Structuring a Research Paper

My research question is: Social Effects of Online Classes

Research Paper

The last thing you need to do is communicate your study for review. For this last step, you will gather all of your papers and add to them to create an 8-10 page research paper. You will need to follow the format of a research paper that we will discuss in class. Thus, your paper should have the following:

• Introduction Section
  • What is the significance of this research study?
  • What is the goal of this research study?
• Previous Literature Section
  • What theory(s) or concept(s) applies to this research study?
  • What has been found in previous studies on this topic?
  • What is this research study’s research question and/or hypothesis(es)?
• Method Sections
  • Sample
    • What sample was gathered?
    • How was the sample gathered?
  • Measures
    • What data collection method was used?
    • What materials were used to collect data?
  • Procedure
    • What is the step-by-step procedure used to collect data?
      • If studying texts, how did you do the content analysis?
      • If studying people, what did the people experience to give you information?
• Results Section
  • What was the data analysis method for this research study?
  • What were the results of using this data analysis method?
    • Report statistics or categories – use illustrations as needed.
• Discussion Section
  • What is the significance of the results of this research study?
    • How does what was found answer the research question / test the hypothesis?
    • How does what was found relate to previous research and/or theories/concepts?
  • What were the limitations of this research study?
  • What would be your recommendations for future studies on this topic?
• References Section
  • Using MLA or APA style, list all of the sources cited in this paper.

Another outline for this paper can be found on this page: Structuring a Research Paper

The paper must be in a professional 12 font typeset with double spacing and 1 inch margins. Your paper must include all aspects of the format as well as an APA or MLA styled reference page, which can count towards the overall page length. You must properly reference that articles you analyzed, as well as any other readings you mention in your paper. You can include any illustrations, figures, charts, tables as you wish; these images will count towards the overall page length, but any illustrations need to be explained in the text.

Research Paper Template

(Use the underlined words for headers and the bolded words for subheaders in your paper)

1. Introduction
   1. What topic did you study?
   2. Why was it important to study this topic? (significance)
   3. What was the goal of your study?
   4. Preview your paper
2. Literature Review
   1. What have others found on your topic? (Reference articles, readings on past research, theories, concepts)
   2. What is still unknown on your topic?
   3. What was your research question/hypothesis?
3. Method
   1. Sample: What sample did you gather and how? (sampling method, description of sample)
   2. Measure:
      1. What data collection method did you use and why?
      2. How did you measure your variables?
         1. Provide examples of your measurements. (questionnaire items, interview/focus group questions, codebook)
   3. Procedure: Step-by-step process of how gathered data
      1. What did you do? (if analyzed texts)
      2. What did your participants do? (if had participants)
4. Results
   1. What data analysis method did you use and why?
   2. What results did you get?
      1. If quantitative, what were the results of the statistical tests? (provide numbers, what numbers mean)
      2. If qualitative, what were the results of the coding? (define categories, provide examples from data)
5. Discussion
   1. What are your interpretations of the results?
      1. How did they answer your research question(s), test your hypothesis(s)?
      2. What explains to you why the results are the way they are?
         1. How do they relate to a theory? Or how could they inform a theory?
         2. How do they relate to previous research?
6. Conclusions
   1. What are the benefits of the results? What do they help us understand?
   2. What are the limitations, if any, of your study?
   3. What could be a future direction(s) for researching the topic?
7. References
   1. If choosing to use APA style, visit here for guidelines (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
   2. If choosing to use MLA style, visit here for guidelines
      (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.