2. Parts of a Research
Title - A good study begins with a good title that is descriptive without being too
long. Your title should adequately inform the reader of the important aspects of
your study, which may include population, the focus of the study, and/or unique
methods. When people go and search for articles in literature reviews, the search
engines often go off of a title. A general rule of thumb that I have heard is to
not make a title longer than 12 words.
Abstract -The abstract is a one-paragraph summary of the entire study. The purpose
of the abstract is to give a brief overview of a study so the reader can quickly
determine if they should read the full article or not. The focus should be on what
is important, such as the participants, the results, and briefly what the results
mean.
Methods/Procedure - This section describes what you did, how you did it, gives
strategies, sample calculations, diagrams and circuits, and descriptions of
equipment. The goal here is to give the reader sufficient inforamation to be able
to repeat your work if desired. (Of course some "standard techniques" can be simply
referenced).
Results - This section is where you prove your point with the data. Give graphs and
tables of costs, profits, whatever your data is. Also give some description or
guide to help the reader recognize your important points.
Conclusions/Discussion - Here you state what your learned or proved. What are the
"take home messages" or major accomplishments of this work? You may also describe
interesting observations, new questions, and future work here.
Bibliography - A list of the references you used in the work & writing the paper.
Supporting Sentences
Three to five reasonable arguments should be presented in the form of reasons,
details and/or facts. These arguments must support your research.
Writing a statement of the problem should help you clearly identify the purpose of
the research project you will propose. Often, the statement of the problem will
also serve as the basis for the introductory section of your final proposal,
directing your readers attention quickly to the issues that your proposed project
will address and providing the reader with a concise statement of the proposed
project itself.
A statement of problem need not be long and elaborate: one page is more than enough
for a good statement of problem.