Writing a Research Paper: 3 Frequently Asked Questions in 2026

Writing a research paper is more than just arranging research findings. It is rather difficult to formulate the research gap, objectives, structure of the literature review, methods, citations, avoid plagiarism and prepare a research manuscript for submission to the journal.

Here is the list of most common questions that researchers ask during writing of the research paper and solutions to them.

1. How to start writing a research paper?

It is better to start by formulating the research problem. Then one should formulate the research gap, research questions/hypotheses, and objectives.

The proper order is:

Topic → Problem → Gap → Questions → Objectives → Methods → Results → Discussion → Conclusion

Thus, starting from the problem will help not to get an accumulation of unrelated facts.

2. How do I identify a good research gap?

Read recent journal papers, systematic reviews, review papers, and past research in your field. Identify gaps that may exist in poorly explored areas, contradictions, outdated knowledge, or something not investigated in a specific population/industry/location.

A good research gap should state:

1. What past research has found out about the topic
2. What is still unknown about the topic
3. What the limitation of the current research is
4. What your study aims to investigate

Your research gap should eventually translate into the research question/objectives you want to investigate.

3. What structure should my research paper have?

Commonly used structure for an original research paper is:

Title → Abstract → Introduction → Literature Review → Methodology → Results → Discussion → Conclusion → References

Nevertheless, structure may vary from field to field and even among journals.

Prior to preparing your manuscript, read carefully author instructions of the journal in which you plan to publish.