theme research paper

What Is the Theme of a Research Paper?

How to Write a Motif Paper

The term "theme" is a small word, but it can intimidate students when they see it on an assignment or test. To overcome the fear and develop confidence, especially with regard to research papers, understand what the word means and see the parallels with any work, including poems, essays, plays, novels and movies.

“Theme” Defined

A theme is a major and sometimes recurring idea, subject or topic that appears in a written work. A dominant theme usually reveals what the work is really about and can be helpful in forming insights and analysis. A theme can consist of one word, two words or more. For example, your teacher might ask you to explore the straightforward ideas of “anger” or “selfishness” or more complex themes of “emotional intelligence” or “conflicted emotions.” Either way, careful reading of the work is vital so that you can marshal examples of where the theme was apparent.

Examples in Research

Themes in research papers might require a little digging, but they are there. Sometimes they are easier to spot when several research papers on the same subject are compared or contrasted, for this is when such subtext emerges. For example, three research papers on the subject of avid TV viewing by teenagers might contain different themes, such as simpler ideas including “passivity” or "grades" or a more complex theme, such as “effects on familial relationships.”

Seize the Opportunity

Once you've identified the theme of a research paper or papers, seize the opportunity and analyze it. Say that you like the idea of exploring how avid TV viewing -- more than four hours per day -- affects teens' grades. Further, suppose that researchers are in general agreement about the correlation but cast a wide net in terms of how they define “passivity.” You might set up a thematic segue for a research paper by saying, “Researchers continue to debate how to define passivity in teens and reach across the spectrum to include the number of hours per day they spend in solitude, the number of people they count as close friends and their lack of interest in hobbies and extracurricular activities.” Then you would take each of these ideas and expound in greater detail.

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• The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers; Maxine Hairston and John Ruszkiewicz.
• The New St. Martin’s Handbook; Andrea Lunsford and Robert Connors.
• Purdue University: Online Writing Lab: Writing in Literature: Writing the Prompt Paper
• Queens College: Research Papers

With education, health care and small business marketing as her core interests, M.T. Wroblewski has penned pieces for Woman's Day, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal and many newspapers and magazines. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northern Illinois University.

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How to Write a Theme Essay

Last Updated: January 4, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 208,241 times.

Starting the Essay

• For example, an essay prompt may ask you to reflect on the theme of good versus evil in John Steinbeck's East of Eden .

• Make a list of everything you know about the topic. This can be information you learned in class, as well as information you found on your own.
• Write down keywords or key scenes in the text that respond to the essay prompt. Think about what words or scenes from the text come to mind when you think of a specific theme.
• For example, when you brainstorm ideas on East of Eden , you may write down any moments in the text that seem to speak to the theme of good and evil.

• Your thesis statement will need to address the theme, your primary example or examples, and the stance you will take on the topic.
• For example, your thesis might be: "In East of Eden , John Steinbeck rejects the Biblical idea of good and evil and instead focuses on the contradictions and complications found in good and evil."

• Introduction: Discuss landscape as metaphor, include thesis statement.
• Body: Describe mountains in opening scene, elaborate on how they symbolize good vs. evil, state how characters live between the mountains, showing how people are caught between good and evil.
• Conclusion: Restate thesis statement, return to landscape as metaphor.

Writing Your Essay

• Questions can make fun hooks for the reader. Ask a rhetorical question that relates to the theme of the essay, such as "How does one decide what is good and what is evil?"
• You can also use a quote from the text as the hook. Find a quote in the text that explores the themes and ideas you'll be discussing in your essay.

• For example, you may introduce the role of nature plays in the text to discuss the theme of good and evil. The first sentence of your body paragraph should discuss the role of nature. This will set up the paragraph and let the reader know what the focus of the paragraph will be.

• For example, you may discuss the use of nature in the text in one paragraph. The body of the paragraph should then use quotes and scenes in the text to support this idea.
• You might write,"The descriptions of the Gabilan Mountains in the text symbolize good and evil. The characters in the story live in the Salinas Valley, trapped in a gray area between these two extremes."

• Ask yourself, "What do I want my readers to have learned through this essay?"
• Remind readers about the essay's theme. Reference some of the arguments you made in the body of your essay, reinforcing how they support your original point.

Revising Your Essay

• Check that there are transitions between paragraphs. Look at the beginning of each paragraph to make sure they all flow well together.

• Print out your paper and proofread it. Oftentimes, errors are easier to catch on paper. If you can't print out your paper, try changing the size or type of the font. Anything that alters how the work looked when you wrote it can help alert you to errors. [13] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

• Be open to constructive feedback from friends and peers. This will only improve the essay and ensure it is at its best when you turn it in.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/write-essay-theme-book-2200.html
• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/how-to-write-a-thesis-statement.html
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/essay-outline/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-hook/
• ↑ https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/how-to-write-an-essay/conclusion
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/proofreading_suggestions.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

When writing a theme essay, you’ll need to explore a given theme in the text you’re studying. Before you start your essay, brainstorm some notes about your theme, which you can then build your essay from. For example, if you have the theme of good and evil, think about which characters are mostly good or evil, any good or evil actions they take, description that uses light and darkness, and any religious context. In your intro, state your thesis, which should summarize your essay’s main argument. Then, choose 4 or 5 examples of your theme and write a paragraph exploring each one. Make sure you support your points with quotes from the text. In your conclusion, link your ideas back to your thesis statement. For more tips from our English co-author, including how to revise your essay to polish it up, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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The Lesson Study Group

at Mills College

Develop a Research Theme

Access the teaching-learning plan, choose a topic.

10-30 minutes

• Develop or revisit your your long-term goals for student development
• Develop a draft of your “theory of action”—the approaches you will explore to build your long-term goals

Identify Your Long-Term Goals

The building blocks of your theme.

A research theme expresses the long-term goals of your work. If your team or school has already developed a research theme, revisit it now to refresh your memory about your long-term goals and ideas about how to get there.

Begin by having team members individually jot down qualities in response to the following prompt:

• Ideally, what qualities do we hope students will have when they graduate from our school? ( If we bumped into our students in 5-10 years, what qualities do we hope they would have?)

Now, again working individually, spend a few minutes jotting down a list of qualities in response to a second prompt:

• What are the current qualities of our students? (For example, what qualities of our students inspire us? Anything that concerns us?)

Again, share your individual lists and write all the qualities on a second list labeled “Current.”

Compare the two lists–ideal and current–and notice gaps that really speak to you as educators. Find one or two gaps where you would like to invest your time and energy.

Your research theme positively states the qualities you will work toward. Some examples follow.

• “For students to value friendship, develop their own perspectives and ways of thinking, and enjoy science.”
• “Develop social-emotional skills and…a deeper understanding of mathematics”
• “Across both math and language arts, develop our students’ abilities to use evidence and reasoning to support and critique arguments.”
• “…to take responsibility and initiative as learners.”

A lot of [U.S.] schools develop mission statements, but we don’t do anything with them. The mission statements get put in a drawer and then teachers become cynical…Lesson Study gives guts to a mission statement, makes it real, and brings it to life.

Develop a Theory of Action

Moving from the what to the how.

The second part of your research theme is a “theory of action”—how you will work toward your long-term goals and the specific research questions you will examine. What experiences in school help students move toward a goal such as “students have their own thoughts and can explain them logically?” Teachers addressing this research theme focused their initial theory of action on two classroom routines: students’ presentation of ideas at the board and their use of reflective journals. They actively tested strategies to improve these two classroom routines and posed questions about them. For example, they asked what the features are of effective student presentations and how teachers help students see the power of these strategies (such as using visual models). In order to strengthen the impact of reflective mathematics journals, teachers strategically selected several student journals from the prior day to be read aloud at the beginning of each mathematics lesson, which built students’ interest in each other’s ideas and helped them see the impact of well-explained ideas. The first part of your research theme—your overarching goal—is likely to stay the same for several years. The second part of your research theme—your theory of action—is likely to change as you incorporate effective ideas into your practice and go on to experiment with additional changes designed to achieve your long-term goals. For example, the group that experimented with changes to student presentations and reflective journals went on to experiment with routines for discussion and lesson summarization that further built students’ capacity “to have their own thoughts and explain them logically.”

Developing a Research Theme Presentation

Examples of Research Themes

• What is Lesson Study?
• Why Lesson Study?
• Teacher Learning
• Content Resources
• Teaching Through Problem-solving (TTP)
• School-wide Lesson Study
• U.S. Networks
• International Networks

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• Knowledge Base

Methodology

• How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates, and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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Table of contents

What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

• Quick Run-through
• Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
• Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

• Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
• Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
• Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
• Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models, and methods?
• Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

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To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

• Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Choosing a Topic

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The first step of any research paper is for the student to understand the assignment. If this is not done, the student will often travel down many dead-end roads, wasting a great deal of time along the way. Do not hesitate to approach the instructor with questions if there is any confusion. A clear understanding of the assignment will allow you to focus on other aspects of the process, such as choosing a topic and identifying your audience.

A student will often encounter one of two situations when it comes to choosing a topic for a research paper. The first situation occurs when the instructor provides a list of topics from which the student may choose. These topics have been deemed worthy by the instructor; therefore, the student should be confident in the topic he chooses from the list. Many first-time researchers appreciate such an arrangement by the instructor because it eliminates the stress of having to decide upon a topic on their own.

However, the student may also find the topics that have been provided to be limiting; moreover, it is not uncommon for the student to have a topic in mind that does not fit with any of those provided. If this is the case, it is always beneficial to approach the instructor with one's ideas. Be respectful, and ask the instructor if the topic you have in mind would be a possible research option for the assignment. Remember, as a first-time researcher, your knowledge of the process is quite limited; the instructor is experienced, and may have very precise reasons for choosing the topics she has offered to the class. Trust that she has the best interests of the class in mind. If she likes the topic, great! If not, do not take it personally and choose the topic from the list that seems most interesting to you.

The second situation occurs when the instructor simply hands out an assignment sheet that covers the logistics of the research paper, but leaves the choice of topic up to the student. Typically, assignments in which students are given the opportunity to choose the topic require the topic to be relevant to some aspect of the course; so, keep this in mind as you begin a course in which you know there will be a research paper near the end. That way, you can be on the lookout for a topic that may interest you. Do not be anxious on account of a perceived lack of authority or knowledge about the topic chosen. Instead, realize that it takes practice to become an experienced researcher in any field.

