• Search This Site All UCSD Sites Faculty/Staff Search Term
  • Contact & Directions
  • Climate Statement
  • Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Adjunct Faculty
  • Non-Senate Instructors
  • Researchers
  • Psychology Grads
  • Affiliated Grads
  • New and Prospective Students
  • Honors Program
  • Experiential Learning
  • Programs & Events
  • Psi Chi / Psychology Club
  • Prospective PhD Students
  • Current PhD Students
  • Area Brown Bags
  • Colloquium Series
  • Anderson Distinguished Lecture Series
  • Speaker Videos
  • Undergraduate Program
  • Academic and Writing Resources

Writing Research Papers

  • Research Paper Structure

Whether you are writing a B.S. Degree Research Paper or completing a research report for a Psychology course, it is highly likely that you will need to organize your research paper in accordance with American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines.  Here we discuss the structure of research papers according to APA style.

Major Sections of a Research Paper in APA Style

A complete research paper in APA style that is reporting on experimental research will typically contain a Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References sections. 1  Many will also contain Figures and Tables and some will have an Appendix or Appendices.  These sections are detailed as follows (for a more in-depth guide, please refer to " How to Write a Research Paper in APA Style ”, a comprehensive guide developed by Prof. Emma Geller). 2

What is this paper called and who wrote it? – the first page of the paper; this includes the name of the paper, a “running head”, authors, and institutional affiliation of the authors.  The institutional affiliation is usually listed in an Author Note that is placed towards the bottom of the title page.  In some cases, the Author Note also contains an acknowledgment of any funding support and of any individuals that assisted with the research project.

One-paragraph summary of the entire study – typically no more than 250 words in length (and in many cases it is well shorter than that), the Abstract provides an overview of the study.

Introduction

What is the topic and why is it worth studying? – the first major section of text in the paper, the Introduction commonly describes the topic under investigation, summarizes or discusses relevant prior research (for related details, please see the Writing Literature Reviews section of this website), identifies unresolved issues that the current research will address, and provides an overview of the research that is to be described in greater detail in the sections to follow.

What did you do? – a section which details how the research was performed.  It typically features a description of the participants/subjects that were involved, the study design, the materials that were used, and the study procedure.  If there were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate Methods section.  A rule of thumb is that the Methods section should be sufficiently detailed for another researcher to duplicate your research.

What did you find? – a section which describes the data that was collected and the results of any statistical tests that were performed.  It may also be prefaced by a description of the analysis procedure that was used. If there were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate Results section.

What is the significance of your results? – the final major section of text in the paper.  The Discussion commonly features a summary of the results that were obtained in the study, describes how those results address the topic under investigation and/or the issues that the research was designed to address, and may expand upon the implications of those findings.  Limitations and directions for future research are also commonly addressed.

List of articles and any books cited – an alphabetized list of the sources that are cited in the paper (by last name of the first author of each source).  Each reference should follow specific APA guidelines regarding author names, dates, article titles, journal titles, journal volume numbers, page numbers, book publishers, publisher locations, websites, and so on (for more information, please see the Citing References in APA Style page of this website).

Tables and Figures

Graphs and data (optional in some cases) – depending on the type of research being performed, there may be Tables and/or Figures (however, in some cases, there may be neither).  In APA style, each Table and each Figure is placed on a separate page and all Tables and Figures are included after the References.   Tables are included first, followed by Figures.   However, for some journals and undergraduate research papers (such as the B.S. Research Paper or Honors Thesis), Tables and Figures may be embedded in the text (depending on the instructor’s or editor’s policies; for more details, see "Deviations from APA Style" below).

Supplementary information (optional) – in some cases, additional information that is not critical to understanding the research paper, such as a list of experiment stimuli, details of a secondary analysis, or programming code, is provided.  This is often placed in an Appendix.

Variations of Research Papers in APA Style

Although the major sections described above are common to most research papers written in APA style, there are variations on that pattern.  These variations include: 

  • Literature reviews – when a paper is reviewing prior published research and not presenting new empirical research itself (such as in a review article, and particularly a qualitative review), then the authors may forgo any Methods and Results sections. Instead, there is a different structure such as an Introduction section followed by sections for each of the different aspects of the body of research being reviewed, and then perhaps a Discussion section. 
  • Multi-experiment papers – when there are multiple experiments, it is common to follow the Introduction with an Experiment 1 section, itself containing Methods, Results, and Discussion subsections. Then there is an Experiment 2 section with a similar structure, an Experiment 3 section with a similar structure, and so on until all experiments are covered.  Towards the end of the paper there is a General Discussion section followed by References.  Additionally, in multi-experiment papers, it is common for the Results and Discussion subsections for individual experiments to be combined into single “Results and Discussion” sections.

Departures from APA Style

In some cases, official APA style might not be followed (however, be sure to check with your editor, instructor, or other sources before deviating from standards of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association).  Such deviations may include:

  • Placement of Tables and Figures  – in some cases, to make reading through the paper easier, Tables and/or Figures are embedded in the text (for example, having a bar graph placed in the relevant Results section). The embedding of Tables and/or Figures in the text is one of the most common deviations from APA style (and is commonly allowed in B.S. Degree Research Papers and Honors Theses; however you should check with your instructor, supervisor, or editor first). 
  • Incomplete research – sometimes a B.S. Degree Research Paper in this department is written about research that is currently being planned or is in progress. In those circumstances, sometimes only an Introduction and Methods section, followed by References, is included (that is, in cases where the research itself has not formally begun).  In other cases, preliminary results are presented and noted as such in the Results section (such as in cases where the study is underway but not complete), and the Discussion section includes caveats about the in-progress nature of the research.  Again, you should check with your instructor, supervisor, or editor first.
  • Class assignments – in some classes in this department, an assignment must be written in APA style but is not exactly a traditional research paper (for instance, a student asked to write about an article that they read, and to write that report in APA style). In that case, the structure of the paper might approximate the typical sections of a research paper in APA style, but not entirely.  You should check with your instructor for further guidelines.

Workshops and Downloadable Resources

  • For in-person discussion of the process of writing research papers, please consider attending this department’s “Writing Research Papers” workshop (for dates and times, please check the undergraduate workshops calendar).

Downloadable Resources

  • How to Write APA Style Research Papers (a comprehensive guide) [ PDF ]
  • Tips for Writing APA Style Research Papers (a brief summary) [ PDF ]
  • Example APA Style Research Paper (for B.S. Degree – empirical research) [ PDF ]
  • Example APA Style Research Paper (for B.S. Degree – literature review) [ PDF ]

Further Resources

How-To Videos     

  • Writing Research Paper Videos

APA Journal Article Reporting Guidelines

  • Appelbaum, M., Cooper, H., Kline, R. B., Mayo-Wilson, E., Nezu, A. M., & Rao, S. M. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for quantitative research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board task force report . American Psychologist , 73 (1), 3.
  • Levitt, H. M., Bamberg, M., Creswell, J. W., Frost, D. M., Josselson, R., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for qualitative primary, qualitative meta-analytic, and mixed methods research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board task force report . American Psychologist , 73 (1), 26.  

External Resources

  • Formatting APA Style Papers in Microsoft Word
  • How to Write an APA Style Research Paper from Hamilton University
  • WikiHow Guide to Writing APA Research Papers
  • Sample APA Formatted Paper with Comments
  • Sample APA Formatted Paper
  • Tips for Writing a Paper in APA Style

1 VandenBos, G. R. (Ed). (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) (pp. 41-60).  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

2 geller, e. (2018).  how to write an apa-style research report . [instructional materials]. , prepared by s. c. pan for ucsd psychology.

Back to top  

  • Formatting Research Papers
  • Using Databases and Finding References
  • What Types of References Are Appropriate?
  • Evaluating References and Taking Notes
  • Citing References
  • Writing a Literature Review
  • Writing Process and Revising
  • Improving Scientific Writing
  • Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism
  • Writing Research Papers Videos

Banner

How to Write a Research Paper: Parts of the Paper

  • Choosing Your Topic
  • Citation & Style Guides This link opens in a new window
  • Critical Thinking
  • Evaluating Information
  • Parts of the Paper
  • Writing Tips from UNC-Chapel Hill
  • Librarian Contact

Parts of the Research Paper Papers should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your introductory paragraph should grab the reader's attention, state your main idea, and indicate how you will support it. The body of the paper should expand on what you have stated in the introduction. Finally, the conclusion restates the paper's thesis and should explain what you have learned, giving a wrap up of your main ideas.

1. The Title The title should be specific and indicate the theme of the research and what ideas it addresses. Use keywords that help explain your paper's topic to the reader. Try to avoid abbreviations and jargon. Think about keywords that people would use to search for your paper and include them in your title.

2. The Abstract The abstract is used by readers to get a quick overview of your paper. Typically, they are about 200 words in length (120 words minimum to  250 words maximum). The abstract should introduce the topic and thesis, and should provide a general statement about what you have found in your research. The abstract allows you to mention each major aspect of your topic and helps readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Because it is a summary of the entire research paper, it is often written last. 

3. The Introduction The introduction should be designed to attract the reader's attention and explain the focus of the research. You will introduce your overview of the topic,  your main points of information, and why this subject is important. You can introduce the current understanding and background information about the topic. Toward the end of the introduction, you add your thesis statement, and explain how you will provide information to support your research questions. This provides the purpose and focus for the rest of the paper.

4. Thesis Statement Most papers will have a thesis statement or main idea and supporting facts/ideas/arguments. State your main idea (something of interest or something to be proven or argued for or against) as your thesis statement, and then provide your supporting facts and arguments. A thesis statement is a declarative sentence that asserts the position a paper will be taking. It also points toward the paper's development. This statement should be both specific and arguable. Generally, the thesis statement will be placed at the end of the first paragraph of your paper. The remainder of your paper will support this thesis.

Students often learn to write a thesis as a first step in the writing process, but often, after research, a writer's viewpoint may change. Therefore a thesis statement may be one of the final steps in writing. 

Examples of Thesis Statements from Purdue OWL

5. The Literature Review The purpose of the literature review is to describe past important research and how it specifically relates to the research thesis. It should be a synthesis of the previous literature and the new idea being researched. The review should examine the major theories related to the topic to date and their contributors. It should include all relevant findings from credible sources, such as academic books and peer-reviewed journal articles. You will want  to:

  • Explain how the literature helps the researcher understand the topic.
  • Try to show connections and any disparities between the literature.
  • Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
  • Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.

More about writing a literature review. . .

6. The Discussion ​The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe what you have learned from your research. Make the reader understand why your topic is important. The discussion should always demonstrate what you have learned from your readings (and viewings) and how that learning has made the topic evolve, especially from the short description of main points in the introduction.Explain any new understanding or insights you have had after reading your articles and/or books. Paragraphs should use transitioning sentences to develop how one paragraph idea leads to the next. The discussion will always connect to the introduction, your thesis statement, and the literature you reviewed, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the introduction. You want to: 

  • Demonstrate critical thinking, not just reporting back facts that you gathered.
  • If possible, tell how the topic has evolved over the past and give it's implications for the future.
  • Fully explain your main ideas with supporting information.
  • Explain why your thesis is correct giving arguments to counter points.

7. The Conclusion A concluding paragraph is a brief summary of your main ideas and restates the paper's main thesis, giving the reader the sense that the stated goal of the paper has been accomplished. What have you learned by doing this research that you didn't know before? What conclusions have you drawn? You may also want to suggest further areas of study, improvement of research possibilities, etc. to demonstrate your critical thinking regarding your research.

  • << Previous: Evaluating Information
  • Next: Research >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 13, 2024 8:35 AM
  • URL: https://libguides.ucc.edu/research_paper

parts of research papers

The Plagiarism Checker Online For Your Academic Work

Start Plagiarism Check

Editing & Proofreading for Your Research Paper

Get it proofread now

Online Printing & Binding with Free Express Delivery

Configure binding now

  • Academic essay overview
  • The writing process
  • Structuring academic essays
  • Types of academic essays
  • Academic writing overview
  • Sentence structure
  • Academic writing process
  • Improving your academic writing
  • Titles and headings
  • APA style overview
  • APA citation & referencing
  • APA structure & sections
  • Citation & referencing
  • Structure and sections
  • APA examples overview
  • Commonly used citations
  • Other examples
  • British English vs. American English
  • Chicago style overview
  • Chicago citation & referencing
  • Chicago structure & sections
  • Chicago style examples
  • Citing sources overview
  • Citation format
  • Citation examples
  • College essay overview
  • Application
  • How to write a college essay
  • Types of college essays
  • Commonly confused words
  • Definitions
  • Dissertation overview
  • Dissertation structure & sections
  • Dissertation writing process
  • Graduate school overview
  • Application & admission
  • Study abroad
  • Master degree
  • Harvard referencing overview
  • Language rules overview
  • Grammatical rules & structures
  • Parts of speech
  • Punctuation
  • Methodology overview
  • Analyzing data
  • Experiments
  • Observations
  • Inductive vs. Deductive
  • Qualitative vs. Quantitative
  • Types of validity
  • Types of reliability
  • Sampling methods
  • Theories & Concepts
  • Types of research studies
  • Types of variables
  • MLA style overview
  • MLA examples
  • MLA citation & referencing
  • MLA structure & sections
  • Plagiarism overview
  • Plagiarism checker
  • Types of plagiarism
  • Printing production overview
  • Research bias overview
  • Types of research bias
  • Example sections
  • Types of research papers
  • Research process overview
  • Problem statement
  • Research proposal
  • Research topic
  • Statistics overview
  • Levels of measurment
  • Frequency distribution
  • Measures of central tendency
  • Measures of variability
  • Hypothesis testing
  • Parameters & test statistics
  • Types of distributions
  • Correlation
  • Effect size
  • Hypothesis testing assumptions
  • Types of ANOVAs
  • Types of chi-square
  • Statistical data
  • Statistical models
  • Spelling mistakes
  • Tips overview
  • Academic writing tips
  • Dissertation tips
  • Sources tips
  • Working with sources overview
  • Evaluating sources
  • Finding sources
  • Including sources
  • Types of sources

Your Step to Success

Plagiarism Check within 10min

Printing & Binding with 3D Live Preview

Parts of a Research Paper

How do you like this article cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Parts-of-a-Research-Paper-3-350x233-1

Inhaltsverzeichnis

  • 1 Parts of a Research Paper: Definition
  • 3 Research Paper Structure
  • 4 Research Paper Examples
  • 5 Research Paper APA Formatting
  • 6 In a Nutshell

Parts of a Research Paper: Definition

The point of having specifically defined parts of a research paper is not to make your life as a student harder. In fact, it’s very much the opposite. The different parts of a research paper have been established to provide a structure that can be consistently used to make your research projects easier, as well as helping you follow the proper scientific methodology.

This will help guide your writing process so you can focus on key elements one at a time. It will also provide a valuable outline that you can rely on to effectively structure your assignment. Having a solid structure will make your research paper easier to understand, and it will also prepare you for a possible future as a researcher, since all modern science is created around similar precepts.

Have you been struggling with your academic homework lately, especially where it concerns all the different parts of a research paper? This is actually a very common situation, so we have prepared this article to outline all the key parts of a research paper and explain what you must focus as you go through each one of the various parts of a research paper; read the following sections and you should have a clearer idea of how to tackle your next research paper effectively.

What are the main parts of a research paper?

There are eight main parts in a research paper :

  • Title (cover page)

Introduction

  • Literature review
  • Research methodology
  • Data analysis
  • Reference page

If you stick to this structure, your end product will be a concise, well-organized research paper.

Do you have to follow the exact research paper structure?

Yes, and failing to do so will likely impact your grade very negatively. It’s very important to write your research paper according to the structure given on this article. Follow your research paper outline   to avoid a messy structure. Different types of academic papers have very particular structures. For example, the structure required for a literature review is very different to the structure required for a scientific research paper.

What if I'm having trouble with certain parts of a research paper?

If you’re having problems with some parts of a research paper, it will be useful to look at some examples of finished research papers in a similar field of study, so you will have a better idea of the elements you need to include. Read a step-by-step guide for writing a research paper, or take a look at the section towards the end of this article for some research paper examples. Perhaps you’re just lacking inspiration!

Is there a special formatting you need to use when citing sources?

Making adequate citations to back up your research is a key consideration in almost every part of a research paper. There are various formatting conventions and referencing styles that should be followed as specified in your assignment. The most common is APA formatting, but you could also be required to use MLA formatting. Your professor or supervisor should tell you which one you need to use.

What should I do once I have my research paper outlined?

If you have created your research paper outline, then you’re ready to start writing. Remember, the first copy will be a draft, so don’t leave it until the last minute to begin writing. Check out some tips for overcoming writer’s block if you’re having trouble getting started.

Research Paper Structure

There are 8 parts of a research paper that you should go through in this order:

The very first page in your research paper should be used to identify its title, along with your name, the date of your assignment, and your learning institution. Additional elements may be required according to the specifications of your instructors, so it’s a good idea to check with them to make sure you feature all the required information in the right order. You will usually be provided with a template or checklist of some kind that you can refer to when writing your cover page .

This is the very beginning of your research paper, where you are expected to provide your thesis statement ; this is simply a summary of what you’re setting out to accomplish with your research project, including the problems you’re looking to scrutinize and any solutions or recommendations that you anticipate beforehand.

