#OUTLINE EXAMPLE HOW TO#

You reduce it even more, down to the absolute essential elements, to create your manuscript title you choose your keywords on the basis of the summary presented here and you expand it into the introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections of your paper without contradicting yourself or losing the logical thread. If you draft this abstract outline carefully, you can use it as the basis for every other part of your paper. Answering these key questions for yourself first (with keywords or short sentences) and then sticking to the same structure and information when drafting your article will ensure that your story is consistent and that there are no logical gaps or contradictions between the different sections of a research paper.

They will eventually be omitted and replaced by the usual headers, such as Introduction/Background, Aim, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, etc. These questions form the structure of not only a typical research paper abstract but also a typical article manuscript. What should you/we/someone else do now?.Additional Tips for Outlining a Research Paper in EnglishĪbstract-Style Research Paper Outline FormatĪ research paper outline in abstract style consists, like the abstract of a research paper, of short answers to the essential questions that anyone trying to understand your work would ask.The type of outline you use also depends on how clear the story you want to tell is and how much organizing and structuring of information you still need to do before you can draft your actual paper.Īn outline acts like a scaffolding, giving structure to your work so you can fill out the details of your research paper more smoothly. There are two different methods of creating an outline: let’s call these “abstract style” and “paper style.” These names reflect how briefly you summarize your work at this initial point, or show how extensive and complicated the methods and designs you used and the data you collected are.

#OUTLINE EXAMPLE HOW TO#

It includes how to organize everything you have done and thought about and want to say about your work into a clear structure you can use as the basis for your research paper. What is a research paper outline?Ĭreating a research project outline entails more than just listing bullet points (although you can use bullet points and lists in your outline). But here we want to talk about how to make an outline after you have done a research project or thesis work and are not quite sure how to put everything together into a written thesis to hand in or a research paper manuscript to submit to a journal. That is certainly one useful (if not overly formalized) way of using outlining to prepare to draft an academic text. You can find various templates and examples for such outlines, which usually begin with “put your thesis statement/research question at the top” and then ask you to decide whether to add your supporting ideas/points in “alphanumeric,” “decimal,” or “full-sentence” style. You sometimes have to submit an essay outline or a research proposal checklist for a research project before you do most of the actual research to show that you have understood the assignment, defined a good research question or hypothesis, and contemplated the structure of your research paper.

Outline example