1. Structure of a Research Paper

2. Structure of a Research Paper
Title and Abstract
Structure of a Research Paper
Karl F. Warnick
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT
Abstract. The abstract should state the problem, describe your theoretical approach and/or experimental setup, and summarize the main new results.

3. Title and Abstract A title should be specific:
Bad: “On the Performance of a Radar System”
Good: “SNR and Detection Limit for an X-Band Imaging Radar”

4. Title and Abstract
Abstract does not need to spend a lot of time motivating the problem
Summarize:
Problem (briefly)
Theoretical approach, experimental setup
Results – e.g., “the new algorithm achieved a 10 dB improvement”
Emphasize what is new

5. Introduction . Introduction
The introduction should tell the reader what the problem is, what has been done by others, and what you are going to do. Since many readers will not read further or only skim the body, it is the most important part of the paper. The basic parts are:
First paragraph - Identify the problem and its importance.
Next paragraphs - Describe previous work and cite the relevant literature.
This is almost always the hardest section to write.
Be clear about what others have done and how it relates to your work.
Concluding paragraph - Outline your approach and summarize main results.

6. Body
The body of a paper presents background, derivations, description of experiments, and results. It consists of several sections, organized by how the material fits into the structure of the paper. Common sections in order of appearance are:
Definitions (optional)
Include just enough to fix your notation and help the reader follow later sections.
Development of Design, Model, or Theoretical Results
Strike a balance between detail and conciseness – complexity is easy; clarity is difficult.
Cite as much as possible to avoid duplication; relate your approach to common principles.
Find a simpler way to present the results than your original derivation.
Experimental Description
Numerical or Experimental Results
Subsections. Section and subsection headings communicate the basic outline of the paper. The simpler and clearer the structure, the better.

7. Figures
Figures stand out in a paper. Take advantage of this by using each figure to communicate a clear point.
If possible, put that point in the figure caption after describing what the figure shows. Write the captions so that the figures tell your story by themselves.

8. Conclusions The concluding section of a paper
Summarizes the main results of the paper (perhaps with more detail than in the abstract and introduction),
Makes recommendations for action in a larger context, and
Gives suggestions for further work.

9. References References
[1] K. F. Warnick and W. C. Chew, “Numerical simulation methods for rough surface scattering”, Waves Rand. Media, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. R1-R30, 2001.
Be sure to cite all ideas, results, sentences, and even phrases from other authors. Using the work of others without attribution is plagiarism. Copyright may also be an issue when using figures or larger chunks of text.

10. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
1 . Recognize that you have a result.
At some point in your research you must recognize that you have sufficient results to warrant a paper. Your paper must have a "reason for being." Although experience is needed to make this decision, be aware that such a decision is necessary before you begin writing your paper.

11. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
2 . State your main result.
You will write your paper "inside-out." First, write out your main result as precisely as you possibly can. Keep honing it until the result and its proof are perfect. This result will be the foundation upon which the rest of your paper will be built. Since any errors or ambiguities here will propagate throughout the paper, be sure that your main result is absolutely correct. Everything else in the paper will flow from this "high potential energy" result. Try to make your development of your main result as self contained as possible without relying on results from other sources.

12. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
3 . Work out the principal consequences.
Next, write out the principal consequences of your main result. Work out special cases of your main result in as much detail as possible. Remember that your readers may only be interested in special cases. Many papers were ignored because readers could not relate to the setting in the paper. Therefore, try to connect your main result to as much related and specialized work as possible. Revise your main result if that is suggested when you work out these consequences.

13. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
4 . Assemble your reference list.
Collect together the references that you will cite. These reference will provide a frame of reference for your paper. They will show the reader that your work was influenced by such-and-such school of thought, a particular applications area, or philosophical point of view. Be sure that you research the literature thoroughly, including both conferences and journals, foreign, domestic, English, foreign language, etc. Don't assume that work of "obscure" authors is less worthy of citation than the work of "famous” researchers.

14. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
5 . Collect notation.
Make conscious, careful decisions about all of the notation you choose to use. Decide if you will use traditional notation or opt for your own variations for good reasons even though your reader will not recognize things as readily.

15. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
6 . Collect background material.
State all of the background material you will need. Be precise in your definitions and lemmas. Give accessible references for this background material. Be specific in your citations, such as "Theorem 12.3 on page 723 of [19]."

16. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
7 . Produce numerical results.
Illustrate your results with numerical results that clearly illustrate your contribution. Your numerical results should be as transparent as possible. Choose examples that are as simple as necessary to demonstrate your results. Redo examples by prior researchers to compare your results.

17. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
8 . Write the introduction.
Only after all of the above steps are completed should you begin to write your introduction. Think extensively about what you want to say before you write it. First outline your thoughts into a story line that reflects the order of ideas as you would describe them to someone in a presentation. Better yet, imagine you are explaining to your colleague what your paper is about. Be sure that in the Introduction you clearly state the contribution of the paper. For example, have a sentence like "The purpose of this paper is to go beyond earlier work by ..."

18. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
9 . Write the conclusion.
Repeat a few points from the introduction in the conclusion section and then add some additional perspective on the work. For example, you may comment on the potential applications of the work, possible shortcomings, and directions for future work.

19. Dennis Bernstein’s 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper
10. Write the abstract.
Last of all, write the abstract. Compress the introduction into a few key sentences. Imagine that you are a researcher in China who only has the abstract of your paper. Could you figure out what is in your paper and what its contribution is? Or imagine you have 30 seconds to describe your paper to a busy person.