how to write a synopsis for research paper

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How to Write a Research Synopsis: Template, Examples, & More

Last Updated: May 9, 2024 Fact Checked

Research Synopsis Template

• Organizing & Formatting
• Writing Your Synopsis
• Reviewing & Editing

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner and by wikiHow staff writer, Raven Minyard, BA . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 233,581 times.

A research synopsis describes the plan for your research project and is typically submitted to professors or department heads so they can approve your project. Most synopses are between 3,000 and 4,000 words and provide your research objectives and methods. While the specific types of information you need to include in your synopsis may vary depending on your department guidelines, most synopses include the same basic sections. In this article, we’ll walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know to write a synopsis for research.

Things You Should Know

• Begin your research synopsis by introducing the question your research will answer and its importance to your field.
• List 2 or 3 specific objectives you hope to achieve and how they will advance your field.
• Discuss your methodology to demonstrate why the study design you chose is appropriate for your research question.

Organizing Your Research Synopsis

• Find out what citation format you’re supposed to use, as well as whether you’re expected to use parenthetical references or footnotes in the body of your synopsis.
• If you have questions about anything in your guidelines, ask your instructor or advisor to ensure you follow them correctly.

• Title: the title of your study
• Abstract: a summary of your research synopsis
• Introduction: identifies and describes your research question
• Literature Review: a review of existing relevant research
• Objectives: goals you hope to accomplish through your study
• Hypotheses: results you expect to find through your research
• Methodology and methods: explains the methods you’ll use to complete your study
• References: a list of any references used in citations

Tip: Your synopsis might have additional sections, depending on your discipline and the type of research you're conducting. Talk to your instructor or advisor about which sections are required for your department.

• Keep in mind that you might not end up using all the sources you initially found. After you've finished your synopsis, go back and delete the ones you didn't use.

Writing Your Research Synopsis

• Your title should be a brief and specific reflection of the main objectives of your study. In general, it should be under 50 words and should avoid unneeded phrases like “an investigation into.”
• On the other hand, avoid a title that’s too short, as well. For example, a title like “A Study of Urban Heating” is too short and doesn’t provide any insight into the specifics of your research.

• The introduction allows you to explain to your reader exactly why the question you’re trying to answer is vital and how your knowledge and experience make you the best researcher to tackle it.
• Support most of the statements in your introduction with other studies in the area that support the importance of your question. For example, you might cite a previous study that mentions your problem as an area where further research needs to be done.
• The length of your introduction will vary depending on the overall length of your synopsis as well as the ultimate length of your eventual paper after you’ve finished your research. Generally, it will cover the first page or two of your synopsis.

• For example, try finding relevant literature through educational journals or bulletins from organizations like WHO and CDC.
• Typically, a thorough literature review discusses 8 to 10 previous studies related to your research problem.
• As with the introduction, the length of your literature review will vary depending on the overall length of your synopsis. Generally, it will be about the same length as your introduction.
• Try to use the most current research available and avoid sources over 5 years old.

• For example, an objective for research on urban heating could be “to compare urban heat modification caused by vegetation of mixed species considering the 5 most common urban trees in an area.”
• Generally, the overall objective doesn’t relate to solving a specific problem or answering a specific question. Rather, it describes how your particular project will advance your field.
• For specific objectives, think in terms of action verbs like “quantify” or “compare.” Here, you’re hoping to gain a better understanding of associations between particular variables.

• Specify the sources you used and the reasons you have arrived at your hypotheses. Typically, these will come from prior studies that have shown similar relationships.
• For example, suppose a prior study showed that children who were home-schooled were less likely to be in fraternities or sororities in college. You might use that study to back up a hypothesis that home-schooled children are more independent and less likely to need strong friendship support networks.

• Expect your methodology to be at least as long as either your introduction or your literature review, if not longer. Include enough detail that your reader can fully understand how you’re going to carry out your study.
• This section of your synopsis may include information about how you plan to collect and analyze your data, the overall design of your study, and your sampling methods, if necessary. Include information about the study setting, like the facilities and equipment that are available to you to carry out your study.
• For example, your research work may take place in a hospital, and you may use cluster sampling to gather data.

• Use between 100 and 200 words to give your readers a basic understanding of your research project.
• Include a clear statement of the problem, the main goals or objectives of your study, the theories or conceptual framework your research relies upon, and the methods you’ll use to reach your goals or objectives.

Tip: Jot down a few notes as you draft your other sections that you can compile for your abstract to keep your writing more efficient.

Reviewing and Editing Your Research Synopsis

• If you don’t have that kind of time because you’re up against a deadline, at least take a few hours away from your synopsis before you go back to edit it. Do something entirely unrelated to your research, like taking a walk or going to a movie.

• Eliminate sentences that don’t add any new information. Even the longest synopsis is a brief document—make sure every word needs to be there and counts for something.
• Get rid of jargon and terms of art in your field that could be better explained in plain language. Even though your likely readers are people who are well-versed in your field, providing plain language descriptions shows you know what you’re talking about. Using jargon can seem like you’re trying to sound like you know more than you actually do.

Tip: Free apps, such as Grammarly and Hemingway App, can help you identify grammatical errors as well as areas where your writing could be clearer. However, you shouldn't rely solely on apps since they can miss things.

• Reference list formatting is very particular. Read your references out loud, with the punctuation and spacing, to pick up on errors you wouldn’t have noticed if you’d just read over them.
• Compare your format to the one in the stylebook you’re using and make sure all of your entries are correct.

• Read your synopsis backward by starting on the last word and reading each word separately from the last to the first. This helps isolate spelling errors. Reading backward sentence by sentence helps you isolate grammatical errors without being distracted by the content.
• Print your synopsis and circle every punctuation mark with a red pen. Then, go through them and focus on whether they’re correct.
• Read your synopsis out loud, including the punctuation, as though you were dictating the synopsis.

• Have at least one person who isn’t familiar with your area of study look over your synopsis. If they can understand your project, you know your writing is clear. If any parts confuse them, then that’s an area where you can improve the clarity of your writing.

Expert Q&A

• If you make significant changes to your synopsis after your first or second round of editing, you may need to proofread it again to make sure you didn’t introduce any new errors. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://admin.umt.edu.pk/Media/Site/iib1/FileManager/FORMAT%20OF%20SYNOPSIS%2012-10-2018.pdf
• ↑ https://www.scientificstyleandformat.org/Tools/SSF-Citation-Quick-Guide.html
• ↑ https://numspak.edu.pk/upload/media/Guidelines%20for%20Synopsis%20Writing1531455748.pdf
• ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279917593_Research_synopsis_guidelines
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ https://www.cornerstone.edu/blog-post/six-steps-to-really-edit-your-paper/

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Home » Research Summary – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Research Summary – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Table of Contents

Research Summary

Definition:

A research summary is a brief and concise overview of a research project or study that highlights its key findings, main points, and conclusions. It typically includes a description of the research problem, the research methods used, the results obtained, and the implications or significance of the findings. It is often used as a tool to quickly communicate the main findings of a study to other researchers, stakeholders, or decision-makers.

Structure of Research Summary

The Structure of a Research Summary typically include:

• Introduction : This section provides a brief background of the research problem or question, explains the purpose of the study, and outlines the research objectives.
• Methodology : This section explains the research design, methods, and procedures used to conduct the study. It describes the sample size, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.
• Results : This section presents the main findings of the study, including statistical analysis if applicable. It may include tables, charts, or graphs to visually represent the data.
• Discussion : This section interprets the results and explains their implications. It discusses the significance of the findings, compares them to previous research, and identifies any limitations or future directions for research.
• Conclusion : This section summarizes the main points of the research and provides a conclusion based on the findings. It may also suggest implications for future research or practical applications of the results.
• References : This section lists the sources cited in the research summary, following the appropriate citation style.

How to Write Research Summary

Here are the steps you can follow to write a research summary:

• Read the research article or study thoroughly: To write a summary, you must understand the research article or study you are summarizing. Therefore, read the article or study carefully to understand its purpose, research design, methodology, results, and conclusions.
• Identify the main points : Once you have read the research article or study, identify the main points, key findings, and research question. You can highlight or take notes of the essential points and findings to use as a reference when writing your summary.
• Write the introduction: Start your summary by introducing the research problem, research question, and purpose of the study. Briefly explain why the research is important and its significance.
• Summarize the methodology : In this section, summarize the research design, methods, and procedures used to conduct the study. Explain the sample size, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.
• Present the results: Summarize the main findings of the study. Use tables, charts, or graphs to visually represent the data if necessary.
• Interpret the results: In this section, interpret the results and explain their implications. Discuss the significance of the findings, compare them to previous research, and identify any limitations or future directions for research.
• Conclude the summary : Summarize the main points of the research and provide a conclusion based on the findings. Suggest implications for future research or practical applications of the results.
• Revise and edit : Once you have written the summary, revise and edit it to ensure that it is clear, concise, and free of errors. Make sure that your summary accurately represents the research article or study.
• Add references: Include a list of references cited in the research summary, following the appropriate citation style.

Example of Research Summary

Here is an example of a research summary:

Title: The Effects of Yoga on Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis

Introduction: This meta-analysis examines the effects of yoga on mental health. The study aimed to investigate whether yoga practice can improve mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, stress, and quality of life.

Methodology : The study analyzed data from 14 randomized controlled trials that investigated the effects of yoga on mental health outcomes. The sample included a total of 862 participants. The yoga interventions varied in length and frequency, ranging from four to twelve weeks, with sessions lasting from 45 to 90 minutes.

Results : The meta-analysis found that yoga practice significantly improved mental health outcomes. Participants who practiced yoga showed a significant reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as stress levels. Quality of life also improved in those who practiced yoga.

Discussion : The findings of this study suggest that yoga can be an effective intervention for improving mental health outcomes. The study supports the growing body of evidence that suggests that yoga can have a positive impact on mental health. Limitations of the study include the variability of the yoga interventions, which may affect the generalizability of the findings.

Conclusion : Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis support the use of yoga as an effective intervention for improving mental health outcomes. Further research is needed to determine the optimal length and frequency of yoga interventions for different populations.

