The structure of a research paper, and how to write one in 10 steps

Q: What are the parts of a research paper?

Most research papers have a title, an abstract, an introduction, a methods section, a results section, a discussion, a conclusion and a reference list. This is the IMRaD structure. Journals may add keywords, a data availability statement, funding and conflict of interest declarations, and an AI use statement. Humanities papers often use argument-led headings instead, but they still state a question, the evidence and an answer.

Q: How long does it take to write a research paper?

A course paper of 3,000 to 5,000 words usually takes two to four weeks of part-time work, most of it reading. A journal article written from finished data often takes one to three months to draft, then more time for co-author comments. Planning the outline and drafting the methods first shortens both, because you stop rewriting the introduction.

Q: In what order should I write a research paper?

Write the methods first, then the results, then the discussion, then the introduction, and the abstract and title last. Methods and results are facts you already have. The discussion interprets them, and the introduction sets up only the questions the discussion answers. Writing in reading order is the most common reason introductions promise more than the paper delivers.

Q: How many sources should a research paper have?

It depends on the type and field. A short course paper might cite 8 to 15 sources. A journal article often cites 30 to 60, and a review article can cite well over 100. Check recent papers in your target journal and the reference limit in its author guidelines. Cite every claim that is not your own finding or common knowledge.

Q: Can AI help me write a research paper?

Yes, for finding sources, outlining, drafting sections from your own notes, checking that citations exist and reviewing a draft. It cannot run your study or decide what your results mean, and most journals require you to disclose substantive AI use. Check every citation it suggests against the paper itself, because invented or misattributed references are the most common AI error.

By Mubarak MutesasiraUpdated November 12, 202612 min read

The structure of a research paper is usually IMRaD: an introduction that states the problem and question, methods that say exactly what you did, results that report what you found, and a discussion that explains what it means. A title, abstract and references frame it. Write it in this order: methods, results, discussion, introduction, abstract, title.

This guide is for students writing their first academic research paper and early-career researchers preparing a journal article. It is the hub of our series on writing papers: it covers structure and steps, and links to using AI within the rules, journal and university AI policies and what happens to AI-generated papers.

What is the structure of a research paper?

A research paper is a document that reports original research or an original argument, shows the evidence behind it, and places it in the existing literature so others can check and build on it. Most empirical papers in the sciences, health and social sciences follow IMRaD, which became the dominant format in medical journals during the second half of the twentieth century [1].

IMRaD stands for Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion, the four core sections of an empirical research paper. Each answers one question a reader has:

Section	Question it answers	Typical share of a 5,000-word paper	Main tense
Title	What is this paper about?	10 to 20 words	n/a
Abstract	What was done and found, in brief?	150 to 300 words	Past
Introduction	Why does this matter, and what is the question?	15% (about 750 words)	Present for what is known, past for prior studies
Methods	What exactly did you do?	20 to 25% (about 1,100 words)	Past
Results	What did you find?	20 to 25% (about 1,100 words)	Past
Discussion	What does it mean, and what are the limits?	25 to 30% (about 1,400 words)	Present for meaning, past for your findings
Conclusion	What is the answer in a few sentences?	3 to 5%	Present
References	Which sources support your claims?	Not counted in most limits	n/a

Shares are typical. The journal's author guidelines always win: some merge results and discussion or put methods last.

What about papers that are not empirical?

Review articles, theoretical papers and humanities papers use argument-led headings. They still need the same moves: a question, the evidence you examined and how you chose it, what the evidence shows, and why it matters. A literature review replaces "methods" with a description of how sources were found and selected.

How to write a research paper in 10 steps

These are the steps to write a research paper from a blank page to submission. Steps 1 to 4 are planning; most of the time goes into steps 3 and 5.

