How to write a research paper - Part 2

Abstract & Keywords

Abstract

Abstract is a brief representation of your overall research work and its output. In general there is word limit (maximum 200 words) for abstract for publication in journal. Reader can understand quality of your article by reading the abstract. So you have to be very specific about your research output. First one or two line will contain the need of your research output. Then describe little bit about the methods you have used in conducting the experiments. After that research output has to be mentioned briefly. If something new you got from your research that must be included in your abstract. In abstract references should not be cited. Figure 5 represents a sample abstract of a research paper.

Keywords

Keywords are necessary for visibility of your research in search engine. Selection of keywords should be very specific to your article so that it can describe specifically what you have investigated. Keywords indirectly help to increase citation of any article. Many journals have their specific format for writing the keywords, such as first letter of each keywords must be capital letter, etc. Five to six keywords are sufficient for a research article. Figure 5 presents a sample of a research paper showing keywords of the article.

Figure 5. A sample of a research paper showing abstract of the article and keywords.

 

Introduction

First part of introduction must contain the general overview related to your research area and the problem associated with this area with respect to present context. In second part of introduction you have to present background literature review related to your research. From the previous published literature you try to find out the research gaps and include it in introduction. For presenting the literature review you have to read some research papers or review papers related to your research topic. Then select some article from there and cite the articles as per the requirement. During presentation of literature review you must have to cite in-text references in proper format. The citation format of in-text references is different for different journals. Figure 6 indicates sample of a research article showing introduction of the article. Figure 7 shows sample of three different format of in-text citation for three different journals.In third or last part of introduction you have to mention the objective and hypothesis of your research work. The importance of your research work in the present context can also be included here. In general there is no word limit in the introduction of research paper.

Figure 6. A sample of a research article showing introduction of the article.

Figure 7. Sample of three different research papers showing the different format of in-text citations.

Experimental (Materials and Methods)

Materials and methods section should be written in details mentioning all the parameters so that readers can easily understand. This section should be written in past tense and in passive voice. Depending on the type of your article, either it is theoretical study or experimental study, the materials and methods has to be written. Two different parts of the experimental such as materials and methods are discussed in detail below.

 

Materials

Here you have to mention about the raw materials used for your experiment. The raw materials include feed stock, any chemicals, solvent used for your experiment, etc. Specification with manufacturer of the raw materials must be mentioned along with the raw materials.

Materials

Under method section you have to mention about the experimental details which you have used in carrying out your research operations. For example you have used some methods for the synthesis of materials then you have done its applications. In that case you have to describe about the materials synthesis process and then you have to describe about the characterization techniques for the synthesized materials. Characterization of synthesized materials is necessary to confirm whether your desired material has been formed or not. Regarding application of the materials again you have to describe about the application process. You can write experimental instead of materials and methods as I have shown in Figure 8. You can also make subsection of experimental section.

Figure 8. A sample of a research paper showing experimental or materials and methods and its subsection.

   

The snapshots are taken from the following articles

1. De A, Boxi SS. Application of Cu impregnated TiO₂ as aeterogeneousnanocatalyst for the production of biodiesel from palm oil. Fuel 2020; 265: 117019 (6pp).

2. Boxi SS, Paria S. Visible light induced enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous media using Ag doped hollow TiO₂nanospheres. RSC Adv 2015; 5: 37657-37668.

3. Wang Q, Jiang Z, Wang Y, Chen D, Yang D. Photocatalytic properties of porous C-doped TiO₂ and Ag/C-doped TiO₂ nanomaterials by eggshell membrane templating. J Nanopart Res 2009; 11: 375–384.

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