For a discussion of Evaluating Sources, see Evaluating Sources of Information .

Methods for choosing a topic

Thinking early leads to starting early. If the student begins thinking about possible topics when the assignment is given, she has already begun the arduous, yet rewarding, task of planning and organization. Once she has made the assignment a priority in her mind, she may begin to have ideas throughout the day. Brainstorming is often a successful way for students to get some of these ideas down on paper. Seeing one's ideas in writing is often an impetus for the writing process. Though brainstorming is particularly effective when a topic has been chosen, it can also benefit the student who is unable to narrow a topic. It consists of a timed writing session during which the student jots down—often in list or bulleted form—any ideas that come to his mind. At the end of the timed period, the student will peruse his list for patterns of consistency. If it appears that something seems to be standing out in his mind more than others, it may be wise to pursue this as a topic possibility.

It is important for the student to keep in mind that an initial topic that you come up with may not be the exact topic about which you end up writing. Research topics are often fluid, and dictated more by the student's ongoing research than by the original chosen topic. Such fluidity is common in research, and should be embraced as one of its many characteristics.

The Purdue OWL also offers a number of other resources on choosing and developing a topic:

• Understanding Writing Assignments
• Starting the Writing Process
• Invention Slide Presentation

Techniques to Identify Themes in Qualitative Data

Gery W. Ryan RAND 1700 Main Street P.O. Box 2138 Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138   H. Russell Bernard Department of Anthropology 1350 Turlington Hall University of Florida Gaineville, FL 32611 Key Words: Theme Identification, Exploratory Analysis, Open Coding, Text Analysis, Qualitative Research Methods

Theme identification is one of the most fundamental tasks in qualitative research. It also one of the most mysterious. Explicit descriptions of theme discovery are rarely described in articles and reports and if so are often regulated to appendices or footnotes. Techniques are shared among small groups of social scientists and are often impeded by disciplinary or epistemological boundaries. During the proposal-writing phase of a project, investigators struggle to clearly explain and justify plans for discovering themes. These issues are particularly cogent when funding reviewers are unfamiliar with qualitative traditions. In this article we have outlined a dozen techniques that social scientists have used to discover themes in texts. The techniques are drawn from across epistemological and disciplinary boundaries. They range from quick word counts to laborious, in-depth, line-by-line scrutiny. Some methods work well for short answers to open-ended questions while others are more appropriate for rich, complex narratives. Novices and non-native speakers may find some techniques easier than others. No single technique is does it all. To us, these techniques are simply tools to help us do better research.

Authors’ Statement

Gery W. Ryan is an Associate Behavioral Scientist at RAND in Santa Monica, California. H. Russell Bernard is professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. The research on which this article is based is part of a National Science Foundation Grant, on "Methods for Conducting Systematic Text Analysis" (SRB-9811166). We wish to thank Stephen Borgatti for his helpful suggestions and two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Introduction

At the heart of qualitative data analysis is the task of discovering themes. By themes, we mean abstract, often fuzzy, constructs which investigators identify before, during, and after data collection. Where do these themes come from?

They come from reviewing the literature, of course. Richer literatures produce more themes. They come from the characteristics of the phenomena being studied. And they come from already-agreed-upon professional definitions, from local common-sense constructs, and from researchers’ values, theoretical orientation, and personal experience with the subject matter (Bulmer 1979; Strauss 1987; Maxwell 1996).

Mostly, though, researchers who consider themselves part of the qualitative tradition in social science induce themes from texts. This is what grounded theorists call open coding , and what classic content analysts call qualitative analysis (Berleson 1952) or latent coding (Shapiro and Markoff 1997). There are many variations on these methods. Unfortunately, however, they are (a) scattered across journals and books that are read by disparate groups of specialists; and (b) often entangled in the epistemological wars that have divided the social sciences. Our goal in this paper is to cross these boundaries and lay out a variety of theme-dredging methods so that all researchers who deal with texts can use them to solve common research problems.

We outline here a dozen helpful techniques for discovering themes in texts. These techniques are based on: (1) an analysis of words (word repetitions, key-indigenous terms, and key-words-in contexts); (2) a careful reading of larger blocks of texts (compare and contrast, social science queries, and searching for missing information); (3) an intentional analysis of linguistic features (metaphors, transitions, connectors); and (4) the physical manipulation of texts (unmarked texts, pawing, and cut and sort procedures).

The list is by no means exhaustive. Social scientists are an enterprising lot. Over the last century they have invented solutions to all kinds of problems for managing and analyzing texts, and they will continue to do so. These bursts of methodological creativity, however, are commonly described perfunctorily, or are relegated to footnotes, and get little notice by colleagues across disciplines. The dozen methods we describe here come from across the social sciences and have been used by positivists and interpretivists alike.

1. Word repetitions

We begin with word-based techniques. Word repetitions, key-indigenous terms, and key-words-in-contexts (KWIC) all draw on a simple observation—if you want to understand what people are talking about, look at the words they use.

Words that occur a lot are often seen as being salient in the minds of respondents. D'Andrade notes that "perhaps the simplest and most direct indication of schematic organization in naturalistic discourse is the repetition of associative linkages" (1991:294). He observes that "indeed, anyone who has listened to long stretches of talk, whether generated by a friend, spouse, workmate, informant, or patient, knows how frequently people circle through the same network of ideas" (1991:287).

Word repetitions can be analyzed formally and informally. In the informal mode, investigators simply read the text and note words or synonyms that people use a lot. For example, while conducting multiple in-depth interviews with Tony, a retired blue collar worker in Connecticut, Claudia Strauss (1992) found that Tony repeatedly referred to ideas associated with greed, money, businessmen, siblings, and "being different." These repetitions indicated to Strauss that these ideas were important, recurring themes in Tony’s life. Strauss displayed the relationships among these ideas by writing the concepts on a page of paper and connecting them with lines and explanations. Computer programs such as ATLAS.ti and Nud*ist let you do this kind of connect-the-dots exercise by computer. 1

A more formal analysis of word frequencies can be done by generating a list of all the unique words in a text and counting the number of times each occurs. Computers can easily generate word-frequency lists from texts and are a quick and easy way to look for themes. Ryan and Weisner (1996) asked fathers and mothers of adolescents: "Describe your children. In your own words, just tell us about them." Ryan and Weisner produced a list of all the unique words in the set of responses and the number of times each word was used by mothers and by fathers. Mothers were more likely than fathers to use words like friends, creative, time, and honest; fathers were more likely than mothers to use words like school, good, lack, student, enjoys, independent, and extremely. Ryan and Weisner used this information as clues for themes that they would use later in actually coding the texts.

2. Indigenous categories

Another way to find themes is to look for local terms that may sound unfamiliar or are used in unfamiliar ways. Patton (1990:306, 393-400) refers to these as "indigenous categories" and contrasts them with "analyst-constructed typologies." Grounded theorist refer to the process of identifying local terms as in vivo coding (Strauss 1987:28-32, Strauss and Corbin 1990:61-74) .

Understanding indigenous categories and how they are organized has long been a goal of cognitive anthropologists. The basic idea in this area of research is that experience and expertise are often marked by specialized vocabulary. For example, Spradley (1972) recorded conversations among tramps at informal gatherings, meals, card games, and bull sessions. As the men talked to each other about their experiences, there were many references to making a flop .

Spradley combed through his recorded material and notes looking for verbatim statements made by informants about his topic. On analyzing the statements, he found that most of the statements could fit into subcategories such as kinds of flops , ways to make flops , ways to make your own flop , kinds of people who bother you when you flop , ways to make a bed , and kinds of beds . Spradley then returned to his informants and sought additional information from them on each of the subcategories. For other classic examples of coding for indigenous categories see Becker’s (1993) description of medical students use of the word crock , and Agar’s (1973) description of drug addicts’ understandings of what it means to shoot up .

3. Key-words-in-context (KWIC)

Key-words-in-context (KWIC) are closely associated with indigenous categories. KWIC is based on a simple observation: if you want to understand a concept, then look at how it is used. In this technique, researchers identify key words and then systematically search the corpus of text to find all instances of the word or phrase. Each time they find a word, they make a copy of it and its immediate context. Themes get identified by physically sorting the examples into piles of similar meaning.

The concept of deconstruction is an abstract and often incomprehensible term used by social scientists, literary critics and writers in the popular press. Jacques Derrida, who coined the term, refused to define it. To Derrida, the meaning of any text is inherently unstable and variable. Wiener (1997) was curious as to how the concept of deconstruction was used in the popular press. He used a text-based data set (such as Lexis/Nexis), to find instances of the word in popular publications. He found the term used in by everything from Entertainment Weekly to the American Banker . Wiener concludes that:

Most often writers use "deconstruction" as a fancy word for "analysis" or "explanation," or else as an upscale synonym for "destruction." But in some genres, like rock music writing, the term isn't negative at all; it has become a genuinely floating signifier, a verbal gesture that implies a kind of empty intellectual sophistication.

Word-based techniques are typically a fast and efficient ways to start looking for themes. We find that they are particularly useful at early stages of theme identification. These techniques are also easy for novice researchers to apply. Nothing, however, beats a careful scrutiny of the texts for finding themes that may be more subtle or that don’t get signified directly in the lexicon of the text. Scrutiny-based techniques are more time-intensive and require a lot of attention to details and nuances.

4. Compare and contrast

The compare and contrast approach is based on the idea that themes represent the ways in which texts are either similar or different from each other. Glazer and Strauss (1967:101_116) refer to this as the "constant comparison method." [For other good descriptions of the technique see Glazer (1978:56_72) and Strauss and Corbin (1990:84_95).] Typically, grounded theorists begin by conducting a careful line-by-line analysis. They read each line or sentence and ask themselves, "What is this about?" and "How does it differ from the preceding or following statements?" This kind of detailed work keeps the researcher focused on the data themselves rather than on theoretical flights of fancy (Charmaz 1990).

This approach is like interviewing the text and is remarkably similar to the ethnographic interviewing style that Spradley talks about using with his informants (1979:160_172). Researchers compare pairs of texts by asking "How is this text different from the preceding text?" and "What kinds of things are mentioned in both?" They ask hypothetical questions like "What if the informant who produced this text had been a woman instead of a man?" and "How similar is this text to my own experiences?" Bogdan and Biklen (1982:153) recommend reading through passages of text and asking "What does this remind me of?" Like a good journalist, investigators compare answers to questions across people, space, and time.