Pick a topic you can narrow. Start broad ("remote work and well-being"), then narrow by population, setting and outcome ("remote work and sleep quality in call-center staff").
Write one research question. A question you can answer with the data or sources you can get. See how to write a research question. If you test a prediction, add a hypothesis.
Find and read sources. Search two or more databases, read abstracts to screen, then read the 15 to 30 papers that matter in full. Our guide on how to find sources for a research paper covers where to look.
Outline the paper. Write each section's heading and two or three bullet points of what it will say. Give each section a word budget that adds up to the limit.
Draft methods and results first. These are records of what you did and found, so they are the fastest to write.
Draft the discussion, then the introduction. Now you know what the paper shows, the introduction can set up exactly that.
Revise for argument, then for sentences. First check that every paragraph supports the question. Only then fix wording.
Cite and check every reference. Confirm each source exists and says what you claim. See how to cite a research paper.
Format to the journal or course guide. Headings, reference style, figure files, word count, declarations.
Proofread and submit. Read it aloud once and check numbers against your tables.

How long does each step take?

Here is an example plan for a 5,000-word course research paper due in four weeks, at about 10 hours a week:

Week	Steps	Hours
1	Topic, question, search and screening	10
2	Full-text reading, notes, outline	10
3	Draft methods, results, discussion, introduction	12
4	Revise, cite, format, proofread	8

That is 40 hours; a journal article usually needs longer for co-author comments.

What goes in each section of a research paper?

Title

A good title names the topic, population and design in 10 to 20 words. Example: "Remote work and sleep quality in call-center staff: a cross-sectional survey."

Abstract

An abstract is a 150 to 300 word summary of the paper's purpose, methods, main results and conclusion. Many journals require a structured abstract with labeled parts (Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions). Include your main numbers. Write it last, and make sure every claim in it appears in the paper.

Example results sentence for an abstract (invented): "Of 412 respondents, those working remotely four or more days a week reported 34 minutes more sleep per night (95% CI 18 to 50) than office-based staff."

Introduction

The introduction moves from the general problem to your specific question in three moves, a pattern described by John Swales as "Create a Research Space" [2]:

Establish the territory: why the topic matters, with evidence.
Establish the niche: what is not yet known, contested or untested. This is the gap.
Occupy the niche: your aim, question and, if you have them, hypotheses.

Keep it to three to five paragraphs, ending with the question.

Methods

The methods section is a description of what you did in enough detail that another researcher could repeat it. Cover the design, setting and participants (or data sources), sampling and sample size, measures and instruments, procedure, and analysis, naming the statistical tests and software. Report ethics approval and consent where people took part.

Use the reporting guideline for your design. The EQUATOR Network lists them, including CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies and PRISMA for systematic reviews [3]. Psychology and related fields use the APA Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) [4]. Our methodology chapter guide covers this section in more depth.

Results

Report what you found, in the order of your questions, without interpreting it. Lead each paragraph with the main finding, then the numbers. Use tables for many exact values and figures for patterns. Every table and figure needs a number, a title and a mention in the text.

Example: "Mean sleep duration was 7.1 hours (SD 0.9) in the remote group and 6.5 hours (SD 1.1) in the office group, t(398) = 5.9, p < .001." If you need help choosing the test, see which statistical test to use.

Discussion

The discussion answers your question and argues for what the results mean. A reliable order:

State the main finding in one or two sentences.
Compare it with previous studies: where it agrees, where it differs and why.
Explain the implications for practice, policy or theory.
Name the limitations and how they affect your conclusions.
Say what research should come next.

Do not introduce new results here, and do not claim more than your design allows: a cross-sectional survey shows association, not cause.

Conclusion

Some journals fold it into the discussion. If separate, give the answer to your question in three to five sentences, with no new citations.

References and declarations

Cite in the required style. Journals increasingly also ask for a data availability statement, funding, conflicts of interest, author contributions and a statement on AI use. Our post on AI policies in academia lists what major publishers require.

Free research paper outline template

Copy this into your document and fill in each bullet before you draft.

