How to build a strong manuscript? Experts says, now it's easy by answering these questions - An easy paper writing technique..!

Yes ..! Now it's easy to write a strong research paper/proposal for any journal, conference/external agencies. Simply answer the questions in every section, it helps. An easy paper writing technique for researchers.

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How to write a Research Paper / Report
GOAL of writing a paper is to infect the mind of the reader our idea, say like a virus.

TOPIC/TITLE:

Research Topic should be unique, and there should be a logical reason to study it. Topic is written in a simple, attractive, precise and in an accurate way, avoiding long sentences.

Avoid Phrases like : Investigation, Study, Novel, Facile, New etc., Similarly avoid creating or using Acronyms like : ex. FYI, LOL etc.,

ABSTRACT (Should be written Last ! )

An abstract is a concise summary of completed work / work in progress. In a minute or less a reader can learn the rationale behind the study, general approach to the problem, pertinent results, and important conclusions or new questions.

An Abstract is written in only one paragraph. (around 200-500 words)

• What was done ? What was found ? (Contribution)
• What is the problem this paper addresses ? (Problem)
• What other approaches exist ? (Background)
• What can we do now that we couldn’t do before? Quantify if possible. (New Capability / Originality / Value)
• What was the significance of this work and what problem can change the world ? (Significance / Approach / Design / Methodology)
• Why was it done ? (Need / Purpose)
• Why is this problem hard ? and /or the difficulty other solutions face ? (Challenge)
• What did you discover? or How did you approach the problem differently? (Insight)
• When and where was it done ? (duration and location)
• Who/Whom got benefited ? (Stake holders)
• What is the specific detail about the solution. (Solution / Findings)
• What is a quick gist of the evidence (say a proof, an implementation or quantitative result) we have for our approach (Evidence)

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of an introduction is to acquaint the reader with the rationale behind the work, with the intention of defending it.

It places your work in a theoretical context, and enables the reader to understand and appreciate your objectives.

• Introduction is generally written in two to three paragraphs (500~800 words – typically one page)What is the rationale for this study ? (Purpose)
• What is still unknown or still needs a solution (Problem statement)
• What is the importance of the study? or Why was this worth doing in the first place? (Significance)
• What is already available? (Historical / Background Knowledge)
• What problem is identified? and the main outcomes of this research and why is it unique? (Objective)
• What is the Basic Concept? (Concept)
• What solution we propose? or What exactly is the predicted result of the entire project ? (Hypothesis Achieved)
• What was the reasons that led us to select this hypothesis? (Reasoning)
• Why did we use this particular organism or system? (Defend the model)
• What are its advantages? (suitability from a theoretical point of view as well as indicate practical reasons for using it) (Advantage)
• What is the brief description of the experimental design? and how it accomplished the stated objectives?
• How is the rest of the research paper organized? (Paper Structure)

Include statements like : “To determine whether……”, “The purpose of this study was to……..”, “This study tested the hypothesis set forth……”, “This study was undertaken to……”

Note: The list of our contributions that we write in the introduction drives the entire paper. Our introduction makes “Claims” and the

body of the paper “Provides evidence to support each claim”.

ANALYSIS

The purpose of the analysis phase is to analyze and summarize the existing literature/ experimental work done, and the existing materials / methods / general procedure etc., so that the reader may use for their study or judge the merit of our work. It is a step-bystep description of how we arrived at the problem (800~1000 words)

• What are the existing works in this field and why isn’t it already solved? (Background)
• What did we understand from the existing work? – (refer bloom’s verbs and create atleast 4-5 questions)
• What is our analysis of the existing work? – (refer bloom’s verbs and create atleast 4-5 questions)
• What is our Identified research work, its depth and why we have chosen this approach? (Justifications)
• What are all the Tools / Technologies / Equipment’s / Models / Dataset / Tasks / knowledge / Skills / Abilities / Attitude / Values required for our research? and why did we select them ?

DESIGN

The purpose of the design phase is to propose the Plan of Conduction of our research study activity. It is a step-by-step description of how we designed a solution for the problem (800~1000 words)

• What is the overall layout / outline and Plan of our study? (Mindmap)
• What is our Step-by-step study conduction procedure? (Flowchart)
• What were our sample / Initial Prototype tests? (Proof of Concept)
• What were our opening points and closing points of our research study? (Boundary Conditions)
• What is the created evaluation strategy for our study? (Test Strategy)

DEVELOPMENT

The purpose of the development phase is to propose the development steps of our research study activity. It is a step-by-step description of how we have developed the solution for the problem (800~1000 words)

• What is that we created as a new research content? (Mindmap)
• What new demonstrations or actual experimentation did we create? (Work)
• What methods are used to gather all data, analysis, plots and tables?
• What are the test strategy adopted and how did we plan to demonstrate the same?

IMPLEMENTATION

The purpose of the implementation phase is to tell the steps of how the research sequence was conducted (500~800 words)

• What is the procedure we followed for the development / delivery / data collection etc.,? (Flow)
• How did we create the research sequence? - (refer bloom’s verbs and create atleast 4-5 questions)
• How did we measure reactions, collect data, check accuracy and test?

EVALUATION

The purpose of the evaluation phase is to observe results and interpret findings (800~1000 words)

• What did we evaluate in this study ? (refer bloom’s verbs and create atleast 4-5 questions)
• How does our finding compare / contrast / improve itself with those of others?
• Are there any unexpected findings / innovations?
• What did we learn from the results and what can we interpret as findings, what is its significance? (Discussion)
• Are there any limitations / discrepancies / generalizability / interpretations etc.,?

CONCLUSION

The purpose of conclusion phase is to summarize and suggest future directions results and interpret findings (200~500 words)

• What did we expect and what did we find?
• What is the significance that we could derive from this study and why did it occur?
• Who all could benefit and what else could be improved for further study?

Happy Research Writings...!

--- Compiled by Prof. Rajeev Sukumaran, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai.