The Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Research Papers

Every researcher wants to submit an excellent research paper at the termination of their research. Your piece of writing is the only medium that conveys your hard work to the readers. Whether you write an abstract, a research paper, research proposals or thesis, your ways of presenting the data and your writing style all together create a holistic picture of you. Owing to the utter significance of a research paper, here are some tips that can ease the complicated process of writing.

The following is a list of Do’s and Don’ts to remember as you begin to pen down your work:
The Do’s:

  1. Communicate your work clearly and precisely. Remember you are presenting a novel work done; you don’t have to write stories.
  2. Spotlight the ideas and methodologies involved. Discuss specific reasons to justify your research.
  3. Your innovative ideas and methodologies can be followed by future researchers, therefore, doubly verify the accuracy and correctness of the data you present.
  4. Your presented materials should give a thorough conception of the topic and all its aspects.
  5. Refer diverse sources of research for trustworthy and most up-to-date information.
  6. Do scrutinize your research stuff and information for reliability and present it with ample analysis and logic to show how it conveys and supports your research.
  7. Provide solid evidences and sufficient supporting arguments to reinforce your findings.
  8. Fill your paper with scientific terminologies. Write your paper with only enough detail about the research work.
  9. Maintain a track of the bibliography and references. Sort data by source or mark your notes so as to remember where individual facts came from.
  10. Proof read the paper several times. Do not hesitate to take help of your friends/peers/colleagues/professional editors in proof reading and fine tuning the paper.

And the Don’ts:

  1. Do not misrepresent yourself. Be honest to the readers.
  2. Don’t include anything that doesn’t answer the questions. It won’t lead to any new conclusion about your work.
  3. Don’t lengthen your paper unnecessarily. Relevant and to the point data is sufficient to frame your work and make your point.
  4. Don’t reveal incomplete or absurd reasons for doing the research.
  5. Don’t exceed the recommended word limits. This gives an impression that you don’t know how to follow guidelines, manage within limitations or systematize your findings.
  6. Don’t make too many generalizations. A paper full of overviews gives an impression that you do not have anything to say.
  7. Don’t write in a vacuum. Make sure that each of your findings support the cause.
  8. Don’t forget to reference any supporting material or related research done by other prominent researchers’ it augments and complements the research paper.
  9. Don’t cite Wikipedia.  Rather find an absolutely reliable source for your citations.
  10. Don’t plagiarize and always proof read your work before submission.

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