5. Social science queries

Besides identifying indigenous themes—themes that characterize the experience of informants—researchers are interested in understanding how textual data illuminate questions of importance to social science. Spradley (1979:199–201) suggested searching interviews for evidence of social conflict, cultural contradictions, informal methods of social control, things that people do in managing impersonal social relationships, methods by which people acquire and maintain achieved and ascribed status, and information about how people solve problems. Bogdan & Bilken (1982:156-162) suggested examining the setting and context, the perspectives of the informants, and informants’ ways of thinking about people, objects, processes, activities, events, and relationships. "Moving across substantive areas," says Charmaz, "fosters developing conceptual power, depth, and comprehensiveness" (1990:1163).

Strauss and Corbin (1990:158_175) urge investigators to be more sensitive to conditions, actions/interactions, and consequences of a phenomenon and to order these conditions and consequences into theories. To facilitate this, they offer a useful tool called the conditional matrix. The conditional matrix is a set of concentric circles, each level corresponding to a different unit of influence. At the center are actions and interactions. The inner rings represent individual and small group influences on these actions, and the outer rings represent international and national effects.

Querying the text as a social scientist is a powerful technique because investigators concentrate their efforts on searching for specific kinds of topics – any of which are likely to generate major social and cultural themes. By examining the data from a more theoretical perspective, however, researchers must be careful that they do not overfit the data – that is, find only that for which they are looking. There is a trade-off between bringing a lot of prior theorizing to the theme-identification effort and going at it fresh. Prior theorizing, as Charmaz says (1990), can inhibit the forming of fresh ideas and the making of surprising connections. Assiduous theory-avoidance brings the risk of not making the connection between data and important research questions. Novice researchers may be more comfortable with the tabula rasa approach. More seasoned researchers, who are more familiar with theory issues, may find the social science query approach more compatible with their interests.

6. Searching for missing information

The final scrutiny-based approach we describe works in reverse from typical theme identification techniques. Instead of identifying themes that emerge from the text, investigators search for themes that are missing in the text.

Much can be learned from a text by what is not mentioned. As early as 1959, propaganda analysts found that material not covered in political speeches were sometimes more predictive that material that was covered (George 1959). Sometimes silences indicate areas that people are unwilling or afraid to discuss. For instance, women with strong religious convictions may fail to mention abortion during discussions of birth control. In power-laden interviewers, silence may be tied to implicit or explicit domination (Gal 1991). In a study of birth planning in China, Greenhalgh (1994) surveyed 1,011ever-married women, gathered social and economic histories from 150 families. She conducted in-depth interviews with present and formal officials (known as cadres), and collected documentary evidence from local newspapers, journals and other sources. Greenhalgh notes that "Because I was largely constrained from asking direct questions about resistance, the informal record of field notes, interview transcripts, and questionnaire data contains few overt challenges to state policy (1994:9)." Greenhalgh concludes, however, that

I believe that in their conversations with us, both peasants and cadres made strategic use of silence to protest aspects of the policy they did not like. Cadres, for example were loathe to comment on birth-planning campaigns; peasant women were reluctant to talk about sterilization. These silences form one part of the unofficial record of birth planning in the villages. More explicit protests were registered in informal conversations. From these interactions emerged a sense of profound distress of villagers forced to choose between a resistance that was politically risky and a compliance that violated the norms of Chinese culture and of practical reason (1994:9).

Other times, absences may indicate primal assumptions made by respondents. Spradley (1987:314) noted that when people tell stories, they assume that their listeners share many assumptions about how the world works and so they leave out information that "everyone knows." He called this process abbreviating . Price (1987) takes this observation and builds on it. Thus, she looks for what is not said in order to identify underlying cultural assumptions. Price finds the missing pieces by trying to translate what people say in the stories into something that the general public would understand.

Of all the scrutiny-based techniques, searching for missing information is the most difficult. There are many reasons people do not mention topics. In addition to avoiding sensitive issues or assuming investigator already knows about the topic, people may not trust the interviewer, may not wish to speak when others are present, or may not understand the investigator’s questions. Distinguishing between when informants are unwilling to discuss topics and when they assume the investigator already knows about the topic requires a lot of familiarity with the subject matter.

In addition to word- and scrutiny-based techniques, researchers have used linguistic features such as metaphors, topical transitions, and keyword connectors to help identify themes.

7. Metaphors and analogies

Schema analysts suggest searching through text for metaphors, similes, and analogies (D’Andrade 1995, Quinn and Strauss 1997). The emphasis on metaphor owes much to the pioneering work by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and the observation that people often represent their thoughts, behaviors, and experiences with analogies.

Naomi Quinn (1997) has analyzed hundreds of hours of interviews to discover concepts underlying American marriage and to show how these concepts are tied together. She began by looking at patterns of speech and at the repetition of key words and phrases, paying particular attention to informants' use of metaphors and the commonalities in their reasoning about marriage. Nan, one of her informants, says that "marriage is a manufactured product." This popular metaphor indicates that Nan sees marriages as something that has properties, like strength and staying power, and as something that requires work to produce. Some marriages are "put together well," while others "fall apart" like so many cars or toys or washing machines (Quinn 1987:174).

The object is to look for metaphors in rhetoric and deduce the schemas, or underlying principles, that might produce patterns in those metaphors. Quinn found that people talk about their surprise at the breakup of a marriage by saying that they thought the couple’s marriage was "like the Rock of Gibraltar" or that they thought the marriage had been "nailed in cement." People use these metaphors because they assume that their listeners know that cement and the Rock of Gibraltar are things that last forever.

But Quinn reasons that if schemas or scripts are what make it possible for people to fill in around the bare bones of a metaphor, then the metaphors must be surface phenomena and cannot themselves be the basis for shared understanding. Quinn found that the hundreds of metaphors in her corpus of texts fit into just eight linked classes that she calls: lastingness, sharedness, compatibility, mutual benefit, difficulty, effort, success (or failure), and risk of failure. For example, Quinn’s informants often compared marriages (their own and those of others) to manufactured and durable products ("it was put together pretty good") and to journeys ("we made it up as we went along; it was a sort of do-it-yourself project"). Quinn sees these metaphors, as well as references to marriage as "a lifetime proposition," as exemplars of the overall expectation of lastingness in marriage.

Other examples of the search for cultural schemas in texts include Holland’s (1985) study of the reasoning that Americans apply to interpersonal problems, Kempton’s (1987) study of ordinary Americans’ theories of home heat control, and Claudia Strauss’s (1997) study of what chemical plant workers and their neighbors think about the free enterprise system.

8. Transitions

Another linguistic approach is to look for naturally occurring shifts in thematic content. Linguistic forms of transition vary between oral and written texts. In written texts, new paragraphs are often used by authors to indicate either subtle or abrupt shifts in topics. In oral speech, pauses, change in tone, or particular phrases may indicate thematic transitions. Linguists who have worked with precisely recorded texts in Native American languages have noticed the recurrence of elements like "Now," "Then," "Now then," and "Now again." These often signal the separation of verses and "once such patterning has been discovered in cases with such markers, it can be discerned in cases without them" (Hymes 1977:439).

For example, Sherzer (1994) presents a detailed analysis of a two-hour performance by Chief Olopinikwa of a traditional San Blas Kuna chant. The chant was recorded in 1970. Like many linguistic anthropologists, Sherzer had taught an assistant, Alberto Campos, to use a phonetic transcription system. After the chant, Sherzer asked Campos, to transcribe and translate the tape. Campos put Kuna and Spanish on left- and right-facing pages (1994:907). By studying Campos’s translation against the original Kuna, Sherzer was able to pick out certain recurrent features. Campos left out the chanted utterances of the responding chief (usually something like "so it is"), which turned out to be markers for verse endings in the chant. Campos also left out so-called framing words and phrases (like "Thus" at the beginning of a verse and "it is said, so I pronounce" at the end of a verse). These contribute to the line and verse structure of the chant. Finally, "instead of transposing metaphors and other figurative and allusive language into Spanish" Campos "explains them in his translation" (Sherzer 1994:908). Researchers

In two-party and multiparty speech, transitions occur naturally. Conversation or discourse analysts closely examine linguistic features such as turn-taking and speaker interruptions to identify transitions in speech sequences. For a good overview, see Silverman (1993:114-143).

9. Connectors

A third linguistic approach is to look carefully at words and phrases that indicate relationships among things. For example, causal relationships are often indicated by such words and phrases as, because, since, and as a result. Words such as if or then , rather than, and instead of often signify conditional relationships. The phrase is a is often associated with taxonomic categories. Time-oriented relationships are expressed with words such as before, after, then, and next . Typically negative characteristics occur less often than positive characteristics. Simply searching for the words not , no , none , or the prefix non may be a quick way to identify themes. Investigator can discover themes by searching on such groups of word and looking to see what kinds of things the words connect.

What other kinds of relationships might be of interest to social scientists? Casagrande and Hale (1967) suggest looking for: attributes (e.g., X is Y), contingencies (e.g., if X, then Y), functions (e.g., X is a means of affecting Y), spatial orientations (e.g., X is close to Y), operational definitions (e.g., X is a tool for doing Y), examples (e.g., X is an instance of Y), comparisons (e.g., X resembles Y), class inclusions (X is a member of class Y), synonyms (e.g., X is equivalent to Y), antonyms (e.g., X is the negation of Y), provenience (e.g., X is the source of Y), and circularity (e.g., X is defined as X). [For lists of kinds of relationships that may be useful for identifying themes see Burton and Kirk (1980:271), Werner and Schoepfle (1987) and Lindsay and Norman (1972).]

Investigators often use the linguistic features described above unconsciously. Metaphors, transitions, and connectors are all part of a native speaker’s ability to grasp meaning in a text. By making these features more explicit, we sharpen our ability to find themes.

Finally, we turn to more tactile approaches for theme discovery. Each of the next three techniques requires some physical manipulation of the text itself.

