The Best Order to Write a Research Paper

In this blog we will look at the perfect sequence for drafting a research manuscript. Some people prefer to write one section at a time, while others prefer to write several sections simultaneously.

1. Typical Writing Sequence

Most students will start writing the sections exactly in the order in which they will appear in the final paper.  They will start with the abstract, and then followed by the introduction, methods, results, discussion, and finally conclusions. This may not be the most effective way of doing it.

Don’t write the sections in the standard order below

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion

2. Recommended Writing Sequence

Most academics and researchers agree that the following order of writing enabled them to finish their paper fast.

Always write the sections in the ascending order of difficulty, from easiest to difficult

• Materials and methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Introduction
• Conclusion
• Abstract

1. MATERIALS AND METHODS: You should always start with the methods section because it is easy to write. You are just writing the experimental procedure, which you can copy from your lab notes.

2. RESULTS: Then you have to write your results section. Again this section should be fairly straightforward to write.  Because at this point you will have the data, you simply have to put them in figures and tables

3. DISCUSSION: Then you should write the discussion section of your paper, which is the most difficult section to write because you have to interpret your findings.

4. INTRODUCTION: After discussion, you can write the introduction section. You will find it easy to write your introduction now because you will have a better understanding of the significance of your work having completed the results and discussion sections.

5. ABSTRACT & CONCLUSION: And finally, the Abstract and conclusion sections should be written at the end because it is the summary of your entire paper.

3. Summary

In his blog, we have discussed the best order to draft your manuscript. However, it is not mandatory to strictly follow this order, you should choose the order that suits you best. If you have any questions, please drop a comment below, and we will answer as soon as possible. We also recommend you to refer to our other blogs on academic writing tools,  academic writing resources, and academic phrase-bank, which are relevant to the topic discussed in this blog.