How to Write a Proposal and What to Include?

A research proposal discusses what and how you are going to research. Proposals are always written before the rest of the project and they require the approval of the committee. These are the main parts that should be included in a proposal:

1. introduction (statement of the problem, purpose of research, significance of study);
2. background (a preliminary literature review);
3. methodology (research method, sampling and stages of research);
4. expected outcomes and possible implications;
5. list of references.

These are general recommendations on how to prepare a proposal:

• make it brief (usually no longer than 2 pages), attractive and persuasive;
• use the future tense and academic writing style – no colloquialisms or contractions, please;
• give the rationale for everything you write, in order to persuade your audience: why have you have chosen this research question? Why have you have chosen this research method?
• stick to the topic right from the start (“This paper will investigate…” is the best beginning for a proposal);
• show that you have done a thorough research;
• use bullet points, if necessary;
• include a reference list and cite all the sources in the proper way.

How to Write a Proposal in 5 Easy Steps

Actually, those who wonder how to make a proposal that wins have only 5 easy steps to take:

1. Clearly formulate your research question. The best way is to choose between these main types of research questions:
   • Does X exist?
   • What is X like?
   • Is X different from Y?
   • What are the components of X?
   • Is there a relationship between X and Y?
   • Does X cause changes in Y?
2. Choose the best suitable research methods and tools:
   • qualitative research can be used for discussing certain characteristics and relations between them;
   • quantitative research uses calculations and statistical methods for testing hypotheses.
3. Decide who will participate in your research and how you will choose the participants (if necessary). This is called sampling. There are 2 main sampling methods:
   • convenience sampling – uses the most easily accessible participants, such as conducting an interview with students form one group or college, for example;
   • representative sampling – uses participants carefully chosen to represent different groups of population, such as different ethnic and social groups living in the community.
4. Conduct a preliminary review of related literature (around 10 – 15 sources).
5. Define expected outcomes of your investigation and its potential implications. Sure, at this stage you cannot be certain about the results. Still, you should make some suppositions to show that you clearly understand your goals and possible scenarios.

So, now you clearly understand how to write proposals and are ready to take these 5 easy steps to your excellent grade.

Obstacle 1 – choosing a topic

Actually, even this very first step of research paper writing can get on your nerves if you let it. Accept the fact that the choice of a good topic is critical for the success of your entire project. Be prepared to spend some time on digging it out. Here are some good suggestions for you:

1. Why do students have only 3 months of summer holidays?
2. Shouldn’t universities that offer “African American” studies have “European American” studies too?
3. Should ESL students be allowed to use their native languages in content courses?
4. Should the United Kingdom adopt the Euro? Why (not)?
5. Do online music-sharing programs violate anti-piracy laws?
6. Does product packaging contribute to the consumerism culture?

Obstacle 2 – the collection of materials

The next critical moment is the collection of materials. Do you feel as if nobody else but you has ever investigated this topic? Congratulations! Finding a fresh topic is a piece of luck. Yet, even in this case, search for materials that are at least closely related to your research question, even if they don’t necessarily address the same issue. If you really cannot find any related source, you should consider changing your topic – it is the obvious and easiest way out!

Obstacle 3 – the creation of an outline

Before you finally start writing a research paper, you should first have a concrete plan. The difficulties with making an outline can simply drive you crazy. Consider the following principles of a good outline – they will make its writing less frustrating:

• logic (make sure the structure you use has sense);
• subordination (use broader ideas for headings and narrower ones for subheadings);
• parallelism (use identical constructions for all sections).

Obstacle 4 – writing different sections

Sure, the climax of your research writing process is the writing of the different sections of your report. However, this can seem at times so difficult that it might even lead to a nervous breakdown. For maintaining your peace of mind, look through the following time-proven recipe for writing a research article:

Introduction. State the problem, research objectives, and a hypothesis.

Literature review. Discuss what other scholars wrote about the research problem. Divide the materials you have found into groups according to the authors’ opinions. Try to find some gaps in existing research.

Methodology. Discuss what research method (qualitative or quantitative) and what instruments (interviews, questionnaires, surveys etc.) you are going to use. Mention which sampling method you chose for selecting the participants.

