Research Essentials

An introduction should tell your reader exactly what your research essay is about and how it is structured. 

A research question forms the base of where you are going, therefore you have to write a clear research question. A research question is an answerable inquiry into a specific concern or issue. It is the initial step in a research project. The 'initial step' means after you have an idea of what you want to study, the research question is the first active step in the research project.

Without a question, you can't have a hypothesis. Without the hypothesis, you will not know how to study what you are interested in.

A hypothesis is a statement and a prediction that can be tested or an educated guess. In a hypothesis statement, students make a prediction about what they think will happen in their experiment. It is an educated, testable prediction about what will happen. Make it clear. A good hypothesis is written in clear and simple language.

Objectives are specific or concrete goals or accomplishments.  Research objectives describe what we expect to achieve by the end of the research process. Research objectives can serve to guide the activities of research. Here are the examples.

Objective: To develop a budget for reducing pollution by the company.

Objective: To describe the living conditions of people in a remote village of Papua New Guinea.

Thesis statement is the sentence that captures your position on the main idea. It is a short statement, usually one sentence, that summarizes the main point or claim of a research essay. The thesis statement is the sentence that states the main idea of a writing assignment and helps control the ideas within the research essay. 

A good conclusion should bring together different sections of your essay. Click here to read more...

Appendix is supplementary material at the end of a book or a research essay . Click here to read more...