References :

• Cramer, H., Lauche, R., Langhorst, J., Dobos, G., & Berger, B. (2013). Yoga for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Depression and anxiety, 30(11), 1068-1083.
• Khalsa, S. B. (2004). Yoga as a therapeutic intervention: a bibliometric analysis of published research studies. Indian journal of physiology and pharmacology, 48(3), 269-285.
• Ross, A., & Thomas, S. (2010). The health benefits of yoga and exercise: a review of comparison studies. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(1), 3-12.

Purpose of Research Summary

The purpose of a research summary is to provide a brief overview of a research project or study, including its main points, findings, and conclusions. The summary allows readers to quickly understand the essential aspects of the research without having to read the entire article or study.

Research summaries serve several purposes, including:

• Facilitating comprehension: A research summary allows readers to quickly understand the main points and findings of a research project or study without having to read the entire article or study. This makes it easier for readers to comprehend the research and its significance.
• Communicating research findings: Research summaries are often used to communicate research findings to a wider audience, such as policymakers, practitioners, or the general public. The summary presents the essential aspects of the research in a clear and concise manner, making it easier for non-experts to understand.
• Supporting decision-making: Research summaries can be used to support decision-making processes by providing a summary of the research evidence on a particular topic. This information can be used by policymakers or practitioners to make informed decisions about interventions, programs, or policies.
• Saving time: Research summaries save time for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders who need to review multiple research studies. Rather than having to read the entire article or study, they can quickly review the summary to determine whether the research is relevant to their needs.

Characteristics of Research Summary

The following are some of the key characteristics of a research summary:

• Concise : A research summary should be brief and to the point, providing a clear and concise overview of the main points of the research.
• Objective : A research summary should be written in an objective tone, presenting the research findings without bias or personal opinion.
• Comprehensive : A research summary should cover all the essential aspects of the research, including the research question, methodology, results, and conclusions.
• Accurate : A research summary should accurately reflect the key findings and conclusions of the research.
• Clear and well-organized: A research summary should be easy to read and understand, with a clear structure and logical flow.
• Relevant : A research summary should focus on the most important and relevant aspects of the research, highlighting the key findings and their implications.
• Audience-specific: A research summary should be tailored to the intended audience, using language and terminology that is appropriate and accessible to the reader.
• Citations : A research summary should include citations to the original research articles or studies, allowing readers to access the full text of the research if desired.

When to write Research Summary

Here are some situations when it may be appropriate to write a research summary:

• Proposal stage: A research summary can be included in a research proposal to provide a brief overview of the research aims, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes.
• Conference presentation: A research summary can be prepared for a conference presentation to summarize the main findings of a study or research project.
• Journal submission: Many academic journals require authors to submit a research summary along with their research article or study. The summary provides a brief overview of the study’s main points, findings, and conclusions and helps readers quickly understand the research.
• Funding application: A research summary can be included in a funding application to provide a brief summary of the research aims, objectives, and expected outcomes.
• Policy brief: A research summary can be prepared as a policy brief to communicate research findings to policymakers or stakeholders in a concise and accessible manner.

Advantages of Research Summary

Research summaries offer several advantages, including:

• Time-saving: A research summary saves time for readers who need to understand the key findings and conclusions of a research project quickly. Rather than reading the entire research article or study, readers can quickly review the summary to determine whether the research is relevant to their needs.
• Clarity and accessibility: A research summary provides a clear and accessible overview of the research project’s main points, making it easier for readers to understand the research without having to be experts in the field.
• Improved comprehension: A research summary helps readers comprehend the research by providing a brief and focused overview of the key findings and conclusions, making it easier to understand the research and its significance.
• Enhanced communication: Research summaries can be used to communicate research findings to a wider audience, such as policymakers, practitioners, or the general public, in a concise and accessible manner.
• Facilitated decision-making: Research summaries can support decision-making processes by providing a summary of the research evidence on a particular topic. Policymakers or practitioners can use this information to make informed decisions about interventions, programs, or policies.
• Increased dissemination: Research summaries can be easily shared and disseminated, allowing research findings to reach a wider audience.

Limitations of Research Summary

Limitations of the Research Summary are as follows:

• Limited scope: Research summaries provide a brief overview of the research project’s main points, findings, and conclusions, which can be limiting. They may not include all the details, nuances, and complexities of the research that readers may need to fully understand the study’s implications.
• Risk of oversimplification: Research summaries can be oversimplified, reducing the complexity of the research and potentially distorting the findings or conclusions.
• Lack of context: Research summaries may not provide sufficient context to fully understand the research findings, such as the research background, methodology, or limitations. This may lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations of the research.
• Possible bias: Research summaries may be biased if they selectively emphasize certain findings or conclusions over others, potentially distorting the overall picture of the research.
• Format limitations: Research summaries may be constrained by the format or length requirements, making it challenging to fully convey the research’s main points, findings, and conclusions.
• Accessibility: Research summaries may not be accessible to all readers, particularly those with limited literacy skills, visual impairments, or language barriers.

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Learn how to prepare and write a synopsis assignment.

• Newcastle University
• Academic Skills Kit
• Assignment Types

A synopsis is a brief summary which gives readers an overview of the main points. In an academic context, this is usually a summary of a text (a journal article, book, report etc) but in some instances you might be writing a synopsis of a talk, film or other form of presentation. A synopsis is a neutral summary, objectively capturing the main points, rather than your own perspective or critique, and it focusses directly on the text you’re summarising rather than being a wider discussion of a topic, as an essay might be.

A synopsis aims to give the reader a full, if brief, account of the whole text so that they can follow its main points without having to read it themselves. It’s not a ‘trailer’ designed to tempt your audience to read the text itself, so you don’t have to worry about ‘hooking’ them in with hints and high points or ‘spoiling the ending’ - give the whole text equal coverage, including the conclusions. You could add some commentary which gives the reader a bit of context about the text, including the authors and circumstances it was written in (for example, if it is part of a debate, particular school of thought or its significance and what impact it’s had).

Writing a good synopsis is a skill, and there are a number of challenges: 

• Separating the main points from the minor detail
• Knowing what to leave out as well as what to include
• Giving a sense of the overall narrative as well as listing the key points
• Covering the whole text within a small word limit
• Knowing how closely to stick to the original, especially in terms of the wording
• Whether to give all key points equal treatment, or cover some more briefly, even combining them
• Rephrasing things concisely without losing the meaning or misrepresenting it
• Not leaving out anything crucial to understanding the whole overall message

A good synopsis will allow the reader to feel as if they’d skimread the whole text themselves, understanding the overall gist and highlighting what they need to know. A poor synopsis will get bogged down in detail, giving a confused account of the whole story by just listing points, miss out major points or give an inaccurate or one-sided account or stick so closely to the original that it becomes plagiarism without demonstrating a real understanding by the person summarising it.  

How to prepare a synopsis

Boiling down the key points and overall narrative of the original means good reading and note-taking skills which aim to identify and boil down key points to their essence. You could try some of the following approaches: 

• Read the whole text, and afterwards, without re-reading, jot down your first initial summary in 50 words to capture its overall point. You can check it back for accuracy or anything you left out, but stick within ca 50 words
• Read the introduction and first line of each paragraph to get a sense of the overall structure and key points within it
• Highlight one sentence in each paragraph that you think is essential detail to understanding that section
• Alternatively, with a marker pen, cross out anything that isn’t essential to an understanding of the whole section or text 
• Jot down only key words as a summary of each point rather than whole sentences
• Read each paragraph and summarise it without looking, in one sentence of your own 
• Consider how many points you can make within your word count, and reduce or combine your list of summarised points down to this number

You could start small, identifying just keywords or sentences at first and then work them up into phrases, bullet points and sentences as a rough plan or draft, or you could start big with the original text and reduce each section, paragraph and sentence summary again and again until you have boiled it down to its essence.  

When you start to prepare your first plan or draft, try to use your notes or memory and step away from the original as much as you can. You can go back and check it afterwards, but you need to create some distance to be able to create your own account and have confidence in the points you have identified as essential.

Writing a synopsis

The main decisions facing you as you write up your summary are about how closely to stick to the original in terms of structure and style, and how much attention to give to each point. 

• You could begin your synopsis with a brief context, explaining who the authors are, the context and significance of their work, as well as anything you think might help the reader to understand the following summary
• The most common structure is to follow that of the original text, to give a sense of its narrative flow as well as the key points within it. You could choose to depart from it a little though, perhaps glossing over some points faster than others, combining two sections which go together or aren’t enough in their own right, possibly even changing the order a little where it helps to combine two similar points. Careful use of signposting language will help the reader clearly follow the structure (and note anywhere you’ve changed it from the original) so they can identify the bit you’re talking about in the original if they want to
• The style will naturally be strongly influenced by the original wording, but you should phrase it in your own words wherever possible. It’s harder to nibble away words from a much longer original than it is to start again and use your own concise phrasing, and you want to demonstrate your own understanding to the reader. You could use the odd original phrase or quotation here or there, but the synopsis needs to be more than a collage of quotations; it’s a thing in its own right rather than a cut-down version of the original
• You can also show your own response to the text in the way you use language to guide the reader to what you feel are the key points and (briefly) why. Your own voice doesn’t need to be very obvious in the synopsis, as it’s about the text rather than your reaction to it, but you have made analytical decisions about what is important, and might want to explain to the reader why these points are significant in understanding the whole
• What is the main purpose of this text? What did it aim to discover, explain or prove?
• Why was this research done? How significant is it?
• How was the research conducted? What kind of research is it?
• What were the three (or four, five) main things I should be aware of from this paper?
• What is their line of argument?
• What is their overall conclusion, recommendation, finding? Why is that important?

Managing word count

The trick to writing a concise synopsis which keeps within your word limit is not to start from the much bigger original text, but from your own boiled down notes. If you’re over the word count, you could start cutting out words that don’t seem essential, but if you go too far, you end up with a text which does not read well and doesn’t hang together. It might be better to remove whole sentences and perhaps whole points, than nibble away at words here and there.

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Learn how to prepare and write a synopsis assignment. **PDF Download**

How to Write a Great Synopsis for Thesis

A synopsis is a structured outline of a research thesis and the steps followed to answer the research question. The goal of writing a synopsis is to clearly and thoroughly explain the need to investigate a certain problem using particular practical methods to conduct the study. One of the main components of this written work is an extensive literature review containing strong evidence that the proposed research is feasible.

