What Is The Format Of A Research Paper

Do you have any tables, graphs, or images in your research? Nothing is more frustrating to a reviewer than vague sentences about a variable being significant without any supporting details.If so, you should become familiar with the rules for referring to tables and figures in your scientific paper. The author guidelines for the journal Nature recommend that the following be included for statistical testing: the name of each statistical analysis, along with its n value; an explanation of why the test was used and what is being compared; and the specific alpha levels and P values for each test.

Angel Borja, writing for Elsevier publications, described the statistical rules for article formatting as follows: Remember, you must be prepared to justify your findings and conclusions, and one of the best ways to do this is through factual accuracy and the acknowledgment of opposing interpretations, data, and/or points of view.

Even though you may not look forward to the process of formatting your research paper, it's important to present your findings clearly, consistently, and professionally.

Resolve the hypothesis and/or research question you identified in the introduction.

FORMATTING TIPS: Write a brief paragraph giving credit to any institution responsible for funding the study (e.g., through a fellowship or grant) and any individual(s) who contributed to the manuscript (e.g., technical advisors or editors).

Follow your style guide; if no guidelines are provided, choose a citation format and be consistent.

FORMATTING TIPS: In this optional section, you can present nonessential information that further clarifies a point without burdening the body of the paper.Here you list citation information for each source you used (i.e., author names, date of publication, title of paper/chapter, title of journal/book, and publisher name and location).The list of references can be in alphabetical order (author–date style of citation) or in the order in which the sources are presented in the paper (numbered citations).FORMATTING TIPS: Some journals require a statement attesting that your research is original and that you have no conflicts of interest (i.e., ulterior motives or ways in which you could benefit from the publication of your research).This section only needs to be a sentence or two long.Cover Page On the first page of the paper, you must present the title of the paper along with the authors' names, institutional affiliations, and contact information. Bell Below the abstract, include a list of key terms to help other researchers locate your study.The corresponding author(s) (i.e., the one[s] who will be in contact with the reviewers) must be specified, usually with a footnote or an asterisk (*), and their full contact details (e.g., email address and phone number) must be provided. Note that "keywords" is one word (with no space) and is followed by a colon: Keywords: paper format, scientific writing.You need not include too many details, particularly if you are using tables and figures.While writing this section, be consistent and use the smallest number of words necessary to convey your statistics.That is, if you have too much data to fit in a (relatively) short research paper, move anything that's not essential to this section.FORMATTING TIPS: Aside from the overall format of your paper, there are still other details to watch out for.