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Methodology Lesson 5

The document outlines the typical structure and sections of a research paper. It discusses that a research paper presents the findings of a study in a detailed written format. The paper conveys the results of the research process and provides an in-depth analysis of a topic based on empirical evidence. The research paper outline typically includes a title page, acknowledgments, abstract, table of contents, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, analysis, conclusion, references, and appendices. Each section serves an important purpose in presenting the overall research.

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19 views

Methodology Lesson 5

The document outlines the typical structure and sections of a research paper. It discusses that a research paper presents the findings of a study in a detailed written format. The paper conveys the results of the research process and provides an in-depth analysis of a topic based on empirical evidence. The research paper outline typically includes a title page, acknowledgments, abstract, table of contents, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, analysis, conclusion, references, and appendices. Each section serves an important purpose in presenting the overall research.

Uploaded by

Raouf Carlo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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University of Algiers 2 Research Methodology (L3)

Department of English Ms. Daghi

Research Paper (the outline)

Research paper: it is a written presentation of the findings in a detailed way. The research paper is
the final stage of the research process that conveys the whole results of the study. This means that
after gathering and analyzing data is complete, there comes the phase of writing the report, which has
to do with writing about what has been collected and analysed and what pre-existing research found
about the topic.

The research paper provides an in-depth analysis, evaluation and interpretation of a certain topic
based on empirical evidence. In fact, it presents the writer’s own thinking of others’ ideas.

Writing the research report is a process of varied stages. In addition, there are some guidelines about
the way the report should be structured that the researcher has to respect.

The research paper outline: all the following titles should appear in the paper, but the researcher can
add other titles depending on the research on one hand and depending on the supervisor’s guidelines
on the other hand.

Title page: also referred to as the front page. It should include the university, faculty, department
and section, in addition to the title of the study, the researcher’s name, the supervisor’s name and the
academic year.

Acknowledgments: in this page the researcher acknowledges the help given to him in the
preparation of the report.

Abstract: it is a brief, concise and precise summary of the whole study in which the purpose, aim
and the problem of the research should be clearly and well stated, followed by presenting the design
and the methods employed and finally exposing the conclusions reached. This summary should be
presented in one paragraph which must not be indented (i.e. one block), and its length is about 10 to
20 lines depending on the paper length.

The abstract provides the reader with information about the research; it is in fact a short report of the
paper.

Contents: All research papers must include the Contents table, which has the function of presenting
the contents of the paper. All the headings (titles) mentioned in the text must appear in the Contents
table.

General Introduction: the General Introduction of a research paper introduces the topic, the
problem, aim and purpose of the study. Most General Introductions are structured as the following:
 General introduction of the topic.
 Background of the study.
 Statement of the problem. (Explain the research problem in few sentences, explain what do you
want to investigate? and you deeply explain the reason (s) behind choosing this topic and this
problem).
 Aims/ objectives and purpose of the study (your contributions, and how you can solve the
problem).
 Research Questions/Hypotheses (with explaining them and presenting the aim behind raising
the RQ (s) or the Hypotheses).
 Structure of the paper, the text (and when we say the text we mean “from General Introduction
to General Conclusion”).

Review of literature: this is the theoretical part of the study which indicates reviewing the literature
related to the research topic. By using the term “literature” we mean books and published articles.

This part of the research paper involves a definition and an explanation of the key concepts under
which the research is built. The concepts definition allows the reader to understand the basics of the
study.

An explanation of the context and background of the study should be presented in this research part.

The review of literature implies reviewing and critically analyzing previous research on the selected
topic and identifying the research gap. It compares the results of different related investigations and
discusses them.

Methodology: this is considered as the practical part of the research which targets the following:

 It is to report and explain how the problem was investigated.


 It describes the research methods and techniques employed and it explains the rationale for
their use.
 It provides a detailed explanation of the procedures of data collection, size of the
participants, sample (the method of selection), choice of variables … and etc.

Results presentation and description: this section is considered as the heart of the report; it is
mainly about presenting the research results and findings. Depending on the project nature, this
section will consist of tables and figures to present and highlight the significant aspects of the findings
(results) which are proceeded by a text describing the results as Bell (1933, p. 203) stated “Tables,
charts and other figures should illustrate and illuminate the text”. All tables and figures should be
numbered and given a title.

Analysis and discussion: this section usually starts with a restatement of the research problem.
Implications for improvements of practice should be drawn out in this section.
General Conclusion: it is the summary of the report. It reminds the reader of the statement of the
problem, and then provides the solutions by presenting the summary of the findings.

References: only books and articles which have been cited in the report (text) should be provided.
Adopting the Harvard method of referencing, the references should appear in an alphabetical order.

Appendices: this last section includes copies of research instruments that a researcher has used in
the collection of data (questionnaires, interviews, schedules, etc.) unless he has been instructed
otherwise.

Reference: Bell, J. (1999). Doing Your Research Project. UK, OUP

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