Establishing the Background

A supervisor may ask you to write a synopsis for one or more reasons:

• to help you improve your critical thinking and writing skills
• to help you understand how to design a comprehensive synopsis
• to encourage you to write a comprehensive literature review to make sure that the research problem has not been answered yet
• to make you conduct a logical analysis of the steps that should be followed to meet the objectives of the research

A synopsis should be coherent in terms of research design. Thus, you should ensure that the research problem, aims, and research methods are logically linked and well-considered. Note that all synopses should contain answers for several crucial questions:

• Why should research on the proposed problem be undertaken?
• What is expected to be achieved?
• What has been done by other researchers on the proposed topic?
• How will the objectives of the study be achieved?

The Writing Process

Before proceeding, consider answering the following questions:

• Why am I going to study this topic?
• Why do I consider it to be important?
• Have I conducted an extensive literature review on the topic?
• What problem will the research help to solve?
• How do I incorporate previous studies on the topic?

The structure of a synopsis should correspond to the structure of qualifying research work, and the word count should be 2,500–3,000 words (Balu 38). The basic elements of a synopsis include a title page, contents page, an introduction, background, literature review, objectives, methods, experiments and results, conclusions, and references.

Introduction

As this comprises the first part of the main text, the introduction should convince readers that the study addresses a relevant topic and that the expected outcomes will provide important insights. Also, this section should include a brief description of the methods that will be used to answer the research question. Usually, the introduction is written in 1–3 paragraphs and answers the following questions:

• What is the topic of the research?
• What is the research problem that needs to be meaningfully understood or investigated?
• Why is the problem important?
• How will the problem be studied?

In this section, you should set the scene and better introduce the research topic by proving its scientific legitimacy and relevance. It is important to establish a clear focus and avoid broad generalizations and vague statements. If necessary, you may explain key concepts or terms. Consider covering the following points in this section:

• Discuss how the research will contribute to the existing scientific knowledge.
• Provide a detailed description of the research problem and purpose of the research.
• Provide a rationale for the study.
• Explain how the research question will be answered.
• Be sure to discuss the methods chosen and anticipated implications of the research.

Literature Review

A review of existing literature is an important part of a synopsis, as it:

• gives a more detailed look at scientific information related to the topic
• familiarizes readers with research conducted by others on a similar subject
• gives insight into the difficulties faced by other researchers
• helps identify variables for the research based on similar studies
• helps double-check the feasibility of the research problem.

When writing the literature review, do not simply present a list of methods researchers have used and conclusions they have drawn. It is important to compare and contrast different opinions and be unafraid to criticize some of them. Pay attention to controversial issues and divergent approaches used to address similar problems. You may discuss which arguments are more persuasive and which methods and techniques seem to be more valid and reliable. In this section, you are expected not to summarize but analyze the previous research while remembering to link it to your own purpose.

Identify the objectives of the research based on the literature review. Provide an overall objective related to the scientific contribution of the study to the subject area. Also include a specific objective that can be measured at the end of the research.

When writing this section, consider that the aim of the research is to produce new knowledge regarding the topic chosen. Therefore, the research methodology forms the core of your project, and your goal is to convince readers that the research design and methods chosen will rationally answer the research questions and provide effective tools to interpret the results correctly. It may be appropriate to incorporate some examples from your literature review into the description of the overall research design.

When describing the research methodology, ensure that you specify the approaches and techniques that will be used to answer the research question. In addition, be specific about applying the chosen methods and what you expect to achieve. Keep in mind that the methods section allows readers to evaluate the validity and feasibility of the study. Therefore, be sure to explain your decision to adopt specific methods and procedures. It is also important to discuss the anticipated barriers and limitations of the study and how they will be addressed. Specify what kind of contribution to the existing knowledge on the topic is expected, and discuss any ethical considerations that are relevant to the research.

Experiments and Results

Logically present and analyze the results of the study using tables or figures.

In this section, you should again state the significance of the research and summarize the study. Be sure to mention the study objectives and methods used to answer the research questions. Also, discuss how the results of the study contribute to the current knowledge on the problem.

A synopsis should contain a list of all references used. Make sure the references are formatted according to the chosen citation style and each source presented in this section is mentioned within the body of the synopsis.

The purpose of writing a synopsis is to show a supervisor a clear picture of a proposed project and allow him or her to find any gaps that have not been considered previously. A concisely written synopsis will help you gain approval to proceed with the actual research. While no rigid rules for writing this type of paper have been established, a synopsis should be constructed in a manner to help a supervisor understand the proposed research at first glance.

Balu, R. “Writing a Good Ph.D Research Synopsis.” International Journal of Research in Science and Technology, vol. 5, no. 4, 2015, pp. 38–48.

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How to Write a Summary — Researcher's Guide

Table of Contents

Writing a summary can be a bit challenging if you're not familiar with the process. Thankfully, by following a few key steps, you can master the art of writing a summary effectively. In this article, we will explore the essential elements of summary writing, from understanding the basics to editing and proofreading your work. So, let's dive in and learn how to write a summary that captures the essence of your source material while keeping it concise and readable.

What is a Summary in research?

A summary is a condensed version of a longer text that captures its main points and ideas. It should provide a clear overview without getting into excessive detail. By understanding this foundational concept, you can effectively navigate the process of summary writing.

Now, there are several strategies you can follow to get an effective summary. Let’s dive into some of them.

Identify the Key Points of Your Source Material

To create an accurate summary, you must identify and extract the key points from your source material. This involves thorough reading or reviewing the text and highlighting the most important information. By doing so, you'll be able to effectively convey the main ideas and arguments in your summary.

One effective way to identify the key points is to read the source material multiple times. As you read, make sure to highlight or underline the sentences or paragraphs that stand out to you. These are likely to contain the most significant information. You can use AI research assistants to read and understand your source materials which saves plenty of your reading time.

Another helpful strategy is to take notes while reading. Jot down the main ideas and arguments as you encounter them. This not only helps you remember the key points but also allows you to organize your thoughts and structure your summary effectively.

Additionally, pay attention to any headings or subheadings in the source material. These can often indicate important sections or topics that should be included in your summary.

It's important to remember that summarizing is not about copying and pasting sentences from the source material. Instead, it involves condensing the information and presenting it in your own words. This requires a thorough understanding of the key points and the ability to express them concisely. Once you have identified the key points, you can begin crafting your summary.

Choose Your Words Carefully

When writing a summary, every word counts. It is essential to choose your words carefully to convey the message accurately. Aim for concise and clear language without sacrificing important details. By utilizing precise vocabulary and avoiding unnecessary jargon, you can ensure that your summary accurately represents the original text.

One important aspect to consider when choosing your words is the intended audience . Are you summarizing a scientific article for a group of experts in the field, or are you summarizing a news article for a general audience? Tailoring your language to suit the needs and understanding of your readers is crucial in effectively conveying your message.

Another factor to keep in mind is the tone of the original text. Is it formal and academic, or is it more conversational and informal? Adapting your language to match the tone of the original text can help maintain the intended meaning and style.

Furthermore, it is essential to pay attention to the context of the original text. Understanding the background and purpose of the work can provide valuable insights into how to summarize it effectively. By considering the broader context, you can ensure that your summary captures the main ideas and key points without omitting crucial information.

Additionally, when choosing your words, it is crucial to avoid personal biases or interpretations. A summary should present an objective overview of the original text, focusing on the author's ideas rather than your own opinions. By remaining impartial and objective, you can provide a fair and accurate representation of the message. While brevity is important, it is equally crucial to include enough information.

Moreover, a well-crafted summary should include the most significant details and ideas to provide a comprehensive understanding of your research work. Selecting the most relevant and impactful details will help readers grasp the main points without getting lost in unnecessary information.

Create an Outline Before Writing

Organizing your thoughts before you begin writing can significantly enhance the quality of your summary. Create a clear outline that follows the structure of your source material. By logically dividing your summary into sections, you'll ensure a coherent flow and make it easier for your readers to follow along.

Keep Your Summary Concise

A summary should capture the essence of the original text without unnecessary elaboration. Aim to condense the information into its most crucial points, omitting extraneous details. Keep your sentences clear and to the point, maintaining a concise and focused writing style.

Use the Right Tone and Voice

The tone and voice of your summary should match the original source material. Take note of the style from the source and reflect it in your writing. Whether the source material is formal or informal, academic or creative, ensuring consistency in tone and voice is key to an effective summary.

Check for Clarity and Readability

After completing your summary, take the time to review it for clarity and readability. Ensure that your sentences flow smoothly, providing a seamless reading experience. Pay attention to grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, as these elements contribute to the overall clarity of your summary.

Make Sure You Include All the Important Points

While summarizing, it's vital to include all the necessary information. Double-check your summary against the source material to ensure that you haven't overlooked any important points. By capturing the essence of the original text accurately, you'll provide your readers with a comprehensive overview.

Edit and Proofread Your Summary

Before finalizing your summary, always take the time to edit and proofread. Trim down any unnecessary words or phrases and refine your sentences for clarity and conciseness. Additionally, check for spelling and grammatical errors. By investing effort into this final step, you'll ensure your summary is polished and professional.

Tips for Writing an Effective Summary

Lastly, here are some essential tips to keep in mind as you embark on your summary-writing journey:

• Focus on conveying the central theme and main points.
• Avoid personal opinions or interpretations.
• Use your own words while faithfully representing the source material.
• Read aloud your summary to ensure clarity and coherence.
• Seek feedback from peers or mentors to improve your summarizing skills.

By incorporating these tips into your summary-writing process, you'll be well-equipped to create an effective summary that captures the essence of your source material.

In conclusion

Writing a summary requires an understanding of the basics, careful word choice, and a concise writing style. By following the steps outlined in this article and utilizing the provided tips, you can develop the necessary skills to write a good research summary.

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How to write a summary of a research paper (with template)

by Diana Ribeiro Last updated Jul 20, 2020 | Published on Jun 27, 2020 Writing Skills 0 comments

In our daily work as medical writers, we have to read many scholarly articles and extract the main information from them. Having a process to retrieve that information and create a short summary that you can easily access will save you precious time. That’s why I decided to guide you through my process of summarising a research article and created a handy template.

Having short summaries of academic papers is useful to create news articles, press releases, social media posts, blog articles, or curated news reports, like the one I write weekly for my newsletter subscribers .