Literature Review

This part of a research paper is supposed to provide the theoretical framework that you elaborated during your research. You will be expected to present the sources you have studied while preparing for the work ahead, and these sources should be credible from an academic standpoint (including educational books, peer-reviewed journals, and other relevant publications). You must make sure to include the name of the relevant authors you’ve studied and add a properly formatted citation that explicitly points to their works you have analyzed, including the publication year (see the section below on APA style citations ).

Research Methodology

Different parts of a research paper have different aims, and here you need to point out the exact methods you have used in the course of your research work. Typical methods can range from direct observation to laboratory experiments, or statistical evaluations. Whatever your chosen methods are, you will need to explicitly point them out in this section.

Data Analysis

While all the parts of a research paper are important, this section is probably the most crucial from a practical standpoint. Out of all the parts of a research paper, here you will be expected to analyze the data you have obtained in the course of your research. This is where you get your chance to really shine, by introducing new data that may contribute to building up on the collective understanding of the topics you have researched. At this point, you’re not expected to analyze your data yet (that will be done in the subsequent parts of a research paper), but simply to present it objectively.

From all the parts of a research paper, this is the one where you’re expected to actually analyze the data you have gathered while researching. This analysis should align with your previously stated methodology, and it should both point out any implications suggested by your data that might be relevant to different fields of study, as well as any shortcomings in your approach that would allow you to improve you results if you were to repeat the same type of research.

As you conclude your research paper, you should succinctly reiterate your thesis statement along with your methodology and analyzed data – by drawing all these elements together you will reach the purpose of your research, so all that is left is to point out your conclusions in a clear manner.

Reference Page

The very last section of your research paper is a reference page where you should collect the academic sources along with all the publications you consulted, while fleshing out your research project. You should make sure to list all these references according to the citation format specified by your instructor; there are various formats now in use, such as MLA, Harvard and APA, which although similar rely on different citation styles that must be consistently and carefully observed.

how-to-write-a-research-paper-printing-binding

Paper printing & binding

You are already done writing your research paper and need a high quality printing & binding service? Then you are right to choose BachelorPrint! Check out our 24-hour online printing service. For more information click the button below :

Research Paper Examples

When you’re still learning about the various parts that make up a research paper, it can be useful to go through some examples of actual research papers from your exact field of study. This is probably the best way to fully grasp what is the purpose of all the different parts.

We can’t provide you universal examples of all the parts of a research paper, since some of these parts can be very different depending on your field of study.

To get a clear sense of what you should cover in each part of your paper, we recommend you to find some successful research papers in a similar field of study. Often, you may be able to refer to studies you have gathered during the initial literature review.

There are also some templates online that may be useful to look at when you’re just getting started, and trying to grasp the exact requirements for each part in your research paper:

Ireland

Research Paper APA Formatting

When you write a research paper for college, you will have to make sure to add relevant citation to back up your major claims. Only by building up on the work of established authors will you be able to reach valuable conclusions that can be taken seriously on a academic context. This process may seem burdensome at first, but it’s one of the essential parts of a research paper.

The essence of a citation is simply to point out where you learned about the concepts and ideas that make up all the parts of a research paper. This is absolutely essential, both to substantiate your points and to allow other researchers to look into those sources in cause they want to learn more about some aspects of your assignment, or dig deeper into specific parts of a research paper.

There are several citation styles in modern use, and APA citation is probably the most common and widespread; you must follow this convention precisely when adding citations to the relevant part of a research paper. Here is how you should format a citation according to the APA style.

In a Nutshell

  • There are eight different parts of a research paper that you will have to go through in this specific order.
  • Make sure to focus on the different parts of a research paper one at a time, and you’ll find it can actually make the writing process much easier.
  • Producing a research paper can be a very daunting task unless you have a solid plan of action; that is exactly why most modern learning institutions now demand students to observe all these parts of a research paper.
  • These guidelines are not meant to make student’s lives harder, but actually to help them stay focused and produce articulate and thoughtful research that could make an impact in their fields of study.

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience.

  • External Media

Individual Privacy Preferences

Cookie Details Privacy Policy Imprint

Here you will find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to whole categories or display further information and select certain cookies.

Accept all Save

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.

Content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default. If External Media cookies are accepted, access to those contents no longer requires manual consent.

Privacy Policy Imprint

Scientific and Scholarly Writing

  • Literature Searches
  • Tracking and Citing References

Parts of a Scientific & Scholarly Paper

Introduction.

  • Writing Effectively
  • Where to Publish?
  • Capstone Resources

Different sections are needed in different types of scientific papers (lab reports, literature reviews, systematic reviews, methods papers, research papers, etc.). Projects that overlap with the social sciences or humanities may have different requirements. Generally, however, you'll need to include:

INTRODUCTION (Background)

METHODS SECTION (Materials and Methods)

What is a title

Titles have two functions: to identify the main topic or the message of the paper and to attract readers.

The title will be read by many people. Only a few will read the entire paper, therefore all words in the title should be chosen with care. Too short a title is not helpful to the potential reader. Too long a title can sometimes be even less meaningful. Remember a title is not an abstract. Neither is a title a sentence.

What makes a good title?

A good title is accurate, complete, and specific. Imagine searching for your paper in PubMed. What words would you use?

  • Use the fewest possible words that describe the contents of the paper.
  • Avoid waste words like "Studies on", or "Investigations on".
  • Use specific terms rather than general.
  • Use the same key terms in the title as the paper.
  • Watch your word order and syntax.

The abstract is a miniature version of your paper. It should present the main story and a few essential details of the paper for readers who only look at the abstract and should serve as a clear preview for readers who read your whole paper. They are usually short (250 words or less).

The goal is to communicate:

  •  What was done?
  •  Why was it done?
  •  How was it done?
  •  What was found?

A good abstract is specific and selective. Try summarizing each of the sections of your paper in a sentence two. Do the abstract last, so you know exactly what you want to write.

  • Use 1 or more well developed paragraphs.
  • Use introduction/body/conclusion structure.
  • Present purpose, results, conclusions and recommendations in that order.
  • Make it understandable to a wide audience.
  • << Previous: Tracking and Citing References
  • Next: Writing Effectively >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 20, 2024 1:21 PM
  • URL: https://libraryguides.umassmed.edu/scientific-writing
  • Privacy Policy

Buy Me a Coffee

Research Method

Home » Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Table of Contents

Research Paper

Research Paper

Definition:

Research Paper is a written document that presents the author’s original research, analysis, and interpretation of a specific topic or issue.

It is typically based on Empirical Evidence, and may involve qualitative or quantitative research methods, or a combination of both. The purpose of a research paper is to contribute new knowledge or insights to a particular field of study, and to demonstrate the author’s understanding of the existing literature and theories related to the topic.

Structure of Research Paper

The structure of a research paper typically follows a standard format, consisting of several sections that convey specific information about the research study. The following is a detailed explanation of the structure of a research paper:

The title page contains the title of the paper, the name(s) of the author(s), and the affiliation(s) of the author(s). It also includes the date of submission and possibly, the name of the journal or conference where the paper is to be published.

The abstract is a brief summary of the research paper, typically ranging from 100 to 250 words. It should include the research question, the methods used, the key findings, and the implications of the results. The abstract should be written in a concise and clear manner to allow readers to quickly grasp the essence of the research.

Introduction

The introduction section of a research paper provides background information about the research problem, the research question, and the research objectives. It also outlines the significance of the research, the research gap that it aims to fill, and the approach taken to address the research question. Finally, the introduction section ends with a clear statement of the research hypothesis or research question.

Literature Review

The literature review section of a research paper provides an overview of the existing literature on the topic of study. It includes a critical analysis and synthesis of the literature, highlighting the key concepts, themes, and debates. The literature review should also demonstrate the research gap and how the current study seeks to address it.

The methods section of a research paper describes the research design, the sample selection, the data collection and analysis procedures, and the statistical methods used to analyze the data. This section should provide sufficient detail for other researchers to replicate the study.

The results section presents the findings of the research, using tables, graphs, and figures to illustrate the data. The findings should be presented in a clear and concise manner, with reference to the research question and hypothesis.

The discussion section of a research paper interprets the findings and discusses their implications for the research question, the literature review, and the field of study. It should also address the limitations of the study and suggest future research directions.

The conclusion section summarizes the main findings of the study, restates the research question and hypothesis, and provides a final reflection on the significance of the research.

The references section provides a list of all the sources cited in the paper, following a specific citation style such as APA, MLA or Chicago.

How to Write Research Paper

You can write Research Paper by the following guide:

  • Choose a Topic: The first step is to select a topic that interests you and is relevant to your field of study. Brainstorm ideas and narrow down to a research question that is specific and researchable.
  • Conduct a Literature Review: The literature review helps you identify the gap in the existing research and provides a basis for your research question. It also helps you to develop a theoretical framework and research hypothesis.
  • Develop a Thesis Statement : The thesis statement is the main argument of your research paper. It should be clear, concise and specific to your research question.
  • Plan your Research: Develop a research plan that outlines the methods, data sources, and data analysis procedures. This will help you to collect and analyze data effectively.
  • Collect and Analyze Data: Collect data using various methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, or experiments. Analyze data using statistical tools or other qualitative methods.
  • Organize your Paper : Organize your paper into sections such as Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Ensure that each section is coherent and follows a logical flow.
  • Write your Paper : Start by writing the introduction, followed by the literature review, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Ensure that your writing is clear, concise, and follows the required formatting and citation styles.
  • Edit and Proofread your Paper: Review your paper for grammar and spelling errors, and ensure that it is well-structured and easy to read. Ask someone else to review your paper to get feedback and suggestions for improvement.
  • Cite your Sources: Ensure that you properly cite all sources used in your research paper. This is essential for giving credit to the original authors and avoiding plagiarism.

Research Paper Example

Note : The below example research paper is for illustrative purposes only and is not an actual research paper. Actual research papers may have different structures, contents, and formats depending on the field of study, research question, data collection and analysis methods, and other factors. Students should always consult with their professors or supervisors for specific guidelines and expectations for their research papers.

Research Paper Example sample for Students:

Title: The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health among Young Adults

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the impact of social media use on the mental health of young adults. A literature review was conducted to examine the existing research on the topic. A survey was then administered to 200 university students to collect data on their social media use, mental health status, and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. The results showed that social media use is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. The study also found that social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) are significant predictors of mental health problems among young adults.

Introduction: Social media has become an integral part of modern life, particularly among young adults. While social media has many benefits, including increased communication and social connectivity, it has also been associated with negative outcomes, such as addiction, cyberbullying, and mental health problems. This study aims to investigate the impact of social media use on the mental health of young adults.

Literature Review: The literature review highlights the existing research on the impact of social media use on mental health. The review shows that social media use is associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and other mental health problems. The review also identifies the factors that contribute to the negative impact of social media, including social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO.

Methods : A survey was administered to 200 university students to collect data on their social media use, mental health status, and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. The survey included questions on social media use, mental health status (measured using the DASS-21), and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis.

Results : The results showed that social media use is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. The study also found that social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO are significant predictors of mental health problems among young adults.

Discussion : The study’s findings suggest that social media use has a negative impact on the mental health of young adults. The study highlights the need for interventions that address the factors contributing to the negative impact of social media, such as social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO.

Conclusion : In conclusion, social media use has a significant impact on the mental health of young adults. The study’s findings underscore the need for interventions that promote healthy social media use and address the negative outcomes associated with social media use. Future research can explore the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing the negative impact of social media on mental health. Additionally, longitudinal studies can investigate the long-term effects of social media use on mental health.

Limitations : The study has some limitations, including the use of self-report measures and a cross-sectional design. The use of self-report measures may result in biased responses, and a cross-sectional design limits the ability to establish causality.

Implications: The study’s findings have implications for mental health professionals, educators, and policymakers. Mental health professionals can use the findings to develop interventions that address the negative impact of social media use on mental health. Educators can incorporate social media literacy into their curriculum to promote healthy social media use among young adults. Policymakers can use the findings to develop policies that protect young adults from the negative outcomes associated with social media use.

References :

  • Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventive medicine reports, 15, 100918.
  • Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Barrett, E. L., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., … & James, A. E. (2017). Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among US young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 1-9.
  • Van der Meer, T. G., & Verhoeven, J. W. (2017). Social media and its impact on academic performance of students. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 16, 383-398.

Appendix : The survey used in this study is provided below.

Social Media and Mental Health Survey

  • How often do you use social media per day?
  • Less than 30 minutes
  • 30 minutes to 1 hour
  • 1 to 2 hours
  • 2 to 4 hours
  • More than 4 hours
  • Which social media platforms do you use?
  • Others (Please specify)
  • How often do you experience the following on social media?
  • Social comparison (comparing yourself to others)
  • Cyberbullying
  • Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
  • Have you ever experienced any of the following mental health problems in the past month?
  • Do you think social media use has a positive or negative impact on your mental health?
  • Very positive
  • Somewhat positive
  • Somewhat negative
  • Very negative
  • In your opinion, which factors contribute to the negative impact of social media on mental health?
  • Social comparison
  • In your opinion, what interventions could be effective in reducing the negative impact of social media on mental health?
  • Education on healthy social media use
  • Counseling for mental health problems caused by social media
  • Social media detox programs
  • Regulation of social media use

Thank you for your participation!

Applications of Research Paper

Research papers have several applications in various fields, including:

  • Advancing knowledge: Research papers contribute to the advancement of knowledge by generating new insights, theories, and findings that can inform future research and practice. They help to answer important questions, clarify existing knowledge, and identify areas that require further investigation.
  • Informing policy: Research papers can inform policy decisions by providing evidence-based recommendations for policymakers. They can help to identify gaps in current policies, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and inform the development of new policies and regulations.
  • Improving practice: Research papers can improve practice by providing evidence-based guidance for professionals in various fields, including medicine, education, business, and psychology. They can inform the development of best practices, guidelines, and standards of care that can improve outcomes for individuals and organizations.
  • Educating students : Research papers are often used as teaching tools in universities and colleges to educate students about research methods, data analysis, and academic writing. They help students to develop critical thinking skills, research skills, and communication skills that are essential for success in many careers.
  • Fostering collaboration: Research papers can foster collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers by providing a platform for sharing knowledge and ideas. They can facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships that can lead to innovative solutions to complex problems.

When to Write Research Paper

Research papers are typically written when a person has completed a research project or when they have conducted a study and have obtained data or findings that they want to share with the academic or professional community. Research papers are usually written in academic settings, such as universities, but they can also be written in professional settings, such as research organizations, government agencies, or private companies.

Here are some common situations where a person might need to write a research paper:

  • For academic purposes: Students in universities and colleges are often required to write research papers as part of their coursework, particularly in the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities. Writing research papers helps students to develop research skills, critical thinking skills, and academic writing skills.
  • For publication: Researchers often write research papers to publish their findings in academic journals or to present their work at academic conferences. Publishing research papers is an important way to disseminate research findings to the academic community and to establish oneself as an expert in a particular field.
  • To inform policy or practice : Researchers may write research papers to inform policy decisions or to improve practice in various fields. Research findings can be used to inform the development of policies, guidelines, and best practices that can improve outcomes for individuals and organizations.
  • To share new insights or ideas: Researchers may write research papers to share new insights or ideas with the academic or professional community. They may present new theories, propose new research methods, or challenge existing paradigms in their field.

Purpose of Research Paper

The purpose of a research paper is to present the results of a study or investigation in a clear, concise, and structured manner. Research papers are written to communicate new knowledge, ideas, or findings to a specific audience, such as researchers, scholars, practitioners, or policymakers. The primary purposes of a research paper are:

  • To contribute to the body of knowledge : Research papers aim to add new knowledge or insights to a particular field or discipline. They do this by reporting the results of empirical studies, reviewing and synthesizing existing literature, proposing new theories, or providing new perspectives on a topic.
  • To inform or persuade: Research papers are written to inform or persuade the reader about a particular issue, topic, or phenomenon. They present evidence and arguments to support their claims and seek to persuade the reader of the validity of their findings or recommendations.
  • To advance the field: Research papers seek to advance the field or discipline by identifying gaps in knowledge, proposing new research questions or approaches, or challenging existing assumptions or paradigms. They aim to contribute to ongoing debates and discussions within a field and to stimulate further research and inquiry.
  • To demonstrate research skills: Research papers demonstrate the author’s research skills, including their ability to design and conduct a study, collect and analyze data, and interpret and communicate findings. They also demonstrate the author’s ability to critically evaluate existing literature, synthesize information from multiple sources, and write in a clear and structured manner.

Characteristics of Research Paper

Research papers have several characteristics that distinguish them from other forms of academic or professional writing. Here are some common characteristics of research papers:

  • Evidence-based: Research papers are based on empirical evidence, which is collected through rigorous research methods such as experiments, surveys, observations, or interviews. They rely on objective data and facts to support their claims and conclusions.
  • Structured and organized: Research papers have a clear and logical structure, with sections such as introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. They are organized in a way that helps the reader to follow the argument and understand the findings.
  • Formal and objective: Research papers are written in a formal and objective tone, with an emphasis on clarity, precision, and accuracy. They avoid subjective language or personal opinions and instead rely on objective data and analysis to support their arguments.
  • Citations and references: Research papers include citations and references to acknowledge the sources of information and ideas used in the paper. They use a specific citation style, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago, to ensure consistency and accuracy.
  • Peer-reviewed: Research papers are often peer-reviewed, which means they are evaluated by other experts in the field before they are published. Peer-review ensures that the research is of high quality, meets ethical standards, and contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the field.
  • Objective and unbiased: Research papers strive to be objective and unbiased in their presentation of the findings. They avoid personal biases or preconceptions and instead rely on the data and analysis to draw conclusions.

