How to Create a Research Paper Outline
A research paper is a scholarly work where the writer conducts research and analyzes their findings to present an argument. It is important to have a good outline for your research paper before you start writing so that you don't lose focus or forget what point you were trying to make.
This blog post will provide some tips on how to create an outline for your own research paper and get started with it quickly. You will also find a sample research paper outline template APA and examples for a quick writing process.
Contents
Research Paper Outline Definition
A research paper outline is a strategic plan written by the author to avoid getting stuck in the middle of writing it. It's really like an action plan for your study and lists all primary ideas. When you're done listing possible topics, take some time to develop your outline, which will help you keep track of how everything fits together while giving more detail about each section than just number pages as with tables of contents.
The assignment prompt may not say to write an outline, but if a project is more than 1000 words in length, it often requires one by default. Because professors utilize research paper outlines, they write larger projects such as courses and dissertations (which require 10,000-word content).
An academic essay structure usually includes five paragraphs outlining three main points: introduction paragraph where you state your arguments for this particular topic; body paragraphs that consist of supporting evidence from either texts or personal experience, which back up why you're arguing what your thesis statement and a conclusion for the overall summary of the work.
How to Create a Research Paper Outline?
The first step to writing a research paper should be deciding what you want your readers to learn from it. After that, outlining how they will do so by ranking which ideas are more important than others with subheadings for each idea or detail that needs its own heading under them. This way, when figuring out headings and formatting later in word processing software like Microsoft Word, everything will already have been organized properly without any guesswork involved.
Here are the steps that you need to consider for creating a college research paper outline.
- Decide on the subject and scope of the paper
- Write down all the ideas you want to include or discuss
- Organize related ideas into sub-groups
- Arrange your ideas into a hierarchy - from the most important information to the least important or vice versa
- Create appropriate headings and subheadings
- Format the outline in either alphanumeric, full-sentence format, or decimal formatting styles
Alphanumeric is the most commonly used format. It uses Roman numerals, Arabic numerals, capitalized and lowercase letters to organize all the information.
Without an excellent plan for how each section will flow into one another coherently, confusion can arise among readers, and they may find themselves lost within your argument without knowing where to go next. That’s why it is important to create an outline to understand what the whole paper is all about.
Research Paper Outline Format
The following are the most important elements that you should consider for creating an outline for your research paper.
-
Title page
It is the first part that introduces the major details of your research paper. The appropriate length of the title is 60 characters. Your title page should also include the following information.
- Your full name
- Your professor’s name
- Submission date
-
Abstract
It is a summary of the overall work. The length of an abstract should not exceed 300 words. In this section, you should include basic information about the significance of your work.
-
Table of Contents
This section provides readers with a complete overview of the paper’s contents. It also allows them to go directly to any specific chapter or subsection that they want without scrolling through all of it first!
-
Introduction
Here you need to introduce your topic and provide some background information of your investigation. Mention the results that you are expecting from the investigation. Don’t forget to state the thesis statement to end the introductory paragraph.
-
Literature Review
In this section, mention the research gaps that you have used to support your theories. Demonstrate how it helped you in finding relevant data and developing your research.
-
Methodology
List down the tools and techniques used to carry out the research. In this section, you should write down your research step by step. The purpose of this section is to allow others to continue the research who are interested in the same research question.
-
Results and discussion
It is one huge section in which you state the findings of your study. You can also add visual elements for the readers to understand the basic components of the study better.
-
Conclusion
Here you need to include the summary of the findings and restate the thesis statement. Provide the value of your research paper and discuss different ways to implement the results.
-
Bibliography
Lastly, mention all the sources that you have used in your text. Do not forget any references in the bibliography section.
Also, add facts and charts to make it more interesting and engaging.
Research Paper Outline Template
Below is a sample research paper outline template that you can review for understanding the basic elements for most academic papers.
Research Paper Outline Example
Here are some interesting research paper outline samples that you can check for your better understanding. These examples are written for different formats such as Apa, Mla, and others.
APA Research Paper Outline
MLA Research Paper Outline
Argumentative Research Paper Outline
Gun control Research Paper Outline
Scientific Research Paper Outline
This guide will help you understand how to write a research paper outline in no time. The key to writing a successful research paper is outlining your thoughts and ideas. A well-structured outline can help you stay on track with the requirements of the assignment.
It is to ensure that all necessary sources are included in your reference list as well. It also ensures that you cover everything within each section before moving onto the next one.
Creating an outline for your research paper doesn't have to be difficult if you know how it's done correctly. If you're still unsure about what goes into creating a good outline or need some assistance putting together yours, contact us today.
Our team of professional writers at DoMyHomeworkHub.com will work with you to get started right away. Contact our essay writing service now and get the best research paper writing help that you will be proud of.
What can we do for you?
- Admission Essay
- Analytical Essay
- Annotated Bibliography
- Application Letter
- Argumentative Essay
- Assessment
- Assignment
- Biography
- Book Reports
- Book Reviews
- Brief Overview
- Business Plan
- Case Study
- College Paper
- Contrast Essay
- Coursework
- Cover Letter
- Creative Writing
- Critical analysis
- Critical Thinking
- Dissertatione
- Books
- Essay
- Exposition Writing
- Homework
- Lab Report
- Literature Review
- Movie Review
- News Release
- Online assignment
- Personal Statement
- Powerpoint Presentation (with speaker notes)
- Powerpoint Presentation (without speaker notes)
- Quiz
- Reflection paper
- Reflective Essay
- Report
- Research Essay
- Research Paper
- Research proposal
- Response Essay
- Response paper
- Scholarship Essay
- School Paper
- Speech
- Term Paper
- Thesis
- Thesis Proposal
- Other
tags:
write my paper, paper writing service, write my essay for me, paper writing help, do my paper, persuasive speech topics, essay paper, good persuasive speech topics, my paper, online paper writing, essay writing paper, paper write service, write an essay for me, do my homework hub review, paper service, do my homework hub service, persuasive speech ideas, essay weiter, essay writing, light hearted debate topics, my perfect essay, fo my paper for me, online paper writing service, persuasive speech topics for college, ghost writer, write my, pay someone to write my paper, good argumentative essay topics, paper net, write my essay online, essay service, best persuasive speech topics, paper witer, list of debate topics for mba students, funny debate topics, essay paper writing services, write my paper, paper writing service, write my paper for me, write my essay, domyhomeworkhub, essay writing service, do my homework hub, write my essay for me, persuasive speech topics for college students, pay to write your paper, debate topics for high school, my write, college paper writing service, persuasive speech topic ideas, 100 good debate topics, interesting persuasive speech topics, paper writer free, writing paper, light debate topics, write my paper for me free, who will write my paper for me, essay writing website, most popular debate topics, persuasive topics, help with writing my paper, mypaper com, i get my paper, just do my paper, do my essay, essay writing free, sports argumentative essay topics, 100 best debate topics, your essay writer, essay writer com, best paper writing service, write an essay for me, mental health persuasive speech topics, easy persuasive speech topics, type my essay for me, persuasive speech topics, essay for me, write my paper for free, essey writter, popular debate topics, debate topics for college students, 100 free essays, write my essay for free, assignment help, argumentative essay topics for college, paper help writing, speech topics for college students, essay assignment help, good speech topics, good persuasive topics, funny persuasive speech topics, debate topics for middle school, debate topics for teens, public speaking persuasive speech topics, writing paper com, debate topics for college, write my term paper, great debate topics, write my essay 4 me, argumentative essay topics for middle school, essay writing help, write my essay com