What’s the importance of summarising research articles?

If you don’t have a system to extract the main information from a scholarly paper, you may have to re-read it repeatedly, looking for that piece of information you know it’s there. Sure, you can use a highlighter pen to mark the main points, but sometimes what happens is that you end up with yellow walls of text. Or green. Or even a rainbow. Which may be pretty, but it’s quite useless as a retrieval system.

What also happens when you highlight text is that you end up with a diverse array of writing styles, none of them being your own. This way, when you try to write a text with information from multiple sources, you have to search for the information and write it in a consistent style.

In this article, I’ll show you how to retrieve the most relevant information from a scientific paper, how to write it in a compelling way, and how to present it in a news-worthy style that’s easily adaptable to your audience. Ready?

Three steps to summarise a research paper

1. scan and extract the main points.

First things first, so you have to read the paper. But that doesn’t mean you have to read it from start to finish. Start by scanning the article for its main points.

Here’s the essential information to extract from the research paper you have in front of you:

• Authors, year, doi
• Study question: look in the introduction for a phrase like “the aim of this study was”
• Hypothesis tested
• Study methods: design, participants, materials, procedure, what was manipulated (independent variables), what was measured (dependent variables), how data were analysed.
• Findings: from the results section; fill this before you look at the discussion section, if possible. Write bullet points.
• Interpretation: how did the authors interpreted their findings? Use short sentences, in your own words.

After extracting the key information , revisit the article and read it more attentively, to see if you missed something. Add some notes to your summary, but take care to avoid plagiarism. Write notes in your own words. If you can’t do that at this moment, use quotation marks to indicate that your note came straight from the study. You can rewrite it later, when you have a better grasp of the study.

2. Use a journalistic approach for the first draft

Some sources advise you to keep the same structure as the scientific article, but I like to use the journalistic approach of news articles and flush out the more relevant information first, followed by the details. This is more enticing for readers, making them want to continue reading. Yes, I know that your reader may be just you, but I know I have lost myself in some of the things I’ve written, so…keep it interesting, even for a future self 😊.

This is the main information you have to put together:

Title of the article: I like to keep the original article title for the summary, because it’s easier to refer back to the original article if I need to. Sometimes I add a second title, just for me, if the article title is too obscure or long.

• 1 st paragraph: Answer the 5 W’s in 3-4 sentences.

Who? (the authors)

What? (main finding)

When and where? (journal, date of publication)

Why? (relevance)

This should be a standalone paragraph, meaning that the reader should be able to take out the main information even if they just read this paragraph.

• Subsequent paragraphs: In 2-3 paragraphs or less, provide context and more information about the research done. If you’re not sure if a detail is important or not, you can include it here and edit it out in the next step.

3. Polish the rough edges

In this stage, you’re going to make a quick edit, checking for completeness and accuracy. Make sure you’ve included all the main points without repeating yourself. Double-check all the numbers. Stay focused on the research questions to avoid tangents. Avoid using jargon and the passive voice whenever possible.

Final summary

Using this approach, you’ll end up with a short summary of your article that you can use to craft other types of writing, such as press releases, news articles, social media blurbs, and many others.

The advantages of summarising research articles are that you can better understand what the article is about, and you’ll have a text written by you, so it’s easier to adapt and you avoid unintentional plagiarism.

That’s it! My guide to write a research paper summary 😊

I’ve created a handout with all the information in this blog post plus a fill-in-the-blanks template that you can use to summarise research articles, you can download it using the form below. You’ll be signed up to my mailing list, and receive a weekly roundup of news in the biomedical industry as a bonus!

If you have any comments or questions, please let me know in the comment box below.

Get the research paper summary template

And subscribe to the biopharma newsletter 🙂

Unsubscribe anytime. 

Check your confirmation email for the template.

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About Diana Ribeiro

Diana Ribeiro  is a pharmacist and  freelance medical writer based in Cascais, Portugal.  Before starting her career in medical writing, Diana worked 10+ years in hospital and community pharmacies, where she helped patients and healthcare professionals with drug management and information. Nowadays, she helps pharma, biotech, and meddev companies communicate with their audiences in a clear, accurate, and compelling way. Diana is an active member of the European Medical Writers Association, where she volunteers for the webinar team. You can find more about her on  LinkedIn .

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How To Prepare A Synopsis | How To Write A Synopsis

If you are a beginner or just starting your research or Ph.D. journey and come across the step of synopsis wiring,

You’re on the right track, and we’ll walk you through the process of creating a synopsis and synopsis structure.

Actually, I have to choose this topic because I got lots of messages and mail that how to write a synopsis and it is really difficult for me to tell them all how to prepare a synopsis for them.

I better decided to prepare an article over this and I am going to prepare this in the English language only, but there is a language translation plugin in my blog and one who has any problem in English can switch to that language in which he/she is compatible with the description of synopsis writing.

What is a synopsis

It is an outline or summary of your research work to be conducted and this is the first stage of your research where you can start your research or your experiment or your work it is the most important step of research and the foremost thing in the synopsis is your topic you should choose the topic as of your interest because if you were not interested in the particular topic then it will be very difficult for you to experiment with that.

If you have no deep knowledge of that topic then it’s difficult for you to work on that particular topic and after choosing that relevant topic as per your the interest you should get an irrelevant guide and the guide should pick sport on that topic and it can be easier for you because, without a guide, it is just like you can’t easily conduct your research work.

So it’s better to choose a topic as per your convenience and your interest in the better guidance of export on that topic and when you provide the title for your topic.

The topic of research should be catchy and whenever you are talking about your topic with someone then they should express it oh wow you are working on this topic it’s a very good topic very interesting topic and if such types of expressions you must get for your topic you can get positive energy to work on that topic.

Different portions in a synopsis structure

• Introduction
• Review Of Literature
• Scope of topic
• Research Methods
• Bibliography

Introduction in synopsis

Introduce your research topic in a very brief manner in an explanatory way so that even a student can easily understand or the one who doesn’t have any link with that topic can also understand and say oh you have chosen this topic.

This is your purpose of study all these points would be through very clear in your introduction your interests would be reflected in that topic and the positive point should be reflected in what you are going to face a problem it should be quite thoughtful from your introduction after introduction you will come to the literature review.

Literature review in a synopsis

After introducing your topic now the time you will explain, what has been done on the particular topic, and what were the outcomes or drawbacks of the topic with proper referencing.

What were the steps or techniques used to improve the results of the work which has already been conducted, and if any contradictory point is there on that topic then you should also explain it because it always creates an interest in your mind that yes this is contradicted.

How we can conduct our work on this topic and how to overcome this contradictory point should be well explained in them and while explaining the literature review you will also add the significance of your topic by comparing your literature review then after this, the most important thing about your synopsis is the objective

Objective in synopsis

The objective itself explains the whole process and road map of your work with a stepwise procedure in it. All the experiments are conducted stepwise in your research you will note that in the objective and from the objective points themselves viewers or a reader of your synopsis can easily understand what you are going to conduct and what you are going to get.

Like you have started with the first objective that which was going for the data collection or the sample collection in the next objective you have introduced and analyzed the data and samples from different sources and conclusions will perform in the third objective and after that your outcomes respectively. How you are going to continue your hypothesis and how you can get a result of your hypothesis?

Hypothesis in synopsis

Suppose you’re planning for some tool at that time, what do you do? we give the hypothesis, For example, if that will be the rainy season then we should be our reserve car or a sort of reserve vehicle to travel for sampling or instead of going with the hired one in such types of hypotheses you keep in your mind for your research work.

You will also take such a hypothesis that who much amount of sample is expected and this area is very much drawn to particular data or particular sample and you must focus on this particular area and after it is supposed that you will get a good result from that particular sampling or particular data .

In such type of hypothesis, you first came about that, and after you say that after analyzing a sample we can conclude this must of things.

Actually, you are enhancing without or with your imagination that how you can get how you are conducting your experiment in your imaginations you will give a certain hypothesis and after hypothesis, this is your synopsis.

After putting your hypothesis you will then perform your work on that particular hypothesis and then we are either accept or reject your hypothesis.

Scope of the topic in a synopsis

The scope of your topic is what you can get. What is the scope? Why you are conducting this research you are going to answer all why you were conducting this experiment and what is the scope of this experiment. If you are doing this research what are the positive results you are going to come and how it will affect you economically or socially to the environment?

Research methods in the synopsis

This is we can say the techniques you are going to use for your research and what are instrument you are going to apply on that path. When you are going to represent all these things and going to offer any experiment or any research work at that time you are associated with a particular Institute to get the result from the research methods with the help of tools and techniques.

During the research work, you decide whether the expert faculty in that Institute or not or whether you have to turn to an export of your tools from anywhere or whatever the financial status for your research is either you can get from your institute or not. These things can be cleared from the research methods and design .

You can frame a schedule that I am going to complete my first objective in this the first year or in six months and for other objects, you are going to give a tentative duration respectively and it will become specific to you to complete your work in that decision time and if you will not have any tentative durations or any limitations of timing in your research then what will happen you will keep on working on one thing and you will keep on doing out spend lots and lots of time at that particular topic.

You have a tentative duration of research and it should complete your work at that particular time and you should be very attentive to your research work for that, we then finally come to the bibliography

Bibliography in synopsis

This is the referring session and you can also provide a list of all sources you have used in the process of referring or design of your synopsis or writing your synopsis including the research papers, books, academic studies, etc.

All sources you have gone through during the synopsis preparation and updated about your topic and these all kinds of stuff should be included in the synopsis.

So this is all about “How to write a synopsis” and hopefully, this article helps you during the synopsis preparation and it would be easier for you to write a synopsis in the future. KRS is an academic collaborative research platform that regularly updates its information to aid in your professional development.

If this is your first visit to our site, we encourage you to share and subscribe in order to assist us in spreading the word. To gain additional assistance with electronic content and research, please visit our website or contact us via email at [email protected] to schedule a complimentary consultation.

If you find this article useful, don’t forget to share it!

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General FAQ Related to Synopsis

Q 1. what is a synopsis in research.

A synopsis provides readers with a concise outline of the key ideas and progression of the proposed work.

Q 2. What are the main parts of the synopsis

The meaning and significance of the research

Q 3. Type of synopsis

Two types first is a research synopsis, and the second is a project synopsis.