10. Unmarked texts

One way to identify new themes is to examine any text that is not already associated with a theme (Ryan 1999). This technique requires multiple readings of a text. On the first reading, salient themes are clearly visible and can be quickly and readily marked with different colored pencils or highlighters. In the next stage, the search is for themes that remain unmarked. This tactic–marking obvious themes early and quickly—forces the search for new, and less obtrusive themes.

We highly recommend pawing through texts and marking them up with different colored highlighter pens. Sandelowski (1995a:373) observes that analysis of texts begins with proofreading the material and simply underlining key phrases "because they make some as yet inchoate sense." Bernard (2000) refers to this as the ocular scan method , otherwise known as eyeballing . In this method, you get a feel for the text by handling your data multiple times. [Bogdan and Biklen (1982:165) suggest reading over the text at least twice.] Researchers have been known to spread their texts out on the floor, tack bunches of them to a bulletin board, and sort them into different file folders. By living with the data, investigators can eventually perform the interocular percussion test—which is where you wait for patterns to hit you between the eyes.

This may not seem like a very scientific way to do things, but it is one of the best ways we know of to begin hunting for patterns in qualitative data. Once you have a feel for the themes and the relations among, then we see no reason to struggle bravely on without a computer. Of course, a computer is required from the onset if the project involves hundreds of interviews, or if it’s part of a multi-site, multi-investigator effort. Even then, there is no substitute for following hunches and intuitions in looking for themes to code in texts (Dey 1993).

12. Cutting and sorting

Cutting and sorting is a more formal way of pawing and a technique we both use quite a bit. It is particularly useful for identifying subthemes. The approach is based on a powerful trick most of us learned in kindergarten and requires paper and scissors. We first read through the text and identify quotes that seem somehow important. We cut out each quote (making sure to maintain some of the context in which it occurred) and paste the material on small index cards. On the back of each card, we then write down the quote’s reference—who said it and where it appeared in the text. Then we lay out the quotes randomly on a big table and sort them into piles of similar quotes. Then we name each pile. These are the themes. This can be done with tag and search software, but we find that nothing beats the ability to manually sort and group the cards.

There are many variations on this pile-sorting technique. The principle investigator on a large project might ask several team members to sort the quotes into named piles independently. This is likely to generate a longer list of possible themes than would be produced by a group discussion. In really large projects, pairs of coders could sort the quotes together and decide on the names for the piles. The pile-sorting exercise should be video- or audiotaped and investigators should pay close attention to discussions—between themselves and coders or between coders—about which quotes belong together and why. These conversations are about as close as we will ever get to witnessing the emergence of themes.

Barkin et al. (1999) interviewed clinicians, community leaders, and parents about what physicians could and did do to prevent violence among youth. These were long, complex interviews, so Barkin et al. broke the coding process into two steps. They started with three major themes that they developed from theory. The principle investigator went through the transcripts and cut out all the quotes that pertained to each of the major themes. Then four other coders independently sorted the quotes from each major theme into piles. Then, the pile sort data were analyzed with multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis to identify subthemes shared across coders. [See Patterson et al. (1993) for another example.]

Jehn and Doucet (1997) had short answers to open-ended questions. They found that several coders could easily sort these paragraph-length descriptions of inter and intra-ethnic conflict. Then, like Barkin et al., Jehn and Doucet then used multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis to identify subthemes of conflict.

Another advantage to the cutting and sorting technique is that the data can be used to systematically describe how such themes are distributed across informants. After the piles have been formed and themes have been named, simply turn over each quote and identify who mentioned each theme. (If the people sorting the quotes are unaware of who the quotes came from, this is an unbiased way of coding.)

The variety of methods available for coding texts raises some obvious questions:

(1) Which technique generates more themes?

Frankly, we don’t know. There are just too many factors that influence the number of themes that are generated, including the technique itself, who and how many people are looking for themes, and the kind and amount of texts being analyzed. If the goal is to generate as many themes as possible—which is often the case in initial exploratory phases of research—then more is better. This means using multiple techniques, investigators, and texts.

Nowhere is a multiple technique approach better exemplified than in the work of Jehn and Doucet (1996, 1997). Jehn and Doucet asked 76 U.S. managers who had worked in Sino_American joint ventures to describe recent interpersonal conflicts with business partners. Each person described a situation with a same_culture manager and a different_cultural manger. First they generated separate lists of words from the intercultural and intracultural conflict narratives. They asked 3 expatriate managers to act as judges and to identify all the words that were related to conflict. They settled on a list of 542 conflict words from the intercultural list and 242 words from the intracultural list.

Jehn and Doucet then asked the three judges to sort the words into piles or categories. The experts identified 15 subcategories for the intercultural data—things like conflict, expectations, rules, power, and volatile—and 15 categories for the intracultural data—things like conflict, needs, standards, power, contentious, and lose. Taking into consideration the total number of words in each corpus, conflict words were used more in intracultural interviews and resolution terms were more likely to be used in intercultural interviews.

Jehn and Doucet (1996, 1997) also used traditional content analysis on their data. The had two coders read the 152 conflict scenarios (76 intracultural and 76 intercultural) and evaluated (on a 5_point scale) each on 27 different themes they had identified from the literature. This produced two 76x27 scenario_by_theme profile matrices—one for the intracultural conflicts and one for the intercultural conflicts. The first three factors from the intercultural matrix reflect: (1) interpersonal animosity and hostility; (2) aggravation; and (3) the volatile nature of the conflict. The first two factors from the intracultural matrix reflect: (1) hatred and animosity with a volatile nature and (2) conflicts conducted calmly with little verbal intensity.

Finally, Jehn and Doucet identified the 30 intracultural and the 30 intercultural scenarios that they felt were the most clear and pithy. They recruited fifty more expatriate managers to assess the similarities (on a 5_point scale) of 60–120 randomly selected pairs of scenarios. When combined across informants, the managers judgments produced two aggregate, scenario_by_scenario, similarity matrices—one for the intracultural conflicts and one for the intercultural conflicts.

Multidimensional scaling of the intercultural similarity data identified four dimensions: (1) open versus resistant to change, (2) situational causes versus individual traits, (3) high_ versus low_resolution potential based on trust, and (4) high_ versus low_resolution potential based on patience. Scaling of the intracultural similarity data identified four different dimensions: (1) high versus low cooperation, (2) high versus low confrontation, (3) problem_solving versus accepting, and (4) resolved versus ongoing.

The work of Jehn and Doucet is impressive because the analysis of the data from these tasks produced different sets of themes. All three emically induced theme sets have some intuitive appeal and all three yield analytic results that are useful. They could have also used the techniques of grounded theory or schema analysis to discover even more themes.

(2) When are the various techniques most appropriate?

The choice of techniques depends minimally on the kind and amount of text, the experience of the researcher, and the goals of the project. Word-based techniques (e.g., word repetitions, indigenous categories, and KWIC) are probably the least labor intensive. Computer software such as Anthropac and Code-a-text have little trouble in generating frequency counts of key words. 2 A careful look at the frequency list and maybe some quick pile sorts are often enough to identify quite a few themes. Word-based techniques are also the most versatile. They can easily be used with complex texts such as the complete works of Shakespear or the Bible, as well as, with simple short answers to open-ended questions. They can also be used relatively easily by novice and expert investigators alike. Given their very nature, however, they are best used in combination with other approaches.

Scrutiny-based techniques (e.g., compare and contrast, querying the text, and examining absences) are most appropriate for rich textual accounts and tend to be overkill for analyzing short answer responses. Investigators who are just beginning to explore a new topical area might want to start with compare-and-contrast techniques before moving on to the more difficult tasks of querying the text or searching for missing information. We do not advise using the latter two techniques unless the investigator is fluent in the language in which the data are collected. If the primary goal of the this portion of the investigation is to discover as many themes as possible, then nothing beats using these techniques on a line-by-line basis.

Like scrutiny-based techniques, linguist-based approaches are better used on narrative style accounts rather than short answer responses. Looking for transitions is the easiest technique to use, especially if the texts are actually written by respondents themselves (rather than transcribed from tape recordings of verbal interviews). Searching for metaphors is also relatively easy once novices have been trained on what kind of things to look for in the texts. Looking for connecting words and phrases is best used as a secondary wave of finding themes, once the investigator has a more definite idea of what kinds of themes he or she finds most interesting.

In the early stages of exploration, nothing beats a thorough reading and pawing through of the data. This approach is the easiest for novice researchers to master and is particularly good for identifying major themes. As the exploration progresses, investigators often find themselves looking for subthemes within these major themes. The cutting and sorting techniques are most helpful here. Investigators can identify all text passages that are related to a major theme, cut them out, and sort them into subthematic categories. Likewise, if they are marking texts for each newly discovered theme, then they can apply the unmarked text technique as they go. We have seen these three techniques applied successfully to both rich narrative data as well as simple responses to open-ended questions.

An even more powerful strategy would be to combine multiple techniques in a sequential manner. For example, investigators might begin by pawing through the data to see what kinds of themes just stick out. As part of this process, they might want to make comparisons between paragraphs and across informants. A quick analysis of word repetitions would also be appropriate for identifying themes at such an early stage of the analysis. If key words or indigenous phrases are present, researchers might followed-up by conducting more focused KWIC analyses. If the project is examining issues of equality, investigators might also look for texts that are indicative of power differentials and access to resources. Texts representing major themes can be marked either on paper or by computer. Investigators can then search areas that are not already marked for additional themes or cut and sort marked texts into subthemes.

Researchers also might consider beginning by looking for identifying all metaphors and similes, marking them, cutting them out and sorting them into thematic categories. There is no single way to discover themes. In theme discovery, we assume that more is always better.

(3) When do you know when you’ve found all the themes?

There is no magic formula to answer this question. The problem is similar to asking members of a population to list all the illnesses they know. One can never be sure of the full range of illnesses without interviewing the entire population. This is true because there is always the possibility that the last person interviewed will mention a new disease. We can simplify the process considerably, however, if we are willing to miss rarely-mentioned illness. One strategy would be to interview people until some number of respondents in a row (say five or more) fail to mention any new illnesses.

In text analysis, grounded theorists refer to the point at which no new themes are being identified as theoretical saturation (Strauss and Corbin 1990:188). When and how theoretical saturation is reached, however, depends the number of texts and their complexity, as well as on investigator experience and fatigue, and the number of investigators examining the texts. Again, more is better. Investigators who have more experience finding themes are likely to reach saturation latter than novices. Wilson and Hutchinson warn against premature closure where the researcher "fails to move beyond the face value of the content in the narrative (1990:123)."

