Professional Research Report Template & Design

If some data are not really significant, do not mention them. Remember that not everything is truly important or essential within research reports. Without a doubt, good practices help to understand the report. Consider using the present tense, which makes the results sound more immediate. While writing research reports, the researcher will have to connect the dots on how the results will be applicable in the real world.

• Methods of data analysis for quantitative research is discussed in Descriptive and Inferential Statistics.
• This information may be included within the sentence or in a parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence, as in these examples.
• Often, motivation includes what we already know—or rather, what scientists generally accept as true (see “Background/previous research” below).

When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. You are referring to only certain parts of a chart or table in the text of your paper. To clearly define the columns of a rows-and-columns chart, use left justification and maintain strong alignments. Then you can de-clutter the layout by removing vertical lines between the columns (you won’t need them).

Design

We have annotated these samples to help you see the work that these authors are doing within their abstracts. The purpose of the introduction is to explain where your hypothesis comes from (i.e., it should provide a rationale for your research study).

Think about where you could expand or what you can add that fits in with the rest of your paper, further develops the ideas you are presenting, or adds valuable information to your research paper. Once you understand what you’re being asked to write in your research paper, it’s time to decide what to write about. This can be daunting, but don’t get too bent out of shape. It can be very helpful to write about something you’re interested in or passionate about, but don’t worry about choosing the perfect topic. In many cases, a controversial topic can be ideal, so that you can exercise your ability to objectively explain differing positions, and even defend one if the assignment calls for that. While your title is a simple, all-encompassing statement about your main investigation or research, the abstract gives you the space to delve into more detail and to elaborate on the main aspects of your paper.

General Format OF Thesis

If your paper is too long or too short, now is the time to cut it down or build it up to an acceptable length. Don’t just delete your conclusion because your paper is too long. Don’t waste your time playing with the font size and margins to try to make your essay longer. If you need to take something out, what makes sense to cut and how can you re-organize your paper so that it maintains a strong structure? If you need to lengthen your paper, don’t just randomly add words or repeat things you have already said.

Here’s where you take all the information from your research and put it into words. To avoid getting overwhelmed, simply follow your outline step by step to make sure you don’t accidentally leave out anything. Really, you should start thinking about your outline during the research phase, when you start to notice patterns and trends. If you’re stuck, try making a list of all the key points, details, and evidence you want to mention. See if you can fit them into general and specific categories, which you can turn into headings and subheadings respectively. Really, when people talk about “reports,” they’re usually referring to official documents outlining the facts of a topic, typically written by an expert on the subject or someone assigned to investigate it.

Headings

The formatting rules and guidelines for APA Style are designed for comprehensive research papers. APA journals began publishing papers in seventh edition APA Style in 2020. Professional authors should check the author submission guidelines for the journal to which they want to submit their paper for any journal-specific style requirements. Finally, we offer these sample papers in Microsoft Word (.docx) format without the annotations.

Research instruments — if you used a camera, or a recorder, or some other device to gather information and it is important for the reader to understand how, pay to do assignment when, and/or where that device was used. Interview Transcripts — in qualitative research, interviewing respondents is often used to gather information.

Literature Review

Often, the topic is assigned for you, as with most business reports, or predetermined by the nature of your work, as with scientific reports. If that’s the case, you can ignore this step and move on. Introduction explains the overall topic that you’re about to discuss, with your thesis statement and any need-to-know background information before you get into your own findings.

You still need to edit your paper before it’s ready to turn in. Remember how you weren’t supposed to worry about being perfect? You still don’t need to worry, but it is time to make your paper as perfect as you possibly can. If you quote something word-for-word, you need to cite your source. You will also need to include more information about the quote on a Works Cited or References page.

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

Through this section readers can gain a clear understanding on preferences of the target group. The summary section of a market report gives a brief overview of the purpose and the result of the research. Thus at the very beginning the reader gets a clear understanding on what to expect from the report.

Start with the title, the introduction, then document the first discoveries and continue from that. Once the marketers have the information well documented, they can write a general conclusion. Survey questions might not be the ideal or most effective order for writing research reports. The idea is to start with a broader topic and work towards a more specific one and focus on a conclusion or support, which a research should support with the facts. Depending on your field of study, you may sometimes write research papers that present extensive primary research, such as your own experiment or survey. In your abstract, summarize your research question and your findings, and briefly indicate how your study relates to prior research in the field. Appendices should not be a dumping ground for information.

Credits for sample student paper templates

Indent the first word in each paragraph, except in the abstract. Cover pages are required in APA papers and are center-aligned. Design This subsection is usually found only in experimental studies. In this section, the experimental designed used to investigate the problem is described. Some experimental designs are presented in Experimental Research. For complicated details on how to cite titles and quotations within titles, sacred texts, shortened titles, exceptions to the rule, etc. please consult the MLA Handbook ( ).

• For more on the introduction and problem statement, see Problem Statements.
• It could be easy to shape your manuscript according to the journal’s requirement, which would increase the chance of accepting your manuscript.
• If you are tired of looking at your research paper, give it to a friend, mentor, or teacher and ask them to take a look at your paper and let you know what they think of the content.

Moreover, reports are heavily organized, commonly with tables of contents and copious headings and subheadings. This makes it easier for readers to scan format research report reports for the information they’re looking for. Essays, on the other hand, are meant to be read start to finish, not browsed for specific insights.

Credits for sample professional paper templates

APA papers use a specific headings structure to provide a clear hierarchy of information. In APA style, book and article titles are formatted in sentence case, not title case. Sentence case means that only the first word is capitalized, along with any proper nouns. Another variation is to introduce the author and the source title in your sentence and include the publication date and page number in parentheses within the sentence or at the end of the sentence. As long as you have included the essential information, you can choose the option that works best for that particular sentence and source. In-text citations must provide the name of the author or authors and the year the source was published. Briefly introduce the topic, state your findings, and sum up what conclusions you can draw from your research.

Section headings and subsection headings within the body of your paper use different types of formatting depending on the level of information you are presenting. APA style requirements also address specific formatting concerns, such as margins, pagination, and heading styles, within the body of the paper. Research report is a medium to communicate research work with relevant people. It is also a good source of preservation of research work for the future reference. Many times, research findings are not followed because of improper presentation. It requires a good deal of knowledge, imagination, experience, and expertise.

The brief citations included in the body of your paper correspond to the more detailed citations provided at the end of the paper in the references section. In-text citations provide basic information—the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number if necessary—while the references section provides more extensive bibliographical information.