3 thoughts on “How To Prepare A Synopsis | How To Write A Synopsis”

Very informative and helpful content for making synopsis.

Very informative sir.

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How to Write a Synopsis of an Article: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Have you ever been tasked with writing a synopsis of an article and had no idea where to begin? Don't worry, you're not alone. A synopsis is a brief summary of an article, and can be an essential tool when trying to convey the main points of a lengthy piece of writing. In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps of creating a strong synopsis that effectively communicates the article's key takeaways.

Understanding the Purpose of a Synopsis

Before we dive into the specifics of writing a synopsis, it's important to first understand why they are so important. Synopses serve as a quick reference for busy readers who are unable to read the entire article. They also help to clarify the article's purpose and make it easier to analyze the author's arguments.

When it comes to reading articles or research papers, time is of the essence. Many readers are looking for specific information and don't have the luxury of reading an entire article from start to finish. This is where a synopsis comes in handy. It provides a brief overview of the article's main points, allowing readers to quickly determine whether or not the article is worth their time.

Why Synopses are Important

Synopses provide a concise summary of an article's main points, making it easier for readers to quickly grasp the author's intended message. They are also useful for researchers who are looking for specific information, as a synopsis can help them determine whether or not an article is relevant to their needs.

Moreover, synopses are essential for professionals who are constantly on the go. Business executives, for instance, may not have the time to read an entire report, but they need to be informed about the key takeaways. A synopsis provides them with a quick and easy way to get up to speed.

Different Types of Synopses

There are several different types of synopses, each catering to a different audience. For example, an executive summary is a type of synopsis that is aimed at business professionals, while an abstract is a synopsis that is typically used in academic writing. Regardless of the type of synopsis that you are writing, the same basic principles apply.

One type of synopsis that is gaining popularity is the social media synopsis. With the rise of social media, many readers are looking for bite-sized pieces of information that they can easily share with their followers. A social media synopsis provides a concise summary of an article's main points, making it easy for readers to share the information with their network.

In conclusion, synopses are an essential part of effective communication. They provide readers with a quick and easy way to understand an article's main points, making it easier for them to determine whether or not the article is relevant to their needs. By understanding the purpose and importance of synopses, you can create effective summaries that will engage and inform your readers.

Preparing to Write Your Synopsis

Now that we've covered the importance of synopses, let's dive into the steps involved in creating one.

Read the entire article thoroughly

Before you can begin writing your synopsis, you need to thoroughly read the article that you are summarizing. It's important to understand the author's intended message and the supporting arguments that are used to make that message. Take notes as you read, highlighting key points and information that will be useful when writing your synopsis.

Identify the main points and arguments

Once you've read the article, you need to identify the main points and arguments that the author is making. These will typically be found in the introduction and conclusion of the article, but you may also find them throughout the body of the text. It's important to identify all of the main points so that you can ensure that your synopsis accurately represents the author's message.

Take notes and outline the article's structure

In addition to identifying the main points, you should also take notes on the article's structure. This includes identifying subheadings and sections, as well as any transitions or supporting evidence that the author uses. By organizing your notes in this way, you can ensure that your synopsis accurately reflects the structure of the original article.

Writing a Strong Introduction for Your Synopsis

Now that you've prepared for writing your synopsis, it's time to dive into actually writing it. The beginning is a crucial aspect of your synopsis, as it sets the tone for the rest of the summary.

Hook the reader with a compelling opening

Just like a full-length article, the introduction of your synopsis should hook the reader and make them want to continue reading. This can be done by using a surprising statistic, an interesting anecdote, or a thought-provoking quote. Whatever method you choose, make sure that it grabs the reader's attention.

Introduce the article's main topic and purpose

After you've hooked the reader, it's important to provide context for the article. This means introducing the topic and purpose of the original article, as well as the main arguments that the author makes. By providing this information up front, you can ensure that the reader has a basic understanding of the article's message before diving deeper into the details.

Provide context and background information

Finally, it's important to provide context and background information for the article. This may include information on the author, the publication where the article appeared, and any relevant historical or societal context that helps to explain the article's message.

Summarizing the Article's Main Points

Once you've written a strong introduction for your synopsis, it's time to dive into the details. This is where you'll summarize the article's main points in a clear and concise manner.

Be concise and clear

When summarizing the article, it's important to be concise and clear. Use your notes from the article to identify the main points and supporting arguments, and present them in a way that accurately represents the original author's message. Avoid using lengthy quotes or unnecessarily wordy descriptions, as this can detract from the clarity of your summary.

Use your own words

While it's important to accurately represent the author's message, it's also important to use your own words when summarizing the article. This means avoiding copying entire sections of the article word for word, and instead rephrasing the author's arguments in a way that is both accurate and concise.

Maintain the original article's tone and style

Finally, it's important to maintain the tone and style of the original article when writing your synopsis. This means using the same type of language, voice, and style as the author, so that the reader can get a sense of the author's intended message.

ChatGPT Prompt for Writing a Synopsis of an Article

Use the following prompt in an AI chatbot . Below each prompt, be sure to provide additional details about your situation. These could be scratch notes, what you'd like to say or anything else that guides the AI model to write a certain way.

Please compose a concise and thorough summary of a written piece, including all relevant information and main points, in order to provide a clear understanding of the article's content.

[ADD ADDITIONAL CONTEXT. CAN USE BULLET POINTS.]

In conclusion, writing a synopsis of an article may seem like a daunting task, but by following these simple steps, you can create a summary that accurately represents the author's message and purpose. Remember to thoroughly read the article, identify the main points and arguments, and present them in a concise and clear manner. By doing so, you can create a synopsis that effectively communicates the article's key takeaways, and ensures that your readers are able to quickly and easily understand the author's intended message.

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How to Write a Research Paper Summary

One of the most important skills you can imbibe as an academician is to know how to summarize a research paper. During your academic journey, you may need to write a summary of findings in research quite often and for varied reasons – be it to write an introduction for a peer-reviewed publication , to submit a critical review, or to simply create a useful database for future referencing.

It can be quite challenging to effectively write a research paper summary for often complex work, which is where a pre-determined workflow can help you optimize the process. Investing time in developing this skill can also help you improve your scientific acumen, increasing your efficiency and productivity at work. This article illustrates some useful advice on how to write a research summary effectively. But, what is research summary in the first place?  

A research paper summary is a crisp, comprehensive overview of a research paper, which encapsulates the purpose, findings, methods, conclusions, and relevance of a study. A well-written research paper summary is an indicator of how well you have understood the author’s work. 

Table of Contents

Draft a research paper summary in minutes with paperpal. click here to start writing.

• 2. Invest enough time to understand the topic deeply 

Use Paperpal to summarize your research paper. Click here to get started!

• Mistakes to avoid while writing your research paper summary 

Let Paperpal do the heavy lifting. Click here to start writing your summary now!

Frequently asked questions (faq), how to write a research paper summary.

Writing a good research paper summary comes with practice and skill. Here is some useful advice on how to write a research paper summary effectively.  

1. Determine the focus of your summary

Before you begin to write a summary of research papers, determine the aim of your research paper summary. This will give you more clarity on how to summarize a research paper, including what to highlight and where to find the information you need, which accelerates the entire process. If you are aiming for the summary to be a supporting document or a proof of principle for your current research findings, then you can look for elements that are relevant to your work.

On the other hand, if your research summary is intended to be a critical review of the research article, you may need to use a completely different lens while reading the paper and conduct your own research regarding the accuracy of the data presented. Then again, if the research summary is intended to be a source of information for future referencing, you will likely have a different approach. This makes determining the focus of your summary a key step in the process of writing an effective research paper summary. 

2. Invest enough time to understand the topic deeply

In order to author an effective research paper summary, you need to dive into the topic of the research article. Begin by doing a quick scan for relevant information under each section of the paper. The abstract is a great starting point as it helps you to quickly identify the top highlights of the research article, speeding up the process of understanding the key findings in the paper. Be sure to do a careful read of the research paper, preparing notes that describe each section in your own words to put together a summary of research example or a first draft. This will save your time and energy in revisiting the paper to confirm relevant details and ease the entire process of writing a research paper summary.

When reading papers, be sure to acknowledge and ignore any pre-conceived notions that you might have regarding the research topic. This will not only help you understand the topic better but will also help you develop a more balanced perspective, ensuring that your research paper summary is devoid of any personal opinions or biases. 

3. Keep the summary crisp, brief and engaging

A research paper summary is usually intended to highlight and explain the key points of any study, saving the time required to read through the entire article. Thus, your primary goal while compiling the summary should be to keep it as brief, crisp and readable as possible. Usually, a short introduction followed by 1-2 paragraphs is adequate for an effective research article summary. Avoid going into too much technical detail while describing the main results and conclusions of the study. Rather focus on connecting the main findings of the study to the hypothesis , which can make the summary more engaging. For example, instead of simply reporting an original finding – “the graph showed a decrease in the mortality rates…”, you can say, “there was a decline in the number of deaths, as predicted by the authors while beginning the study…” or “there was a decline in the number of deaths, which came as a surprise to the authors as this was completely unexpected…”.

Unless you are writing a critical review of the research article, the language used in your research paper summaries should revolve around reporting the findings, not assessing them. On the other hand, if you intend to submit your summary as a critical review, make sure to provide sufficient external evidence to support your final analysis. Invest sufficient time in editing and proofreading your research paper summary thoroughly to ensure you’ve captured the findings accurately. You can also get an external opinion on the preliminary draft of the research paper summary from colleagues or peers who have not worked on the research topic. 

Mistakes to avoid while writing your research paper summary

Now that you’ve understood how to summarize a research paper, watch out for these red flags while writing your summary. 

• Not paying attention to the word limit and recommended format, especially while submitting a critical review 
• Evaluating the findings instead of maintaining an objective , unbiased view while reading the research paper 
• Skipping the essential editing step , which can help eliminate avoidable errors and ensure that the language does not misrepresent the findings 
• Plagiarism, it is critical to write in your own words or paraphrase appropriately when reporting the findings in your scientific article summary 

We hope the recommendations listed above will help answer the question of how to summarize a research paper and enable you to tackle the process effectively. 

