Planing And Structuring Your Research Paper

The research paper is an academic paper that represents the cumulation of research, analysis, writing and revising performed by a student. The process of writing a research paper generally uses all of a student's critical thinking, writing and research skills, since it involves research, organizations, source evaluation and composition.

Students need to plan and structure their research papers before writing. Research papers rely heavily on having a structured beginning, middle and end to successfully convey both the writer's interpretations and factual evidence.

The research paper, as a result, is supposed to inform the reader about the writer's chosen topic. That alone is why a research paper needs both planning and structure.

Planning and structuring your research paper

As mentioned, planning and structuring a research paper starts before the student writer can begin the research process. The planning process typically involves gathering writing and research resources and preparing other materials for the research and writing process.

The structuring process is the process of actively applying an outline to the content that the student writer creates. During this process, they can actively create an outline that fits what they want to convey within the body of their research paper. In most cases, this step is completed before the writing starts.

The process of successfully planning and writing a paper isn't difficult. Below are some tips from an academic resource about how to successfully plan and structure a research paper:

Check your instructions and resources

Before compiling research into a usable resource for the research paper, it's important to review any guidelines that an instructor may have assigned. This helps students cover any requirements for their research paper before they start writing.

Think about the research paper's flow

One of the most important things about structuring a research paper is ensuring that it flows well. To make a research paper flow from one topic to another topic in a successful way, arrange background points at the start of the paper, later segueing into important points that support the background information. Any points that may allude to the topic in future-related contexts naturally reside at the end.

Match similar or contrasting points together

Similar or contrasting points can make a research paper read better. Arrange any points that may match or contrast together to make the paper look stronger. Contrasting an opposing piece of evidence with one that directly contrasts it can make the main evidence (for the paper's topic) look stronger to readers.

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