Advantages of Research Paper

Research papers have many advantages, both for the individual researcher and for the broader academic and professional community. Here are some advantages of research papers:

  • Contribution to knowledge: Research papers contribute to the body of knowledge in a particular field or discipline. They add new information, insights, and perspectives to existing literature and help advance the understanding of a particular phenomenon or issue.
  • Opportunity for intellectual growth: Research papers provide an opportunity for intellectual growth for the researcher. They require critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, which can help develop the researcher’s skills and knowledge.
  • Career advancement: Research papers can help advance the researcher’s career by demonstrating their expertise and contributions to the field. They can also lead to new research opportunities, collaborations, and funding.
  • Academic recognition: Research papers can lead to academic recognition in the form of awards, grants, or invitations to speak at conferences or events. They can also contribute to the researcher’s reputation and standing in the field.
  • Impact on policy and practice: Research papers can have a significant impact on policy and practice. They can inform policy decisions, guide practice, and lead to changes in laws, regulations, or procedures.
  • Advancement of society: Research papers can contribute to the advancement of society by addressing important issues, identifying solutions to problems, and promoting social justice and equality.

Limitations of Research Paper

Research papers also have some limitations that should be considered when interpreting their findings or implications. Here are some common limitations of research papers:

  • Limited generalizability: Research findings may not be generalizable to other populations, settings, or contexts. Studies often use specific samples or conditions that may not reflect the broader population or real-world situations.
  • Potential for bias : Research papers may be biased due to factors such as sample selection, measurement errors, or researcher biases. It is important to evaluate the quality of the research design and methods used to ensure that the findings are valid and reliable.
  • Ethical concerns: Research papers may raise ethical concerns, such as the use of vulnerable populations or invasive procedures. Researchers must adhere to ethical guidelines and obtain informed consent from participants to ensure that the research is conducted in a responsible and respectful manner.
  • Limitations of methodology: Research papers may be limited by the methodology used to collect and analyze data. For example, certain research methods may not capture the complexity or nuance of a particular phenomenon, or may not be appropriate for certain research questions.
  • Publication bias: Research papers may be subject to publication bias, where positive or significant findings are more likely to be published than negative or non-significant findings. This can skew the overall findings of a particular area of research.
  • Time and resource constraints: Research papers may be limited by time and resource constraints, which can affect the quality and scope of the research. Researchers may not have access to certain data or resources, or may be unable to conduct long-term studies due to practical limitations.

About the author

' src=

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

You may also like

Research Paper Conclusion

Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and...

Appendices

Appendices – Writing Guide, Types and Examples

Research Paper Citation

How to Cite Research Paper – All Formats and...

Research Report

Research Report – Example, Writing Guide and...

Delimitations

Delimitations in Research – Types, Examples and...

Scope of the Research

Scope of the Research – Writing Guide and...

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Writing a Research Paper

OWL logo

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The pages in this section provide detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding sources.

The Research Paper

There will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. Such an assignment often creates a great deal of unneeded anxiety in the student, which may result in procrastination and a feeling of confusion and inadequacy. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this genre of writing. Never fear—inexperience and unfamiliarity are situations you can change through practice! Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons this topic is so important.

Becoming an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. There are few individuals for whom this process comes naturally. Remember, even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. Therefore, with diligence, organization, practice, a willingness to learn (and to make mistakes!), and, perhaps most important of all, patience, students will find that they can achieve great things through their research and writing.

The pages in this section cover the following topic areas related to the process of writing a research paper:

  • Genre - This section will provide an overview for understanding the difference between an analytical and argumentative research paper.
  • Choosing a Topic - This section will guide the student through the process of choosing topics, whether the topic be one that is assigned or one that the student chooses themselves.
  • Identifying an Audience - This section will help the student understand the often times confusing topic of audience by offering some basic guidelines for the process.
  • Where Do I Begin - This section concludes the handout by offering several links to resources at Purdue, and also provides an overview of the final stages of writing a research paper.
  • Research Guides

BSCI 1510L Literature and Stats Guide: 3.2 Components of a scientific paper

  • 1 What is a scientific paper?
  • 2 Referencing and accessing papers
  • 2.1 Literature Cited
  • 2.2 Accessing Scientific Papers
  • 2.3 Traversing the web of citations
  • 2.4 Keyword Searches
  • 3 Style of scientific writing
  • 3.1 Specific details regarding scientific writing

3.2 Components of a scientific paper

  • 4 For further information
  • Appendix A: Calculation Final Concentrations
  • 1 Formulas in Excel
  • 2 Basic operations in Excel
  • 3 Measurement and Variation
  • 3.1 Describing Quantities and Their Variation
  • 3.2 Samples Versus Populations
  • 3.3 Calculating Descriptive Statistics using Excel
  • 4 Variation and differences
  • 5 Differences in Experimental Science
  • 5.1 Aside: Commuting to Nashville
  • 5.2 P and Detecting Differences in Variable Quantities
  • 5.3 Statistical significance
  • 5.4 A test for differences of sample means: 95% Confidence Intervals
  • 5.5 Error bars in figures
  • 5.6 Discussing statistics in your scientific writing
  • 6 Scatter plot, trendline, and linear regression
  • 7 The t-test of Means
  • 8 Paired t-test
  • 9 Two-Tailed and One-Tailed Tests
  • 10 Variation on t-tests: ANOVA
  • 11 Reporting the Results of a Statistical Test
  • 12 Summary of statistical tests
  • 1 Objectives
  • 2 Project timeline
  • 3 Background
  • 4 Previous work in the BSCI 111 class
  • 5 General notes about the project
  • 6 About the paper
  • 7 References

Nearly all journal articles are divided into the following major sections: abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references.  Usually the sections are labeled as such, although often the introduction (and sometimes the abstract) is not labeled.  Sometimes alternative section titles are used.  The abstract is sometimes called the "summary", the methods are sometimes called "materials and methods", and the discussion is sometimes called "conclusions".   Some journals also include the minor sections of "key words" following the abstract, and "acknowledgments" following the discussion.  In some journals, the sections may be divided into subsections that are given descriptive titles.  However, the general division into the six major sections is nearly universal.

3.2.1 Abstract

The abstract is a short summary (150-200 words or less) of the important points of the paper.  It does not generally include background information.  There may be a very brief statement of the rationale for conducting the study.  It describes what was done, but without details.  It also describes the results in a summarized way that usually includes whether or not the statistical tests were significant.  It usually concludes with a brief statement of the importance of the results.  Abstracts do not include references.  When writing a paper, the abstract is always the last part to be written.

The purpose of the abstract is to allow potential readers of a paper to find out the important points of the paper without having to actually read the paper.  It should be a self-contained unit capable of being understood without the benefit of the text of the article . It essentially serves as an "advertisement" for the paper that readers use to determine whether or not they actually want to wade through the entire paper or not.  Abstracts are generally freely available in electronic form and are often presented in the results of an electronic search.  If searchers do not have electronic access to the journal in which the article is published, the abstract is the only means that they have to decide whether to go through the effort (going to the library to look up the paper journal, requesting a reprint from the author, buying a copy of the article from a service, requesting the article by Interlibrary Loan) of acquiring the article.  Therefore it is important that the abstract accurately and succinctly presents the most important information in the article.

3.2.2 Introduction

The introduction provides the background information necessary to understand why the described experiment was conducted.  The introduction should describe previous research on the topic that has led to the unanswered questions being addressed by the experiment and should cite important previous papers that form the background for the experiment.  The introduction should also state in an organized fashion the goals of the research, i.e. the particular, specific questions that will be tested in the experiments.  There should be a one-to-one correspondence between questions raised in the introduction and points discussed in the conclusion section of the paper.  In other words, do not raise questions in the introduction unless you are going to have some kind of answer to the question that you intend to discuss at the end of the paper. 

You may have been told that every paper must have a hypothesis that can be clearly stated.  That is often true, but not always.  If your experiment involves a manipulation which tests a specific hypothesis, then you should clearly state that hypothesis.  On the other hand, if your experiment was primarily exploratory, descriptive, or measurative, then you probably did not have an a priori hypothesis, so don't pretend that you did and make one up.  (See the discussion in the introduction to Experiment 4 for more on this.)  If you state a hypothesis in the introduction, it should be a general hypothesis and not a null or alternative hypothesis for a statistical test.  If it is necessary to explain how a statistical test will help you evaluate your general hypothesis, explain that in the methods section. 

A good introduction should be fairly heavy with citations.  This indicates to the reader that the authors are informed about previous work on the topic and are not working in a vacuum.  Citations also provide jumping-off points to allow the reader to explore other tangents to the subject that are not directly addressed in the paper.  If the paper supports or refutes previous work, readers can look up the citations and make a comparison for themselves. 

"Do not get lost in reviewing background information. Remember that the Introduction is meant to introduce the reader to your research, not summarize and evaluate all past literature on the subject (which is the purpose of a review paper). Many of the other studies you may be tempted to discuss in your Introduction are better saved for the Discussion, where they become a powerful tool for comparing and interpreting your results. Include only enough background information to allow your reader to understand why you are asking the questions you are and why your hyptheses are reasonable ones. Often, a brief explanation of the theory involved is sufficient. …

Write this section in the past or present tense, never in the future. " (Steingraber et al. 1985)

3.2.3 Methods (taken verbatim from Steingraber et al. 1985)

The function of this section is to describe all experimental procedures, including controls. The description should be complete enough to enable someone else to repeat your work. If there is more than one part to the experiment, it is a good idea to describe your methods and present your results in the same order in each section. This may not be the same order in which the experiments were performed -it is up to you to decide what order of presentation will make the most sense to your reader.

1. Explain why each procedure was done, i.e., what variable were you measuring and why? Example:

Difficult to understand : First, I removed the frog muscle and then I poured Ringer’s solution on it. Next, I attached it to the kymograph.

Improved: I removed the frog muscle and poured Ringer’s solution on it to prevent it from drying out. I then attached the muscle to the kymograph in order to determine the minimum voltage required for contraction.

2. Experimental procedures and results are narrated in the past tense (what you did, what you found, etc.) whereas conclusions from your results are given in the present tense.

3. Mathematical equations and statistical tests are considered mathematical methods and should be described in this section along with the actual experimental work.

4. Use active rather than passive voice when possible.  [Note: see Section 3.1.4 for more about this.]  Always use the singular "I" rather than the plural "we" when you are the only author of the paper.  Throughout the paper, avoid contractions, e.g. did not vs. didn’t.

5. If any of your methods is fully described in a previous publication (yours or someone else’s), you can cite that instead of describing the procedure again.

Example: The chromosomes were counted at meiosis in the anthers with the standard acetocarmine technique of Snow (1955).

3.2.4 Results (with excerpts from Steingraber et al. 1985)

The function of this section is to summarize general trends in the data without comment, bias, or interpretation. The results of statistical tests applied to your data are reported in this section although conclusions about your original hypotheses are saved for the Discussion section.

Tables and figures should be used when they are a more efficient way to convey information than verbal description. They must be independent units, accompanied by explanatory captions that allow them to be understood by someone who has not read the text. Do not repeat in the text the information in tables and figures, but do cite them, with a summary statement when that is appropriate.  Example:

Incorrect: The results are given in Figure 1.

Correct: Temperature was directly proportional to metabolic rate (Fig. 1).

Please note that the entire word "Figure" is almost never written in an article.  It is nearly always abbreviated as "Fig." and capitalized.  Tables are cited in the same way, although Table is not abbreviated.

Whenever possible, use a figure instead of a table. Relationships between numbers are more readily grasped when they are presented graphically rather than as columns in a table.

Data may be presented in figures and tables, but this may not substitute for a verbal summary of the findings. The text should be understandable by someone who has not seen your figures and tables.

1. All results should be presented, including those that do not support the hypothesis.

2. Statements made in the text must be supported by the results contained in figures and tables.

3. The results of statistical tests can be presented in parentheses following a verbal description.

Example: Fruit size was significantly greater in trees growing alone (t = 3.65, df = 2, p < 0.05).

Simple results of statistical tests may be reported in the text as shown in the preceding example.  The results of multiple tests may be reported in a table if that increases clarity. (See Section 11 of the Statistics Manual for more details about reporting the results of statistical tests.)  It is not necessary to provide a citation for a simple t-test of means, paired t-test, or linear regression.  If you use other tests, you should cite the text or reference you followed to do the test.  In your materials and methods section, you should report how you did the test (e.g. using the statistical analysis package of Excel). 

It is NEVER appropriate to simply paste the results from statistical software into the results section of your paper.  The output generally reports more information than is required and it is not in an appropriate format for a paper.

3.2.4.1 Tables

  • Do not repeat information in a table that you are depicting in a graph or histogram; include a table only if it presents new information.
  • It is easier to compare numbers by reading down a column rather than across a row. Therefore, list sets of data you want your reader to compare in vertical form.
  • Provide each table with a number (Table 1, Table 2, etc.) and a title. The numbered title is placed above the table .
  • Please see Section 11 of the Excel Reference and Statistics Manual for further information on reporting the results of statistical tests.

3.2.4.2. Figures

  • These comprise graphs, histograms, and illustrations, both drawings and photographs. Provide each figure with a number (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.) and a caption (or "legend") that explains what the figure shows. The numbered caption is placed below the figure .  Figure legend = Figure caption.
  • Figures submitted for publication must be "photo ready," i.e., they will appear just as you submit them, or photographically reduced. Therefore, when you graduate from student papers to publishable manuscripts, you must learn to prepare figures that will not embarrass you. At the present time, virtually all journals require manuscripts to be submitted electronically and it is generally assumed that all graphs and maps will be created using software rather than being created by hand.  Nearly all journals have specific guidelines for the file types, resolution, and physical widths required for figures.  Only in a few cases (e.g. sketched diagrams) would figures still be created by hand using ink and those figures would be scanned and labeled using graphics software.  Proportions must be the same as those of the page in the journal to which the paper will be submitted. 
  • Graphs and Histograms: Both can be used to compare two variables. However, graphs show continuous change, whereas histograms show discrete variables only.  You can compare groups of data by plotting two or even three lines on one graph, but avoid cluttered graphs that are hard to read, and do not plot unrelated trends on the same graph. For both graphs, and histograms, plot the independent variable on the horizontal (x) axis and the dependent variable on the vertical (y) axis. Label both axes, including units of measurement except in the few cases where variables are unitless, such as absorbance.
  • Drawings and Photographs: These are used to illustrate organisms, experimental apparatus, models of structures, cellular and subcellular structure, and results of procedures like electrophoresis. Preparing such figures well is a lot of work and can be very expensive, so each figure must add enough to justify its preparation and publication, but good figures can greatly enhance a professional article, as your reading in biological journals has already shown.

3.2.5 Discussion (taken from Steingraber et al. 1985)

The function of this section is to analyze the data and relate them to other studies. To "analyze" means to evaluate the meaning of your results in terms of the original question or hypothesis and point out their biological significance.

1. The Discussion should contain at least:

  • the relationship between the results and the original hypothesis, i.e., whether they support the hypothesis, or cause it to be rejected or modified
  • an integration of your results with those of previous studies in order to arrive at explanations for the observed phenomena
  • possible explanations for unexpected results and observations, phrased as hypotheses that can be tested by realistic experimental procedures, which you should describe

2. Trends that are not statistically significant can still be discussed if they are suggestive or interesting, but cannot be made the basis for conclusions as if they were significant.

3. Avoid redundancy between the Results and the Discussion section. Do not repeat detailed descriptions of the data and results in the Discussion. In some journals, Results and Discussions are joined in a single section, in order to permit a single integrated treatment with minimal repetition. This is more appropriate for short, simple articles than for longer, more complicated ones.

4. End the Discussion with a summary of the principal points you want the reader to remember. This is also the appropriate place to propose specific further study if that will serve some purpose, but do not end with the tired cliché that "this problem needs more study." All problems in biology need more study. Do not close on what you wish you had done, rather finish stating your conclusions and contributions.

3.2.6 Title

The title of the paper should be the last thing that you write.  That is because it should distill the essence of the paper even more than the abstract (the next to last thing that you write). 

The title should contain three elements:

1. the name of the organism studied;

2. the particular aspect or system studied;

3. the variable(s) manipulated.

Do not be afraid to be grammatically creative. Here are some variations on a theme, all suitable as titles:

THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON GERMINATION OF ZEA MAYS

DOES TEMPERATURE AFFECT GERMINATION OF ZEA MAYS?

TEMPERATURE AND ZEA MAYS GERMINATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURE

Sometimes it is possible to include the principal result or conclusion in the title:

HIGH TEMPERATURES REDUCE GERMINATION OF ZEA MAYS

Note for the BSCI 1510L class: to make your paper look more like a real paper, you can list all of the other group members as co-authors.  However, if you do that, you should list you name first so that we know that you wrote it.

3.2.7 Literature Cited

Please refer to section 2.1 of this guide.