Summarize your research paper with Paperpal

Paperpal, an AI academic writing assistant, is designed to support academics at every step of the academic writing process. Built on over two decades of experience helping researchers get published and trained on millions of published research articles, Paperpal offers human precision at machine speed. Paperpal Copilot, with advanced generative AI features, can help academics achieve 2x the writing in half the time, while transforming how they research and write.

How to summarize a research paper with Paperpal?

To generate your research paper summary, simply login to the platform and use the Paperpal Copilot Summary feature to create a flawless summary of your work. Here’s a step-by-step process to help you craft a summary in minutes:

• Paste relevant research articles to be summarized into Paperpal; the AI will scan each section and extract key information.
• In minutes, Paperpal will generate a comprehensive summary that showcases the main paper highlights while adhering to academic writing conventions.
• Check the content to polish and refine the language, ensure your own voice, and add citations or references as needed.

The abstract and research paper summary serve similar purposes but differ in scope, length, and placement. The abstract is a concise yet detailed overview of the research, placed at the beginning of a paper, with the aim of providing readers with a quick understanding of the paper’s content and to help them decide whether to read the full article. Usually limited to a few hundred words, it highlights the main objectives, methods, results, and conclusions of the study. On the other hand, a research paper summary provides a crisp account of the entire research paper. Its purpose is to provide a brief recap for readers who may want to quickly grasp the main points of the research without reading the entire paper in detail.

The structure of a research summary can vary depending on the specific requirements or guidelines provided by the target publication or institution. A typical research summary includes the following key sections: introduction (including the research question or objective), methodology (briefly describing the research design and methods), results (summarizing the key findings), discussion (highlighting the implications and significance of the findings), and conclusion (providing a summary of the main points and potential future directions).

The summary of a research paper is important because it provides a condensed overview of the study’s purpose, methods, results, and conclusions. It allows you to quickly grasp the main points and relevance of the research without having to read the entire paper. Research summaries can also be an invaluable way to communicate research findings to a broader audience, such as policymakers or the general public.

  When writing a research paper summary, it is crucial to avoid plagiarism by properly attributing the original authors’ work. To learn how to summarize a research paper while avoiding plagiarism, follow these critical guidelines: (1) Read the paper thoroughly to understand the main points and key findings. (2) Use your own words and sentence structures to restate the information, ensuring that the research paper summary reflects your understanding of the paper. (3) Clearly indicate when you are paraphrasing or quoting directly from the original paper by using appropriate citation styles. (4) Cite the original source for any specific ideas, concepts, or data that you include in your summary. (5) Review your summary to ensure it accurately represents the research paper while giving credit to the original authors.

Paperpal is a comprehensive AI writing toolkit that helps students and researchers achieve 2x the writing in half the time. It leverages 21+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles to provide in-depth academic writing, language editing, and submission readiness support to help you write better, faster.  

Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$19 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed.  

Experience the future of academic writing – Sign up to Paperpal and start writing for free!  

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• How to Write a Conclusion for Research Papers (with Examples)
• Publish or Perish – Understanding the Importance of Scholarly Publications in Academia

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How to Write a Synopsis

If you’re a writer, you definitely need to know how to write a synopsis for a book. Why? Because when you query an agent or publisher, you’ll need to include a synopsis with your submission.

But writers aren’t the only people who need to know how to write a synopsis. From students to scientists, all kinds of people will find themselves having to write one at some point. Thankfully, the process isn’t complicated. By following a few basic steps and guidelines, you’ll know how to write a synopsis in no time.

What a Synopsis Is

Forget about how to write a synopsis. First, you need to know what a synopsis is! Put simply, a synopsis is a detailed summary of all the important aspects of a book, project, or study. There are different types of synopses, but a book synopsis briefly explains the key points from the plot as well as things like setting, characters, tone, and any important themes.

What a Synopsis Isn’t

Knowing how to write a synopsis for a book means knowing not just what a synopsis is, but what a synopsis isn’t. Below, we’ll discuss some other types of summaries that differ from synopses.

Synopsis vs. outline

It’s important to know the difference between a synopsis and an outline. An outline is like a “skeleton” for your book that you can create to help you write by then fleshing out your outline with details. A synopsis, on the other hand, is a complete summary of your book that you use to give agents and editors an in-depth, complete account of all the key details from beginning to end.

Synopsis vs. abstract

An abstract is a short and general book summary and doesn’t include every detail. The goal of an abstract is to give a brief and general summary of the book. A synopsis goes into every detail, with a deeper dive into specifics.

A good synopsis vs. abstract rule of thumb is to consider whether you need a very general summary or a specific and detailed one. If you need a detailed one, then you need to know how to write a synopsis.

Synopsis vs. pitch

When considering the question of synopsis vs. pitch, remember that a pitch is the shortest type of summary, and a synopsis is one of the longest. A pitch is designed to make your book sound appealing in just a few sentences, so it’s designed for maximum impact—sort of like a marketing tagline or log line. Pitches are quick and impactful, whereas synopses give all the important details.

Sometimes a synopsis is a dry, straight summary that is written for informational purposes rather than emotional impact. Other times, it is written to be entertaining and showcase the writer’s creative voice. This will depend on the target audience of your synopsis.

Types of Synopsis

There are several different types of synopses, depending on what you are writing about.

Project synopsis

A project synopsis is often used in science and engineering fields and summarizes a project’s goals, processes, and conclusions. It often starts with a statement summarizing the problem that the project aims to solve. It delves into methods used and other details that are important to the project, such as relevant details about the project’s participants.

Research synopsis

Of the three main types of synopses, research and project synopses are most often used by research and scientific institutions. Like a project synopsis, a research synopsis summarizes the problem or question the research is attempting to solve and then describes how the research was conducted.

Research synopses also give details on the researchers themselves, such as any relevant academic degrees they hold.

Literary synopsis

A literary synopsis is a synopsis of a work of fiction. It summarizes all the critical elements of a book so that an agent or publisher understands, to a high level of detail, what a book is about without having read it.

How to Write a Synopsis for Your Finished Manuscript in Five Easy Steps

• Make a list of your book’s key elements.  These include the most critical story and plot points, conflict, characters, settings, themes, and tone. For the plot, go through each chapter, and write down one to three of the most important plot developments from each. Then flesh out each item on your list with any other important details.
• Write a good opening sentence.  This should summarize your character, setting, and the immediate conflict, ensuring you make it clear what’s at stake. Then link together your detailed list from step 1 to form a first draft of your synopsis.
• Read through the synopsis.  Then add any details you may have forgotten. Also, look for details you included that are not critical—and cut them.
• Read through it again.  Ensure that the plot and character arcs are clearly defined.
• Give it a final edit and proofread. A one-page synopsis is often ideal, but publishers may request a synopsis of three to five pages or specify some other length.

That’s it! Now you know how to write a synopsis.

One-Page Synopsis

A one-page synopsis has to be even leaner than a three- or four-page synopsis, so it’s important that it contain only the most important details. If you find that your synopsis is too long, find ways to be more succinct, cutting out any information that isn’t absolutely critical to understanding the book. For example, did you describe characters that aren’t essential to the most important plot plots? Did you include details that do nothing to move the actual story along? Cut them out to strengthen—and shorten—your synopsis.

Once you know how to write a synopsis for a book, research project, or study, the process is the same every time. So whether you’re a budding novelist or a student working on an English-class project, use the information in this post to build a formula for writing different types of synopses.

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• A Research Guide
• Research Paper Guide

How to Write a Summary for a Research Paper

• Why do you need a summary
• How to start a summary
• Step by step guide
• Summary checklist

Why do you need to write a summary of a research paper?

When do you need to write a research paper summary.

• Writing a research paper summary is crucial because it allows you to present a concise overview of your research to readers who need time or expertise to read the entire paper.
• A research paper summary can help you organize your thoughts and refine your research question, leading to a comprehensive answer.
• When you write a research paper summary, you make an essential step in the research process that can help you to be more effective and communicate your research findings.

How to start a summary if you have no ideas?

• When summarizing a research paper, it’s crucial to begin by identifying the primary points of the study.
• Start reading through the abstract and introduction and quickly scanning the results and conclusion sections.
• After pinpointing the key takeaways, you need to include in a summary information that accurately reflects the main findings of the research.
• Next, choose all the most basic and write down the abstracts logically.
• After, see what thought you could start your summary with.

How to write a good summary: step by step guide

Step 1. read the text of your work., step 2. structure your notes., step 3. write the main part of the summary., step 4. add a research objective., step 5. add keywords., step 6. briefly describe the findings., step 7. remove all unnecessary information., step 8. edit the summary., summary writing checklist.

• Understand the main idea: Before starting to write an executive summary for a research paper, ensure you understand the main idea of the text you are summarizing. It will help you to focus on the most critical points.
• Identify the key points: Once you have understood the main idea, identify the key points that support it. These are the essential pieces of information that should be included in a summary.
• Use your own words: When writing a summary, it is essential to use your own words to convey the information. Avoid simply copying and pasting sentences from the original text.
• Be concise: Summaries should be brief and to the point. Avoid including unnecessary details or information irrelevant to the main idea.
• Check for accuracy: Before submitting your summary, ensure it accurately reflects the original text’s main idea and key points. Also, check for any errors or omissions

• Writing a Research Paper
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• Research Paper Sources
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• Research Paper Thesis Statement
• Hypothesis for a Research Paper
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• AMA Style Research Paper
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• Research Paper Structure
• Research Paper Cover Page
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• Research Paper Introduction
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• Research Paper Conclusion
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• Research Paper Types
• What is Qualitative Research

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• The Scientist University

How to Write a Good Introduction Section

A strong narrative is as integral a part of science writing as it is for any other form of communication..

Nathan Ni holds a PhD from Queens University. He is a science editor for The Scientist’s Creative Services Team who strives to better understand and communicate the relationships between health and disease.

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First impressions are important. Scientists need to make their work stand out among a sea of others. However, many mistakenly believe that first impressions are formed based only on titles and abstracts. In actuality, the introduction section is critical to making a real impression on the audience. The introduction is where authors outline their research topic and describe their study. It is where they provide background information and showcase their writing and argumentation styles. For these reasons, the introduction engages the audience in a deeper way than the formalities and rigidities of the title and abstract can afford. To use a fishing analogy: if the title and the abstract serve as the hook and the bait, then the introduction is the process of actually reeling the fish into the boat.