Findings. What are the findings of your study? List them, but do not interpret or analyze them, because you will have the next section for this.

Discussion. Discuss, analyze and interpret your findings. Clearly state what your findings mean.

Limitations. What could prevent you from making entirely objective conclusions? In what situations might your recommendations not be appropriate?

Conclusion and recommendations. State whether your findings support or refute your initial hypothesis. Include recommendations for further research.

Obstacle 5 – proofreading

The last obstacle you face when writing a research report is the proofreading of your project. It can be so annoying that some students even decide to skip it. You should better avoid this mistake! Hold your breath and make this last effort before the successful completion of your project:

• Check the sentence structures you used in your text – avoid using sentence fragments and run-on sentences. (A sentence fragment: The student writing a research paper. A run-on sentence: The student did not proofread a research report, his teacher gave him a poor mark.)
• Check your paper for common grammar errors: incorrect subject-verb agreement or sequence of tenses.
• Check your report for all sorts of typos.
• Check your paper for logical inconsistencies ( E.g. every reference list entry should have at least one corresponding in-text citation; every in-text citation should have a corresponding reference list entry.)

At last, we came to the end of obstacles that you have to overcome during a research project. Now you only need some practice to become an ace in writing a research paper while maintaining your peace of mind.

A Free Research Proposal Example

A research proposal should briefly discuss all important details of your future investigation. This is why you should include all the following sections from this research proposal example in your proposal:

OBJECTIVE What are you going to study? Create a brief roadmap for your project. Avoid beating around the bush and directly state your objective: “This study analyzes…”

This study analyzes the effects of teachers’ non-verbal responses on students’ outcomes. Specifically, it investigates the relation between teacher’s postures, gestures, facial expressions, eye contacts and humor on one hand and, on the other hand, students’ perceptions of his/her professionalism. First, this project will show that students consider teachers’ non-verbal responses as important means of communication in the classroom setting. Next, this study will explore teachers’ attitudes to non-verbal communication. Finally, it will offer possible solutions that could help teachers use non-verbal cues more effectively.

HYPOTHESIS What are you going to prove? Make it simple: “The hypothesis of this study is…”

The hypothesis of this study is that there is a direct relationship between teachers’ positive non-verbal cues, such as postures, gestures, facial expressions, eye contacts and humor and students’ motivation.

BACKGROUND What have scholars written about this problem? Are there any controversies or gaps in literature?

Subapriya (2009) and Negi (2009) stated that that teacher’s non-verbal communication can be an effective alternative to discipline techniques. On the other hand, Andrade and Williams (2009) noted that the impact of teachers’ non-verbal responses on students’ performance is insignificant. There is a gap in the literature exploring students’ perceptions of teacher’s non-verbal cues. This study will try to fill this gap.

SIGNIFICANCE Why is your study valuable today?

Modern teaching methods are different from previous methods in which students were only “passive listeners”. Modern methods require students’ active participation in study sessions. This is why the warm relationship between students and teachers, as well as the psychological climate in the classroom play an important role in present day education.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK What definitions and/or categories are you going to use?

This study will use the classification of non-verbal cues and responses that was created by Subapriya (2009).

METHODOLOGY What research methods are you going to use? Who will be the participants of your study?

This study will use the qualitative research method. Questionnaires will be distributed among 50 students and 20 teachers of the Seattle high school. Convenience sampling will be used for selecting the participants for this study, because it is the most cost-effective method for this research.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES What is the expected result of your investigation?

This study will evaluate the importance of non-verbal cues as a component of teaching strategies. The main expected outcome is a set of effective solutions to help teachers make best use of non-verbal cues as teaching strategies.

REFERENCES What literature did you use to write this proposal? (10 – 15 sources are usually enough even for a dissertation proposal). Note that this example of a research proposal uses the APA format to cite sources, but you should follow the rules of the citation style recommended by your supervisor.

