Structure of research papers

- Title

- Abstract*

- Table of Contents

- List of abbreviations (if any)

- Introduction (introduce area of interest, explain what drew you to it and why, explain the aims/purpose of the study, explain organisation of thesis)

- Literature review (demonstrate knowledge of what has been going on in the area thus far, define key terms/constructs, highlight key categories/distinctions, etc.)

- Research methodology (outline research questions and/or hypotheses, describe the research process, i.e. who the participants were, how the data was collected and analysed, etc.)

- Findings (summarise key discoveries)

- Discussion of findings (primarily discuss key discoveries, i.e. make claims, explain results, compare new work with previous research, offer alternative explanations, etc.; also, outline implications, limitations, suggest future research avenues, etc.)

- Conclusion (summarise thesis highlights)

- References - please use APA 7th from:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/index.html⁠

Any instance of unreferenced sources constitutes plagiarism. Also see

Academic honesty⁠

⁠

- Appendices

[Feel free to request a sample graduation thesis from Elena. NOTE: Its cover page may not abide by the current university content/layout requirements.]

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*⁠

Think of the abstract as a classified ad for your thesis and one in which you are being charged by the word. An abstract briefly states your purpose, research questions, methods, results, conclusions and recommendations. It gives readers just enough information to decide whether they want to read your thesis—it should pique their interest. Five sentences make for a good length (one each for research question, methods, results, conclusions, and recommendations). Be sure to include keywords tied to your research that can be searched in a database. Abstracts do not include parenthetical citations or footnotes. An NPS thesis abstract is typically 200 words (maximum 1,500 characters, including spaces). All theses, capstone and final project reports, and dissertations are required to contain an abstract.

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