Good Introductions Are Important Guides

In contrast to the constraints placed on the title and abstract, the introduction is the first real opportunity for the scientist to engage with their audience and showcase and convey their passions and motivations for the study in question. This opportunity is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Study authors inevitably have a treasure trove of knowledge and expertise when it comes to their projects and their fields. However, they must remember that the audience does not necessarily have this background information—and that they are only engaging with their audience for a finite amount of time. Despite the urge to excitedly write about all of the different aspects and intricacies of the project, it is very important that authors keep their introductions simple and well organized. 

Therefore, the introduction should move from broad scopes to narrow focuses as the audience reads further. The author should direct the reader along this journey, focusing on topics with direct relevance to what was investigated in the study. A broad fact introduced early on should be linked or paired with a more specific fact along the same lines of thought, eventually culminating in how this information led to the motivation behind the study itself. It is vital to not go off on tangents or talk about things that are too esoteric. A confused audience is an audience that tends not to read further.

Applying Common Principles Across Well-Known and Niche Subjects

Writers can apply these principles in more specialized manuscripts focusing on a single entity rather than a well-known pathology. Consider the following example from a manuscript by cell biologist Luis R. Cruz-Vera’s research team from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1

Here, they divide the opening paragraph of their introduction into four distinct sections. First, they explain what ribosome arresting peptides (RAPs) are and what they do.

Ribosome arresting peptides (RAPs) are nascent polypeptides that act in cis on the translating ribosome to control the expression of genes by inducing ribosome arrest during translation elongation or termination. RAPs commonly sense external forces or low molecular weight compounds in the environment that spatially and temporally contribute to the expression of genes. 

Then they introduce the two different types of RAPs.

RAPs such as SecM that sense external forces on the ribosome are typically large, because these nascent peptides have a domain that functions outside of the ribosome. In contrast, those that sense small molecules inside of the ribosome, such as TnaC are smaller. 

They describe how each type works via a different mechanism.

Typically, larger RAPs interact with cellular factors that can control their capacity for arresting ribosomes. Because of their size and proximity to ribosomal components, large RAPs clearly show two structural domains, a sensor domain and an arresting domain. At the moment of the arrest for the large RAPs, the sensor domain is located outside the ribosome exit tunnel, whereas the arresting domain remains inside the tunnel. The short RAPs currently characterized interact with the compounds that they sense by using the ribosome exit tunnel as a binding surface. For these short RAPs, it has been determined that conserved amino acid residues are necessary to induce arrest by either directly binding the effector molecule or by acting at the peptidyl-transferase center (PTC) during ribosome arrest. 

And finally, they conclude by highlighting a knowledge gap in how small RAPs operate versus what is already known about large RAPs.

However, because the size of short RAPs ranges from only a few to a couple of dozen amino acids, as in the case of TnaC, it has remained unclear whether short RAPs are constituted by the two independent sensor and stalling domains, as it has been observed with larger RAPs.

In this way, the authors make a natural progression from “why this topic is important” to “what is known about this topic,” setting the stage for “what is unknown about this topic and why it should be studied.” 

Gradually Moving from Broad to Narrow

These principles can be further transferred towards the introductory section as a whole. The first paragraph should serve as an introduction to the field and the topic. The middle paragraph(s) provide exposition and detail regarding what is known and unknown, and what has already been done and still remains to do, and the final paragraph outlines the study and its principle findings, providing a transition into either the materials and methods or the results section. 

For example, this work by radiation oncologist Eric Deutsch’s group at Université Paris-Saclay, published in PLoS One , 2 opens by succinctly explaining a scientific problem: “ the threat of extensive dispersion of radioactive isotopes within populated areas that would have an unfortunate effect on human health has increased drastically .” It then offers the call to action necessitated by this problem: “ the development of a decorporating agent capable of effectively mitigating the effects of a wide range of isotopes is critical .”

In the next two paragraphs, the study authors provide information on how and why dispersion of radioactive isotopes are a problem—“ the FDA has approved only three compounds (only one of which is used as a preventative therapy) for the treatment of exposure to specific radioactive elements ”—and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of what is currently available. They then introduce the focal point of their own work, chitosan@DOTAGA, within this context, explaining its potential as a solution to the problem they previously introduced: “ After oral administration to rodents over several days, no signs of acute or chronic toxicity were observed, and DOTAGA did not enter the blood stream and was fully eliminated from the gastrointestinal tract within 24 hours of administration. ”

Finally, the introduction concludes by listing the study objective—“ explore the potential of this polymer for use in the decorporation of a wide range of radioactive isotopes ”—and the motivations and rationale behind the study objective—“ there are no suitable countermeasures available for uranium poisoning. […] This innovative approach aims to directly chelate the radioactive cations, specifically uranium, within the gastrointestinal tract prior to their systemic absorption, which ensures their prompt elimination and mitigation of the associated toxicities. ”

The Introduction Engages with the Reader

The introduction section is often overlooked in favor of the title and the abstract, but it serves two important functions. First, it gives the audience all of the information that it needs to contextualize the yet-to-be-presented data within the context of the problem that needs to be solved or the scientific question that needs to be addressed. Second, and more importantly, it justifies the importance of the study, of its initiative, rationale, and purpose. The introduction is the author’s best—and arguably only real—opportunity to convince the audience that their study is worth reading.  

Looking for more information on scientific writing? Check out  The Scientist’s   TS SciComm  section. Looking for some help putting together a manuscript, a figure, a poster, or anything else?    The Scientist’s   Scientific Services  may have the professional help that you need.

• Judd HNG, et al. Functional domains of a ribosome arresting peptide are affected by surrounding nonconserved residues . J Biol Chem . 2024;300(3):105780.
• Durand A, et al. Enhancing radioprotection: A chitosan-based chelating polymer is a versatile radioprotective agent for prophylactic and therapeutic interventions against radionuclide contamination . PLoS One . 2024;19(4):e0292414.

Related community Research Resources

Building a Scientific Narrative

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The Fundamentals of Academic Science Writing

How to Write a Synopsis for Research

• Table of Contents

What is synopsis?

The Synopsis is mainly the gist of your already planned research project submitted for approval from higher authorities. It shows a clear transparent view of your research work. On the other hand, it is the crux of a general survey that gives an idea about what a composition is all about. In other words, it is a brief view of the thorny work. It is a short outline of your thesis work. 

It shows what your research work is all about. Moreover, it gives you and your supervisor a clear view of the research topic and provides clarity behind the research aim. In this, you tell your supervisor why did you conduct this research ? You also describe your time frame.

This paper views the supervisor a brief precise overview of the whole dissertation as well. Most of the supervisors specifically read this in the research work. Thus, a synopsis is only a promo that shows whether the research work is excellent or dull. The structure of the Synopsis should be authentic and precise as well. 

Format Of writing synopsis

As we know, synopsis is imperative for all the researcher’s work. The supervisors’ primary focus in conducting the research papers is on this. Also, the format is a brief discussion of your project plan. There are various formats of Synopsis, varying from institution to institution. In addition, an institution offers many disciplines; sometimes, each field has its structure to conduct the research in real-time.  

This focus on the general format that almost entire educational institutions are following. This is the most popular format. Moreover, this has some heading to represent your topic truly. The format must be facile so that readers can easily understand it.

In this, you divide your whole plan or idea into components so you can not miss any information regarding the research paper. You can say that the format gives you an in-depth picture of the research in the various components. So, you must follow these guidelines while conducting the study:

The first page of your dissertation consists of the title. It should be precise, not too long or short. Therefore, this reflects your study objective and should be decided and written after completing the Synopsis. This should be a clear representation of your topic and give you an overview of your research as well, in addition. Always think about the concise and clear topic so that it can raise interest in the reader. 

 So, it covers the title on which you conduct your title. This should adequately describe the entire research content. The synopsis topic elaborates on this category as well. Also, your name (student name), registration number, supervisor’s name, and supervisor details like his job title (professor or assistant professor). Moreover, your university name and department name are also in it. 

The title is the central part of the synopsis that reads the most, and it should also be eye-catching. Because many readers first look at the title page. On the other hand, the catchy, unique topic creates a good image in the supervisor’s mind about the paper. 

Table Of Content s

Table of a content list the chapters and the central dissertation section alongside the page numbers. So, it is easy to see what carrier holds what chapter. You can save your time by adding this table to your paper. It also demonstrates to your supervisor the covered chapters or headings. 

Read More: How to Create Table of Contents for Research Paper?

You can generate an automatic table after formatting the whole paper or make a manual one. The synopsis should be reader friendly. The central synopsis part is this table, which also gives you a picture of the different research categories. 

This category gives a good impression and presents the paper with a professional look. Moreover, it is complicated to search for any heading without it. It arranges all the information in the best way so that a supervisor or a reader can quickly assess it. So, it is a road map in complex cases. For example, chapter one (Introduction) covers the research gap , problems, and many more. 

Chapter 1: Introduction

You add all the relevant detail to show that your topic is worth reading. This is named the first chapter in the synopsis writing. On the other hand, this is the central portion of the research study. So, the reader is more attentive during the reading of this portion. It would be the great if you state and follow such few headings in this first research chapter. 

Background Of The Study

You will have to write your study background in this section. In addition, it describes your research study area as well. This section gives a reader in depth study of the research topic and it give you an overview of the study. Moreover, never focus on the ambiguous side in this heading. This area should not be too long or short. This category length depends on the overall size of the research paper synopsis. It should cover approximately one page of research synopsis.

• Research Gap

A research gap shows a problem not being reviewed or solved in the existing research studies or publications. Moreover, it can be a new idea and a thought process that you can prove in real-time. It should cover approximately two pages. But it depends on the number of variables, and the limit can exceed if you use more variables in your study. 

• Research Problem

This is an area of the problem the researcher wants to address in the Synopsis. This is managed as a question mark in the Synopsis and should be a real-time problem . In addition, the problem should be measurable in real time as well. If we talk about the section length, it should cover a half page or one full page.

• Research Questions

It helps to identify your research path. You first determine the total variables on which you want to conduct the study. Some are dependent, and some are independent variables. Also, some are mediators, and some are moderators. Therefore, you state the questions according to your variables. You will have to write down all your authentic research questions . The hypothesis is stated in this section.