Comments on the Research Proposal Example

5 reasons why it is a good example of a research proposal:

1. It includes only specific and relevant information.
2. It discusses only the most important aspects of the proposed investigation.
3. It offers arguments for using certain methods.
4. It is well-structured.
5. It uses simple and direct language.

5 reasons why you should work hard on your own research proposal sample:

1. It can become the perfect start to a perfect paper.
2. It will help you avoid potential errors during investigation.
3. It helps you build a strong strategy for your investigation.
4. It is your chance to produce the first positive impression on the committee.
5. If you have procrastinated trying to avoid the unpleasant moment of starting your research, you can use proposal writing as your chance to start the investigation. It is not as hard as report writing and it will help you get ready for the actual research work.

Now, after reading and analyzing this sample, you clearly understand the main principles of effective proposal writing. It is high time you started working on your own research proposal examples.

Outline for Research Paper Projects: 3 Quick Steps

An outline is a detailed plan of your project. Creating a good and truly effective outline can be easy if you take the following 3 quick steps:

1. Clearly define your research problem and choose the best ways for investigating it. Check these explanations of the two main research methods that you can use and choose the one that best fits your project (unless your teacher asks you specifically to use one of them):
   • The qualitative research method aims to view the problem from different perspectives to gain an in-depth understanding of all issue and factors involved. Tools that can be used include experiments, interviews, surveys, observations, case studies, etc. (For example, you can use the qualitative method to analyze students’ attitudes towards a new teaching method, by collecting and evaluating their opinions.)
   • The quantitative research method tests a hypothesis using mathematical and statistical methods. Tools that can be used include experiments, questionnaires, surveys, analysis, etc. (For example, you can evaluate the effectiveness of a new teaching method by comparing students’ test scores before and after the introduction of a new method and checking whether there were any statistically significant differences.)
2. Choose the best format for expressing your ideas, because the same format should be used for all sections of your plan.
3. Write your outline and do not forget to include all the traditional parts of a research project:
   • introduction;
   • literature review;
   • methodology;
   • findings;
   • discussion;
   • limitations;
   • conclusion and recommendations.

Outline for Research Paper Projects: A Final Checklist

So, your research paper outline is ready, but you still have some time left. Let’s check your plan, using the following common criteria and make some improvements, if necessary:

1. Did you use identical constructions for all points?
2. Did you use broader ideas for headings and narrower ones for subheadings?
3. Is your outline logically structured?
4. Does it create a good idea of what the paper will look like?
5. Will it help you conduct effective research?
6. Is it realistic? (Do you feel confident you can achieve everything planned in the outline or is there something that you might not be able to do?)

Congratulations! Now you have a wonderful research paper plan and you can proceed to the following stages of your investigation. Feel free to check other free research paper writing tips on this blog!

How to write a bibliography of high quality

The bibliography is the last page of your project (or, if you have any appendices, the last page before them). This page includes all the sources you have used in your paper, listed in alphabetical order. The bibliography has different names in different citation styles:

• MLA – Works Cited, Bibliography;
• APA – Reference List;
• Harvard – Reference List, References;
• Chicago – Bibliography, Reference List;
• Turabian – Reference List.

So, after you start your bibliography on a new page and choose the right name for it, you may wonder how to format this page and every entry in it. Regardless of the format you use, whenever you are writing a bibliography, you should pay attention to the following rules:

1. proper formatting of the authors’ first names (for example, full names in MLA and initials in APA);
2. upper and lowercase letters for titles of books and articles;
3. quotation marks for titles of articles;
4. volume and issue numbers of scholarly journals;
5. medium of publication (required only in MLA: Print. or Web.)
6. indentation (it is not used in Harvard style).

How to write a bibliography in 20 minutes

Sure, after completing all the rest of your project, you can feel exhausted. This is why you would want to complete your bibliography in as little time as possible. Here are some valuable suggestions that will help you save time:

• Whenever you find a good source and decide to use it in your paper, cite it according to the rules of your citation style.
• Use the tools of your text editor to place your sources in alphabetical order right from the start, because arranging them manually can take a lot of time.
• Use the following combinations of keys to write and format your text:
  • Ctrl + C = copy;
  • Ctrl + V = paste;
  • Ctrl + I = italics
  • Shift + F3 = lower/ uppercase letters;
• Some college databases offer citation tools. You need to press only one button to receive a properly format citation in the necessary format. Check if your college online library has such tools and use them to the fullest.
• Use special applications, such as RefWorks, Endnote or Zotero, which can help you create a perfectly formatted citation within only a few seconds.

