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Write your research paper outline: A concise guide

After doing the actual research, it’s time to write your research paper outline. If your paper were a building, the outline would be its architectural plan. The purpose of a research paper outline is to help you plan your paper and organize its content in logical sections.

Here is a concise guide to writing a research paper outline and some advice on how to use it to write your paper.

Research paper outline template

The following is an example of a research paper outline. You can rename the sections to make them more descriptive.

Abstract

  • Background—one sentence to give context
  • Aim or research question
  • Summary of findings
  • Results
  • Conclusion
  • Implications and recommendations

Introduction

  • Background and recent research relevant to your topic
  • Gap or conflict in current knowledge
  • Hypothesis/question/aim of the study and why it is new
  • Proposed solution and your plan to find it
  • No results, no implications

Data and methods

  • The “recipe” for your study to allow your research to be replicated. Should answer the questions
    • Who?
    • What?
    • When?
    • Where?
    • How?
    • Why?
  • Data
  • Study design
  • Data analysis

Results (or results and discussion)

  • Key findings
  • Context
  • What do the results mean, and why should the reader care?
  • Anticipate criticism—what are the weak parts of your results/methods?
  • What’s next?
  • Big-picture implications of findings

Conclusion

  • Summary of findings
  • Restate the message of the paper
  • Implications, recommendation
  • No discussion, no detailed results

You need to modify this research paper outline template so it fits your purposes. If you’re not sure how to do it, examine a few papers published in your target journal. How did their authors organize the paper? What sections did they include?

In addition, read the journal’s guidelines for authors. They sometimes specify the desired manuscript format and structure for a research paper.

How to use your research paper outline

A research paper outline is not a recipe with step-by-step instructions. So, you don’t need to start writing your abstract first, followed by the introduction, data and methods, and so on.

Think of your research paper outline as a map. You can start anywhere it suits you. However, it helps to prepare the tables and figures first. It will give you a clear view of your findings. It’s pointless to create professional figures at this stage, but they should be complete. So, label the axes of your graphics, and add units of measurement to your tables.

Once you have your figures and tables at hand, consider writing the sections of your paper in this order: 

  • Results
  • Data and methods
  • Introduction
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Abstract

The results should be easy to describe once you have your figures and tables in front of you. And writing the data and methods section shouldn’t be a problem if you did the research yourself. The rest of the sections are more challenging to complete, but at that point you’ll be well on your way to writing your research paper. That should give you the motivation to overcome the writer’s block.

Write the abstract at the end. It’s arguably the most important section of your paper. If your paper is not open-access, the abstract will be the only section visible to non-subscribers. Aso, even those who have access to the full paper may not read anything else apart from the abstract.

To write a good abstract, you need to have a clear idea of the message of your paper and the importance of your results. This is the reason you should write your abstract at the end. Then, start thinking about a good title that highlights the most important findings of your study.

Do you need a freelance English editor experienced in editing research papers? Send me a message at editor@languageediting.com.

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Last revised on 26 June 2022

 

Cristina N.

A freelance editor and writer with a keen interest in science, nature, and communication, I love to craft articles that help and inspire people.