We all know what a Ph.D. is, right! Anyway, let me tell you, it is esteem, a high-grade education honor for a candidate. But achieving a Ph.D. is not so easy as a post-graduation or graduation.
Doing research, writing a draft in the form of a dissertation or thesis, viva, and publishing research papers are criteria to get a Ph.D. You can’t get a Ph.D. award until you fulfill all these criteria.
An amazing article has been written by us on how to write a Ph.D. thesis, you can read it here. Now Coming to the important criteria to acquire a Ph.D.- research paper writing. We will talk about the Ph.D. viva in some other article. Let us discuss research paper writing.
Related article: How long does it takes to get a PhD?
What is a research paper?
“An elaborative essay, report, or findings of your research that have your own evaluation, results, interpretation, and/or argument, is known as a research paper.”
Hard to understand! Don’t worry, let me explain.
Let’s take a simple example to understand the importance of research paper writing.
New findings or discoveries need validation and supporting evidence to prove it. That exactly what the research paper is. If you find something new during your Ph.D. or you reported some novel things, it should be validated in the form of a written draft.
It is also defined as a scholarly article or academic writing having original research work supported by evidence. In short, a research paper is evidence to clarify that your Ph.D. research is validated.
Not only the original work but also other forms of information are considered in the research article. Some form of research papers are discussed here:
Types of research paper:
Review article:
Instead of reporting new findings or research; summaries and surveys of previously published work can be documented by writing a review article.
The review article is a short or elaborative summary of previous findings.
In the review article, we are documenting already existing findings, then the question arises: what is the importance of the review article?
The purpose of writing a review of literature is to provide a brief and summarized overview of a specific topic or area. We can say, all the information for one particular research topic, methodology, or area has been given in the review.
Therefore, when you are on some topic, reading a review paper, first, will make you understand the topic better. Furthermore, all related information can be obtained from a review article.
An expert in some specific field can write a review article, usually. But unlike other formats of research articles, it doesn’t have clear bifurcation like introduction, material & method, results, and discussion. The reason behind it is that here we are not documenting new things, we have not utilized any methodology or process.
However, to understand the review better, a writer can bifurcate topics into heading and subheadings. The key element of the review article is referencing and proper citations.
Every information you collect for your review should be free from plagiarism and properly cited. You have to cite every piece of information appropriately.
By citing and referencing the article properly, you are giving credit to the original developer or researcher, and that is very important in research. How you feel when someone stole your work without even giving you credit.
See the paragraph below, you will understand how to cite the article.
Regulation of SRY starts at intermediate mesoderm, where the first gene WT1 initiates the path of sex determination. As we discussed in the previous section +KTS of WT1 can directly bind to promoter sequences of the SRY gene and increase the expression level of SRY during male development or male gonad formation (Wu., et al. 2014). In the second step GATA4 (GATA binding protein 4) and its cofactors like GATA2 (previously called FOG2) involves in sex determination. Normal differentiation of Sertoli cells is regulated by GATA4 and cofactors, which indirectly regulates the expression of the SRY gene (Hacker., et al. 1995). Recently it is clearly known that mutant co-factor FOG2 cannot bind to GATA4. This results in male gonadal dysgenesis and fails to determine a specific gender (Lourenço., et al. 2009).
Research paper:
Original research work, findings, and discoveries are considered in a research paper or original article. To write an article in this category your work should be novel, unique, and new. Again, it should not be stolen or copied.
You can bifurcate your work into introduction, material & methods, results, and discussion. For medical and paramedical; patient detail, sample collection process, and other information can be provided as well.
In the introduction section, a general overview and information related to the topic should be included while in the material and method section, SOPs, process, method, technique, instruments, and apertures used in the findings are included.
In the results and discussion section, outcomes and statistics of your results are included with supportive documents. Other research works related to your findings are also discussed here.
In the conclusion section, conclude your findings in a few lines. And in the last, do not forget to enlist all the references you have used to write your paper.
Case studies:
The present format of the research paper is yet different and very unique. You can share your case study with the publisher by providing all the case information to them.
Usually, review articles and original research articles are very popular among researchers. Case studies, brief observation, letter to editors, and book chapters are written by the experts and hence this type of writing is not useful for a Ph.D. student.
Related article: What is PhD?
Overview of the research paper draft:
Alike the Ph.D. thesis, abstract, title, introduction, material & methods, results & discussion, conclusion, references and other pieces of information related to the author must be included in the research paper.
However, all the sections should be shortened than the thesis. The overview of various information included is explained in the figure below.
Conclusion:
Writing a research paper is one of the important criteria for giving someone a Ph.D. degree. As we said above, it gives supportive evidence to your dissertation. Also, Your contribution in the form of research paper helps some other Ph.D. students and researchers to work on related topics using your data, results, process and protocols.
