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.
Abstract
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.
Conclusion
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 Bibliography section.
Appendices
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.
If other researchers use the same methods as a paper but cannot achieve the same results, the paper could be said to lack:
- a. repetition
b. replicability
c. reliability
d. validityOne of the most important aspects of the results and discussion section is:
- a. an elaborate interpretation of the findings
b. a repeat of the literature review
c. a statement of how a research question was answered
d. a justification for why either quantitative or qualitative methods were usedWhen presenting the results from the interviews for the qualitative analysis:
- a. it is important to include the
participants' names
b. do not include any background information about the case
c. be sure to explain which codes, categories, and themes emerged from content analysis
d. it is important to explain how process tracing was used to link the independent and dependent variables togetherWhich of the following should not be included in the methods and data section?
-
a. The operationalization of the concepts used in the analysis
b. The source of data analyzed
c. An explanation of statistical tests performed
d. An interpretation of the research findingsAn abstract generally should:
- a. be short
b. include an argument for the validity of indicators
c. include an argument on how previous scholarship guided the researcher
d. not state the research questionWhere should a research paper's overall conclusion first be seen by a reader?
- a. Conclusions
b. Introduction
c. Theory and Hypotheses
d. AbstractWhich section should provide recommendations of how other researchers could improve on research be included?
- a. Methods and Data
b. Results and Discussion
c. References
d. ConclusionWhich of the following is NOT a likely reason for a negative finding?
- a. Indicators the researcher used were not reliable or valid
b. The sample was not an appropriate representation of the research population
c. The literature review was not complete
d. The theory is incorrectWhat is meant by the “frame” of a paper?
- a. The abstract and literature review
b. The literature review, methods and data, and results and conclusion section
c. The introduction and conclusion
d. The abstract, introduction, and conclusionWhich of the following is the correct order to write a research paper?
- a. Literature review, theory and hypotheses, methods and data, results and discussion, conclusion, introduction, abstract, references
b. Introduction, theory and hypotheses, literature review, methods and data,results and discussion, conclusion, abstract, references
c. Methods and data, theory and hypotheses, literature review, results and discussion, conclusion, abstract, references
d. Abstract, literature review, theory and hypothesis, results and discussion, methods and data, conclusion, referencesTrue or False: Correlation in quantitative analysis does not imply causation
- a. True
b. FalseThe Literature Review:
- a. is the main focus of a research paper
b. is not the main focus of a research paper
c. should thoroughly explain the hypotheses and theories
d. should explain the results of your own researchThe methods and data section should outline:
- a. how the researcher
answered his or her research question
b. the researcher's theories and hypotheses
c. the researcher's results
d. the researcher's conclusionsWhich of the following is a general outline organized by predetermined sections?
- a. Template
b. Platform
c. Sketch
d. ProposalA significant result should be balanced with its:
- a. magnitude
b. theory
c. conclusion
d. correlationWhat is ex post theorizing?
- a. The conclusion of your findings
b. Creating a theory prior to your research
c. How your hypothesis related to your theory
d. The development of new explanations based on what you now understandWhich of the following is NOT one of the three main points you should include in your conclusion?
- a. Reiterating whether or not you were able to support your hypotheses with the data you collected and analyzed with either the quantitative or qualitative analyses
b. Providing the reader an idea of how the research could have been improved and if new questions based on the research findings have emerged.
c. Creating a new control variable that will alter the findings in order to conform to your hypothesis
d. Containing a discussion of how the findings from the research can be generalized to other cases.Which word should you avoid using in your paper?
-
a. Prove
b. Conclude
c. Generalization
d. InconclusiveWhy is it important to write a strong abstract, introduction, and conclusion?
- a. Because these are often the sections that readers study first
b. Because these are the only sections that contain the research question and overall findings of the research project
c. Because these are the shortest sections of the paper
d. Because of replicabilityAn abstract can sometimes look like:
- a. a literature review
b. a methods and data section
c. an annotated bibliography
d. operationalization