Writing a Basic Research Paper

1. Title/Title Page: The title of your paper should fit the main theme of the paper. It should be centered in bold print (16-18 font) and should not be more than ten words. Place your name one or two line spaces directly under the title in a smaller font si e. The date of submission and the class in which the assi!nment was made should also be included. If you are presentin! the paper at a conference" put your mailin! address as well your phone number and email address under your name. #astly" put the name" date and location of the conference under your demo!raphic information. $ide note: %ou mi!ht want to construct a rou!h outline of the main headin!s in the paper hi!hli!htin! the main point or items that you want to co&er as you mo&e alon!. This becomes more rele&ant as the len!th of the paper increases (for e'ample" not necessary for a fi&e pa!e paper" but important for papers o&er 1( pa!es in len!th). ). Abstract: This is a one or two para!raph synopsis of your paper. *irst and foremost" the abstract should identify your hypothesis+research ,uestion in the first or second line. Then" detail the procedure+application that you used to test your hypothesis+research ,uestion (sur&ey data" archi&al study" re!ression analysis" content analysis" etc). This sentence -s. should also identify your main data sources (i.e. $ur&ey data" /ensus data" etc). #astly" the abstract should pro&ide the reader with your main research findin!s if you ha&e completed the research. *re,uently" proposals for research are 0ust that. If you ha&e completed the research" pro&ide the ma0or findin!s in one or two sentences. If you ha&e not completed the research" then lea&e this part out of your proposal. 1hen you finish the research you can !o bac2 and rewrite this section with the e'act findin!s. This step is critical because you should be able to polish and refine your statement at this point. 3n abstract should not be lon!er than 14( words or 4+5ths of a pa!e. 4. Introduction: The introduction to the paper pro&ides the main point of departure for your sub0ect matter. The main ob0ecti&e is not only to clearly con&ey your hypothesis+research ,uestion" but also to &alidate your study relati&e to other studies. 6owe&er" you do not want to del&e too deep into the research of other scholars in this section. The literature re&iew section contains this information. 7o not force the reader to read more than one para!raph to find your hypothesis+research ,uestion. The purpose of your study should be crystal clear to the reader. 8esearchers fre,uently be!in the introduction with se&eral cursory sentences pro&idin! some interestin! points or data concernin! the sub0ect matter. The introduction can ran!e from half a pa!e to two pa!es dependin! on how much bac2!round information you include. 9nsure that you stay focused when writin! this section. :ain Points $ummari ed:

Present rele&ant bac2!round or conte'tual material 7efine terms or concepts when necessary 9'plain the focus of the paper and your specific purpose

;alidate your thesis or purpose statement by showin! why it is important 8e&eal your plan of or!ani ation for the paper

5. Literature Review/Previous Literature: In short" this is a summation of the wor2s of other scholars who ha&e conducted research on your dependent &ariable+main sub0ect. The bul2 of your literature re&iew should be based on scholarly refereed research. <enerally spea2in!" web based articles are still only moderately acceptable in research. This does not include refereed 0ournals that are a&ailable online. I am specifically referrin! to articles that were written and did not !o throu!h the process of ha&in! se&eral other professional researches read it and pro&ide some sort of stamp of appro&al (commonly called non refereed research). #iterature can be ran2ed in terms of le&el of acceptance (most acceptable to least acceptable): 1. uni&ersity press boo2s and refereed articles" ). non uni&ersity press boo2s and te't boo2s" 4. articles from research institutes" !o&ernment a!encies" or thin2 tan2s such as the =rban Institute" >roo2in!s" /on!ressional >ud!et ?ffice" and ?:>" 5. web sites" news ma!a ines (@ewswee2" =.$. @ews and 1orld 8eport" etc.)" and newspaper articles. There is also some disparity amon! web sites" newspapers" and news ma!a ines" so be careful when citin! them. 3 literature re&iew is normally written by date or sub0ect matter. In some instances" there may be two areas of research that co&er your sub0ect" so it would be wise to split them into two sections with an appropriate headin! for each and then discuss them by date. The most recent material should appear first. This is not necessarily true if there is a classic pioneerin! article or boo2 in the field. If e&eryone else is citin! the piece" then you should as well. %our !oal is not to summari e the research" but to cite the research desi!n and the findin!s as it applies to your wor2. If multiple authors ha&e the same findin!s" then cite them to!ether in one sentence. The literature re&iew can ran!e from two to four pa!es dependin! on how much wor2 has been conducted in your area. /arefully cite the research you are buildin! from" synthesi in! the information as much as possible rather than 0ust describin! each indi&idual research piece. 3cademic re&iewers often !o to this section first to see what basis the research is basin! their theoretical+research desi!n upon since this section demonstrates the writerAs 2nowled!e and understandin! of the state of the current research in the area. :ain Points $ummari ed:

=se your outline and prospectus as fle'ible !uides >uild your paper around points you want to ma2e (i.e." donBt let your sources or!ani e your paper) Inte!rate your sources into your discussion $ummari e" analy e" e'plain" and e&aluate published wor2 rather than merely reportin! it :o&e up and down the Cladder of abstractionC from !enerali ation to &aryin! le&els of detail bac2 to !enerali ation

D. Data and Methods: The main ob0ecti&e of this section is to inform the reader of your data sources" research application and model. It is not necessary to list the e'act location of your data sources. *or e'ample" if you use data from the =.$. /ensus >ureauAs web site" you should simply list the main web site. The reader simply needs to ha&e enou!h information to find the location of the data if they loo2 for it. %ou should also indicate the time frame co&ered in the research. It is easier to describe secondary data than primary data. 1hen usin! primary data" you must detail the e'act collection method as well as any other nuances that you employed when collectin! the data. This is particularly true with content analysis studies and primary sur&ey data. 8e&iew the article E3d&ancin! 9-<o&ernment at the <rassroots: Tortoise or 6areFG in the Hanuary+*ebruary )((D" & 6 p 65-ID issue of Public Administration Review for an e'ample of writin! the data and methods section for a sur&ey research article. 8e&iew the article EThe :ediaAs Portrayal of =rban and 8ural $chool ;iolence: 3 Preliminary 3nalysisG in the $eptember+?ctober )((1" & )) JD issue of Deviant Behavior for an e'ample of content analysis. The article that is listed on our website with this handout also uses secondary data analysis. :ethodolo!y refers to the statistical application that you use in your study. This includes" chi s,uare analysis" re!ression analysis" correlations" factors analysis" etc. #astly" you should put your model in this section. This includes items such as illustrations describin! your model or re!ression models. 9ach of the terms that you use to describe your illustration or &ariables in your model must be described in detail. *or e'ample" you may ha&e an education &ariable in your model. It is necessary to inform the reader how you measure education: in yearsF" !radesF" or de!rees completedF 7ependin! on how many &ariables that you ha&e in your paper" it may be necessary to include an appendi' or footnotes+endnotes with the full description of the &ariable alon! with any codin! that you used. :ain Points $ummari ed:

Pro&ide the location of data sources 7escribe the &ariables used in your paper (in the paper or in the appendi') 7escribe the methodolo!y used and it limitations (re!ression" sur&ey or content analysis" archi&al studies" etc) Present your model+paradi!m+etc

6. Findings/Results: This section pro&ides the reader with the results of your analysis. @o conclusions are drawn in this section. $o" if you test three hypotheses" you mi!ht simply list them one by one and pro&ide the results for each. If you ha&e tables and charts describin! your findin!s" place them in this section. %our tables should stand alone. That is" the reader should be able to discern what is in the table or illustration without readin! the te't. 6owe&er" the te't should clearly e'plain what is in the table -s.. %ou should not refer e'tensi&ely to the literature re&iew in the findin!s. The tables and charts must be carefully constructed so that the reader can readily understand labels" headin!s" sources or data" etc. :ain Points $ummari ed:

8epeat research ,uestion+hypothesis followed by the findin!s

Present tables" charts and !raphs 7o not draw any conclusions based on pre&ious research

