Research Papers

A research paper (article) (Ukr. наукова стаття) may be defined as a relatively short piece of research usually published in a journal or a volume. The features of research papers considerably vary across disciplines: for example, an essay in literary criticism would essentially differ from a paper, say, in mathematics. Also, theoretically oriented articles are different from those reporting the results and findings of a concrete investigation. In this Unit, we will consider the organizational pattern of a paper of the latter type. Such popular kinds of papers usually have the so-called IMRD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) or some variant of it. Typically, the structure of such a paper would be as follows.

1. Author's name

2. Title

3. Abstract

4. Key words

5. Introduction

6. Methods

7. Results

8. Discussion

9. Conclusions

10. Acknowledgments

11. References

12. Appendix/ices

Key Words

Key words are significant words (or word-combinations consisting of more than one word) from a paper or document used as an index to the contents. When listed in databases, they help to provide efficient indexing, search and retrieval mechanisms thus enabling the reader to quickly find texts on the topic of interest. Keywords are usually placed after the abstract before the main body of a text. The number of key words to be provided is in most cases determined by particular editorial requirements.

Research Papers Useful Phrases 1: Establishing a Research Territory

Move 1 tends to begin with some standard phrases which you may learn and use in your writing. Note that they use evaluative language that emphasizes the interesting, important, or novel character of the research area. Below is a list of the most widespread phrases.

A central issue in ... is ...

It is now generally accepted/recognized that ...

In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in ...

Recently, there has been an increase of interest in ...

Many recent studies have focused on ...

Recently, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on ...

One of the most important/promising aspects/tasks of ... is ...

One of the characteristic/important features of... is ...

Over the last decade, research on ... has increasingly demonstrated that ...

The development of... has led to ...

The relationship between ... has been investigated/explored by many researchers.

The close relationship between ... has become well established, supported, in particular, by ...

The ... has been extensively studied in recent years.

Research Papers Useful Phrases 2: Establishing a Niche

Move 2 justifies the research by pointing at the gaps/weaknesses/unsolved issues of the previous research and thus preparing a space for a new investigation. Quite often, Move 2 begins with the word "however" and contains some critique. The following standard phrases may be recommended here.

Although considerable amount of research has been devoted to ... , few attempts have been made to investigate ...

Despite the importance/significance o f . . . , little attention has been paid to ...

However, few investigations have focused on ...

However, little research has been undertaken to study the problem o f . . .

However, little is known about the ...

None of these data/results/findings provide the evidence for ...

No data/studies support the ...

Step 2 provides motivation for the research by raising a question, a problem, or a need. In addition to posing direct questions, the following phrases may be used.

Further investigations are needed to ...

It remains unclear whether ...

It would be thus of interest to study/learn/investigate ...

Next step justifies the research by continuing an established tradition or following up one's own research. In most cases, it shows how a certain current research or its results may be extended in some way, e.g.:

This method proved to be efficient for solving a number of various problems. In this paper, we demonstrate its application to ...

Research Papers Useful Phrases 3: Occupying the Niche

In Move 3, an offer is made to fill the gap specified in the previous move. In the majority of cases, this is done by outlining the purpose or nature of the present research. The typical phrases of the move beginning include meta-text, or reference to the paper itself (in other words, text about one's own text) and, quite often, personal pronouns (I, we). Another typical linguistic feature of Move 3 is the use of the present tense, which helps to emphasize a novel character of the research.

Below are some standard phrases, which you may find useful for your writing.

In this study, we present the preliminary results o f . . .

In this paper, we report on ...

The major task of this study is to provide ...

The paper examines ...

The present study analyzes ...

The purpose of this paper is to give ...

This paper focuses on ...

This paper addresses the above questions from the perspective of ...

This study expands the model o f . . . to ...

This study seeks to understand ...

This study set out to identify ...

Using the described approach, this study explores ...

Methods

The Methods section provides description of methods, procedures, materials, and subjects (if applicable) used in a study. The characteristics of this part of a research paper vary across fields.

Methods sections in social sciences are rather detailed and contain justifications and explanations, because methodology in these disciplines is often an important and debated issue. However, in hard sciences, biological and medical research, standard methods and practices are much more widely available.

Here is an example:

Using data from the 2005 ‘Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy’ survey of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society (CDACS) we describe these two faces of citizenship, and trace their impact on political participation.

Results

The Results section reports data or information obtained in the course of a study. In this part of the research paper, writers put forward their new knowledge claims through the demonstration, explanation, and interpretation of the findings.

The presentation of results is typically followed by the Discussion section, although the division between these two sections is not rigid, and they may appear together as one structural part of a research paper.

Even if the Results section is formally separated from the Discussion, it often contains some comments on the data. The purpose of such comments is to provide a timely response to the critical remarks or questions about results or methods that the author of a paper is likely to anticipate.

Conclusions

If the Conclusions section appears as a separate part, it usually consists of the following moves:

1. Summary of the results.

2. Implications (theoretical and/or practical).

3. Plans for future research or possible further research in the area.

Research Papers Useful Phrases 4: Discussions and Conclusions

Below are some typical phrases which you may use when writing the Discussion and Conclusions sections of your papers.

In general, this analysis/research/investigation/description shows ...

This paper focussed on/investigated/explored/showed ...

These results are consistent with ...

With one exception, the experimental data confirm ...

However, the results/findings described are fairly general ...

However, the results of this survey should be treated with certain caution, since ...

The appearance of errors in our study could be explained by ...

The question remains as to ...

We are not yet in a position to offer explanations for ...

This research provides implications for ...

Further research is needed to verify ...

Further research is suggested to determine ...

We advocate further research on ...