Almost every person who has ever faced the educational or scientific activities knows what a scholarly paper is. It is the appropriate source for finding what has been researched or studied on a topic. However, it is a standard practice of the educational establishments to ask a student to write the scholarly paper. As a result, it is important to be aware of the structure of the scholarly paper as well as to know what to include in the article and what to exclude.
Structure of the Scholarly Paper
The relevant scholarly paper should adhere the classic structure, which consists of an abstract, introductory material, literature review, methodology, main body of the paper, and a conclusion. A 100-word abstract must accompany the article as a short description of its content. The introductory material is the first section of the scholarly paper; thus, it should clearly set out the issue that the paper resolves. Moreover, this section must include the description of how the author plans to address the question, and why it is worth resolving in the first place. Consequently, this section includes the introductory paragraph, thesis statement, and a background information. The literature review is the second section, and it provides the relevant context for the study. The methodology section, in turn, depends on the type of paper and is dedicated to the description of the methods used in the research as well as the ways of gathering and analyzing the data. Next, depending on the type of the scholarly paper, the main body could be the quantitative findings, the case study, the actual points of discussion, or the qualitative history. Finally, the conclusion must be the comprehensive summary of findings and ideas based on the analyzed materials built in a logical and considerable manner.
Points Important to Consider
Scholarly paper differs from other types of legal writing in audience, purpose, stance, scope, and use of technical materials. In the context of purpose, it is important to remember that the scholarly paper can have several purposes; however, there must be some overriding topic. Next, it is worth remembering that the scholarly paper is written for multiple audiences. Thus, the diverse audience is a vital point while creating the purpose and synthesizing the substance of the paper. The scope of the scholarly paper is another thing that must be taken into account in order to create the successful scholarly paper. The topic of the paper needs to be sufficiently narrowed so that the legal readers will appreciate the paper’s presentation. The stance, in turn, is aimed at communicating the message to the client via tone and voice. Choosing the stance is impossible without choosing the purpose and audience. The list of possible stances includes such features as aggressive, firm, cautious, candid, helpful, patient, indignant, conciliatory, apologetic, and others.
Things to Avoid
Writing the efficient scholarly paper envisages using various rules and avoiding numerous pitfalls. For instance, the relevant scholarly paper will never contain the contractions such as “didn’t” or “wouldn’t”. Moreover, it is important to try not using the passive voice in the scholarly article, because it blurs the responsibility, which is not recommended for the professional writing. Furthermore, the scholarly writer does not apply first or second person, incomplete sentences, imprecise language, and excessive wordiness and quotations. Finally, the scholarly paper should never contain the misprints; thus, the process of proofreading is obligatory for everyone who writes such type of articles.
