In most student's lives there will come a time when you will get assigned a research paper to do. It's a daunting task that you may put aside since it isn't your strong point, but you shouldn't let the stress get to you. You just need to organize yourself and set some time aside for your research paper.

Start with your idea for the research paper. Your idea is the main point here and if it's a good idea it will infect your readers like a virus, letting them see your point of view. The purpose of your research paper is there to convey your idea.

You will present the idea and problem in your way to the readers, then offer evidence, and support it with facts and statements. You will need to show how your idea compares to other similar ideas as well. So here is the basic structure to write your research paper:

1. Abstract

Keep the abstract short and to the point. No longer than four sentences are needed. All you need to do here is state the problem, tell your readers why it's an interesting problem and what solution it will achieve as well as what exactly will follow from your solution.

2. Introduction

The introduction shouldn't be longer than one page in length and all you need to do is describe the problem and state your contribution. You can even use an example to introduce the problem. Try to list your contributions first as this drives the entire research paper. To make it look neat and presentable you can use bulleted lists for your contributions.

3. The overall problem, your idea and subsequent details walk hand-in-hand.

If you narrow your focus that will bring the above together, then you are well on your way. The overall problem should be one page in length, your idea should be two pages in length and the details will span across five pages in length. So describe the problem and tell your readers why it is interesting. The narrative should explain your idea and defends it as well, showing the reader how it will solve the problem which will obviously fill them in.

You can cite references by trying to keep to the discussion as much as possible. If you use examples to present your ideas and thoughts then it will be more interesting. Afterwards you can present the general case. While introduction will make the claim, the body of your research paper will offer evidence to support this claim.

4. Related work

Your related work can be one to two pages in length and here you can give credit to others that may have helped you. Don't be shy to say who helped where. Try not to claim it as your own though.

5. Conclusions and References

This should only be half a page in length. Just add any references you may have found from the library, textbooks, and websites to this section. In the end the only thing you need to remember is make sure you identify your key idea, make sure your contributions are listed clearly and use specific examples.