  • << Previous: 3.1 Specific details regarding scientific writing
  • Next: 4 For further information >>
  • Last Updated: Apr 19, 2023 2:37 PM
  • URL: https://researchguides.library.vanderbilt.edu/bsci1510L

Creative Commons License

Boston College Libraries homepage

  • Research guides

Writing an Educational Research Paper

Research paper sections, customary parts of an education research paper.

There is no one right style or manner for writing an education paper. Content aside, the writing style and presentation of papers in different educational fields vary greatly. Nevertheless, certain parts are common to most papers, for example:

Title/Cover Page

Contains the paper's title, the author's name, address, phone number, e-mail, and the day's date.

Not every education paper requires an abstract. However, for longer, more complex papers abstracts are particularly useful. Often only 100 to 300 words, the abstract generally provides a broad overview and is never more than a page. It describes the essence, the main theme of the paper. It includes the research question posed, its significance, the methodology, and the main results or findings. Footnotes or cited works are never listed in an abstract. Remember to take great care in composing the abstract. It's the first part of the paper the instructor reads. It must impress with a strong content, good style, and general aesthetic appeal. Never write it hastily or carelessly.

Introduction and Statement of the Problem

A good introduction states the main research problem and thesis argument. What precisely are you studying and why is it important? How original is it? Will it fill a gap in other studies? Never provide a lengthy justification for your topic before it has been explicitly stated.

Limitations of Study

Indicate as soon as possible what you intend to do, and what you are not going to attempt. You may limit the scope of your paper by any number of factors, for example, time, personnel, gender, age, geographic location, nationality, and so on.

Methodology

Discuss your research methodology. Did you employ qualitative or quantitative research methods? Did you administer a questionnaire or interview people? Any field research conducted? How did you collect data? Did you utilize other libraries or archives? And so on.

Literature Review

The research process uncovers what other writers have written about your topic. Your education paper should include a discussion or review of what is known about the subject and how that knowledge was acquired. Once you provide the general and specific context of the existing knowledge, then you yourself can build on others' research. The guide Writing a Literature Review will be helpful here.

Main Body of Paper/Argument

This is generally the longest part of the paper. It's where the author supports the thesis and builds the argument. It contains most of the citations and analysis. This section should focus on a rational development of the thesis with clear reasoning and solid argumentation at all points. A clear focus, avoiding meaningless digressions, provides the essential unity that characterizes a strong education paper.

After spending a great deal of time and energy introducing and arguing the points in the main body of the paper, the conclusion brings everything together and underscores what it all means. A stimulating and informative conclusion leaves the reader informed and well-satisfied. A conclusion that makes sense, when read independently from the rest of the paper, will win praise.

Works Cited/Bibliography

See the Citation guide .

Education research papers often contain one or more appendices. An appendix contains material that is appropriate for enlarging the reader's understanding, but that does not fit very well into the main body of the paper. Such material might include tables, charts, summaries, questionnaires, interview questions, lengthy statistics, maps, pictures, photographs, lists of terms, glossaries, survey instruments, letters, copies of historical documents, and many other types of supplementary material. A paper may have several appendices. They are usually placed after the main body of the paper but before the bibliography or works cited section. They are usually designated by such headings as Appendix A, Appendix B, and so on.

  • << Previous: Choosing a Topic
  • Next: Find Books >>
  • Last Updated: Dec 5, 2023 2:26 PM
  • Subjects: Education
  • Tags: education , education_paper , education_research_paper

Research Guide

Chapter 5 sections of a paper.

Now that you have identified your research question, have compiled the data you need, and have a clear argument and roadmap, it is time for you to write. In this Module, I will briefly explain how to develop different sections of your research paper. I devote a different chapter to the empirical section. Please take into account that these are guidelines to follow in the different section, but you need to adapt them to the specific context of your paper.

5.1 The Abstract

The abstract of a research paper contains the most critical aspects of the paper: your research question, the context (country/population/subjects and period) analyzed, the findings, and the main conclusion. You have about 250 characters to attract the attention of the readers. Many times (in fact, most of the time), readers will only read the abstract. You need to “sell” your argument and entice them to continue reading. Thus, abstracts require good and direct writing. Use journalistic style. Go straight to the point.

There are two ways in which an abstract can start:

By introducing what motivates the research question. This is relevant when some context may be needed. When there is ‘something superior’ motivating your project. Use this strategy with care, as you may confuse the reader who may have a hard time understanding your research question.

By introducing your research question. This is the best way to attract the attention of your readers, as they can understand the main objective of the paper from the beginning. When the question is clear and straightforward this is the best method to follow.

Regardless of the path you follow, make sure that the abstract only includes short sentences written in active voice and present tense. Remember: Readers are very impatient. They will only skim the papers. You should make it simple for readers to find all the necessary information.

5.2 The Introduction

The introduction represents the most important section of your research paper. Whereas your title and abstract guide the readers towards the paper, the introduction should convince them to stay and read the rest of it. This section represents your opportunity to state your research question and link it to the bigger issue (why does your research matter?), how will you respond it (your empirical methods and the theory behind), your findings, and your contribution to the literature on that issue.

I reviewed the “Introduction Formulas” guidelines by Keith Head , David Evans and Jessica B. Hoel and compiled their ideas in this document, based on what my I have seen is used in papers in political economy, and development economics.

This is not a set of rules, as papers may differ depending on the methods and specific characteristics of the field, but it can work as a guideline. An important takeaway is that the introduction will be the section that deserves most of the attention in your paper. You can write it first, but you need to go back to it as you make progress in the rest of teh paper. Keith Head puts it excellent by saying that this exercise (going back and forth) is mostly useful to remind you what are you doing in the paper and why.

5.2.1 Outline

What are the sections generally included in well-written introductions? According to the analysis of what different authors suggest, a well-written introduction includes the following sections:

  • Hook: Motivation, puzzle. (1-2 paragraphs)
  • Research Question: What is the paper doing? (1 paragraph)
  • Antecedents: (optional) How your paper is linked to the bigger issue. Theory. (1-2 paragraphs)
  • Empirical approach: Method X, country Y, dataset Z. (1-2 paragraphs)
  • Detailed results: Don’t make the readers wait. (2-3 paragraphs)
  • Mechanisms, robustness and limitations: (optional) Your results are valid and important (1 paragraph)
  • Value added: Why is your paper important? How is it contributing to the field? (1-3 paragraphs)
  • Roadmap A convention (1 paragraph)

Now, let’s describe the different sections with more detail.

5.2.1.1 1. The Hook

Your first paragraph(s) should attract the attention of the readers, showing them why your research topic is important. Some attributes here are:

  • Big issue, specific angle: This is the big problem, here is this aspect of the problem (that your research tackles)
  • Big puzzle: There is no single explanation of the problem (you will address that)
  • Major policy implemented: Here is the issue and the policy implemented (you will test if if worked)
  • Controversial debate: some argue X, others argue Y

5.2.1.2 2. Research Question

After the issue has been introduced, you need to clearly state your research question; tell the reader what does the paper researches. Some words that may work here are:

  • I (We) focus on
  • This paper asks whether
  • In this paper,
  • Given the gaps in knoweldge, this paper
  • This paper investigates

5.2.1.3 3. Antecedents (Optional section)

I included this section as optional as it is not always included, but it may help to center the paper in the literature on the field.

However, an important warning needs to be placed here. Remember that the introduction is limited and you need to use it to highlight your work and not someone else’s. So, when the section is included, it is important to:

  • Avoid discussing paper that are not part of the larger narrative that surrounds your work
  • Use it to notice the gaps that exist in the current literature and that your paper is covering

In this section, you may also want to include a description of theoretical framework of your paper and/or a short description of a story example that frames your work.

5.2.1.4 4. Empirical Approach

One of the most important sections of the paper, particularly if you are trying to infer causality. Here, you need to explain how you are going to answer the research question you introduced earlier. This section of the introduction needs to be succint but clear and indicate your methodology, case selection, and the data used.

5.2.1.5 5. Overview of the Results

Let’s be honest. A large proportion of the readers will not go over the whole article. Readers need to understand what you’re doing, how and what did you obtain in the (brief) time they will allocate to read your paper (some eager readers may go back to some sections of the paper). So, you want to introduce your results early on (another reason you may want to go back to the introduction multiple times). Highlight the results that are more interesting and link them to the context.

According to David Evans , some authors prefer to alternate between the introduction of one of the empirical strategies, to those results, and then they introduce another empirical strategy and the results. This strategy may be useful if different empirical methodologies are used.

5.2.1.6 6. Mechanisms, Robustness and Limitations (Optional Section)

If you have some ideas about what drives your results (the mechanisms involved), you may want to indicate that here. Some of the current critiques towards economics (and probably social sciences in general) has been the strong focus on establishing causation, with little regard to the context surrounding this (if you want to hear more, there is this thread from Dani Rodrick ). Agency matters and if the paper can say something about this (sometimes this goes beyond our research), you should indicate it in the introduction.

You may also want to briefly indicate how your results are valid after trying different specifications or sources of data (this is called Robustness checks). But you also want to be honest about the limitations of your research. But here, do not diminish the importance of your project. After you indicate the limitations, finish the paragraph restating the importance of your findings.

5.2.1.7 7. Value Added

A very important section in the introduction, these paragraphs help readers (and reviewers) to show why is your work important. What are the specific contributions of your paper?

This section is different from section 3 in that it points out the detailed additions you are making to the field with your research. Both sections can be connected if that fits your paper, but it is quite important that you keep the focus on the contributions of your paper, even if you discuss some literature connected to it, but always with the focus of showing what your paper adds. References (literature review) should come after in the paper.

5.2.1.8 8. Roadmap

A convention for the papers, this section needs to be kept short and outline the organization of the paper. To make it more useful, you can highlight some details that might be important in certain sections. But you want to keep this section succint (most readers skip this paragraph altogether).

5.2.2 In summary

The introduction of your paper will play a huge role in defining the future of your paper. Do not waste this opportunity and use it as well as your North Star guiding your path throughout the rest of the paper.

5.3 Context (Literature Review)

Do you need a literature review section?

5.4 Conclusion

  • Foundations
  • Write Paper

Search form

  • Experiments
  • Anthropology
  • Self-Esteem
  • Social Anxiety

parts of research papers

  • Research Paper >

Parts of a Research Paper

One of the most important aspects of science is ensuring that you get all the parts of the written research paper in the right order.

This article is a part of the guide:

  • Outline Examples
  • Example of a Paper
  • Write a Hypothesis
  • Introduction

Browse Full Outline

  • 1 Write a Research Paper
  • 2 Writing a Paper
  • 3.1 Write an Outline
  • 3.2 Outline Examples
  • 4.1 Thesis Statement
  • 4.2 Write a Hypothesis
  • 5.2 Abstract
  • 5.3 Introduction
  • 5.4 Methods
  • 5.5 Results
  • 5.6 Discussion
  • 5.7 Conclusion
  • 5.8 Bibliography
  • 6.1 Table of Contents
  • 6.2 Acknowledgements
  • 6.3 Appendix
  • 7.1 In Text Citations
  • 7.2 Footnotes
  • 7.3.1 Floating Blocks
  • 7.4 Example of a Paper
  • 7.5 Example of a Paper 2
  • 7.6.1 Citations
  • 7.7.1 Writing Style
  • 7.7.2 Citations
  • 8.1.1 Sham Peer Review
  • 8.1.2 Advantages
  • 8.1.3 Disadvantages
  • 8.2 Publication Bias
  • 8.3.1 Journal Rejection
  • 9.1 Article Writing
  • 9.2 Ideas for Topics

You may have finished the best research project on earth but, if you do not write an interesting and well laid out paper, then nobody is going to take your findings seriously.

The main thing to remember with any research paper is that it is based on an hourglass structure. It begins with general information and undertaking a literature review , and becomes more specific as you nail down a research problem and hypothesis .

Finally, it again becomes more general as you try to apply your findings to the world at general.

Whilst there are a few differences between the various disciplines, with some fields placing more emphasis on certain parts than others, there is a basic underlying structure.

These steps are the building blocks of constructing a good research paper. This section outline how to lay out the parts of a research paper, including the various experimental methods and designs.

The principles for literature review and essays of all types follow the same basic principles.

Reference List

parts of research papers

For many students, writing the introduction is the first part of the process, setting down the direction of the paper and laying out exactly what the research paper is trying to achieve.

For others, the introduction is the last thing written, acting as a quick summary of the paper. As long as you have planned a good structure for the parts of a research paper, both approaches are acceptable and it is a matter of preference.

A good introduction generally consists of three distinct parts:

  • You should first give a general presentation of the research problem.
  • You should then lay out exactly what you are trying to achieve with this particular research project.
  • You should then state your own position.

Ideally, you should try to give each section its own paragraph, but this will vary given the overall length of the paper.

1) General Presentation

Look at the benefits to be gained by the research or why the problem has not been solved yet. Perhaps nobody has thought about it, or maybe previous research threw up some interesting leads that the previous researchers did not follow up.

Another researcher may have uncovered some interesting trends, but did not manage to reach the significance level , due to experimental error or small sample sizes .

2) Purpose of the Paper

The research problem does not have to be a statement, but must at least imply what you are trying to find.

Many writers prefer to place the thesis statement or hypothesis here, which is perfectly acceptable, but most include it in the last sentences of the introduction, to give the reader a fuller picture.

3) A Statement of Intent From the Writer

The idea is that somebody will be able to gain an overall view of the paper without needing to read the whole thing. Literature reviews are time-consuming enough, so give the reader a concise idea of your intention before they commit to wading through pages of background.

In this section, you look to give a context to the research, including any relevant information learned during your literature review. You are also trying to explain why you chose this area of research, attempting to highlight why it is necessary. The second part should state the purpose of the experiment and should include the research problem. The third part should give the reader a quick summary of the form that the parts of the research paper is going to take and should include a condensed version of the discussion.

parts of research papers

This should be the easiest part of the paper to write, as it is a run-down of the exact design and methodology used to perform the research. Obviously, the exact methodology varies depending upon the exact field and type of experiment .

There is a big methodological difference between the apparatus based research of the physical sciences and the methods and observation methods of social sciences. However, the key is to ensure that another researcher would be able to replicate the experiment to match yours as closely as possible, but still keeping the section concise.

You can assume that anybody reading your paper is familiar with the basic methods, so try not to explain every last detail. For example, an organic chemist or biochemist will be familiar with chromatography, so you only need to highlight the type of equipment used rather than explaining the whole process in detail.

In the case of a survey , if you have too many questions to cover in the method, you can always include a copy of the questionnaire in the appendix . In this case, make sure that you refer to it.

This is probably the most variable part of any research paper, and depends on the results and aims of the experiment.

For quantitative research , it is a presentation of the numerical results and data, whereas for qualitative research it should be a broader discussion of trends, without going into too much detail.

For research generating a lot of results , then it is better to include tables or graphs of the analyzed data and leave the raw data in the appendix, so that a researcher can follow up and check your calculations.

A commentary is essential to linking the results together, rather than just displaying isolated and unconnected charts and figures.

It can be quite difficult to find a good balance between the results and the discussion section, because some findings, especially in a quantitative or descriptive experiment , will fall into a grey area. Try to avoid repeating yourself too often.

It is best to try to find a middle path, where you give a general overview of the data and then expand on it in the discussion - you should try to keep your own opinions and interpretations out of the results section, saving that for the discussion later on.

This is where you elaborate on your findings, and explain what you found, adding your own personal interpretations.

Ideally, you should link the discussion back to the introduction, addressing each point individually.

It’s important to make sure that every piece of information in your discussion is directly related to the thesis statement , or you risk cluttering your findings. In keeping with the hourglass principle, you can expand on the topic later in the conclusion .

The conclusion is where you build on your discussion and try to relate your findings to other research and to the world at large.

In a short research paper, it may be a paragraph or two, or even a few lines.

In a dissertation, it may well be the most important part of the entire paper - not only does it describe the results and discussion in detail, it emphasizes the importance of the results in the field, and ties it in with the previous research.

Some research papers require a recommendations section, postulating the further directions of the research, as well as highlighting how any flaws affected the results. In this case, you should suggest any improvements that could be made to the research design .

No paper is complete without a reference list , documenting all the sources that you used for your research. This should be laid out according to APA , MLA or other specified format, allowing any interested researcher to follow up on the research.

One habit that is becoming more common, especially with online papers, is to include a reference to your own paper on the final page. Lay this out in MLA, APA and Chicago format, allowing anybody referencing your paper to copy and paste it.

  • Psychology 101
  • Flags and Countries
  • Capitals and Countries

Martyn Shuttleworth (Jun 5, 2009). Parts of a Research Paper. Retrieved Mar 02, 2024 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/parts-of-a-research-paper

You Are Allowed To Copy The Text

The text in this article is licensed under the Creative Commons-License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) .

This means you're free to copy, share and adapt any parts (or all) of the text in the article, as long as you give appropriate credit and provide a link/reference to this page.

That is it. You don't need our permission to copy the article; just include a link/reference back to this page. You can use it freely (with some kind of link), and we're also okay with people reprinting in publications like books, blogs, newsletters, course-material, papers, wikipedia and presentations (with clear attribution).

Want to stay up to date? Follow us!

Check out the official book.

Learn how to construct, style and format an Academic paper and take your skills to the next level.

parts of research papers

(also available as ebook )

Save this course for later

Don't have time for it all now? No problem, save it as a course and come back to it later.