That was a proven recipe on how to write a bibliography of high quality in 20 minutes. Follow these simple tips, consult the guide of your citation style and enjoy the results of your work.

How to Do a Research Paper in 10 Days

Day 1: CHOOSING A TOPIC

Dear diary,
Today I looked through hundreds of tips on “how to do a research paper”and especially how to choose a topic for a project, but I feel like I am already fed up with them. Most guides say pretty much the same – that a topic has to be:

• interesting (they must be joking);
• controversial;
• manageable (can be covered in a single project.)

I found out a good topic only late at night. I was already asleep on my feet, when I decided to study the effects of sleep deprivation on brain. Eureka!
 
Day 2: RESEARCH QUESTION VS. HYPOTHESIS

I already had a few ideas about how to write a research project and worked on a research question and hypothesis, which actually have much in common:

The HYPOTHESIS states your main claim clearly in the form of a declarative sentence.

The RESEARCH QUESTION poses the main problem in the form of an interrogative sentence.

There are different types of research questions:

1. existence: Does X exist? (Do the effects of sleep deprivation exist?)
2. description: What is X or what is it like? (What are the effects of sleep deprivation?)
3. relationship: Is there a relationship between X and Y? (Is there a relationship between sleep deprivation and brain activity?)
4. cause and effect: Does X cause changes in Y and with what effects? (Does sleep deprivation cause changes in brain activity? What are these changes?)

(I chose the relationship type).
 
Day 3: ACTUAL RESEARCH

Today I gathered all sources needed for my project. Here are the main criteria that I used to filter the best sources:

• Relevant – it should discuss both sleep deprivation and brain activity.
• Contemporary – published after the year 2000.
• Credible – a book, a scholarly article or a verified web site (with extension .edu or .gov or official sites of organizations, if necessary.)

At this stage, I looked only through the abstracts, introductions and conclusions of sources to make the right choices – this was quite enough for this initial filtering.
 
Day 4: OUTLINE + CITATION STYLE

As I was still uncertain about how to write a research paper, I created first an outline, because it is always better to have an action plan:

1. Introduction
2. Main body
   • Literature review
   • Methodology
   • Results
   • Discussion
   • Recommendations
3. Conclusion

In addition, I decided to clarify how to cite sources in my paper. I had a choice between:

MLA (humanitarian courses): (Jones 96) – author’s name and page number without any punctuation marks.

APA (social sciences): (Jones, 2003, p. 96) – author’s name, year of publication and page separated by comas.

Harvard (business, economics, law): (Jones 2003, p. 96) – no punctuation marks between author’s name and year of publication and a coma between year of publication and page number.

I decided to use APA, because my subject belongs to Psychology, a social science.
 
Day 5: INTRODUCTION

I decided to forget about that obtrusive question of how to write a research paper and start instead to write the introduction part. I used the following formula:

Background info + importance of the problem + hypothesis + a thesis statement

One more secret of a good introduction is to imagine an inverted triangle and use it as a form of developing the introduction: start from the broadest statement (sleep deprivation is a common problem in present day society) and narrow it down gradually to a clear thesis statement.
 
Day 6, 7, 8: MAIN BODY

Finally, I have a pretty good idea of how to write a research report.
Literature review – in this part I discussed what others have written relevant to my research question. I divided all the studies into groups according to the authors’ perspectives and then discussed the main ideas they propose or support.

Methodology. There are qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative studies discuss the characteristics of certain phenomena. Quantitative studies use statistical data to test hypotheses. I chose a qualitative method, because I decided to conduct interviews rather than analyze statistical data only.
One more important aspect is sampling – people who will participate in my research. I decided to interview only my peer students. This means that I use convenience sampling.
Finally, I prepared the questions for my interview, making sure that I would get the kind of responses I need to answer my research question.

