{"id":70276,"date":"2015-07-09T14:34:16","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T18:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?page_id=70276"},"modified":"2015-07-15T13:10:39","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T17:10:39","slug":"research-papers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/students\/on-campus-students\/academic-accommodations-and-support\/communication-resources\/research-papers\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Papers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research papers are very common in public health writing. They represent a culmination of systematic investigation of a topic in order to establish facts and reach conclusions. A research paper may include \u00a0literature reviews<\/a>, presentation of data and analysis, critical thinking, integration and explanation (1). Research papers are not simply a regurgitation of the research, nor are they an interpretation of just one source (1). Instead, they offer critical thought and draw conclusions from many sources.<\/p>\n

Topics and Problem Statements<\/h3>\n

The first step in writing a research paper is selecting a topic and developing it into a problem or purpose statement. While individual courses may dictate a range of topics, you are often at liberty to choose your own topic to research. It is important to select a topic for which an adequate amount of documentation exists. Avoid selecting a topic or population in which little is known, as this may limit your analysis or interpretations. For example, a student once tried to write a paper on alternative treatment of infertility in Egypt, but found there was little publish literature on the topic and so she could not adequately explore the issues or draw conclusions.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the topic, the problem statement or research question should be very clear and mentioned in the introduction of the paper.<\/p>\n

Below is a five-step process for analyzing problems (2), which can applied to writing a problem statement:<\/p>\n