Research Objectives

You will have to state the study’s objective. So, this is the end result researcher want to achieve. It will clearly state the study’s purpose and focus on real-time, and should be measurable. Moreover, it is the guideline of the research performance.

Significance Of The Study

It consists of Theoretical Contribution and Applied Contribution. It shows why this study is needed in the research field. Moreover, this section also elaborates on the research topic’s importance and impact on others. It justifies your research study, and if you talk about the length, this covers approximately half of the page. 

Chapter 2: Literature review

This is chapter two. It is the review of the existing research publication relevant to your topic. You also describe the variables and their relationship between them. So, you also add some researchers’ points of view with the citation to defend your statement regarding the topic. You will have to cover all the sections in it.

Independent Variables

First, you will have to define all the independent variables. You can manipulate and control these variables, and, in the study, these are not influenced by any other variables. This is the single variable, and you see their effect on the dependent variables in the study.

You will have to define the mediators’ variables. In addition, the mediators’ variables describe that how the two variables show relationship to each other. These are the intervening variables, which also show the relationship between the two variables.

Dependent variable

In this, you will have to state the definition of the dependent variable. This variable change with the independent variables’ manipulation. In addition, this is the variable being tested and measured in the research paper. So, this is the measurable variable in the study.

Read More: Chi-Square Test (Χ²) || Examples, Types, and Assumptions

Moderator 1

In the study there are at least two moderators should present. After the dependent and independent variables, you should also state the definition of the first moderator. Moreover, the moderator shows the strength and the direction of the journal. 

Moderator 2

Moderators modify the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables. Therefore, you will also have to define this variable in your study. It influences the relationship among the variables also. 

You will have to explain what theory supports your study and state the theory definition as well. Also, explain the proposed model based on your approach as well. The theoretical framework helps the investigation identify the real problem and show the impact of variables on each other.

• Research Hypothesis

Afterward, you will have to propose the research hypothesis of your study in the Synopsis. Therefore, Hypothesis 1, Hypothesis 2, Hypothesis 3, and Hypothesis 4 should mention here by looking at the impact of the variables. Well, H1 shows the positive or negative relationship between the independent and dependent variables. And H2 shows the connection between the independent, mediator, and dependent variables. 

Read More: Directional vs. Non-Directional Hypothesis in Research

H3 shows the positive or negative relationship among the independent, moderator, and dependent variables. H4 shows the relationship between the mediator, moderator two, and the dependent variable. Other than that, it shows the independent variable impact positively or negatively on the other variable, and you will prove this through statistics. Moreover, this hypothesis should cover almost one page.

Research Mode l

Here you will show the clear diagram, which is the theoretical image of your research study. 

Chapter: 3 Research Methodology

It is chapter three. This section includes detail on how this study was carried out. It provides research design, sample size, and many others. This ensures the supervisor the reliability and the validity of the study.

Research Design

This covers the techniques chosen by the researcher. For example, the researcher will decide the tome horizon whether this research study will be cross-sectional or longitudinal . 

This is an extensive collection of individuals. Also, you will elaborate on what sector you focus on, like banking, education, textile, etc. 

Sample Size and Technique

There are many types of sampling techniques. Therefore, the researcher uses any of this according to the study’s nature and continence. You will state what sampling technique you use for your research study. 

Read more: T-test | Example, Formula | When to Use a T-test

Data Collection Procedure

In this section, you will decide how you will collect the information and how you will process all the data. Moreover, in this section, you will support your hypothesis based on the facts and the figures. 

It consists of the measurements of all your variables on which scale you are measuring your variables. You will also state which study you will be adopted to describe such variables. First, you will have to measure your independent variable, which was estimated by 14 item scale developed in the past study. So, this variable is measured by 7-point Likert Scale. 

 Mediators should measure by adopting 20 items scale developed in the past study. So, this variable will measure by 7-point Likert Scale (from 1 Strongly Disagree to 7 Strongly Agree). The dependent variable should measure by adopting 20 items scale developed in the past study. So, this variable will measure by 7-point Likert Scale (from 1 Strongly Disagree to 7 Strongly Agree).

 Moderator 1 should measure by adopting three items scale developed in the past study. So, this variable will measure by 7-point Likert Scale (from 1 Strongly Disagree to 7 Strongly Agree). So, Moderator 2 should measure by adopting 28 items scale developed in the past study. So, this variable will measure by 7-point Likert Scale (from 1 Strongly Disagree to 7 Strongly Agree)

You add other previous research contributions to your study, and it is important to mention them or give them credit by adding their journal links here in this category. You will have to add all the journal references from where you got all the data. Sites are in APA style, and the article link should also be authentic. 

• How to Format APA Reference Page? APA Citations | Examples
• What Are MLA Citations? Guidelines & Examples
• Chicago Style Format: Examples | Tips To Avoid Mistakes 
• Top AI Tools for Citation Management

It consists of the Questionnaire, starting with the questions of independent variables, then you will have to add mediators’ questions. Afterward, add questions of the dependent variable, then add moderato 1 and 2 questions. 

Other articles

Please read through some of our other articles with examples and explanations if you’d like to learn more about research methodology.

• PLS-SEM model
• Principal Components Analysis
• Multivariate Analysis
• Friedman Test
• Chi-Square Test (Χ²)
• Effect Size

 Methodology

• Research Methods
• Quantitative Research
• Qualitative Research
• Case Study Research
• Survey Research
• Conclusive Research
• Descriptive Research
• Cross-Sectional Research
• Theoretical Framework
• Conceptual Framework
• Triangulation
• Grounded Theory
• Quasi-Experimental Design
• Mixed Method
• Correlational Research
• Randomized Controlled Trial
• Stratified Sampling
• Ethnography
• Ghost Authorship
• Secondary Data Collection
• Primary Data Collection
• Ex-Post-Facto
•   Dissertation Topic
• Thesis Statement
• Research Proposal
• Types of Research Gaps
• Operationalization of Variables
• Literature Review
• Questionnaire
• Reliability
• Measurement of Scale
• Sampling Techniques
• Acknowledgements

Related Posts

Survey sampling: what it is, types & tips, cluster sampling | method and examples, who is a good peer reviewer, peer review | types of peer review, ethics in research: safeguarding integrity and credibility, advantages and disadvantages of snowball sampling, exploring qualitative researcher skills: what they are and how to develop them, difference between quota sampling and stratified sampling, how effective laboratory design impacts health, safety, and productivity, why is laboratory safety important in research.

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Limitations in Research – A Simplified Guide with Examples

Limitations are flaws and shortcomings of your study. It is very important that you discuss the limitations of your study in the discussion section of your research paper. In this blog, we provide tips for presenting study limitations in your paper along with some real-world examples.

1. Should I Report the Limitations of My Work?

Most studies will have some form of limitation. So be honest and don’t hide your limitations. You have to tell your readers how your limitations might influence the outcomes and conclusions of your research.  In reality, your readers and reviewers will be impressed with your paper if you are upfront about your limitations. 

2. Examples

Let’s look at some examples. We have selected a variety of examples from different research topics.

2.1. Limitations Example 1

Following example is from a Medical research paper.

✔ The authors talk about the limitations and emphasis the importance of reconfirming the findings in a much larger study Study design and small sample size are important limitations. This could have led to an overestimation of the effect. Future research should reconfirm these findings by conducting larger-scale studies. _   Limitation s  _   How it might affect the results?   _   How to fix the limitation?

The authors are saying that the main limitations of the study are the small sample size and weak study design. Then they explain how this might have affected their results. They are saying that it is possible that they are overestimating the actual effect they are measuring. Then finally they are telling the readers that more studies with larger sample sizes should be conducted to reconfirm the findings.

As you can see, the authors are clearly explaining three things here: (1) What is the limitation? (2) How it might affect the study outcomes? and (3) What should be done to address the limitation?

2.2. Limitations Example 2

Following example is from an Engineering research paper.

✔ The authors are acknowledging the limitations and warning readers against generalizing the research findings However, some study limitations should be acknowledged. The experiments do not fully consider the problems that can appear in real situations. Hence, caution should be taken with generalizing the findings and applying them to real-life situations. _   Acknowledging limitations   _   Explaining the limitation   _   How it might affect the results?

The authors acknowledge that their study has some limitations. Then they explain what the limitations are. They are saying that their experiments do not consider all problems that might occur in real-life situations. Then they explain how this might affect their research outcomes. They are saying that readers should be careful when generalizing the results to practical real-world situations, because there is a possibility that the methods might fail.

2.3. Limitations Example 3

It is important to remember not to end your paper with limitations. Finish your paper on a positive note by telling your readers about the benefits of your research and possible future directions. In the following example, right after listing the limitations, the authors proceed to talk about the positive aspects of the work.

✔ The authors finish their paper on a positive note by talking about the benefits of their work and possible future work With this limited study, it is not known whether this finding can be applied to all clinical scenarios. Notwithstanding these limitations, this study has proven that Ultrasound can potentially serve as a more efficient alternative to X-rays in diagnosis. Future directions include studying the effects of different ultrasound pulsing schemes on pain relief. Another interesting direction would be to consider applications in nonhuman primates. _   Limitations   _   Benefits of the work   _   Possible future directions

The authors are saying that their experiments were somewhat limited and are not sure if their findings apply to the wider clinical practice. Then the authors highlight the benefits of their research. The authors say that their study has proven that ultrasound can be used instead of X-rays for diagnosis of certain types of diseases. Then they are explaining how future research can extend this work further. The authors are suggesting that it will be interesting to explore if ultrasound can be used for the treatment of chronic pain. And they are also suggesting that future studies can explore treating certain types of animal diseases with ultrasound. This is a very good example of how to finish the discussion section of your paper on a positive note.

Limitations are a vital component of the discussion section of your research paper. Remember, every study has limitations. There is no such thing as a perfect study. One of the major mistakes beginner writers make is hiding the limitations in the paper. Don’t do this, reviewers will reject your paper. Explain clearly how your limitations might have impacted your results, and provide ideas to mitigate them in the future. For further reading, please refer to our blogs on handling negative results and advanced tactics to address study limitations.

If you have any questions, please drop a comment below, and we will answer as soon as possible. We also recommend you to refer to our other blogs on  academic writing tools ,   academic writing resources ,  academic writing phrases  and  research paper examples  which are relevant to the topic discussed in this blog. 

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