Footer bottom

  • Privacy Policy

parts of research papers

  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
  • Like us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter

Research Paper

29 December 2023

last updated

A research paper is a product of seeking information, analysis, human thinking, and time. Basically, when scholars want to get answers to questions, they start to search for information to expand, use, approve, or deny findings. In simple words, research papers are results of processes by considering writing works and following specific requirements. Besides, scientists research and expand many theories, developing social or technological aspects of human science. However, in order to write relevant papers, they need to know a definition of the research, structure, characteristics, and types.

Definition of What Is a Research Paper and Its Meaning

A research paper is a common assignment. It comes to a situation when students, scholars, and scientists need to answer specific questions by using sources. Basically, a research paper is one of the types of papers where scholars analyze questions or topics , look for secondary sources , and write papers on defined themes. For example, if an assignment is to write a research paper on some causes of global warming or any other topic, a person must write a research proposal on it, analyzing important points and credible sources . Although essays focus on personal knowledge, writing a research paper means analyzing sources by following academic standards. Moreover, scientists must meet the structure of research papers. Therefore, writers need to analyze their research paper topics , start to research, cover key aspects, process credible articles, and organize final studies properly.

The Structure of a Research Work

The structure of research papers depends on assignment requirements. In fact, when students get their assignments and instructions, they need to analyze specific research questions or topics, find reliable sources , and write final works. Basically, the structure of research papers consists of the abstract , outline , introduction , literature review , methodology, results , discussion, recommendations, limitations, conclusion , acknowledgments , and references. However, students may not include some of these sections because of assigned instructions that they have and specific types of research papers. For instance, if instructions of papers do not suppose to conduct real experiments, the methodology section can be skipped because of the data’s absence. In turn, the structure of the final work consists of:

research paper

Join our satisfied customers who have received perfect papers from Wr1ter Team.

🔸 The First Part of a Research Study

Abstract or an executive summary means the first section of a research paper that provides the study’s purpose, research questions or suggestions, main findings with conclusions. Moreover, this paragraph of about 150 words should be written when the whole work is finished already. Hence, abstract sections should describe key aspects of studies, including discussions about the relevance of findings.

Outline serves as a clear map of the structure of a research study.

Introduction provides the main information on problem statements, the indication of methodology, important findings, and principal conclusion. Basically, this section of a research paper covers rationales behind the work or background research, explanation of the importance, defending its relevance, a brief description of experimental designs, defined research questions, hypotheses, or key aspects.

🔸 Literature Review and Research or Experiment

Literature Review is needed for the analysis of past studies or scholarly articles to be familiar with research questions or topics. Hence, this section summarizes and synthesizes arguments and ideas from scholarly sources without adding new contributions. In turn, this part is organized around arguments or ideas, not sources.

Methodology or Materials and Methods covers explanations of research designs. Basically, techniques for gathering information and other aspects related to experiments must be described in a research paper. For instance, students and scholars document all specialized materials and general procedures. In this case, individuals may use some or all of the methods in further studies or judge the scientific merit of the work. Moreover, scientists should explain how they are going to conduct their experiments.

Results mean the gained information or data after the research or experiment. Basically, scholars should present and illustrate their findings. Moreover, this section may include tables or figures.

🔸 Analysis of Findings

Discussion is a section of a research paper where scientists review the information in the introduction part, evaluate gained results, or compare it with past studies. In particular, students and scholars interpret gained data or findings in appropriate depth. For example, if results differ from expectations at the beginning, scientists should explain why that may have happened. However, if results agree with rationales, scientists should describe theories that the evidence is supported.

Recommendations take its roots from a discussion section where scholars propose potential solutions or new ideas based on obtained results in a research paper. In this case, if scientists have any recommendations on how to improve this research so that other scholars can use evidence in further studies, they must write what they think in this section.

Limitations mean a consideration of research weaknesses and results to get new directions. For instance, if researchers found any limitations of studies that could affect experiments, scholars must not use such knowledge because of the same mistakes. Moreover, scientists should avoid contradicting results, and, even more, they must write it in this section.

🔸 The Final Part of a Conducted Research

Conclusion includes final claims of a research paper based on findings. Basically, this section covers final thoughts and the summary of the whole work. Moreover, this section may be used instead of limitations and recommendations that would be too small by themselves. In this case, scientists do not need to use headings for recommendations and limitations. Also, check out conclusion examples .

Acknowledgments or Appendix may take different forms, from paragraphs to charts. In this section, scholars include additional information on a research paper.

References mean a section where students, scholars, or scientists provide all used sources by following the format and academic rules.

Research Characteristics

Any type of work must meet some standards. By considering a research paper, this work must be written accordingly. In this case, the main characteristics of research papers are the length, style, format, and sources. Firstly, the length of research work defines the number of needed sources to analyze. Then, the style must be formal and covers impersonal and inclusive language. In turn, the format means academic standards of how to organize final works, including its structure and norms. Finally, sources and their number define works as research papers because of the volume of analyzed information. Hence, these characteristics must be considered while writing research papers.

Types of Research Papers

In general, the length of assignments can be different because of instructions. For example, there are two main types of research papers, such as typical and serious works. Firstly, a typical research paper may include definitive, argumentative, interpretive, and other works. In this case, typical papers are from 2 to 10 pages, where students analyze research questions or specific topics. Then, a serious research study is the expanded version of typical works. In turn, the length of such a paper is more than 10 pages. Basically, such works cover a serious analysis with many sources. Therefore, typical and serious works are two types of research papers.

Typical Research Papers

Basically, typical research works depend on assignments, the number of sources, and the paper’s length. So, a typical research paper is usually a long essay with the analyzed evidence. For example, students in high school and colleges get such assignments to learn how to research and analyze topics. In this case, they do not need to conduct serious experiments with the analysis and calculation of data. Moreover, students must use the Internet or libraries in searching for credible secondary sources to find potential answers to specific questions. As a result, students gather information on topics and learn how to take defined sides, present unique positions, or explain new directions. Hence, typical research papers require an analysis of primary and secondary sources without serious experiments or data.

Serious Research Studies

Although long papers require a lot of time for finding and analyzing credible sources, real experiments are an integral part of research work. Firstly, scholars at universities need to analyze the information from past studies to expand or disapprove of researched topics. Then, if scholars want to prove specific positions or ideas, they must get real evidence. In this case, experiments can be surveys, calculations, or other types of data that scholars do personally. Moreover, a dissertation is a typical serious research paper that young scientists write based on the research analysis of topics, data from conducted experiments, and conclusions at the end of work. Thus, serious research papers are studies that take a lot of time, analysis of sources with gained data, and interpretation of results.

Uncomplicated Reviews of Educational Research Methods

  • Writing a Research Report

.pdf version of this page

This review covers the basic elements of a research report. This is a general guide for what you will see in journal articles or dissertations. This format assumes a mixed methods study, but you can leave out either quantitative or qualitative sections if you only used a single methodology.

This review is divided into sections for easy reference. There are five MAJOR parts of a Research Report:

1.    Introduction 2.    Review of Literature 3.    Methods 4.    Results 5.    Discussion

As a general guide, the Introduction, Review of Literature, and Methods should be about 1/3 of your paper, Discussion 1/3, then Results 1/3.

Section 1 : Cover Sheet (APA format cover sheet) optional, if required.

Section 2: Abstract (a basic summary of the report, including sample, treatment, design, results, and implications) (≤ 150 words) optional, if required.

Section 3 : Introduction (1-3 paragraphs) •    Basic introduction •    Supportive statistics (can be from periodicals) •    Statement of Purpose •    Statement of Significance

Section 4 : Research question(s) or hypotheses •    An overall research question (optional) •    A quantitative-based (hypotheses) •    A qualitative-based (research questions) Note: You will generally have more than one, especially if using hypotheses.

Section 5: Review of Literature ▪    Should be organized by subheadings ▪    Should adequately support your study using supporting, related, and/or refuting evidence ▪    Is a synthesis, not a collection of individual summaries

Section 6: Methods ▪    Procedure: Describe data gathering or participant recruitment, including IRB approval ▪    Sample: Describe the sample or dataset, including basic demographics ▪    Setting: Describe the setting, if applicable (generally only in qualitative designs) ▪    Treatment: If applicable, describe, in detail, how you implemented the treatment ▪    Instrument: Describe, in detail, how you implemented the instrument; Describe the reliability and validity associated with the instrument ▪    Data Analysis: Describe type of procedure (t-test, interviews, etc.) and software (if used)

Section 7: Results ▪    Restate Research Question 1 (Quantitative) ▪    Describe results ▪    Restate Research Question 2 (Qualitative) ▪    Describe results

Section 8: Discussion ▪    Restate Overall Research Question ▪    Describe how the results, when taken together, answer the overall question ▪    ***Describe how the results confirm or contrast the literature you reviewed

Section 9: Recommendations (if applicable, generally related to practice)

Section 10: Limitations ▪    Discuss, in several sentences, the limitations of this study. ▪    Research Design (overall, then info about the limitations of each separately) ▪    Sample ▪    Instrument/s ▪    Other limitations

Section 11: Conclusion (A brief closing summary)

Section 12: References (APA format)

Share this:

About research rundowns.

Research Rundowns was made possible by support from the Dewar College of Education at Valdosta State University .

  • Experimental Design
  • What is Educational Research?
  • Writing Research Questions
  • Mixed Methods Research Designs
  • Qualitative Coding & Analysis
  • Qualitative Research Design
  • Correlation
  • Effect Size
  • Instrument, Validity, Reliability
  • Mean & Standard Deviation
  • Significance Testing (t-tests)
  • Steps 1-4: Finding Research
  • Steps 5-6: Analyzing & Organizing
  • Steps 7-9: Citing & Writing

Blog at WordPress.com.

' src=

  • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
  • Subscribe Subscribed
  • Copy shortlink
  • Report this content
  • View post in Reader
  • Manage subscriptions
  • Collapse this bar

Welcome to 2024! Happy New Year!

Hudson County Community College Libraries logo

Research Writing ~ How to Write a Research Paper

  • Choosing A Topic
  • Critical Thinking
  • Domain Names
  • Starting Your Research
  • Writing Tips
  • Parts of the Paper
  • Edit & Rewrite
  • Citations This link opens in a new window

Papers should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your introductory paragraph should grab the reader's attention, state your main idea and how you will support it. The body of the paper should expand on what you have stated in the introduction. Finally, the conclusion restates the paper's thesis and should explain what you have learned, giving a wrap up of your main ideas.   

1. The Title The title should be specific and indicate the theme of the research and what ideas it addresses. Use keywords that help explain your paper's topic to the reader. Try to avoid  abbreviations  and  jargon.  Think about keywords that people would use to search for your paper and include them in your title. 

2. The Abstract The abstract is used by readers to get a quick overview of your paper. Typically, they are about 200 words in length (120 words minimum to  250 words maximum). The abstract should introduce the topic and thesis, and should provide a general statement about what you have found in your research. The abstract allows you to mention each major aspect of you topic and helps readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Because it is a summary of the entire research paper, it is often written last. 

3. The Introduction The introduction should be designed to attract the reader's attention and explain the focus of the research. You will introduce your overview of the topic, your main points of information, and why this subject is important. You can introduce the current understanding and background information about the topic. Toward the end of the introduction, you add your thesis statement, and explain how you will provide information to support your research questions. This provides the purpose, focus, and structure for the rest of the paper.

4. Thesis Statement Most papers will have a thesis statement or main idea and supporting facts/ideas/arguments. State your main idea (something of interest or something to be proven or argued for or against) as your thesis statement, and then provide  supporting facts and arguments. A thesis statement is a declarative sentence that asserts the position a paper will be taking. It also points toward the paper's development. This statement should be both specific and arguable. Generally, the thesis statement will be placed at the end of the first paragraph of your paper. The remainder of your paper will support this thesis.

Students often learn to write a thesis as a first step in the writing process, but often, after research, a writers viewpoint may change. Therefore a thesis statement may be one of the final steps in writing. 

Examples of thesis statements from Purdue OWL. . .

5. The Literature Review The purpose of the literature review is to describe past important research and how it specifically relates to the research thesis. It should be a synthesis of the previous literature and the new idea being researched. The review should examine the major theories related to the topic to date and their contributors. It should include all relevant findings from credible sources, such as academic books and peer-reviewed journal articles. You will want  to:

  • Explain how the literature helps the researcher understand the topic.
  • Try to show connections and any disparities between the literature.
  • Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
  • Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.

More about writing a literature review. . .  from The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill More about summarizing. . . from the Center for Writing Studies at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

6. The Discussion ​The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe what you have learned from your research. Make the reader understand why your topic is important. The discussion should always demonstrate what you have learned from your readings (and viewings) and how that learning has made the topic evolve, especially from the short description of main points in the introduction. Explain any new understanding or insights you have had after reading your articles and/or books. Paragraphs should use transitioning sentences to develop how one paragraph idea leads to the next. The discussion will always connect to the introduction, your thesis statement, and the literature you reviewed, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the introduction. You want to: 

  • Demonstrate critical thinking, not just reporting back facts that you gathered.
  • If possible, tell how the topic has evolved over the past and give it's implications for the future.
  • Fully explain your main ideas with supporting information.
  • Explain why your thesis is correct giving arguments to counter points.

​7. The Conclusion A concluding paragraph is a brief summary of your main ideas and restates the paper's main thesis, giving the reader the sense that the stated goal of the paper has been accomplished. What have you learned by doing this research that you didn't know before? What conclusions have you drawn? You may also want to suggest further areas of study, improvement of research possibilities, etc. to demonstrate your critical thinking regarding your research.

  • << Previous: Writing Tips
  • Next: Edit & Rewrite >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 1, 2024 4:06 PM
  • URL: https://library.hccc.edu/research_paper

Gabert Library

JSQ map

NHC Library

NHC map

  • Database A-Z
  • Research Guides
  • Citation Help
  • Ask a Librarian
  • Library Instruction
  • Academic Liaisons
  • Library Staff Login

Bright Writers

Parts Of A Research Paper

  • June 26, 2020
  • Essay Guides and Topics

Here's What We'll Cover

You can only write an irrefutable research paper after acknowledging all the parts. How many parts are available in a research paper? It deems fit that you understand all the parts in depth.

No matter how excellent your writing skills are, it takes acknowledging the different parts of a research paper to keep the readers hooked. A research paper follows the hourglass structure.

The paper must present some general information first before you can add a literature review, hypothesis , or even your problem statement.

Paper writing service

Why do I say this?

There is no definite manner or style of crafting and writing research papers. The field of study dictates the style of the paper. However, there are commonly known parts of a research paper and are pinpointed below.

Format On How To Write Parts Of A Research Paper

Introduction, limitations of the study, methodology, literature review, the main body.

  • List of references

The cover page is also known as the title page. The page presents information about the research paper’s title.

The name of the student authoring the paper is always available on this page, the course unit, and the professor tutoring the course.

The dates when the research paper was presented must appear on the page as well.

An abstract is necessary to present a general overview of the research paper. Nonetheless, not all academic research papers necessitate an abstract.

Where one is required, it sticks within a word limit of 100-300 words. Through the abstract, readers grasp the central theme of the research and its essence.

When crafting the abstract , you should avoid using footnotes. Instead, you should present the significance of the research, the method used, the research questions , and the results of your research and findings.

Most importantly,

The abstract must be crafted carefully hence recording no mistakes. The abstract must appeal to the instructor as it’s the first thing they read apart from the title.

Your introduction helps the reader understand everything about the paper. You need to snatch the attention of the readers through your statement of the problem.

The thesis statement creates a trajectory that your research and paper follow. Endeavour to make readers understand what your topic focuses on and why it’s of great relevance to you.

How broad is the scope of your research paper? Readers ought to understand the areas that your paper focuses on and the ones it discounts.

There are so many factors that might limit your study from geographical location, time, gender, nationality, and many other factors.

As a research paper author, there is a need for you to make your research methodologies known. There are instances when you follow quantitative or qualitative research methods, and discussing the methods used makes your paper engaging.

How did you collect data? Some students interview people randomly, and others prepare and give out questionnaires.

Other researchers have written about the topic before. A literature review helps uncover what other researchers have identified.

Therefore, have a segment that presents what is already known and documented about the topic or subject matter.

The body of your research paper is the longest and showcases your arguments and findings. Therefore, when crafting the main body, you need to keep the thesis as your central area of focus.

The last thing that you need is missing the point or giving distorted and confusing information. Maintain a rational and sober argument .

The main body contains numerous citations in support of your arguments. To present a top-notch research paper, ensure to abhor meaningless parentheses.

 Conclusion

You need to give your arguments and paper a conclusive underscore. The conclusion part must be informative and extensively stimulating.

Your hypothesis and questions appearing in your introduction must receive an answer at this point. Readers may forget the words used in the body but never on the conclusion. Therefore, endeavor to maintain an exciting conclusion.

Here’s the point,

As a result, the readers will get contented by your arguments and the research paper at large.

For the sake of your readers, you should consider adding several appendices. The appendices help readers enlarge their understanding.

The appendices materials that you can avail include questionnaires, tables, maps, a list of terms, images, lengthy statistics, charts, letters, and any other supplementary information or material relevant to the topic.