Results. I systematized and analyzed the results of interviews. (Most participants agreed that sleep deprivation has negative effects on their memory and concentration.)

Discussion. This is the main part of my project, and I spent a lot of time on interpreting and evaluating my findings.

Limitations. I tried to say what could prevent me from drawing appropriate conclusions. For example, the main limitation was convenience sampling (I interviewed only students that I knew or that my friends knew.)

How to Write a Term Paper of High Quality

 
Day 9: CONCLUSION+ABSTRACT+ REFERENCES

Finally, the main work was done and I could sigh with relief.
The conclusion only summarized what was already said, restated my main claim and did not add any new information.
The abstract was placed after my title page and before the outline. It is a very brief summary of the entire paper – the problem, research methods, findings and conclusions.
I also checked all citations to make sure they comply with the requirements of the APA format:

• every entry in the reference list has at least 1 in-text citation;
• every in-text citation has a corresponding entry in the reference list;
• ampersand (&) is used only in the reference list, but not in the text of the paper.

 
Day 10: PROOFREADING

I spent the whole day editing and proofreading my paper for all types of errors and then I finally sent my report to professor. It is unbelievable, only 10 days ago I had no idea on how to write a term paper…
Comment: This student received an “A” on his term paper. Do not hesitate to use these excerpts from his diary to learn how to write a research project quickly, so that you do not rack your brains or turn into a bookworm.

Good Research Paper Topics Do Not Grow on Trees

Surely, it is easier to find a good research paper topic, than to think of one from scratch. However, it might not be that easy to find topics – truly good research questions do not grow on trees. So don’t miss this opportunity and choose your topic from these great ideas:

1. Are cell phones bad for your health?
2. Is homosexuality genetic?
3. Advertising: information vs. manipulation.
4. Should businesses be ethical?
5. Is it possible to replace animal testing with other types of testing?
6. How to throw away our “throw-away” lifestyles?
7. Should developed countries help Africa?
8. Who is to blame for the European debt crisis?
9. Is the arms race over now?
10. Is China a new superpower?
11. Should students receive salaries during their studies?
12. Can standard tests measure something meaningful, apart from students’ short-term memory?
13. Does access to condoms in high schools encourage teen sex?
14. Are social networks good or bad for teens?
15. Does Internet need censorship?
16. Is there a glass ceiling in today’s society?
17. Should prostitutes have their own labor unions?
18. Is it possible to eliminate the black market?
19. What is the solution to the problem of human trafficking?
20. Online banking: pros and cons.

Good Topics for Research Papers to Grab Everyone’s Attention

Do you want to grab everyone’s attention? Discover even more good research paper questions below:

21. Are fast food restaurants or fast food eaters to blame for obesity?
22. Is food labeling effective in controlling one’s calories intake?
23. Should parents punish their children for disobedience?
24. Should spanking be outlawed?
25. Isn’t the gap year between high school and college a waste of time?
26. Has the “American dream” changed over the last decades?
27. Can religious beliefs justify terrorism?
28. Do people need a single world religion?
29. Can racial profiling be useful?
30. Islamophobia after 9/11.
31. Emotional difficulties and eating disorders.
32. Ways to encourage organ donation.
33. Should mothers of Siamese twins have an abortion?
34. The problem of personal identity in twins.
35. Does their parents’ divorce have long-term consequences for children?
36. Gender roles or gender stereotypes: where is the line?
37. Is too much competition harmful to students?
38. Do men need protection against feminists?
39. What should be done about noise pollution?
40. Should people study body language?

Impress your teachers by using any of these fresh and truly good research project ideas. Writing good research papers does not need to be difficult. Now that you have a brilliant idea, you are half way to your stunning success.

