based or any kind of research. Overall, you have to tell about the methodology you are using.
Your Findings and Illustrations Should be Substantial and Solid
Once you are done with explaining the type, you can head to mention your findings along with substantial proofs and illustrations. This should be done carefully because this is the main body of the paper and your guide will be more interested to check its relevance and authenticity.
Conclude Crisply and Do Not Forget to Mention References
In end, you can give a conclusion that is based on the outcome of the findings and also it should be linked with other portions in the paper. Recommendations and Suggestions follow only if the topic allows. Lastly and importantly, a bibliography or reference list of books, articles, websites, living sources, etc is given. This completes your research paper and thereby you can go on the declaration of it being true.
Apart from formatting, a few things that matter are good and correct language, and interesting presentation. So, this was how to format a research paper but there are many other ways to do so, therefore do not hesitate to ask about it from your guide.