Essay help

  List of references

Finally, you need to have your list of references. The citations available in your paper must be cited as per their recommendations. Therefore, ensure to avail details of all your sources following alphabetical order. Ensure to follow the reference format demanded by your tutor.

Lets not forget,

Understanding the parts that make a research paper helps sharpen your skills. Therefore, understand and master all the above sections. Nonetheless, ensure to consider working on the components required by your tutor for your research paper.

An Example Showing Parts Of A Research Paper

An examples showing parts of a research paper

What are the main parts of a research paper?

The mains parts of a research paper include; Abstract, Introduction, Limitation of the study, methodology, literature review, research findings and analysis, the discussion then finally bibliography/ references.

What are the parts of research introduction?

The research introduction should have the topic sentence, which presents the main idea of your paper, thesis statement, which states the primary purpose clearly, supporting sentences then finally a conclusion statement.

What are the parts of thesis?

The thesis has a basic structure, and it includes; an abstract, research methods and discussions, conclusion then finally references/ bibliography.

Let Us Help You Get Better Grades

Achieve academic success with Bright Writers

Unlocking A+ Essays

Insider Tips Your Professor Won't Share

Don't leave before you grab this deal!!

Get 20% OFF your first order. Professional essays at $10 a page

Do you need better

Let us handle your essays today

The Cost of Money is Part of the Cost of Living: New Evidence on the Consumer Sentiment Anomaly

Unemployment is low and inflation is falling, but consumer sentiment remains depressed. This has confounded economists, who historically rely on these two variables to gauge how consumers feel about the economy. We propose that borrowing costs, which have grown at rates they had not reached in decades, do much to explain this gap. The cost of money is not currently included in traditional price indexes, indicating a disconnect between the measures favored by economists and the effective costs borne by consumers. We show that the lows in US consumer sentiment that cannot be explained by unemployment and official inflation are strongly correlated with borrowing costs and consumer credit supply. Concerns over borrowing costs, which have historically tracked the cost of money, are at their highest levels since the Volcker-era. We then develop alternative measures of inflation that include borrowing costs and can account for almost three quarters of the gap in US consumer sentiment in 2023. Global evidence shows that consumer sentiment gaps across countries are also strongly correlated with changes in interest rates. Proposed U.S.-specific factors do not find much supportive evidence abroad.

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management. The authors thank Jonas Poulsen, Neil Shenai, and Suzanne van Geuns for detailed comments and suggestions.

MARC RIS BibTeΧ

Download Citation Data

Mentioned in the News

More from nber.

In addition to working papers , the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter , the NBER Digest , the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability , the Bulletin on Health , and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship  — as well as online conference reports , video lectures , and interviews .

15th Annual Feldstein Lecture, Mario Draghi, "The Next Flight of the Bumblebee: The Path to Common Fiscal Policy in the Eurozone cover slide

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

  • Knowledge Base
  • Dissertation
  • What Is a Research Methodology? | Steps & Tips

What Is a Research Methodology? | Steps & Tips

Published on August 25, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 20, 2023.

Your research methodology discusses and explains the data collection and analysis methods you used in your research. A key part of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper , the methodology chapter explains what you did and how you did it, allowing readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of your research and your dissertation topic .

It should include:

  • The type of research you conducted
  • How you collected and analyzed your data
  • Any tools or materials you used in the research
  • How you mitigated or avoided research biases
  • Why you chose these methods
  • Your methodology section should generally be written in the past tense .
  • Academic style guides in your field may provide detailed guidelines on what to include for different types of studies.
  • Your citation style might provide guidelines for your methodology section (e.g., an APA Style methods section ).

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

Table of contents

How to write a research methodology, why is a methods section important, step 1: explain your methodological approach, step 2: describe your data collection methods, step 3: describe your analysis method, step 4: evaluate and justify the methodological choices you made, tips for writing a strong methodology chapter, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about methodology.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

  • Academic style
  • Vague sentences
  • Style consistency

See an example

parts of research papers

Your methods section is your opportunity to share how you conducted your research and why you chose the methods you chose. It’s also the place to show that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated .

It gives your research legitimacy and situates it within your field, and also gives your readers a place to refer to if they have any questions or critiques in other sections.

You can start by introducing your overall approach to your research. You have two options here.

Option 1: Start with your “what”

What research problem or question did you investigate?

  • Aim to describe the characteristics of something?
  • Explore an under-researched topic?
  • Establish a causal relationship?

And what type of data did you need to achieve this aim?

  • Quantitative data , qualitative data , or a mix of both?
  • Primary data collected yourself, or secondary data collected by someone else?
  • Experimental data gathered by controlling and manipulating variables, or descriptive data gathered via observations?

Option 2: Start with your “why”

Depending on your discipline, you can also start with a discussion of the rationale and assumptions underpinning your methodology. In other words, why did you choose these methods for your study?

  • Why is this the best way to answer your research question?
  • Is this a standard methodology in your field, or does it require justification?
  • Were there any ethical considerations involved in your choices?
  • What are the criteria for validity and reliability in this type of research ? How did you prevent bias from affecting your data?

Once you have introduced your reader to your methodological approach, you should share full details about your data collection methods .

Quantitative methods

In order to be considered generalizable, you should describe quantitative research methods in enough detail for another researcher to replicate your study.

Here, explain how you operationalized your concepts and measured your variables. Discuss your sampling method or inclusion and exclusion criteria , as well as any tools, procedures, and materials you used to gather your data.

Surveys Describe where, when, and how the survey was conducted.

  • How did you design the questionnaire?
  • What form did your questions take (e.g., multiple choice, Likert scale )?
  • Were your surveys conducted in-person or virtually?
  • What sampling method did you use to select participants?
  • What was your sample size and response rate?

Experiments Share full details of the tools, techniques, and procedures you used to conduct your experiment.

  • How did you design the experiment ?
  • How did you recruit participants?
  • How did you manipulate and measure the variables ?
  • What tools did you use?

Existing data Explain how you gathered and selected the material (such as datasets or archival data) that you used in your analysis.

  • Where did you source the material?
  • How was the data originally produced?
  • What criteria did you use to select material (e.g., date range)?

The survey consisted of 5 multiple-choice questions and 10 questions measured on a 7-point Likert scale.

The goal was to collect survey responses from 350 customers visiting the fitness apparel company’s brick-and-mortar location in Boston on July 4–8, 2022, between 11:00 and 15:00.

Here, a customer was defined as a person who had purchased a product from the company on the day they took the survey. Participants were given 5 minutes to fill in the survey anonymously. In total, 408 customers responded, but not all surveys were fully completed. Due to this, 371 survey results were included in the analysis.

  • Information bias
  • Omitted variable bias
  • Regression to the mean
  • Survivorship bias
  • Undercoverage bias
  • Sampling bias

Qualitative methods

In qualitative research , methods are often more flexible and subjective. For this reason, it’s crucial to robustly explain the methodology choices you made.

Be sure to discuss the criteria you used to select your data, the context in which your research was conducted, and the role you played in collecting your data (e.g., were you an active participant, or a passive observer?)

Interviews or focus groups Describe where, when, and how the interviews were conducted.

  • How did you find and select participants?
  • How many participants took part?
  • What form did the interviews take ( structured , semi-structured , or unstructured )?
  • How long were the interviews?
  • How were they recorded?

Participant observation Describe where, when, and how you conducted the observation or ethnography .

  • What group or community did you observe? How long did you spend there?
  • How did you gain access to this group? What role did you play in the community?
  • How long did you spend conducting the research? Where was it located?
  • How did you record your data (e.g., audiovisual recordings, note-taking)?

Existing data Explain how you selected case study materials for your analysis.

  • What type of materials did you analyze?
  • How did you select them?

In order to gain better insight into possibilities for future improvement of the fitness store’s product range, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 returning customers.

Here, a returning customer was defined as someone who usually bought products at least twice a week from the store.

Surveys were used to select participants. Interviews were conducted in a small office next to the cash register and lasted approximately 20 minutes each. Answers were recorded by note-taking, and seven interviews were also filmed with consent. One interviewee preferred not to be filmed.

  • The Hawthorne effect
  • Observer bias
  • The placebo effect
  • Response bias and Nonresponse bias
  • The Pygmalion effect
  • Recall bias
  • Social desirability bias
  • Self-selection bias

Mixed methods

Mixed methods research combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. If a standalone quantitative or qualitative study is insufficient to answer your research question, mixed methods may be a good fit for you.

Mixed methods are less common than standalone analyses, largely because they require a great deal of effort to pull off successfully. If you choose to pursue mixed methods, it’s especially important to robustly justify your methods.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

Next, you should indicate how you processed and analyzed your data. Avoid going into too much detail: you should not start introducing or discussing any of your results at this stage.

In quantitative research , your analysis will be based on numbers. In your methods section, you can include:

  • How you prepared the data before analyzing it (e.g., checking for missing data , removing outliers , transforming variables)
  • Which software you used (e.g., SPSS, Stata or R)
  • Which statistical tests you used (e.g., two-tailed t test , simple linear regression )

In qualitative research, your analysis will be based on language, images, and observations (often involving some form of textual analysis ).

Specific methods might include:

  • Content analysis : Categorizing and discussing the meaning of words, phrases and sentences
  • Thematic analysis : Coding and closely examining the data to identify broad themes and patterns
  • Discourse analysis : Studying communication and meaning in relation to their social context

Mixed methods combine the above two research methods, integrating both qualitative and quantitative approaches into one coherent analytical process.

Above all, your methodology section should clearly make the case for why you chose the methods you did. This is especially true if you did not take the most standard approach to your topic. In this case, discuss why other methods were not suitable for your objectives, and show how this approach contributes new knowledge or understanding.

In any case, it should be overwhelmingly clear to your reader that you set yourself up for success in terms of your methodology’s design. Show how your methods should lead to results that are valid and reliable, while leaving the analysis of the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results for your discussion section .

  • Quantitative: Lab-based experiments cannot always accurately simulate real-life situations and behaviors, but they are effective for testing causal relationships between variables .
  • Qualitative: Unstructured interviews usually produce results that cannot be generalized beyond the sample group , but they provide a more in-depth understanding of participants’ perceptions, motivations, and emotions.
  • Mixed methods: Despite issues systematically comparing differing types of data, a solely quantitative study would not sufficiently incorporate the lived experience of each participant, while a solely qualitative study would be insufficiently generalizable.

Remember that your aim is not just to describe your methods, but to show how and why you applied them. Again, it’s critical to demonstrate that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated.

1. Focus on your objectives and research questions

The methodology section should clearly show why your methods suit your objectives and convince the reader that you chose the best possible approach to answering your problem statement and research questions .

2. Cite relevant sources

Your methodology can be strengthened by referencing existing research in your field. This can help you to:

  • Show that you followed established practice for your type of research
  • Discuss how you decided on your approach by evaluating existing research
  • Present a novel methodological approach to address a gap in the literature

3. Write for your audience

Consider how much information you need to give, and avoid getting too lengthy. If you are using methods that are standard for your discipline, you probably don’t need to give a lot of background or justification.

Regardless, your methodology should be a clear, well-structured text that makes an argument for your approach, not just a list of technical details and procedures.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

  • Normal distribution
  • Measures of central tendency
  • Chi square tests
  • Confidence interval
  • Quartiles & Quantiles

Methodology

  • Cluster sampling
  • Stratified sampling
  • Thematic analysis
  • Cohort study
  • Peer review
  • Ethnography

Research bias

  • Implicit bias
  • Cognitive bias
  • Conformity bias
  • Hawthorne effect
  • Availability heuristic
  • Attrition bias

Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project . It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.

Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys , and statistical tests ).

In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods section .

In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation , you will probably include a methodology section , where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.

In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results , discussion and conclusion . The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation , or research proposal .

Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology.

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something:

  • Reliability refers to the  consistency of a measure (whether the results can be reproduced under the same conditions).
  • Validity   refers to the  accuracy of a measure (whether the results really do represent what they are supposed to measure).

If you are doing experimental research, you also have to consider the internal and external validity of your experiment.

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 20). What Is a Research Methodology? | Steps & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/methodology/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, what is a theoretical framework | guide to organizing, what is a research design | types, guide & examples, qualitative vs. quantitative research | differences, examples & methods, what is your plagiarism score.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • View all journals
  • Explore content
  • About the journal
  • Publish with us
  • Sign up for alerts
  • Published: 19 February 2024

Identification of a leucine-mediated threshold effect governing macrophage mTOR signalling and cardiovascular risk

  • Xiangyu Zhang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1168-3487 1 , 2   na1 ,
  • Divya Kapoor 3 , 4   na1 ,
  • Se-Jin Jeong 3 ,
  • Alan Fappi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4015-9262 5 , 6 ,
  • Jeremiah Stitham 7 ,
  • Vasavi Shabrish   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9643-7375 5 , 6 ,
  • Ismail Sergin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2021-9096 3 ,
  • Eman Yousif 3 ,
  • Astrid Rodriguez-Velez   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3376-1300 3 ,
  • Yu-Sheng Yeh   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0099-2690 1 , 2 ,
  • Arick Park   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5668-0701 3 ,
  • Arif Yurdagul Jr 8 ,
  • Oren Rom   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9272-086X 8 ,
  • Slava Epelman   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3400-4475 9 ,
  • Joel D. Schilling   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3884-1994 3 ,
  • Marco Sardiello   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6484-0250 10 ,
  • Abhinav Diwan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7554-4772 3 , 4 ,
  • Jaehyung Cho   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2404-3446 11 , 12 ,
  • Nathan O. Stitziel   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4963-8211 3 ,
  • Ali Javaheri 3 , 4 ,
  • Irfan J. Lodhi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6246-9862 7 ,
  • Bettina Mittendorfer   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0049-2677 5 , 6 &
  • Babak Razani   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7172-9240 1 , 2  

Nature Metabolism volume  6 ,  pages 359–377 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

2209 Accesses

1249 Altmetric

Metrics details

  • Atherosclerosis
  • Mechanisms of disease
  • Monocytes and macrophages
  • Translational research

High protein intake is common in western societies and is often promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle; however, amino-acid-mediated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling in macrophages has been implicated in the pathogenesis of ischaemic cardiovascular disease. In a series of clinical studies on male and female participants ( NCT03946774 and NCT03994367 ) that involved graded amounts of protein ingestion together with detailed plasma amino acid analysis and human monocyte/macrophage experiments, we identify leucine as the key activator of mTOR signalling in macrophages. We describe a threshold effect of high protein intake and circulating leucine on monocytes/macrophages wherein only protein in excess of ∼ 25 g per meal induces mTOR activation and functional effects. By designing specific diets modified in protein and leucine content representative of the intake in the general population, we confirm this threshold effect in mouse models and find ingestion of protein in excess of ∼ 22% of dietary energy requirements drives atherosclerosis in male mice. These data demonstrate a mechanistic basis for the adverse impact of excessive dietary protein on cardiovascular risk.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

24,99 € / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles

111,21 € per year

only 9,27 € per issue

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

parts of research papers

Data availability

All source data used to generate the figures are available as part of the manuscript files and from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

Fan, J. et al. Rabbit models for the study of human atherosclerosis: from pathophysiological mechanisms to translational medicine. Pharmacol. Ther. 146 , 104–119 (2015).

Article   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Debry, G. Dietary Proteins and Atherosclerosis 1st edn https://doi.org/10.1201/9780203009307 (Taylor & Francis, 2003).

Zhang, X. et al. High-protein diets increase cardiovascular risk by activating macrophage mTOR to suppress mitophagy. Nat. Metab. 2 , 110–125 (2020).

Article   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Wolfson, R. L. et al. Sestrin2 is a leucine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway. Science 351 , 43–48 (2016).

Article   ADS   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Saxton, R. A., Chantranupong, L., Knockenhauer, K. E., Schwartz, T. U. & Sabatini, D. M. Mechanism of arginine sensing by CASTOR1 upstream of mTORC1. Nature 536 , 229–233 (2016).

Article   ADS   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Goberdhan, D. C. I., Wilson, C. & Harris, A. L. Amino acid sensing by mTORC1: intracellular transporters mark the spot. Cell Metab. 23 , 580–589 (2016).

Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids (The National Academies Press, 2005).

Bauer, J. et al. Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people: a position paper from the prot-age study group. J. Am. Med. Dir. Assoc. 14 , 542–559 (2013).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Rizzoli, R., Biver, E. & Brennan-Speranza, T. C. Nutritional intake and bone health. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 9 , 606–621 (2021).

Berryman, C. E., Lieberman, H. R., Fulgoni, V. L. & Pasiakos, S. M. Protein intake trends and conformity with the dietary reference intakes in the United States: analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001–2014. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 108 , 405–413 (2018).

Mangano, K. M. et al. Dietary protein is associated with musculoskeletal health independently of dietary pattern: the Framingham Third Generation Study. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 105 , 714–722 (2017).

Anderson, J. J. et al. Adiposity among 132 479 UK Biobank participants; contribution of sugar intake vs other macronutrients. Int. J. Epidemiol. 46 , 492–501 (2017).

ADS   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Lieberman, H. R., Fulgoni, V. L., Agarwal, S., Pasiakos, S. M. & Berryman, C. E. Protein intake is more stable than carbohydrate or fat intake across various US demographic groups and international populations. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 112 , 180–186 (2020).

