Structure, Logic, and Design of Student Research Papers

Structure, Logic, and Formatting of Student Research Papers

I. Recommendations for Writing a Research Paper: Experimental or Theoretical

1. Structure and Logic of a Research Paper
Research work, like all creative activity, is only possible and effective when done voluntarily. Academic research can take place outside of regular classes and coursework, as extracurricular or after-school activity.

The main stages of a research project include the following:

• Identify the problem – what needs to be studied.

• Formulate the topic – how to name it.

• Define the relevance – why this problem needs to be studied.

• Set the goal – what result is expected.

• Propose a hypothesis – what is not obvious about the subject.

• Define the novelty – what new findings emerged during the study.

• List the objectives – what must be done, both theoretically and experimentally.

• Conduct a literature review – what is already known about this problem.

• Describe the research methodology – how and what was studied.

• Present the research results – the data obtained.

• Draw conclusions – brief answers to the posed objectives.

• Evaluate the significance – how the results affect practice.

Let’s look at these stages in more detail.
The structure of a research paper is standardized and must follow set conventions. At the development stage, which marks the beginning of the research, two major parts are identified: the methodological and the procedural.

First, it is necessary to identify what exactly needs to be studied – the problem.
The problem must be solvable, and its solution should be of real benefit to the participants in the research. Next, the problem must be named – the topic.
The topic should be original and should contain an element of surprise or uniqueness. It must be manageable in a relatively short period of time.

Then, the relevance must be established – why this particular problem needs to be studied at this time.
The goal of the research must be clearly stated – what result is expected, how that result is generally envisioned even before it is obtained. Typically, the goal is to study certain phenomena.

It is important to highlight the hypothesis and the statements to be defended. The hypothesis is a prediction of events, a probable knowledge not yet proven. Initially, a hypothesis is neither true nor false – it simply has not been proven.
The defended statements are those things the researcher sees that others do not notice. During the research process, such statements are either confirmed or rejected. The hypothesis must be well-founded, supported by literature and logical reasoning.

Once the goal and hypothesis are defined, the objectives of the research are formulated. Goals and objectives are not the same. There is typically only one goal, while there may be several objectives. Objectives describe what you intend to do. The formulation of objectives is closely linked to the structure of the study. Separate objectives may be defined for the theoretical and the experimental parts.

Next is the research methodology. A detailed description must be included in the paper. This section outlines what and how the researcher did to prove the proposed hypothesis.

Then, the research results are presented – the author’s own data obtained through the research process. These data should be compared with findings from the literature and used to identify patterns discovered during the research.

It is important to highlight the novelty of the findings – what was discovered that others missed, and what new results were obtained. What shortcomings in practice can be corrected using these findings?

A clear distinction should be made between raw data and the data presented in the paper. Research often generates large amounts of numerical data, which should not all be included in the main text. Only the most necessary data should be processed and included. However, someone might wish to see the raw material. To avoid overloading the main part, raw data can be placed in the appendix.

The most effective form of presenting data is graphical, as it makes the material easier to understand for the reader. Always consider the reader’s perspective.

The paper ends with conclusions. These should be concise and organized according to the objectives of the research. Conclusions are short answers to the question of how the research objectives were addressed.
The goal may be achieved even if the initial hypothesis is disproved.

2. Defense Procedure
The next stage is the presentation, which serves as the natural conclusion of the research work. The results are presented publicly, typically at a conference.

The speaker's task is to convey the essence of the research clearly and expressively. Reading the entire paper is not allowed; instead, the presentation should concisely reflect the key points of all chapters and sections. Note that the allowed speaking time is 10–15 minutes. Therefore, the most important elements of the paper must be selected for the presentation. Sometimes, even important aspects have to be omitted if they are not essential [3, p.56]. The material should follow a plan corresponding to the structure and logic of the research paper itself.

Everything else can be shared during the