I. Conclusions: The first thin! that you want to do in your conclusion is remind the reader of your hypotheses+research ,uestions. Then" confirm or re0ect those propositions as well as compare them to the findin!s of other scholars. It is o2ay to indicate that you did not find what you e'pected to find. $cholars fre,uently indicate how their research was limited and what they would do or recommend to future researchers. It is not necessary to rein&ent the wheel in this section. It is a summary" not a re!ur!itation of the findin!s. 7ependin! on the number of hypothesis tested" your conclusion can ran!e from a para!raph to a couple of pa!es in len!th. 3fter you ha&e drafted your conclusion section" !o bac2 to the introduction and ma2e sure that the two are still lin2edK 7id you do what you said you were !oin! to doF Is the paper or!ani ed the way you said it would beF 7oes your concludin! para!raph (s) clearly address the purpose of the paperF :ain Points $ummari ed:

If the ar!ument or point of your paper is comple'" you may need to summari e the ar!ument for your reader. If prior to your conclusion you ha&e not yet e'plained the si!nificance of your findin!s or if you are proceedin! inducti&ely" use the end of your paper to add your points up" to e'plain their si!nificance. :o&e from a detailed to a !eneral le&el of consideration that returns the topic to the conte't pro&ided by the introduction. Perhaps su!!est what about this topic needs further research

8. Re erences/Bibliogra!h": Please consult a style manual for proper citation methods. There are three main techni,ues (3P3" :#3" and /hica!o $tyle) and they do chan!e o&er time. $o" you should consult the most recent &ersion of the techni,ue that you are usin!. The :P3 faculty ha&e a!reed that students in P37: classes should use the most recent 3P3 style. L. #ndnotes/Footnotes: These are short e'planatory sentences that are conser&ati&ely used throu!hout your paper. *or the most part" they are used to offer additional e'planation" definitions or other pieces of information that may be useful to the reader. 7o not put thin!s in the notes that can be included in the paper. If you are usin! ,uantitati&e analysis in your paper it may be better if you use an appendi' alon! with notes. =se notes sparin!ly. 1(. A!!endices/Footnotes/#ndnotes: The appendi' contains information that is not needed directly in the te't. This would include items such as the codin! scheme for your models" definitions of terms" and additional information about your data. There is no set amount or type of information that should be included in your appendi'.

Notes: The items that are included in this summary should be included in a basic run of the mill research paper. There is no e'act model to follow when writin! a research paper. 7ifferent 0ournals use different models and professors often want different thin!s. The more you read scholarly research and write research papers the more adept you will become in your writin! s2ills. %ou may also include other items such as a bac2!round section discussin! a policy or a definition that your paper focuses on. 6owe&er" it is recommended that you do not !o o&erboard in this process. The information contained in this summary is not applicable and should not be mista2en for Eresearch papersG that are really literature re&iews. It is possible to conduct a content analysis or an archi&al study on the wor2 of other scholars. 6owe&er" to simply !o to the library and find articles and boo2s on a sub0ect and write a paper is not a research paper" but a literature re&iew dis!uised as a research paper. The term research su!!ests that you ha&e !one beyond what other writers ha&e done and conducted some sort of analysis that presumably has not been done before. 8esearch papers fre,uently use a Times 8oman 1) point font and are double spaced. =nless indicated otherwise" there is no real pa!e limit. 6owe&er" research papers do not tend to e'tend beyond 5( pa!es. The followin! websites offers additional information on writin! usin! the 3P3 style http:++webster.commnet.edu+apa+ or http:++www.apastyle.or!.

Aids to Writing Research Papers $uidelines or writing a research re!ort% &arbrace college handboo'% Ma'ing sense ( a student)s guide to research and writing ( social sciences% MLA handboo' or writers o research !a!ers% Model research !a!ers rom across the disci!lines% Put it in writing( learn how to write clearl"* +uic'l" and !ersuasivel"% Research and re!ort writing ,videorecording-% Research !a!er smart( where to ind it* how to write it* how to cite it% .nderstanding st"le ( !ractical wa"s to im!rove "our writing% /ebster)s new world student writing handboo'% /riting handboo'% /riting research !a!ers( a 0orton guide%