The research paper is a special type of independent learning activity for high school and college students. Preparing a biology research paper will teach you how to work with catalogs, organize and classify information, analyze data, draw conclusions, and design text documents, as well as acquire skills in working with structural diagrams.
How to write a biology research paper
A research paper is a theoretical, source-based paper that reveals a specific topic. Research necessarily involves the use of sources, since the research being conducted relies on previously known and published information.
What is the purpose of research? Teachers, giving such an assignment, expect that the student will penetrate the essence of the subject and expand their knowledge and learn how to work with information.
Preparing a research paper includes gathering information on the topic, organizing the information, and being able to highlight key points and convey the essence in a logical, written format. Can not cope with the research? Use academic paper help by WritingAPaper for pupils and students. Entrust your work to the best author on your topic.
Choosing a Topic
Before writing, it is necessary to choose a research topic. It is sometimes suggested by the teacher, or you can choose it yourself. When choosing, it is important to consider your interests, how close the topic is to you, and whether you can find sources to write about it. Check what literature on the subject you have at home and what you can find in the library. The library’s subject catalogs will help in the search. The topic is formulated in different ways, more broadly or narrowly. For example, “Plants” has a very broad meaning, and “Desert Plants” has a narrower meaning. If a broad formulation is chosen, the focus should be on comprehensive coverage of the subject, but short and without detail. If narrow coverage of the study is chosen, the report will contain additional details in addition to general data.
Work on the study begins with a clear plan so that you immediately understand what you have to write about and in what sequence. The starting material is the usual high school or college biology textbook. Then you should read the contents of other books and articles and find the material that is not in the textbook, and supplement it.
A typical research structure looks something like this:
- Introduction. Here you need to justify the relevance and importance of the chosen topic;
- The main part. Here you describe the conducted research, analyze the subject, and make preliminary conclusions;
- Conclusion. Represents a summary of the results.
Let us dwell on these points of the plan in more detail.
Any work should be an introduction. As a rule, it consists of several paragraphs. In some cases, it is not very big and consists of one paragraph.
The introduction introduces you to the case. It justifies why the chosen topic is important and its relevance, noting the issues that the author will consider in the subsequent parts.
For example, the topic “Fungi” should indicate that fungi are living organisms, significantly different from other animals and plants, and perform a critical function in the biosphere. Thus, the main content will be devoted to a breakdown of the differences between fungi and other organisms and an analysis of their role in nature.
The conclusion is written in a single text in the form of narrative sentences. The main task – is to summarize the research and formulate the main conclusions. The conclusions themselves are better presented in the form of separate paragraphs, which for convenience are designated by numbers.
An example of conclusions:
Fungi are special organisms, different from animals and plants. They are characterized by apical growth.
Also, an important role in the writing plays a bibliography – a list of references used. All materials involved should be listed at the end of the study and given a full bibliographic reference. Indicates the author’s full name, the full title of the book, place of publication, publisher, and the page number. If the reference is to the book as a whole, the total number of pages in it should be given.
Citation
In the text, when using the citations and opinions of different authors, or the use of sources in brackets indicate the name of the author and, separated by a comma, the year of publication. Then these works are listed in the list of references, with all bibliographic references placed strictly in alphabetical order.
There is another way to design citations. In his list of references, sources are marked in alphabetical order, and put a serial number in front of each. In the text, the text in brackets no longer indicates the author’s name, and this number from the list.