Theme identification is one of the most fundamental tasks in qualitative research. It also one of the most mysterious. Explicit descriptions of theme discovery are rarely described in articles and reports and if so are often regulated to appendices or footnotes. Techniques are shared among small groups of social scientists and are often impeded by disciplinary or epistemological boundaries. The lack of clear methodological descriptions is most evident during the grant-writing phase of research. Investigators (ourselves included) struggle to clearly explain and justify plans for discovering themes in the qualitative data. These issues are particularly cogent when funding reviewers are unfamiliar with qualitative traditions.

In this article we have outlined a dozen techniques that social scientists have used to discover themes in texts. The techniques are drawn from across epistemological and disciplinary boundaries. They range from quick word counts to laborious, in-depth, line-by-line scrutiny. Some work well for short answers to open-ended questions while others are more appropriate for rich, complex narratives. Novices and non-native speakers may find some techniques easier than others. No single technique is does it all. To us, these techniques are simply tools to help us do better research.

1 ATLAS.ti (Scientific Software Development) and Nud•ist (Qualitative Solutions & Research) are qualitative analysis packages distributed in the United States by SCOLARI, Sage Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: (805) 499 1325. Fax: (805) 499 0871. E_mail: [email protected]. Web: www.scolari.com.

2 Anthropac (Analytic Technologies) and Coda-A-Text (Cartwright) are software packages that have the capacity to convert free flowing texts into word-by-document matrices. Code-A-Text is distributed in the United States by SCOLARI, Sage Publications. Anthropac is created and distributed by Analytic Technologies, Inc., Analytic Technologies, Inc., 11 Ohlin Lane, Harvard, MA 01451. Tel: (978) 456_7372. Fax: (978) 456_7373. E_mail: [email protected]. Web: www.analytictech.com.

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1992 Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods , 2d ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

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1999 Elicitation Methods for Cultural Domain Analysis. In J. Schensul & M. LeCompte (Ed.) The Ethnographer's Toolkit, Volume 3 . Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 115-151.

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2000 Grounded theory: Objectivist and constructivist methods. In Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2 nd Edition . Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Pp. 509-536.

D'Andrade, Roy

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1991 Between speech and silence: The problematics of research on language and gender. In Gender at the crossroads of knowledge: Feminist anthropology in the postmodern era. Michaela di Leonardo, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 175-203.

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• Research guides

Writing an Educational Research Paper

Research paper sections, customary parts of an education research paper.

There is no one right style or manner for writing an education paper. Content aside, the writing style and presentation of papers in different educational fields vary greatly. Nevertheless, certain parts are common to most papers, for example:

Title/Cover Page

Contains the paper's title, the author's name, address, phone number, e-mail, and the day's date.

Not every education paper requires an abstract. However, for longer, more complex papers abstracts are particularly useful. Often only 100 to 300 words, the abstract generally provides a broad overview and is never more than a page. It describes the essence, the main theme of the paper. It includes the research question posed, its significance, the methodology, and the main results or findings. Footnotes or cited works are never listed in an abstract. Remember to take great care in composing the abstract. It's the first part of the paper the instructor reads. It must impress with a strong content, good style, and general aesthetic appeal. Never write it hastily or carelessly.

Introduction and Statement of the Problem

A good introduction states the main research problem and thesis argument. What precisely are you studying and why is it important? How original is it? Will it fill a gap in other studies? Never provide a lengthy justification for your topic before it has been explicitly stated.

Limitations of Study

Indicate as soon as possible what you intend to do, and what you are not going to attempt. You may limit the scope of your paper by any number of factors, for example, time, personnel, gender, age, geographic location, nationality, and so on.

Methodology

Discuss your research methodology. Did you employ qualitative or quantitative research methods? Did you administer a questionnaire or interview people? Any field research conducted? How did you collect data? Did you utilize other libraries or archives? And so on.

Literature Review

The research process uncovers what other writers have written about your topic. Your education paper should include a discussion or review of what is known about the subject and how that knowledge was acquired. Once you provide the general and specific context of the existing knowledge, then you yourself can build on others' research. The guide Writing a Literature Review will be helpful here.

Main Body of Paper/Argument

This is generally the longest part of the paper. It's where the author supports the thesis and builds the argument. It contains most of the citations and analysis. This section should focus on a rational development of the thesis with clear reasoning and solid argumentation at all points. A clear focus, avoiding meaningless digressions, provides the essential unity that characterizes a strong education paper.

After spending a great deal of time and energy introducing and arguing the points in the main body of the paper, the conclusion brings everything together and underscores what it all means. A stimulating and informative conclusion leaves the reader informed and well-satisfied. A conclusion that makes sense, when read independently from the rest of the paper, will win praise.

Works Cited/Bibliography

See the Citation guide .

Education research papers often contain one or more appendices. An appendix contains material that is appropriate for enlarging the reader's understanding, but that does not fit very well into the main body of the paper. Such material might include tables, charts, summaries, questionnaires, interview questions, lengthy statistics, maps, pictures, photographs, lists of terms, glossaries, survey instruments, letters, copies of historical documents, and many other types of supplementary material. A paper may have several appendices. They are usually placed after the main body of the paper but before the bibliography or works cited section. They are usually designated by such headings as Appendix A, Appendix B, and so on.

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

• Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
• Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
• How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
• How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
• How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
• How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

• What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
• How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
• How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
• Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
• What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
• What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
• How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
• How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
• What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
• What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
• What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
• Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies  (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
• Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
• Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
• Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
• Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
• Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
• How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
• Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
• What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
• How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
• What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
• Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
• Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
• Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
• How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
• Should graduate students be able to form unions?

• What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
• How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
• Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
• Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
• How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
• How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
• Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
• Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
• Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
• Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
• Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
• Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
• Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
• Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
• Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
• How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
• How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
• What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
• What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
• Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
• What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
• What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
• Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
• Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
• How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
• Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
• What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
• How does stress affect the body?
• Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
• What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
• How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
• What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
• What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
• Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
• What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
• What were the causes of the Civil War?
• How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
• Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
• What caused Hitler's rise to power?
• Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
• What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
• How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
• What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

• Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
• Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
• How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
• How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
• What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
• What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
• How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

• How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
• How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
• Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
• Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
• How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
• How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
• What are the pros and cons of fracking?
• What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
• What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
• How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
• Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
• Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
• What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
• What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
• How are black holes created?
• Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
• How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
• Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
• How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
• Has social media made people more or less connected?
• What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
• Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
• What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
• How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
• When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
• Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

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These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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• v.13(Suppl 1); 2019 Apr

Writing the title and abstract for a research paper: Being concise, precise, and meticulous is the key

Milind s. tullu.

Department of Pediatrics, Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

This article deals with formulating a suitable title and an appropriate abstract for an original research paper. The “title” and the “abstract” are the “initial impressions” of a research article, and hence they need to be drafted correctly, accurately, carefully, and meticulously. Often both of these are drafted after the full manuscript is ready. Most readers read only the title and the abstract of a research paper and very few will go on to read the full paper. The title and the abstract are the most important parts of a research paper and should be pleasant to read. The “title” should be descriptive, direct, accurate, appropriate, interesting, concise, precise, unique, and should not be misleading. The “abstract” needs to be simple, specific, clear, unbiased, honest, concise, precise, stand-alone, complete, scholarly, (preferably) structured, and should not be misrepresentative. The abstract should be consistent with the main text of the paper, especially after a revision is made to the paper and should include the key message prominently. It is very important to include the most important words and terms (the “keywords”) in the title and the abstract for appropriate indexing purpose and for retrieval from the search engines and scientific databases. Such keywords should be listed after the abstract. One must adhere to the instructions laid down by the target journal with regard to the style and number of words permitted for the title and the abstract.

Introduction

This article deals with drafting a suitable “title” and an appropriate “abstract” for an original research paper. Because the “title” and the “abstract” are the “initial impressions” or the “face” of a research article, they need to be drafted correctly, accurately, carefully, meticulously, and consume time and energy.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] Often, these are drafted after the complete manuscript draft is ready.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] Most readers will read only the title and the abstract of a published research paper, and very few “interested ones” (especially, if the paper is of use to them) will go on to read the full paper.[ 1 , 2 ] One must remember to adhere to the instructions laid down by the “target journal” (the journal for which the author is writing) regarding the style and number of words permitted for the title and the abstract.[ 2 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 12 ] Both the title and the abstract are the most important parts of a research paper – for editors (to decide whether to process the paper for further review), for reviewers (to get an initial impression of the paper), and for the readers (as these may be the only parts of the paper available freely and hence, read widely).[ 4 , 8 , 12 ] It may be worth for the novice author to browse through titles and abstracts of several prominent journals (and their target journal as well) to learn more about the wording and styles of the titles and abstracts, as well as the aims and scope of the particular journal.[ 5 , 7 , 9 , 13 ]

The details of the title are discussed under the subheadings of importance, types, drafting, and checklist.

Importance of the title

When a reader browses through the table of contents of a journal issue (hard copy or on website), the title is the “ first detail” or “face” of the paper that is read.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 13 ] Hence, it needs to be simple, direct, accurate, appropriate, specific, functional, interesting, attractive/appealing, concise/brief, precise/focused, unambiguous, memorable, captivating, informative (enough to encourage the reader to read further), unique, catchy, and it should not be misleading.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 9 , 12 ] It should have “just enough details” to arouse the interest and curiosity of the reader so that the reader then goes ahead with studying the abstract and then (if still interested) the full paper.[ 1 , 2 , 4 , 13 ] Journal websites, electronic databases, and search engines use the words in the title and abstract (the “keywords”) to retrieve a particular paper during a search; hence, the importance of these words in accessing the paper by the readers has been emphasized.[ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 12 , 14 ] Such important words (or keywords) should be arranged in appropriate order of importance as per the context of the paper and should be placed at the beginning of the title (rather than the later part of the title, as some search engines like Google may just display only the first six to seven words of the title).[ 3 , 5 , 12 ] Whimsical, amusing, or clever titles, though initially appealing, may be missed or misread by the busy reader and very short titles may miss the essential scientific words (the “keywords”) used by the indexing agencies to catch and categorize the paper.[ 1 , 3 , 4 , 9 ] Also, amusing or hilarious titles may be taken less seriously by the readers and may be cited less often.[ 4 , 15 ] An excessively long or complicated title may put off the readers.[ 3 , 9 ] It may be a good idea to draft the title after the main body of the text and the abstract are drafted.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Types of titles

Titles can be descriptive, declarative, or interrogative. They can also be classified as nominal, compound, or full-sentence titles.

