Research writing is an essential component of scholarly research that necessitates both academic and writing abilities on the part of the author(s). It is frequently regarded as an overwhelming task, particularly by those who are new to academic writing. If you are just getting started, you may ask, ‘Why do I need to write and publish a research paper?’ The answer is that publications are one of the most common ways of communicating your research to a broader audience. It helps share data and knowledge with the scientific community to advance research in a specific field of study. Publications are also critical for getting university promotions, securing collaborations, and obtaining funding for your research. Now that you know why it’s important to get published, let’s start with pointers on writing a research paper outline, the first step in the manuscript writing process.
Writing a research paper outline is critical, even before you start working on the first draft. A research paper outline is a basic framework of the topics and sections that will appear in the final version. The goal of a research paper outline is to simplify the writing process by organizing the information, structuring the sections, establishing how different sections are related, and ensuring the free flow of information throughout the paper1. In the research domain, most article outlines follow the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format. This article will go over how to write a research paper outline and provide some research paper outline examples.
Almost all research proposals should begin with the “What” of the thesis statement, which discusses the research problem, introduces the research topic, and provides relevant background information. This part is usually covered in the introduction, which is one of the most critical sections of the paper.
It is important to address the “Why” of the research statement to pique readers’ interest in reading the entire article. Here, you emphasize the significance of the project by explaining why it was critical to conduct the study and providing relevant information. This section usually follows the study background or introduction and comes before the methodology section begins.
This section should explain how the research was carried out in order to provide context for the readers. You should construct arguments from existing literature while discussing how your research fills gaps or solves existing problems.
The information above should simplify the process of writing a research paper outline. Once you have an outline in place, the next step is to seek feedback from peers or co-authors to gain different perspectives and make sure to get all the important information. This will ensure you have a strong research paper outline that you can then use to develop your manuscript for submission.
References
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