APA Research Paper: Before You Write

“How should I start an APA research project?”, you may ask. Obviously, you should first come up with an interesting topic, collect relevant materials and formulate a hypothesis. However, before you write the first words of your APA term papers, you need to create a new Word document and choose settings for page layout and font. To avoid wasting time later on with for correctly right matting, choose to format the page correctly right from the start:

• 1 inch margins on all sides (2.54 cm);
• font 12 Times New Roman;
• double spacing;
• include the page number (a simple Arabic figure: 1, 2, 3…) in the upper right corner of each page;
• include a short title of your paper preceded by the words “Running head” in the header on your cover page: Running head: SHORT TITLE OF PAPER;
• include only the short title in the header on the rest of your pages: SHORT TITLE OF PAPER.

APA Research Paper: While You Write

The next step is to consider the requirements of APA citation style while you write. This means proper formatting of in-text citations and corresponding entries in the reference list. Here are some valuable suggestions for you:

1. To avoid making a mess of your sources, cite them appropriately as soon as you start your literature review, even in your notes. If you write “Smith” or “a long PDF article” when making notes, you might later have difficulties finding the same citation again. This is why you should write the author’s full name and paper’s full title even in your notes.
2. Format citations according to the requirements of the APA style. Pay attention to every capital letter and every punctuation mark. It is best to cite sources correctly right from the start – it will save you a lot of time and effort.
3. Always include page numbers in your in-text citations: Smith (2009) noted that … (p. 24) or …(Smith 2009, p. 24). By the way, this will help you find any citation each time you need it and it will also easily increase the word count of your paper.
4. Do not use too many direct (word by word) quotations in your APA papers. Instead, carefully paraphrase. It will show your teachers that you truly understand what you are writing about. However, too many paraphrases are not good either. You might ask how many citations would be too many for an APA term paper. The answer is that citations that represent more than 30 percent of your total word count would be too much. Instead of jumping from one citation to another (practice that can also be considered plagiarism), try to go beyond your readings, generate unique ideas and express them in your own words in your academic papers.

APA Research Paper: Reference Checklist

The last but not least question about APA papers is how to format their reference lists. Here is a checklist for you:

• start the reference list on a new page;
• call it “Reference List” and write this title in the center of the page, on the first line;
• indent every second and subsequent lines of every entry;
• place all entries alphabetically;
• include at least 1 in-text citation for every entry in the reference list and 1 reference list entry for every in-text citation (you can use the combination Ctrl+F to check this).

Still, some more important questions are now left without answers. Here they are:
 
How do I cite a book in APA style?
Dunne, G. (2003). Anger and conflict management: Personal handbook. Torrance, CA: Personhood Press.

How do I cite an article in APA style?
Feizi, T., Shahbahrami, E., & Azhanden, A. (2009). The relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict management strategies in Iran University of Medical Sciences. Journal of Health Administration, 14 (44), 55-60.

How do I cite a website in APA style?
Giacomantonio, M., Pierro, A., & Kruglanski, W. (2011). Leaders’ fairness and followers’ conflict handling style: The moderating role of need for cognitive closure. International Journal of Conflict Management, 22 (4), 358 – 372. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1954528&show=abstract

How do I cite a movie in APA style?
Parkes, W. (Producer), & Sonnenfeld, B. (Director). (1997). Men in black. [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.

So, now you are definitely ready to write an APA research paper that deserves the highest grades. Do not hesitate to use this quick guide to impress your teachers.

Term paper format: main parts

MLA and APA term papers have a lot of differences and similarities. One of the main things that these papers have in common is their logical organization. Both of these term paper formats require the following parts:

1. title page;
2. abstract;
3. outline;
4. main body, containing:
   • introduction;
   • literature review;
   • methodology;
   • research findings;
   • discussion of findings;
   • conclusion and recommendations.
5. reference list;
6. appendices.

Term paper format: main peculiarities

To understand the main differences between MLA and APA term paper styles, you should pay attention to the layout of pages (especially to headers and page numbers), parenthetical (in-text) citations and works cited pages.

Layout of pages:
MLA: Write your surname and page number in the upper right corner of every page (for example: Brown 3). No other headers are needed.

APA: Use left alignment for a short title of your paper in the header. Use the words “Running head” before this short title on the title page (for example: Running head: OPTIMISM IN OUR LIFE). Write only this short title in the headers of the following pages (OPTIMISM IN OUR LIFE). Use Arabic figures for page numbers in the upper right corners. Use the option of special format for your title page (choose this option in the settings of your text editor).