Descriptive or neutral title

This has the essential elements of the research theme, that is, the patients/subjects, design, interventions, comparisons/control, and outcome, but does not reveal the main result or the conclusion.[ 3 , 4 , 12 , 16 ] Such a title allows the reader to interpret the findings of the research paper in an impartial manner and with an open mind.[ 3 ] These titles also give complete information about the contents of the article, have several keywords (thus increasing the visibility of the article in search engines), and have increased chances of being read and (then) being cited as well.[ 4 ] Hence, such descriptive titles giving a glimpse of the paper are generally preferred.[ 4 , 16 ]

Declarative title

This title states the main finding of the study in the title itself; it reduces the curiosity of the reader, may point toward a bias on the part of the author, and hence is best avoided.[ 3 , 4 , 12 , 16 ]

Interrogative title

This is the one which has a query or the research question in the title.[ 3 , 4 , 16 ] Though a query in the title has the ability to sensationalize the topic, and has more downloads (but less citations), it can be distracting to the reader and is again best avoided for a research article (but can, at times, be used for a review article).[ 3 , 6 , 16 , 17 ]

From a sentence construct point of view, titles may be nominal (capturing only the main theme of the study), compound (with subtitles to provide additional relevant information such as context, design, location/country, temporal aspect, sample size, importance, and a provocative or a literary; for example, see the title of this review), or full-sentence titles (which are longer and indicate an added degree of certainty of the results).[ 4 , 6 , 9 , 16 ] Any of these constructs may be used depending on the type of article, the key message, and the author's preference or judgement.[ 4 ]

Drafting a suitable title

A stepwise process can be followed to draft the appropriate title. The author should describe the paper in about three sentences, avoiding the results and ensuring that these sentences contain important scientific words/keywords that describe the main contents and subject of the paper.[ 1 , 4 , 6 , 12 ] Then the author should join the sentences to form a single sentence, shorten the length (by removing redundant words or adjectives or phrases), and finally edit the title (thus drafted) to make it more accurate, concise (about 10–15 words), and precise.[ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 9 ] Some journals require that the study design be included in the title, and this may be placed (using a colon) after the primary title.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 14 ] The title should try to incorporate the Patients, Interventions, Comparisons and Outcome (PICO).[ 3 ] The place of the study may be included in the title (if absolutely necessary), that is, if the patient characteristics (such as study population, socioeconomic conditions, or cultural practices) are expected to vary as per the country (or the place of the study) and have a bearing on the possible outcomes.[ 3 , 6 ] Lengthy titles can be boring and appear unfocused, whereas very short titles may not be representative of the contents of the article; hence, optimum length is required to ensure that the title explains the main theme and content of the manuscript.[ 4 , 5 , 9 ] Abbreviations (except the standard or commonly interpreted ones such as HIV, AIDS, DNA, RNA, CDC, FDA, ECG, and EEG) or acronyms should be avoided in the title, as a reader not familiar with them may skip such an article and nonstandard abbreviations may create problems in indexing the article.[ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 9 , 12 ] Also, too much of technical jargon or chemical formulas in the title may confuse the readers and the article may be skipped by them.[ 4 , 9 ] Numerical values of various parameters (stating study period or sample size) should also be avoided in the titles (unless deemed extremely essential).[ 4 ] It may be worthwhile to take an opinion from a impartial colleague before finalizing the title.[ 4 , 5 , 6 ] Thus, multiple factors (which are, at times, a bit conflicting or contrasting) need to be considered while formulating a title, and hence this should not be done in a hurry.[ 4 , 6 ] Many journals ask the authors to draft a “short title” or “running head” or “running title” for printing in the header or footer of the printed paper.[ 3 , 12 ] This is an abridged version of the main title of up to 40–50 characters, may have standard abbreviations, and helps the reader to navigate through the paper.[ 3 , 12 , 14 ]

Checklist for a good title

Table 1 gives a checklist/useful tips for drafting a good title for a research paper.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 12 ] Table 2 presents some of the titles used by the author of this article in his earlier research papers, and the appropriateness of the titles has been commented upon. As an individual exercise, the reader may try to improvise upon the titles (further) after reading the corresponding abstract and full paper.

Checklist/useful tips for drafting a good title for a research paper

Some titles used by author of this article in his earlier publications and remark/comment on their appropriateness

The Abstract

The details of the abstract are discussed under the subheadings of importance, types, drafting, and checklist.

Importance of the abstract

The abstract is a summary or synopsis of the full research paper and also needs to have similar characteristics like the title. It needs to be simple, direct, specific, functional, clear, unbiased, honest, concise, precise, self-sufficient, complete, comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, and should not be misleading.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 17 ] Writing an abstract is to extract and summarize (AB – absolutely, STR – straightforward, ACT – actual data presentation and interpretation).[ 17 ] The title and abstracts are the only sections of the research paper that are often freely available to the readers on the journal websites, search engines, and in many abstracting agencies/databases, whereas the full paper may attract a payment per view or a fee for downloading the pdf copy.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 ] The abstract is an independent and stand-alone (that is, well understood without reading the full paper) section of the manuscript and is used by the editor to decide the fate of the article and to choose appropriate reviewers.[ 2 , 7 , 10 , 12 , 13 ] Even the reviewers are initially supplied only with the title and the abstract before they agree to review the full manuscript.[ 7 , 13 ] This is the second most commonly read part of the manuscript, and therefore it should reflect the contents of the main text of the paper accurately and thus act as a “real trailer” of the full article.[ 2 , 7 , 11 ] The readers will go through the full paper only if they find the abstract interesting and relevant to their practice; else they may skip the paper if the abstract is unimpressive.[ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 13 ] The abstract needs to highlight the selling point of the manuscript and succeed in luring the reader to read the complete paper.[ 3 , 7 ] The title and the abstract should be constructed using keywords (key terms/important words) from all the sections of the main text.[ 12 ] Abstracts are also used for submitting research papers to a conference for consideration for presentation (as oral paper or poster).[ 9 , 13 , 17 ] Grammatical and typographic errors reflect poorly on the quality of the abstract, may indicate carelessness/casual attitude on part of the author, and hence should be avoided at all times.[ 9 ]

Types of abstracts

The abstracts can be structured or unstructured. They can also be classified as descriptive or informative abstracts.

Structured and unstructured abstracts

Structured abstracts are followed by most journals, are more informative, and include specific subheadings/subsections under which the abstract needs to be composed.[ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 17 , 18 ] These subheadings usually include context/background, objectives, design, setting, participants, interventions, main outcome measures, results, and conclusions.[ 1 ] Some journals stick to the standard IMRAD format for the structure of the abstracts, and the subheadings would include Introduction/Background, Methods, Results, And (instead of Discussion) the Conclusion/s.[ 1 , 2 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 17 , 18 ] Structured abstracts are more elaborate, informative, easy to read, recall, and peer-review, and hence are preferred; however, they consume more space and can have same limitations as an unstructured abstract.[ 7 , 9 , 18 ] The structured abstracts are (possibly) better understood by the reviewers and readers. Anyway, the choice of the type of the abstract and the subheadings of a structured abstract depend on the particular journal style and is not left to the author's wish.[ 7 , 10 , 12 ] Separate subheadings may be necessary for reporting meta-analysis, educational research, quality improvement work, review, or case study.[ 1 ] Clinical trial abstracts need to include the essential items mentioned in the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials) guidelines.[ 7 , 9 , 14 , 19 ] Similar guidelines exist for various other types of studies, including observational studies and for studies of diagnostic accuracy.[ 20 , 21 ] A useful resource for the above guidelines is available at www.equator-network.org (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research). Unstructured (or non-structured) abstracts are free-flowing, do not have predefined subheadings, and are commonly used for papers that (usually) do not describe original research.[ 1 , 7 , 9 , 10 ]

The four-point structured abstract: This has the following elements which need to be properly balanced with regard to the content/matter under each subheading:[ 9 ]

Background and/or Objectives: This states why the work was undertaken and is usually written in just a couple of sentences.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 ] The hypothesis/study question and the major objectives are also stated under this subheading.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 ]

Methods: This subsection is the longest, states what was done, and gives essential details of the study design, setting, participants, blinding, sample size, sampling method, intervention/s, duration and follow-up, research instruments, main outcome measures, parameters evaluated, and how the outcomes were assessed or analyzed.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ]

Results/Observations/Findings: This subheading states what was found, is longer, is difficult to draft, and needs to mention important details including the number of study participants, results of analysis (of primary and secondary objectives), and include actual data (numbers, mean, median, standard deviation, “P” values, 95% confidence intervals, effect sizes, relative risks, odds ratio, etc.).[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ]

Conclusions: The take-home message (the “so what” of the paper) and other significant/important findings should be stated here, considering the interpretation of the research question/hypothesis and results put together (without overinterpreting the findings) and may also include the author's views on the implications of the study.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ]

The eight-point structured abstract: This has the following eight subheadings – Objectives, Study Design, Study Setting, Participants/Patients, Methods/Intervention, Outcome Measures, Results, and Conclusions.[ 3 , 9 , 18 ] The instructions to authors given by the particular journal state whether they use the four- or eight-point abstract or variants thereof.[ 3 , 14 ]

Descriptive and Informative abstracts

Descriptive abstracts are short (75–150 words), only portray what the paper contains without providing any more details; the reader has to read the full paper to know about its contents and are rarely used for original research papers.[ 7 , 10 ] These are used for case reports, reviews, opinions, and so on.[ 7 , 10 ] Informative abstracts (which may be structured or unstructured as described above) give a complete detailed summary of the article contents and truly reflect the actual research done.[ 7 , 10 ]

