Introduction:

A research paper outline is a list of ideas, topics and subtopics to be included in your original research paper. Even though there are no strict rules on how to develop a research paper outline, one could assume that each of your topic should be supporting the whole research paper idea or argument.

There are many purposes behind asking you to write a research paper outline along with your research. The research paper outline is your aid when actually writing the research paper. It helps you in getting your ideas organized and putting them in a logical format to support your actual research. You should also be able to establish connections and relationships with each topic and should define boundaries for each group or category within your research paper.

Here are some basic things that you can follow when developing a research paper outline for any given UK syllabus research topic.

1. You can go with general to specific order. The introduction is what you are going to write first when you write your research paper. So when writing the outline also the first thing that you can do is provide background information for the research paper. You can get the information from books, journals, newspaper and from the internet. This part is normally labeled as 1 or I.

2. After the first part, you may include one or more parts which support your main thesis. This part provides support to the largest and detailed part of your research paper. The no. of sections depends on the no. of separate points you have to support your main idea or argument. Students often get the research paper arguments correct but they fail to include enough supporting point under each topic. You should remember that each subsection should have necessary supporting points to establish the argument or research paper idea.

3. A research paper outline should also contain the sources of quality evidence you get from, the timetable you will follow and the analytical technique you will deploy etc. You may also require the methods of gathering data, the controls you are going to use, the statistical methods and literature types.

A sample research paper outline will look like this,

I. Introduction

A. Background information

B. Thesis statement – Research Paper Topic.

II. Supporting Materials

A. Topic

1. Subtopic

2. Subtopic

3. Subtopic

B. Topic

1. Subtopic

2. Subtopic

3. Subtopic