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Millward, D. J. Nutrition and sarcopenia: evidence for an interaction. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 71 , 566–575 (2012).

Fabek, H. et al. An examination of contributions of animal- and plant-based dietary patterns on the nutrient quality of diets of adult Canadians. Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 46 , 877–886 (2021).

Chen, Z. et al. Dietary protein intake and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: results from the Rotterdam Study and a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Eur. J. Epidemiol. 35 , 411–429 (2020).

Aggarwal, A. & Drewnowski, A. Plant- and animal-protein diets in relation to sociodemographic drivers, quality, and cost: fFindings from the Seattle Obesity Study. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 110 , 451–460 (2019).

Lin, Y. et al. Plant and animal protein intake and its association with overweight and obesity among the Belgian population. Br. J. Nutr. 105 , 1106–1116 (2011).

Van Nielen, M. et al. Dietary protein intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes in Europe: the EPIC-InterAct case-cohort study. Diabetes Care 37 , 1854–1862 (2014).

Johnston, B. C. et al. Unprocessed red meat and processed meat consumption: dietary guideline recommendations from the nutritional recommendations (NUTRIRECS) consortium. Ann. Intern. Med. 171 , 756–764 (2019).

Song, M. et al. Association of animal and plant protein intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. JAMA Intern. Med. 179 , 1509–1518 (2016).

Google Scholar  

Woollard, K. J. & Geissmann, F. Monocytes in atherosclerosis: subsets and functions. Nat. Rev. Cardiol. 7 , 77–86 (2010).

Ghattas, A., Griffiths, H. R., Devitt, A., Lip, G. Y. H. & Shantsila, E. Monocytes in coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis: where are we now? J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 62 , 1541–1551 (2013).

Hilgendorf, I., Swirski, F. K. & Robbins, C. S. Monocyte fate in atherosclerosis. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 35 , 272–279 (2015).

Bzowska, M. et al. Oxidized LDLs inhibit TLR-induced IL-10 production by monocytes: a new aspect of pathogen-accelerated atherosclerosis. Inflammation 35 , 1567–1584 (2012).

Klionsky, D. J. et al. Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition). Autophagy . https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2020.1797280 (2021).

Van der Vieren, M. et al. A novel leukointegrin, αdβ2, binds preferentially to ICAM-3. Immunity 3 , 683–690 (1995).

Podolnikova, N. P., Kushchayeva, Y. S., Wu, Y. F., Faust, J. & Ugarova, T. P. The role of integrins αMβ2 (Mac-1, CD11b/CD18) and αDβ2 (CD11d/CD18) in macrophage fusion. Am. J. Pathol. 186 , 2105–2116 (2016).

Chistiakov, D. A., Killingsworth, M. C., Myasoedova, V. A., Orekhov, A. N. & Bobryshev, Y. V. CD68/macrosialin: not just a histochemical marker. Lab. Investig. 97 , 4–13 (2017).

Jewell, J. L. et al. Differential regulation of mTORC1 by leucine and glutamine. Science 347 , 194–198 (2015).

Atherton, P. J., Smith, K., Etheridge, T., Rankin, D. & Rennie, M. J. Distinct anabolic signalling responses to amino acids in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. Amino Acids 38 , 1533–1539 (2010).

Yin, S. et al. Vascular effects of a low-carbohydrate high-protein diet. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106 , 1–6 (2009).

Solon-Biet, S. M. et al. The ratio of macronutrients, not caloric intake, dictates cardiometabolic health, aging, and longevity in ad libitum-fed mice. Cell Metab. 19 , 418–430 (2014).

Mu, W. C., Vanhoosier, E., Elks, C. M. & Grant, R. W. Long-term effects of dietary protein and branched-chain amino acids on metabolism and inflammation in mice. Nutrients 10 , 918 (2018).

Yap, Y. W. et al. Restriction of essential amino acids dictates the systemic metabolic response to dietary protein dilution. Nat. Commun. 11 , 2894 (2020).

Maida, A. et al. Repletion of branched chain amino acids reverses mTORC1 signaling but not improved metabolism during dietary protein dilution. Mol. Metab. 6 , 873–881 (2017).

Fontana, L. et al. Decreased Consumption of branched-chain amino acids improves metabolic health. Cell Rep. 16 , 520–530 (2016).

Roth, G. A. et al. Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet 392 , 1736–1788 (2018).

Article   Google Scholar  

Laslett, L. J. et al. The worldwide environment of cardiovascular disease: prevalence, diagnosis, therapy, and policy issues: a report from the American College Of Cardiology. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 60 , S1–S49 (2012).

Virani, S. S. et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics—2020 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation 141 , e139–e596 (2020).

Green, C. L. & Lamming, D. W. Regulation of metabolic health by essential dietary amino acids. Mech. Ageing Dev. 177 , 186–200 (2019).

McGarrah, R. W. & White, P. J. Branched-chain amino acids in cardiovascular disease. Nat. Rev. Cardiol. 20 , 77–89 (2023).

White, P. J. et al. Insulin action, type 2 diabetes, and branched-chain amino acids: a two-way street. Mol. Metab. 52 , 101261 (2021).

Yu, D. et al. The adverse metabolic effects of branched-chain amino acids are mediated by isoleucine and valine. Cell Metab. 33 , 905–922 (2021).

Deelen, J. et al. A metabolic profile of all-cause mortality risk identified in an observational study of 44,168 individuals. Nat. Commun. 10 , 1–8 (2019).

Article   ADS   Google Scholar  

Yoon, M. S. mTOR as a key regulator in maintaining skeletal muscle mass. Front. Physiol. 8 , 1–9 (2017).

Article   MathSciNet   CAS   Google Scholar  

Layman, D. K. et al. Defining meal requirements for protein to optimize metabolic roles of amino acids. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 101 , 1330S–1338S (2015).

Churchward-Venne, T. A. et al. Supplementation of a suboptimal protein dose with leucine or essential amino acids: effects on myofibrillar protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in men. J. Physiol. 590 , 2751–2765 (2012).

Smith, G. I. et al. Protein ingestion induces muscle insulin resistance independent of leucine-mediated mTOR activation. Diabetes 64 , 1555–1563 (2015).

Mittendorfer, B., Klein, S. & Fontana, L. A word of caution against excessive protein intake. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 16 , 59–66 (2020).

Paddon-Jones, D., Sheffield-Moore, M., Katsanos, C. S., Zhang, X.J. & Wolfe, R. R. Differential stimulation of muscle protein synthesis in elderly humans following isocaloric ingestion of amino acids or whey protein. Exp. Gerontol. 41 , 215–219 (2006).

Deutz, N. E. P. et al. Protein intake and exercise for optimal muscle function with aging: recommendations from the ESPEN Expert Group. Clin. Nutr. 33 , 929–936 (2014).

Drummen, M., Tischmann, L., Gatta-Cherifi, B., Adam, T. & Westerterp-Plantenga, M. Dietary protein and energy balance in relation to obesity and co-morbidities. Front. Endocrinol. 9 , 1–13 (2018).

Magkos, F. The role of dietary protein in obesity. Rev. Endocr. Metab. Disord. 21 , 329–340 (2020).

Huang, J. et al. Association between plant and animal protein intake and overall and cause-specific mortality. JAMA Intern. Med. 180 , 1173–1184 (2020).

Green, C. L. et al. Sex and genetic background define the metabolic, physiologic, and molecular response to protein restriction. Cell Metab. 34 , 209–226 (2022).

Condon, K. J. & Sabatini, D. M. Nutrient regulation of mTORC1 at a glance. J. Cell Sci. 132 , 0–2 (2019).

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Bar-Peled, L. et al. A tumor suppressor complex with GAP activity for the Rag GTPases that signal amino acid sufficiency to mTORC1. Science 340 , 1100–1106 (2013).

Wolfson, R. L. & Sabatini, D. M. The dawn of the age of amino acid sensors for the mTORC1 pathway. Cell Metab. 26 , 301–309 (2017).

Han, J. M. et al. Leucyl-tRNA synthetase is an intracellular leucine sensor for the mTORC1-signaling pathway. Cell 149 , 410–424 (2012).

Wyant, G. A. et al. mTORC1 activator SLC38A9 is required to efflux essential amino acids from lysosomes and use protein as a nutrient. Cell 171 , 642–654 (2017).

Son, S. M. et al. Leucine signals to mTORC1 via its metabolite acetyl-Coenzyme A. Cell Metab. 29 , 192–201 (2019).

Yoshida, S., Pacitto, R., Yao, Y., Inoki, K. & Swanson, J. A. Growth factor signaling to mTORC1 by amino acid-laden macropinosomes. J. Cell Biol. 211 , 159–172 (2015).

Doodnauth, S. A., Grinstein, S. & Maxson, M. E. Constitutive and stimulated macropinocytosis in macrophages: roles in immunity and in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Philos. Trans. R Soc. B Biol. Sci. 374 , 20180147 (2019).

Lynch, C. J., Fox, H. L., Vary, T. C., Jefferson, L. S. & Kimball, S. R. Regulation of amino acid-sensitive TOR signaling by leucine analogues in adipocytes. J. Cell. Biochem. 77 , 234–251 (2000).

Treviño-Villarreal, J. H. et al. Dietary protein restriction reduces circulating VLDL triglyceride levels via CREBH-APOA5-dependent and -independent mechanisms. JCI Insight. 3 , e99470 (2018).

Maida, A. et al. Dietary protein dilution limits dyslipidemia in obesity through FGF21-driven fatty acid clearance. J. Nutr. Biochem. 57 , 189–196 (2018).

Smith, G. I. et al. High-protein intake during weight loss therapy eliminates the weight-loss-induced improvement in insulin action in obese postmenopausal women. Cell Rep. 17 , 849–861 (2016).

van Vliet, S. et al. The muscle anabolic effect of protein ingestion during a hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamp in middle-aged women is not caused by leucine alone. J. Physiol. 596 , 4681–4692 (2018).

Dietzen, D. J. et al. Rapid comprehensive amino acid analysis by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry: comparison to cation exchange with post-column ninhydrin detection. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 22 , 3481–3488 (2008).

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank T. Roediger, the staff of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine and staff at the CTRU for assistance in conducting the metabolic studies and their technical assistance in processing the study samples. We also thank the study participants for their participation. Funding. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01 HL125838 (to B.R.), R01 HL159461 (to B.R. and B.M.), R01 DK121560 (to B.M.), R01 DK131188 (to B.R., B.M. and J.D.S.), P30 DK056341 (Washington University Nutrition and Obesity Research Center), P30 DK020579 (Washington University Diabetes Research Center), UL1 TR000448 (Washington University School of Medicine Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences) and T32 HL134635 (to A.R.) and grants from the US Department of Veterans Affairs MERIT I01 BX003415 (to B.R.), American Diabetes Association (1-18-IBS-029 to B.R.) and the Longer Life Foundation (to B.M.). The funding sources had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data; preparation, review or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Author information

These authors contributed equally: Xiangyu Zhang, Divya Kapoor.

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Medicine and Vascular Medicine Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Xiangyu Zhang, Yu-Sheng Yeh & Babak Razani

Pittsburgh VA Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Cardiovascular Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA

Divya Kapoor, Se-Jin Jeong, Ismail Sergin, Eman Yousif, Astrid Rodriguez-Velez, Arick Park, Joel D. Schilling, Abhinav Diwan, Nathan O. Stitziel & Ali Javaheri

John Cochran VA Medical Center, St Louis, MO, USA

Divya Kapoor, Abhinav Diwan & Ali Javaheri

Division of Nutritional Science and Obesity Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

Alan Fappi, Vasavi Shabrish & Bettina Mittendorfer

Departments of Medicine and Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Lipid Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA

Jeremiah Stitham & Irfan J. Lodhi

Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, LA, USA

Arif Yurdagul Jr & Oren Rom

Peter Munk Cardiac Center and University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Slava Epelman

Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA

Marco Sardiello

Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA

Jaehyung Cho

Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

X.Z., D.K., B.M. and B.R. designed the study. X.Z., D.K., S.J.J., A.F., J.S., V.S., I.S., E.Y., A.R., Y.S.Y., A.P., A.Y., O.R., S.E., J.D.S., M.S., A.D., J.C., N.O.S., A.J., I.J.L., B.M. and B.R. contributed to data acquisition, data analysis and data interpretation. All authors contributed to the writing of the paper. B.R. is the guarantor of this work, had full access to all the data in the study and assumes full responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bettina Mittendorfer or Babak Razani .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information.

Nature Metabolism thanks Andreas Pfeiffer and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Ashley Castellanos-Jankiewicz, in collaboration with the Nature Metabolism team.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended data fig. 1 -for main fig. 1 & 2 ..

Extended Data Fig. 1 (A) Study #1 evaluated the effect of consuming extremes of protein intake as liquid meals (10% kcal protein vs 50% kcal protein) on monocyte mTORC1 activation and downstream functional events. Study #2 focused on a “real-world” setting and evaluated the effects of a standard mixed meal and a high-protein mixed meal (15% kcal vs 22% kcal as protein) on the same outcomes. Blood samples from participants were obtained at baseline and at defined time intervals after meal consumption, plasma was isolated for evaluating amino acid mass concentration and CD14 + /CD16 − monocytes were isolated for mTORC1 signalling evaluation using Western blotting (WB), immunofluorescence microscopy (IF) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). (B) Representative FACS pictures showing high efficiency of circulating monocytes isolation from participants’ blood. (C) Plasma triglyceride (TG) concentration before and after participants (n = 12) consumed a very high protein (50% kcal) or a low-protein (10% kcal) liquid meal (time as indicated). (D) Representative FACS pictures for Fig. 2d . (E) Quantification of mTOR-LAMP2 colocalization in isolated circulating monocytes participants (n = 5) consumed a very high protein (50% kcal) or a low-protein (10% kcal) liquid meals (time as indicated). P < 10e-8 and determined by Two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparisons. Representative pictures on the right. (F) Plasma TG concentration before and after participants (n = 9) consumed a standard mixed meal (15% kcal protein) or a high protein (22% kcal protein) mixed meal (time as indicated). For all graphs, data are presented as mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001.

Extended Data Fig. 2 -for Main Fig. 1 .

Extended Data Fig. 2 Plasma concentrations of 20 amino acids before and after participants (n = 12) consumed a very high protein (50% kcal) or a low-protein (10% kcal) liquid meal (time as indicated). For all graphs, data are presented as mean ± SEM.

Extended Data Fig. 3 -for Main Fig. 2 .

Extended Data Fig. 3 Plasma concentrations of 20 amino acids before and after participants (n = 9) consumed a standard mixed meal (15% kcal protein) or a high protein (22% kcal protein) mixed meal (time as indicated). For all graphs, data are presented as mean ± SEM.

Extended Data Fig. 4 -for Main Fig. 4 .

Extended Data Fig. 4 (A) Representative images of cultured human monocytes-derived macrophages (HMDMs) from isolated human circulating monocytes before and after 12 days of differentiation. The picture represents for three independent experiments. (B-C) FACS (B) and immunofluorescence (C) analysis of differentiated HMDMs by macrophage markers CD11b, CD18 and CD68. The picture represents for three independent experiments. (D) Western blot analysis of mTOR activation in HMDM (using phospho-S6 and –S6K) after treatment with leucine (2 mM) or full amino acids. The picture represents for three independent experiments. (E-F) Immunofluorescence microscopy analysis and quantification of mTORC1 activation (using phospho-S6) (E) and autophagy inhibition (using LC3 puncta formation) (F) in HMDMs treated with 2 mM leucine. The IF data (E and F) were obtained from three independent experiments with analysis of n ≥ 15 cells per experiment (n = 45 in Group –aa and n = 40 in Group Leu for E; n = 58 in Group –aa and n = 58 in Group Leu for F). P < 10e-8 for E and F. (G) Representative images of LC3 in HMDMs for Fig. 5d . (H) Immunoblot analysis of the phosphorylation of AMPK and ULK1 in HMDMs by the selected amino acids (applied at 2 mM). n = 4 independent experiments per group. P = 0.00132 and determined by One-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons. (I) Representative images of LC3 in HMDMs for Fig. 5g . For all graphs, data are presented as mean ± SEM, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.

Source data

Extended data fig. 5 -for main fig. 5 ..

Extended Data Fig. 5 -for Main Fig. 5 . (A) Western blot analysis of the dose-dependent effect of leucine on mTORC1 activation (using phospho-S6K) in human monocyte-derived macrophages (HMDMs). The picture represents for three independent experiments. (B) Representative FACS plots for Fig. 5e .

Extended Data Fig. 6 −for Main Fig. 6 .

Extended Data Fig. 6 (A) Plasma concentrations of 20 amino acids before and after male mice were gavaged with a solution that contained 1.6 g/kg protein or vehicle (times as indicated). n = 3 mice for each group. (B) FACS analysis of mTORC1 activation in blood monocytes (using phosphorylated S6) from female mice gavaged with the same protein solution compared with vehicle (times as indicated). n = 4 mice for each group. P = 0.00829 and determined by Two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparisons. For all graphs, data are presented as mean ± SEM. **P < 0.01.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Main Figs. 7 and 8 .