Drafting a suitable abstract

It is important to religiously stick to the instructions to authors (format, word limit, font size/style, and subheadings) provided by the journal for which the abstract and the paper are being written.[ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 13 ] Most journals allow 200–300 words for formulating the abstract and it is wise to restrict oneself to this word limit.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 22 ] Though some authors prefer to draft the abstract initially, followed by the main text of the paper, it is recommended to draft the abstract in the end to maintain accuracy and conformity with the main text of the paper (thus maintaining an easy linkage/alignment with title, on one hand, and the introduction section of the main text, on the other hand).[ 2 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] The authors should check the subheadings (of the structured abstract) permitted by the target journal, use phrases rather than sentences to draft the content of the abstract, and avoid passive voice.[ 1 , 7 , 9 , 12 ] Next, the authors need to get rid of redundant words and edit the abstract (extensively) to the correct word count permitted (every word in the abstract “counts”!).[ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 13 ] It is important to ensure that the key message, focus, and novelty of the paper are not compromised; the rationale of the study and the basis of the conclusions are clear; and that the abstract is consistent with the main text of the paper.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 , 22 ] This is especially important while submitting a revision of the paper (modified after addressing the reviewer's comments), as the changes made in the main (revised) text of the paper need to be reflected in the (revised) abstract as well.[ 2 , 10 , 12 , 14 , 22 ] Abbreviations should be avoided in an abstract, unless they are conventionally accepted or standard; references, tables, or figures should not be cited in the abstract.[ 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 ] It may be worthwhile not to rush with the abstract and to get an opinion by an impartial colleague on the content of the abstract; and if possible, the full paper (an “informal” peer-review).[ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 11 , 17 ] Appropriate “Keywords” (three to ten words or phrases) should follow the abstract and should be preferably chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of the U.S. National Library of Medicine ( https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/search ) and are used for indexing purposes.[ 2 , 3 , 11 , 12 ] These keywords need to be different from the words in the main title (the title words are automatically used for indexing the article) and can be variants of the terms/phrases used in the title, or words from the abstract and the main text.[ 3 , 12 ] The ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors; http://www.icmje.org/ ) also recommends publishing the clinical trial registration number at the end of the abstract.[ 7 , 14 ]

Checklist for a good abstract

Table 3 gives a checklist/useful tips for formulating a good abstract for a research paper.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 , 22 ]

Checklist/useful tips for formulating a good abstract for a research paper

Concluding Remarks

This review article has given a detailed account of the importance and types of titles and abstracts. It has also attempted to give useful hints for drafting an appropriate title and a complete abstract for a research paper. It is hoped that this review will help the authors in their career in medical writing.

Financial support and sponsorship

Conflicts of interest.

There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgement

The author thanks Dr. Hemant Deshmukh - Dean, Seth G.S. Medical College & KEM Hospital, for granting permission to publish this manuscript.

• How it works

Thematic Analysis – A Guide with Examples

Published by Alvin Nicolas at August 16th, 2021 , Revised On August 29, 2023

Thematic analysis is one of the most important types of analysis used for qualitative data . When researchers have to analyse audio or video transcripts, they give preference to thematic analysis. A researcher needs to look keenly at the content to identify the context and the message conveyed by the speaker.

Moreover, with the help of this analysis, data can be simplified.  

Importance of Thematic Analysis

Thematic analysis has so many unique and dynamic features, some of which are given below:

Thematic analysis is used because:

• It is flexible.
• It is best for complex data sets.
• It is applied to qualitative data sets.
• It takes less complexity compared to other theories of analysis.

Intellectuals and researchers give preference to thematic analysis due to its effectiveness in the research.

How to Conduct a Thematic Analysis?

While doing any research , if your data and procedure are clear, it will be easier for your reader to understand how you concluded the results . This will add much clarity to your research.

Understand the Data

This is the first step of your thematic analysis. At this stage, you have to understand the data set. You need to read the entire data instead of reading the small portion. If you do not have the data in the textual form, you have to transcribe it.

Example: If you are visiting an adult dating website, you have to make a data corpus. You should read and re-read the data and consider several profiles. It will give you an idea of how adults represent themselves on dating sites. You may get the following results:

I am a tall, single(widowed), easy-going, honest, good listener with a good sense of humor. Being a handyperson, I keep busy working around the house, and I also like to follow my favourite hockey team on TV or spoil my two granddaughters when I get the chance!! Enjoy most music except Rap! I keep fit by jogging, walking, and bicycling (at least three times a week). I have travelled to many places and RVD the South-West U.S., but I would now like to find that special travel partner to do more travel to warm and interesting countries. I now feel it’s time to meet a nice, kind, honest woman who has some of the same interests as I do; to share the happy times, quiet times, and adventures together

I enjoy photography, lapidary & seeking collectibles in the form of classic movies & 33 1/3, 45 & 78 RPM recordings from the 1920s, ’30s & ’40s. I am retired & looking forward to travelling to Canada, the USA, the UK & Europe, China. I am unique since I do not judge a book by its cover. I accept people for who they are. I will not demand or request perfection from anyone until I am perfect, so I guess that means everyone is safe. My musical tastes range from Classical, big band era, early jazz, classic ’50s & 60’s rock & roll & country since its inception.

Development of Initial Coding:

At this stage, you have to do coding. It’s the essential step of your research . Here you have two options for coding. Either you can do the coding manually or take the help of any tool. A software named the NOVIC is considered the best tool for doing automatic coding.

For manual coding, you can follow the steps given below:

• Please write down the data in a proper format so that it can be easier to proceed.
• Use a highlighter to highlight all the essential points from data.
• Make as many points as possible.
• Take notes very carefully at this stage.
• Apply themes as much possible.
• Now check out the themes of the same pattern or concept.
• Turn all the same themes into the single one.

Example: For better understanding, the previously explained example of Step 1 is continued here. You can observe the coded profiles below:

Make Themes

At this stage, you have to make the themes. These themes should be categorised based on the codes. All the codes which have previously been generated should be turned into themes. Moreover, with the help of the codes, some themes and sub-themes can also be created. This process is usually done with the help of visuals so that a reader can take an in-depth look at first glance itself.

Extracted Data Review

Now you have to take an in-depth look at all the awarded themes again. You have to check whether all the given themes are organised properly or not. It would help if you were careful and focused because you have to note down the symmetry here. If you find that all the themes are not coherent, you can revise them. You can also reshape the data so that there will be symmetry between the themes and dataset here.

For better understanding, a mind-mapping example is given here:

Reviewing all the Themes Again

You need to review the themes after coding them. At this stage, you are allowed to play with your themes in a more detailed manner. You have to convert the bigger themes into smaller themes here. If you want to combine some similar themes into a single theme, then you can do it. This step involves two steps for better fragmentation. 

You need to observe the coded data separately so that you can have a precise view. If you find that the themes which are given are following the dataset, it’s okay. Otherwise, you may have to rearrange the data again to coherence in the coded data.

Corpus Data

Here you have to take into consideration all the corpus data again. It would help if you found how themes are arranged here. It would help if you used the visuals to check out the relationship between them. Suppose all the things are not done accordingly, so you should check out the previous steps for a refined process. Otherwise, you can move to the next step. However, make sure that all the themes are satisfactory and you are not confused.

When all the two steps are completed, you need to make a more précised mind map. An example following the previous cases has been given below:

Define all the Themes here

Now you have to define all the themes which you have given to your data set. You can recheck them carefully if you feel that some of them can fit into one concept, you can keep them, and eliminate the other irrelevant themes. Because it should be precise and clear, there should not be any ambiguity. Now you have to think about the main idea and check out that all the given themes are parallel to your main idea or not. This can change the concept for you.

The given names should be so that it can give any reader a clear idea about your findings. However, it should not oppose your thematic analysis; rather, everything should be organised accurately.

Does your Research Methodology Have the Following?

• Great Research/Sources
• Perfect Language
• Accurate Sources

If not, we can help. Our panel of experts makes sure to keep the 3 pillars of Research Methodology strong.

Also, read about discourse analysis , content analysis and survey conducting . we have provided comprehensive guides.

Make a Report

You need to make the final report of all the findings you have done at this stage. You should include the dataset, findings, and every aspect of your analysis in it.

While making the final report , do not forget to consider your audience. For instance, you are writing for the Newsletter, Journal, Public awareness, etc., your report should be according to your audience. It should be concise and have some logic; it should not be repetitive. You can use the references of other relevant sources as evidence to support your discussion.  

Frequently Asked Questions

What is meant by thematic analysis.

Thematic Analysis is a qualitative research method that involves identifying, analyzing, and interpreting recurring themes or patterns in data. It aims to uncover underlying meanings, ideas, and concepts within the dataset, providing insights into participants’ perspectives and experiences.

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This post provides the key disadvantages of secondary research so you know the limitations of secondary research before making a decision.

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Themes, Theories, and Models

Affiliation.

• 1 1 Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
• PMID: 29313466
• DOI: 10.1177/1049732317750127

Although theory building is often described as the ultimate goal of qualitative research, an examination of articles in Qualitative Health Research ( QHR) shows that themes are actually the typical format for reporting results. In addition, articles that rely on themes often present low-level theories in the form of models that connect these themes. Because models have received less attention than either themes or theories, this article concentrates on summarizing four different kinds of models: hierarchies, timelines, processes, and cycles. In each of these cases, it presents both a general illustration of such a model and a realistic example from a published article in QHR. It concludes with a call for greater recognition of the role that models play in capturing the results of qualitative research.

Keywords: methodology; qualitative analysis; reflexivity; theory development.

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8 Key Elements of a Research Paper Structure + Free Template (2024)

Table of contents

Brinda Gulati

Welcome to the twilight zone of research writing. You’ve got your thesis statement and research evidence, and before you write the first draft, you need a wireframe — a structure on which your research paper can stand tall. 

When you’re looking to share your research with the wider scientific community, your discoveries and breakthroughs are important, yes. But what’s more important is that you’re able to communicate your research in an accessible format. For this, you need to publish your paper in journals. And to have your research published in a journal, you need to know how to structure a research paper.

Here, you’ll find a template of a research paper structure, a section-by-section breakdown of the eight structural elements, and actionable insights from three published researchers.

Let’s begin!

Why is the Structure of a Research Paper Important?

A research paper built on a solid structure is the literary equivalent of calcium supplements for weak bones.

Richard Smith of BMJ says, “...no amount of clever language can compensate for a weak structure."

There’s space for your voice and creativity in your research, but without a structure, your paper is as good as a beached whale — stranded and bloated.

