Research Paper Outline: [Working title]

Venue

Word limit

Citation style

Due

How to use this template

  1. Fill in the research question and hypotheses first; every section below serves them. With no hypotheses, write the study's aim in their place.

  2. Write after each label. The labels can stay while you plan: each line becomes a paragraph or two of the paper.

  3. A clear title names the topic or variables, then what you tested or found: “Commute length and job satisfaction: a survey of 1,200 hospital nurses.”

  4. Draft in this order: Methods, Results, Discussion, Introduction, Conclusion, and the Abstract last. Each is easier once the one before it is settled.

  5. The sections follow the usual empirical paper. For a humanities or theoretical paper, rename, merge or drop them.

  6. Before you submit, go through the checklist at the end, then delete it and this box.

Question and hypotheses

Research question:

Hypotheses or aim:

Why it matters:

Abstract

Write it last, in 150 to 250 words.

  • Background:

  • Aim:

  • Methods:

  • Results:

  • Conclusion:

  • Keywords:

Introduction

  1. What is known:

  2. What is missing:

  3. This study:

  4. Hypotheses or aim:

Methods

  • Design:

  • Participants or data:

  • Materials and measures:

  • Procedure:

  • Analysis:

  • Ethics:

Results

Hypothesis

Finding

Evidence

Table or figure

H1

H2

Other

Discussion

  • Answer:

  • Fit with earlier work:

  • Explanations:

  • Limitations:

  • Implications and next steps:

Conclusion

Three to five sentences, with no new results or sources.

References

Every source cited in the text, in your citation style.

Before you submit

  • Every hypothesis in the introduction has a row in the results, and every row is explained in the discussion

  • Every method you describe is used in the analysis, and every result traces back to a method

  • Every source cited in the text is in the references, and every reference is cited

  • The headings, length and citation style match what your instructor or venue requires

  • The labels have become paragraphs, and the grey hints are gone

  • The how-to box and this checklist are deleted