Title (10–20 words): topic, population, design
Abstract (250 words, write last)

1. Introduction (≈750 words)
   - Problem and why it matters (2 sources)
   - What is known (4–6 sources)
   - Gap: what is not known
   - Aim, question, hypotheses

2. Methods (≈1,100 words)
   - Design and setting
   - Participants / data: who, how many, how chosen
   - Measures and instruments
   - Procedure
   - Analysis: tests, software
   - Ethics approval and consent

3. Results (≈1,100 words)
   - Sample description (Table 1)
   - Finding for question 1 (Figure 1)
   - Finding for question 2 (Table 2)

4. Discussion (≈1,400 words)
   - Main finding in two sentences
   - Comparison with previous studies
   - Implications
   - Limitations
   - Future research

5. Conclusion (≈150 words)
References | Declarations | Appendices

What are the most common reviewer complaints?

Reviewers most often object to the fit between question, method and claims, not to grammar. These are the complaints you can fix before you submit:

Complaint	What it looks like	Fix
Unclear contribution	The introduction never says what is new	End the introduction with the gap and your question in one sentence each
Methods not reproducible	"Data were analyzed statistically"	Name the test, software, version and any exclusions
Overclaiming	Causal language from correlational data	Match verbs to design: "was associated with," not "caused"
Results and discussion mixed	Interpretation inside results	Move every "this suggests" sentence to the discussion
Thin or dated literature	Most references more than 10 years old	Search the last five years and cite the key recent studies
Missing limitations	No limitations paragraph	Name each limitation and its likely effect on the findings
Reference errors	Wrong years, missing DOIs, a paper that does not exist	Check every reference against the source

If you get a decision letter, our guide on how to respond to reviewer comments walks through the reply. Before you submit, run your own check with how to review your own paper.

Where does AI help at each step?

AI is most useful for searching, organizing and checking, and least trustworthy for deciding what your evidence means. Most journals allow AI assistance with disclosure but do not accept AI as an author [5][6].

Step	Useful AI help	What you must still do
Topic and question	Suggest narrower versions, test against FINER or PICO	Choose the question you can answer
Sources	Semantic search, summaries of abstracts	Read the key papers in full
Outline	Propose headings and a word budget	Decide the argument
Draft	Turn your notes into paragraphs, suggest citations	Check every citation supports its sentence
Revise	Flag unclear sentences, missing limitations	Accept or reject each change
Cite and check	Confirm references exist, flag retractions	Fix and re-verify

The full workflow, including what to disclose, is in how to write a research paper with AI. The risks of letting AI write the whole paper are covered in AI-generated research papers.

How to write a research paper in AI for Research

AI for Research covers the steps above in one workspace. You supply the question, data and judgment.

Find Papers searches 250M+ scholarly works with filters for year, study type and open access, at 0 credits. Save papers to My Library and ask a PDF questions, with answers that cite page numbers (1 credit a question).
Writing Studio, Research paper drafts an IMRaD paper from your topic and notes, citing real papers (15 credits). Section writer and Abstract cost 3 credits each.
The editor has cited autocomplete: as you type, it suggests the next sentence with a citation to a real paper, which you accept or ignore. The free plan includes 10 autocompletes a day. Cite in any of 10,000+ styles and export to Word or PDF (LaTeX on paid plans).
Citation check confirms each reference exists and flags retractions and wrong years (0 credits). Claim check shows whether cited studies support up to 10 claims from a paragraph (2 credits).
Reviewer scores a manuscript against criteria out of 10 and quotes each passage with a fix: 10 credits per 10,000 words, or a 3-credit preview of the first 3,000 words.

The free plan has 45 credits a month, enough for one draft and several section rewrites; see pricing. You can also try the research paper writer without an account. Limits: the drafts write up what you give them; they cannot collect data or decide what your results mean, and you must check each cited paper yourself.

FAQ

What are the parts of a research paper?