A well-structured research paper:

• Communicates your credibility as a student scholar in the wider academic community.
• Facilitates accessibility for readers who may not be in your field but are interested in your research.
• Promotes clear communication between disciplines, thereby eliminating “concept transfer” as a rate-limiting step in scientific cross-pollination.
• Increases your chances of getting published!

Research Paper Structure Template

Why Was My Research Paper Rejected?

A desk rejection hurts — sometimes more than stubbing your pinky toe against a table.

Oftentimes, journals will reject your research paper before sending it off for peer review if the architecture of your manuscript is shoddy. 

The JAMA Internal Medicine , for example, rejected 78% of the manuscripts it received in 2017 without review. Among the top 10 reasons? Poor presentation and poor English . (We’ve got fixes for both here, don’t you worry.)

5 Common Mistakes in a Research Paper Structure

• Choppy transitions : Missing or abrupt transitions between sections disrupt the flow of your paper. Read our guide on transition words here. 
• Long headings : Long headings can take away from your main points. Be concise and informative, using parallel structure throughout.
• Disjointed thoughts : Make sure your paragraphs flow logically from one another and support your central point.
• Misformatting : An inconsistent or incorrect layout can make your paper look unprofessional and hard to read. For font, spacing, margins, and section headings, strictly follow your target journal's guidelines.
• Disordered floating elements : Ill-placed and unlabeled tables, figures, and appendices can disrupt your paper's structure. Label, caption, and reference all floating elements in the main text.

What Is the Structure of a Research Paper? 

The structure of a research paper closely resembles the shape of a diamond flowing from the general ➞ specific ➞ general. 

We’ll follow the IMRaD ( I ntroduction , M ethods , R esults , and D iscussion) format within the overarching “context-content-conclusion” approach:

➞ The context sets the stage for the paper where you tell your readers, “This is what we already know, and here’s why my research matters.”

➞ The content is the meat of the paper where you present your methods, results, and discussion. This is the IMRad (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format — the most popular way to organize the body of a research paper. 

➞ The conclusion is where you bring it home — “Here’s what we’ve learned, and here’s where it plays out in the grand scheme of things.”

Now, let’s see what this means section by section.

1. Research Paper Title

A research paper title is read first, and read the most. 

The title serves two purposes: informing readers and attracting attention . Therefore, your research paper title should be clear, descriptive, and concise . If you can, avoid technical jargon and abbreviations. Your goal is to get as many readers as possible.

In fact, research articles with shorter titles describing the results are cited more often . 

An impactful title is usually 10 words long, plus or minus three words. 

For example:

• "Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria" (word count = 7)
• “A Review of Practical Techniques For the Diagnosis of Malaria” (word count = 10)

2. Research Paper Abstract

In an abstract, you have to answer the two whats :

• What has been done?
• What are the main findings?

The abstract is the elevator pitch for your research. Is your paper worth reading? Convince the reader here. 

✏️ NOTE : According to different journals’ guidelines, sometimes the title page and abstract section are on the same page. 

An abstract ranges from 200-300 words and doubles down on the relevance and significance of your research. Succinctly.  

This is your chance to make a second first impression. 

If you’re stuck with a blob of text and can’t seem to cut it down, a smart AI elf like Wordtune can help you write a concise abstract! The AI research assistant also offers suggestions for improved clarity and grammar so your elevator pitch doesn’t fall by the wayside. 

Get Wordtune for free > Get Wordtune for free >

3. Introduction Section

What does it do.

Asks the central research question.

Pre-Writing Questions For the Introduction Section

The introduction section of your research paper explains the scope, context, and importance of your project. 

I talked to Swagatama Mukherjee , a published researcher and graduate student in Neuro-Oncology studying Glioblastoma Progression. For the Introduction, she says, focus on answering three key questions:

• What isn’t known in the field? 
• How is that knowledge gap holding us back?
• How does your research focus on answering this problem?

When Should You Write It?

Write it last. As you go along filling in the body of your research paper, you may find that the writing is evolving in a different direction than when you first started. 

Organizing the Introduction

Visualize the introduction as an upside-down triangle when considering the overall outline of this section. You'll need to give a broad introduction to the topic, provide background information, and then narrow it down to specific research. Finally, you'll need a focused research question, hypothesis, or thesis statement. The move is from general ➞ specific.

✨️ BONUS TIP: Use the famous CARS model by John Swales to nail this upside-down triangle. 

4. methods section.

Describes what was done to answer the research question, and how.

Write it first . Just list everything you’ve done, and go from there. How did you assign participants into groups? What kind of questionnaires have you used? How did you analyze your data? 

Write as if the reader were following an instruction manual on how to duplicate your research methodology to the letter. 

Organizing the Methods Section

Here, you’re telling the story of your research. 

Write in as much detail as possible, and in the chronological order of the experiments. Follow the order of the results, so your readers can track the gradual development of your research. Use headings and subheadings to visually format the section.

This skeleton isn’t set in stone. The exact headings will be determined by your field of study and the journal you’re submitting to. 

✨️ BONUS TIP : Drowning in research? Ask Wordtune to summarize your PDFs for you!

5. results section .

Reports the findings of your study in connection to your research question.

Write the section only after you've written a draft of your Methods section, and before the Discussion.

This section is the star of your research paper. But don't get carried away just yet. Focus on factual, unbiased information only. Tell the reader how you're going to change the world in the next section. The Results section is strictly a no-opinions zone.

How To Organize Your Results 

A tried-and-true structure for presenting your findings is to outline your results based on the research questions outlined in the figures.

Whenever you address a research question, include the data that directly relates to that question.

What does this mean? Let’s look at an example:

Here's a sample research question:

How does the use of social media affect the academic performance of college students?

Make a statement based on the data:

College students who spent more than 3 hours per day on social media had significantly lower GPAs compared to those who spent less than 1 hour per day (M=2.8 vs. M=3.4; see Fig. 2).

You can elaborate on this finding with secondary information:

The negative impact of social media use on academic performance was more pronounced among freshmen and sophomores compared to juniors and seniors ((F>25), (S>20), (J>15), and (Sr>10); see Fig. 4).

Finally, caption your figures in the same way — use the data and your research question to construct contextual phrases. The phrases should give your readers a framework for understanding the data: 

Figure 4. Percentage of college students reporting a negative impact of social media on academic performance, by year in school.

Dos and Don’ts For The Results Section

✔️ Related : How to Write a Research Paper (+ Free AI Research Paper Writer)

6. discussion section.

Explains the importance and implications of your findings, both in your specific area of research, as well as in a broader context. 

Pre-Writing Questions For the Discussion Section

• What is the relationship between these results and the original question in the Introduction section?
• How do your results compare with those of previous research? Are they supportive, extending, or contradictory to existing knowledge?
• What is the potential impact of your findings on theory, practice, or policy in your field?
• Are there any strengths or weaknesses in your study design, methods, or analysis? Can these factors affect how you interpret your results?
• Based on your findings, what are the next steps or directions for research? Have you got any new questions or hypotheses?

Before the Introduction section, and after the Results section. 

Based on the pre-writing questions, five main elements can help you structure your Discussion section paragraph by paragraph:

• Summary : Restate your research question/problem and summarize your major findings.
• Interpretations : Identify patterns, contextualize your findings, explain unexpected results, and discuss if and how your results satisfied your hypotheses.
• Implications: Explore if your findings challenge or support existing research, share new insights, and discuss the consequences in theory or practice.
• Limitations : Acknowledge what your results couldn’t achieve because of research design or methodological choices.
• Recommendations : Give concrete ideas about how further research can be conducted to explore new avenues in your field of study. 

Dos and Don’ts For the Discussion Section

Aritra Chatterjee , a licensed clinical psychologist and published mental health researcher, advises, “If your findings are not what you expected, disclose this honestly. That’s what good research is about.”

7. Acknowledgments

Expresses gratitude to mentors, colleagues, and funding sources who’ve helped your research.

Write this section after all the parts of IMRaD are done to reflect on your research journey without getting distracted midway. 

After a lot of scientific writing, you might get stumped trying to write a few lines to say thanks. Don’t let this be the reason for a late or no-submission.

Wordtune can make a rough draft for you. 

All you then have to do is edit the AI-generated content to suit your voice, and replace any text placeholders as needed:

8. References

Lists all the works/sources used in your research with proper citations. 

The two most important aspects of referencing are: 

• Following the correct format; and 
• Properly citing the sources. 

Keep a working document of the works you’ve referenced as you go along, but leave the finishing touches for last after you’ve completed the body of your research paper — the IMRaD.

Tips For Writing the References Section

The error rate of references in several scientific disciplines is 25%-54% . 

Don’t want to be a part of this statistic? We got you.

• Choose quality over quantity : While it's tempting to pad your bibliography to seem more scholarly, this is a rookie mistake.   Samantha Summers , a museum professional based in Canada, is a published researcher in Medieval History and Critical Philanthropy studies. According to her, “Adding in a citation just to lengthen your bibliography and without engaging deeply with the cited work doesn’t make for good writing.” We ought to listen to her advice — she has three Master’s degrees to her name for a reason. 
• Select the correct referencing guide : Always cross-check with your chosen journal’s or institution’s preference for either Harvard, MLA, APA, Chicago, or IEEE. 
• Include recent studies and research : Aim to cite academically ripe sources — not overripe. Research from the past half-decade or so is ideal, whereas studies from the 80s or 90s run a higher risk of being stale. 
• Use a reliable reference manager software : Swagatama recommends several free resources that have helped her get her research organized and published — Zotero and Mendeley are top contenders, followed by EndNote . 

By the end, your References section will look something like this:

Ready, Get, Set, Publish!

Dust yourself off, we've made it out of the twilight zone. You’ve now got the diamond of the structure of a research paper — the IMRaD format within the “context-content-conclusion” model. 

Keep this structure handy as you fill in the bones of your research paper. And if you’re stuck staring at a blinking cursor, fresh out of brain juice? 

An AI-powered writing assistant like Wordtune can help you polish your diamond, craft great abstracts, and speed through drafts! 

You've got this.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Research — Exploring the Impact of Jon Jones’ Research Papers on Modern Science

Exploring The Impact of Jon Jones' Research Papers on Modern Science

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Published: Jun 13, 2024

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Introduction, methodological innovations in jon jones' research, recurrent themes in jon jones' research, implications of jon jones' findings.

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