Parenthetical citations:
MLA: Except for documents with no page numbers, you will need to include a page number for each and every citation you use in your MLA papers: (Smith 325).

APA: You should always write the year of publication. Indicate page numbers if you cite specific ideas from specific pages (Smith, 2009, p. 325). If you want to cite the whole book, you do not need to include a page number: (Smith, 2009).

Works cited pages:
MLA: Name it Works Cited or Bibliography

APA: Name it Reference List

Start your works cited list on a new page, order alphabetically all the entries and check out the following examples of bibliography entries:

Term paper format: some more niceties

Now you know a lot about MLA and APA layouts. Still, there are some more format issues that are common to both citation styles and deserve your careful attention. Both styles require you to use:

• font 12 Times New Roman or Arial;
• 1 inch margins (2.54 cm) on all sides;
• double spacing;
• no extra lines before and after paragraphs;
• no headings with less than 3 lines of text below them on the page.

Now that you arrived this far, you clearly see the differences and similarities between MLA and APA papers. No more confusion! Feel free to visit this page whenever you need to format your term papers.

Research paper format for beginners

In the simplest terms, format is the structure, citation style and layout of your papers. Each of these components has certain peculiarities. Beginners should start from level 1 – the structure. These are the main parts that any research project structure should have:

• title page (can be missing in MLA papers);
• abstract;
• outline or table of contents;
• introduction;
• literature review;
• methodology;
• results;
• discussion;
• conclusions and recommendations;
• reference list;
• appendices.

Research paper format: 2nd level

The next step to polishing your research paper style is to improve the page layout. Unless your teachers explicitly require something different, you should follow these common rules:

1. font 12 Times New Roman;
2. 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides;
3. double spacing for all sections;
4. page numbers in the upper right corner (preceded by your surname in MLA papers: Smith 8);
5. start your reference list on a new page;
6. do not start a new section at the bottom of a page if you do not have at least three lines for text under your heading.
7. no extra lines before and after paragraphs;

Research paper formats for advanced students

Congratulations, you are already at the highest level of format requirements! You are already so close to a happy ending!
The next step is to improve the format of your in-text citations. Note that there are different requirements for different citation styles:

1. MLA: (Smith 15) for citations from specific pages or (“Title of the Page”) for web pages or sources with no pages;
2. APA: (Smith, 2009, p. 15) or Smith (2009) noted that… (p.15) or (Smith, 2009) for the whole source or a source with no pages;
3. Harvard: (Smith 2009, p. 15) or Smith (2009) noted that… (p.15) or (Smith 2009) for the whole source or a source with no pages.

At last, you’ve reached the final battle for the perfect format of your scientific reports. Here are some wonderful examples of reference list entries for MLA, APA and Harvard citation styles. Choose the type of source and citation style you need and feel free to use the same format for your entries:

1. A book
• MLA: Hiatt, Jeffrey and Timothy Creasey. Change Management: The People Side of Change. Loveland, CO: Prosci Research Publishing, 2003. Print.
• APA: Hiatt, J. & Creasey, T. (2003). Change management: The people side of change. Loveland, CO: Prosci Research Publishing.
• Harvard: Hiatt, J & Timothy C 2003, Change management: The people side of changeProsci Research Publishing, Loveland.
2. An article in a periodical
• MLA: Gibbs, David “Sustainability Entrepreneurs, Ecopreneurs and the Development of a Sustainable Economy”. Greener Management International 55. 55 (2009): 63 – 79. Print.
• APA: Gibbs, D. (2009). Sustainability entrepreneurs, ecopreneurs and the development of a sustainable economy. Greener Management International, 55 (55), 63 – 79.
• Harvard: Gibbs, D 2009 Sustainability entrepreneurs, ecopreneurs and the development of a sustainable economy. Greener Management International, vol. 55 no. 55, pp. 63 – 79.

Congratulations!! You have done it!! Now you can be proud of the format of your research paper and your teachers will definitely appreciate it.