What to Expect in Writing (and Reading!) a Research Report
Most papers written in the social sciences, life sciences, nursing, and education usually follow the same basicstructure and use APA style. Although these areas of study may be different, the methods of writing, presentingevidence, and explaining the research process are very similar. Most quantitative (and some qualitative) papersinclude the same organization and order:
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Review of Literature
4. Methodology
5. Findings (also called “Results”. This is where you explain the outcomes of your analysis.)
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
8. References (follows APA guidelines for citing sources)
9. Appendices (if needed)
You can use this online outline creator to help in the initial stages of creating your research report. For the purpose of creating your outline, the abstract section has been left out. The abstract is typically something that you should plan to write last because it is where you briefly summarize in about 150-300 words the entire study.
If you wish to download and save your outline as a .txt after filling out each form here, then you should enter your first initial and last name in the form below. When you get to the “References” section at the end, you will then be able to download your work!