Your research paper and the big picture

Category: Education

Writing a research paper, particularly in the humanities, is more than just communicating your findings, arguments, and insights through writing. Your paper has to fit into the big picture of research along with make its own niche. It must be a part of the most relevant conversation in your field. Because no matter how fresh or game-changing your results may be, it will not matter to your audience or the rest of the world if it is not relevant. Research paper editors and proofreaders expect the author to worry about the relevance of their article in their field of study. Every research paper reviewer demands that your research paper participates in a specific academic discussion. Your ideas, insights, findings, interpretations, or arguments must be related to a specific issue or question pertaining to your subject area. Even if your article presents a new idea, interpretation, or discovery, it also continues a thread of research that may span several years or several centuries. Initially, it may not be clear how your topic conforms to the big picture of relevant research, but the following questions may help you in comprehending the position your paper will take in the conversation regarding your chosen topic in the academic arena: What do you aim to ascertain/establish/define/deduce? How is your comprehension of the previous literature or issue distinct? What are the essential issues addressed by your paper? Why are your ideas, insights, findings, interpretations, or arguments unique? Are there existing/previous literature that oppose your perspective? Is there a notable gap in the previous literature? What are the prevalent views/interpretations? (This question will help you convince other academics, decide the terms to use, set the tone of your argument, and divulge the amount of background you will need to provide) How does your paper add to the previous literature? If your study is interdisciplinary, then how does it include and infuse the different fields? These questions will not only help you plan your writing but also provide you with the counterarguments that you may wish to address through your paper. It will help you in extending the implications of other arguments, include only a part of an argument regarding an issue with, modify the existing argument with your own perspective. You may even recognize an incongruity or impediment in the previous literature and explore its implications. As academic writers, the final note of caution must always go to referencing all the sources that you may use to answer the above questions. It is your duty to acknowledge these pivotal articles and research trends. A research paper must seem like a dialogue between you and other academics and by getting your article published, you will step into the ever-changing academic conversation.