Extended Data Fig. 7 -for (A) Body composition (fat and lean weights) of ApoE-/- mice fed Western diets with low-protein (LP WD), moderate-protein (MP-WD), or high protein (HP-WD) contents for 8 weeks. n = 5 mice for each group. P = 0.00057. (B-C) Serum cholesterol (B) and triglyceride (C) concentrations in ApoE-/- mice before and after placement on low, moderate, or high protein Western diets for 8 weeks. n = 5 mice for each group. (D-E) Serum cholesterol (D) and triglyceride (E) concentrations after ApoE-/- mice were fed six different diets with varying protein and leucine contents, including: 1) a moderate-protein Western Diet (MP-WD, n = 10), 2) a high-protein Western Diet (HP-WD, n = 7), 3) a MP-WD to which an amount of leucine, but no other amino acids, was added to match the leucine content of the HP-WD (MP-WD+Leu, n = 10), 4) a MP-WD to which amino acids were added to match the total amino acid content of the HP-WD (MP-WD + AA, n = 10), 5) a MP-WD to which amino acids, except for leucine, were added to match the content of all amino acids, except for leucine, of the HP-WD (MP-WD + AA (Normal Leu), n = 15) and 6) an isonitrogenous MP-WD + AA-Leu diet (MP-WD + AA (Normal Leu (IsoN), n = 15) which consisted of the MP-WD + AA-Leu diet with additional amino acids to match the total amino acid nitrogen content of the HP WD. (F-H) Plaque composition quantified by immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy of aortic root sections for (F) macrophages (MOMA-2), (G) apoptosis (TUNEL + ) and (H) necrotic core (MP-WD, n = 10; HP-WD, n = 7; MP-WD+Leu, n = 10; MP-WD + AA, n = 10; MP-WD + AA(Normal Leu), n = 15; isoMP-WD + AA, n = 15 biologically independent animals). P = 0.0159 for F and P = 0.000329, 0.02219 and 0.00417 for G. For all graphs, data are presented as mean ± SEM and determined by One-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons. *P ≤ 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.

Extended Data Fig. 8 CONSORT diagram of participant enrolment in Trials.

(A,B) CONSORT diagram of participant enrolment in Trial NCT03946774 (A) and Trial NCT03994367 (B).

Extended Data Fig. 9 Gating strategies for FACS analysis.

Gating strategy for determination of parameters in human (A) and mouse circulating monocytes (B). (A) Dead cells and cell aggregates were removed in (a) and (b) to enrich single live cells. (c) Human leucocytes were selected using CD45. (d) Human circulating monocytes were enriched by CD11b and F4/80 gating and used for further analysis. (B) Dead cells and cell aggregates were removed in (a) and (b) to enrich single live cells. (c) Mouse leucocytes were selected using CD45. (d) Mouse circulating monocytes were enriched by CD11b and Ly-6c gating and used for further analysis.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information.

Supplementary Table 1, clinical study protocol 1-2, CONSORT checklist, Reporting on sex and gender.

Reporting Summary

Source data fig. 1.

Unprocessed western blots.

Source Data Fig. 2

Source data fig. 3, source data fig. 4, source data fig. 5, source data extended data fig. 4, source data extended data fig. 5, rights and permissions.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Zhang, X., Kapoor, D., Jeong, SJ. et al. Identification of a leucine-mediated threshold effect governing macrophage mTOR signalling and cardiovascular risk. Nat Metab 6 , 359–377 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-00984-2

Download citation

Received : 23 February 2022

Accepted : 09 January 2024

Published : 19 February 2024

Issue Date : February 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-00984-2

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Quick links

  • Explore articles by subject
  • Guide to authors
  • Editorial policies

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

parts of research papers

Library Technology Guides

Current news service and archive.

  • Terms of Use
  • Site Statistics
  • About Marshall Breeding
  • Basic Search
  • Library Storage Facilities
  • Association of Research Libraries
  • Urban Libraries Council
  • Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
  • Big Ten Academic Alliance Libraries
  • United Kingdom Higher Education
  • Society of College, National and University Libraries
  • US Presidential Libraries and Museums
  • Independent Research Libraries Association
  • Academic Law Libraries in the United States
  • Directory of Public Libraries in the United States
  • Directory of Public Libraries in the United Kingdom
  • Search Vendor Database
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • - Auto-Graphics
  • - Biblionix
  • - Book Systems
  • - ByWater Solutions
  • - Clarivate
  • - Ex Libris
  • - Innovative
  • - The Library Corporation
  • - SirsiDynix
  • Search Product Database
  • - Library.Solution
  • - WorldShare Management Services
  • - NOTIS (history)
  • Procurement

Press Release: Clarivate [February 29, 2024]

Proquest, part of clarivate, launches ai-powered research assistant.

Around the world, college students are struggling post-pandemic. In the U.S. the national average score on the ACT college placement exam declined to its lowest point in 30 years . In the U.K., researchers are warning that higher ed students are facing increased pressures that significantly reduce their resilience. In the classroom, faculty are high levels of absenteeism and low levels of engagement.

It's a perfect storm: with the advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI), overwhelmed, under-confident students can be quickly lured to look for help in general-purpose chatbots, exposing them to dangers such as bias and content hallucinations.

Now, ProQuest, part of Clarivate, is collaborating with its community of educators to address these issues by harnessing AI's powerful abilities and applying them in a responsible, reliable research companion for students. Currently in beta with top universities, ProQuest Research Assistant achieves a milestone in next generation content discovery by enabling students to use conversational inquiry to explore vast, vetted and authoritative content.

AI that's rooted in traditional academic values

ProQuest Research Assistant is being tested in an academic library staple: ProQuest One Literature, a destination resource built on a foundation of high quality, authoritative content – an extraordinary range of full text prose and poetry as well as plays, periodicals, essays, video, imagery and editor-developed topical content. ProQuest is developing its AI initiatives in alignment with traditional academic principles and strong community governance. The rigorous approach to testing and validating results is shaping a powerful new research tool that will be integrated in ProQuest solutions across major disciplines.

Navigating knowledge: The AI-powered journey in ProQuest One

ProQuest Research Assistant supports the exploratory phase of the research process and allows researchers to use natural language inquiries to navigate millions of high-quality, trusted sources of full text academic works. Their journey will enable them to discover documents and get summarized responses to research questions that propel exploration.

Patti Ginnis, Vice President, Product Management, ProQuest Information Solutions said: "Our aim is to augment the researcher's journey, fostering discovery and introducing diverse concepts and comprehensive explorations at the point of need. Our academic AI responds and nurtures the student's journey, paving the way for the insights that might have eluded them in traditional searches."

With the ProQuest Research Assistant, students who default to searching on something they already know will be guided to a diversity of perspectives, broadening their vistas to think critically about what they're learning so they can draw their own conclusions.

Ginnis continues: "This journey isn't just about efficiency and recall; it's about integrity, learning and productivity. ProQuest Research Assistant is rooted in traditional values of academia, ensuring that every step aligns with the core values of scholarly pursuits. We believe the synergy between technology and scholarly values is what creates and nurtures curious minds."

Get involved

Community collaboration is key to the strategy behind ProQuest Research Assistant and the variety of AI initiatives underway at Clarivate. The company is working with librarians, students and faculty to embed AI within its academic offerings in ways that are both responsible and effective .

DocumentID: 29830 views : 524 Created: 2024-02-29 09:46:22 Last Modified: 2024-03-02 12:32:24.

Maintained by Marshall Breeding

The Current State of Journalists—the Quest for Trusted Media [Vol.2] The Great East Japan Earthquake—Following the Tracks of Noriaki Tokuda, a Cameraperson Who Kept Walking Alongside the People in Affected Areas

The potential of broadcasting staying close to local residents.

Published: March 1, 2024

This paper is a republication of the fourth and the fifth installments (Part 1 and Part 2 of an article featuring an NHK cameraperson) from a series of articles “Research Report: The Current State of Journalists—the Quest for Trusted Media” that have been posted on the website of the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute since April 2023, with partial additions and corrections.

The series presents how journalists in the field address the recipients’ (readers’/viewers’) distrust of journalism—mainly television and newspapers, or so-called “old media” as they acknowledge the existence of distrust.

The paper focuses on Noriaki Tokuda, a cameraperson at the NHK Kamaishi bureau in the Tohoku region, who passed away about a year ago. The author investigated how he earned the deep trust of local people at the areas heavily hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and delivered broadcast programs and news reporting based on their trust. As a means of uncovering the process and characteristics of his achievements, statements from those whom Tokuda filmed and interviewed as well as his colleagues were collected. What the author found there was the importance of walking alongside local residents as a member of the community and facing issues from the same perspectives as theirs as one of the persons involved.

This also implies a danger in mass-media reporters’ trying to see things from above the clouds with a bird’s eye view and generalizing them for reporting. As recipients’ distrust of media is growing now, the author hopes that this paper will serve as a reference for considering measures to sustain trust in journalism, by shedding a light anew on the importance of interacting with local people with the same perspectives as theirs as a person involved.

Coinciding with the writing of this paper, the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred on January 1st this year, with a maximum intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale. The largest tsunami since the Great East Japan Earthquake hit cities, which claimed many lives due to collapsed buildings, mudslides, and fires. A large number of people in wider areas have lost their homes and have no choice but to live in evacuation centers in a bitter cold climate. As reporting activities continue in the region, how should journalists interact with the people in disaster-affected areas and what should be reported? The author’s hope is that the experiences and lessons learnt in the affected areas in Tohoku can be utilized in any way.

The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research

Kensaku WATANABE

Full Report PDF (*,***KB)

in Japanese

IMAGES

  1. College essay: Components phd dissertation

    parts of research papers

  2. 10 Parts Of A Common Research Paper

    parts of research papers

  3. Research Paper: Definition, Structure, Characteristics, and Types

    parts of research papers

  4. How to Write a Research Paper

    parts of research papers

  5. Parts of a Research Paper

    parts of research papers

  6. 10 Parts Of A Common Research Paper

    parts of research papers

VIDEO

  1. How to structure introduction to a research paper

  2. Reading_Research_Lesson 7-How Parts of a Text Connect

  3. BLUE LEMON! Taste test! #reaction #review #funny #viral #youtubeshorts #fat #drink #shorts #weird

  4. Parts of project proposal

  5. Research Paper Methodology

  6. Lecture No. 5, How to Write a Research Paper

COMMENTS

  1. Research Paper Structure

    A complete research paper in APA style that is reporting on experimental research will typically contain a Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References sections. 1 Many will also contain Figures and Tables and some will have an Appendix or Appendices. These sections are detailed as follows (for a more in ...

  2. How to Write a Research Paper: Parts of the Paper

    Librarian Contact. Parts of the Research Paper. Papers should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your introductory paragraph should grab the reader's attention, state your main idea, and indicate how you will support it. The body of the paper should expand on what you have stated in the introduction. Finally, the conclusion restates the ...

  3. Parts of a Research Paper

    This part of a research paper is supposed to provide the theoretical framework that you elaborated during your research. You will be expected to present the sources you have studied while preparing for the work ahead, and these sources should be credible from an academic standpoint (including educational books, peer-reviewed journals, and other relevant publications).

  4. How to Write a Research Paper

    Choose a research paper topic. Conduct preliminary research. Develop a thesis statement. Create a research paper outline. Write a first draft of the research paper. Write the introduction. Write a compelling body of text. Write the conclusion. The second draft.

  5. PDF The Structure of an Academic Paper

    The thesis is generally the narrowest part and last sentence of the introduction, and conveys your position, the essence of your argument or idea. See our handout on Writing a Thesis Statement for more. The roadmap Not all academic papers include a roadmap, but many do. Usually following the thesis, a roadmap is a

  6. Parts of the paper

    Different sections are needed in different types of scientific papers (lab reports, literature reviews, systematic reviews, methods papers, research papers, etc.). Projects that overlap with the social sciences or humanities may have different requirements. Generally, however, you'll need to include: TITLE. ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION (Background)

  7. Research Paper

    A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research. About us; Disclaimer; ... Students in universities and colleges are often required to write research papers as part of their coursework, particularly in the social sciences, natural sciences, and ...

  8. Writing a Research Paper Introduction

    Table of contents. Step 1: Introduce your topic. Step 2: Describe the background. Step 3: Establish your research problem. Step 4: Specify your objective (s) Step 5: Map out your paper. Research paper introduction examples. Frequently asked questions about the research paper introduction.

  9. Writing a Research Paper

    Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the ...

  10. 3.2 Components of a scientific paper

    3.2.1 Abstract. The abstract is a short summary (150-200 words or less) of the important points of the paper. It does not generally include background information. There may be a very brief statement of the rationale for conducting the study. It describes what was done, but without details.

  11. Writing an Educational Research Paper

    Content aside, the writing style and presentation of papers in different educational fields vary greatly. Nevertheless, certain parts are common to most papers, for example: Title/Cover Page. Contains the paper's title, the author's name, address, phone number, e-mail, and the day's date. Abstract. Not every education paper requires an abstract.

  12. PDF Parts of a Research Paper

    Describes past important research and how it relates to the paper's research problem. The review should examine the major theories related to the topic, their contribution, and include all relevant findings from reliable sources such as peer-reviewed journal articles. The APA includes this as part of the introduction ("Describe relevant

  13. A Beginner's Guide to Starting the Research Process

    Step 4: Create a research design. The research design is a practical framework for answering your research questions. It involves making decisions about the type of data you need, the methods you'll use to collect and analyze it, and the location and timescale of your research. There are often many possible paths you can take to answering ...

  14. Chapter 5 Sections of a Paper

    5.1 The Abstract. The abstract of a research paper contains the most critical aspects of the paper: your research question, the context (country/population/subjects and period) analyzed, the findings, and the main conclusion. You have about 250 characters to attract the attention of the readers. Many times (in fact, most of the time), readers ...

  15. Parts of a Research Paper

    Method. This should be the easiest part of the paper to write, as it is a run-down of the exact design and methodology used to perform the research. Obviously, the exact methodology varies depending upon the exact field and type of experiment.. There is a big methodological difference between the apparatus based research of the physical sciences and the methods and observation methods of ...

  16. Research Paper: Definition, Structure, Characteristics, and Types

    Discussion is a section of a research paper where scientists review the information in the introduction part, evaluate gained results, or compare it with past studies. In particular, students and scholars interpret gained data or findings in appropriate depth. For example, if results differ from expectations at the beginning, scientists should explain why that may have happened.

  17. Writing a Research Report

    This review is divided into sections for easy reference. There are five MAJOR parts of a Research Report: 1. Introduction 2. Review of Literature 3. Methods 4. Results 5. Discussion. As a general guide, the Introduction, Review of Literature, and Methods should be about 1/3 of your paper, Discussion 1/3, then Results 1/3.

  18. PARTS OF RESEARCH PAPER

    In this video, Ma'am ANA PH quickly talks about the complete parts of research paper. She enumerates the major parts as well as the subparts, the preliminari...

  19. Parts of the Paper

    Finally, the conclusion restates the paper's thesis and should explain what you have learned, giving a wrap up of your main ideas. 1. The Title The title should be specific and indicate the theme of the research and what ideas it addresses. Use keywords that help explain your paper's topic to the reader. Try to avoid abbreviations and jargon.

  20. Parts of a research paper

    Parts of a research paper. 1. Seeing Your Paper as a Whole Jrobles10-11. 2. • CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND • CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE • CHAPTER 3 METHOD AND PROCEDURES • CHAPTER 4 PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA • CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 3.

  21. Parts Of A Research Paper

    The thesis has a basic structure, and it includes; an abstract, research methods and discussions, conclusion then finally references/ bibliography. To fully understand the parts of a research paper and how they work, This article that will guide you on how to write parts of a research paper in detailed.

  22. How to Create a Structured Research Paper Outline

    A research paper outline is a useful tool to aid in the writing process, providing a structure to follow with all information to be included in the paper clearly organized. A quality outline can make writing your research paper more efficient by helping to: Organize your thoughts; Understand the flow of information and how ideas are related

  23. The Cost of Money is Part of the Cost of Living: New Evidence on the

    Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, ... Research; Working Papers; ... The Cost of Money is Part of the Cost of Living: New Evidence on the Consumer Sentiment Anomaly.

  24. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological

    Read the latest articles of Transportation Research Part B: Methodological at ScienceDirect.com, Elsevier's leading platform of peer-reviewed scholarly literature. Skip to main content. ADVERTISEMENT ... Research papers. select article Continuum dynamic traffic models with novel local route-choice strategies for urban cities. https://doi.org ...

  25. What Is a Research Methodology?

    Your research methodology discusses and explains the data collection and analysis methods you used in your research. A key part of your thesis, dissertation, or research paper, the methodology chapter explains what you did and how you did it, allowing readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of your research and your dissertation topic.

  26. Identification of a leucine-mediated threshold effect governing

    High protein intake is common in western societies and is often promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle; however, amino-acid-mediated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling in macrophages ...

  27. ProQuest, part of Clarivate, launches AI-powered research assistant

    Press Release: ProQuest, part of Clarivate, launches AI-powered research assistant. ProQuest, part of Clarivate, is collaborating with its community of educators to address these issues by harnessing AI's powerful abilities and applying them in a responsible, reliable research companion for students. Currently in beta with top universities, ProQuest Research Assistant achieves a milestone in ...

  28. The Great East Japan Earthquake—Following the ...

    This paper is a republication of the fourth and the fifth installments (Part 1 and Part 2 of an article featuring an NHK cameraperson) from a series of articles "Research Report: The Current ...