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Scientific Illustrations: A Complete Guide for Researchers

As a researcher, writing reports and articles is a big part of your job. Academics and scientists everywhere spend the majority of their time either doing research or writing about it. However, there is one aspect of reports and articles that we don’t think about very often, and that is scientific illustrations. We write articles and reports to convey our ideas to a variety of audiences—academics, fellow scientists, and the public. Everyone who has read a report or article recognizes that illustrations, figures, graphs, and infographics are an invaluable factor in clearly presenting ideas. Until recently, there haven’t been many good tools that make it easy to create clear and interesting scientific illustrations. But with the rise of digital technology, this is changing. In this article, we will look at ways you can create detailed and helpful illustrations to better present your ideas and research. We will also examine the latest tools for scientists and researchers to make such illustrations.

Scientific Illustrations: Where to Begin?

The first place to begin with a scientific illustration is research about the subject. Before you can draw something, you need to have a thorough understanding of it. If you are illustrating a process or an organ, it can help to break it down into smaller parts first so you can think about the best way to present it. Once you have all the information you need, make some preliminary sketches on paper. You can think of this step as similar to writing an outline for an article. You will need to have a good idea of what you want your illustration to look like before you start dealing with digital illustration tools.

When you’re making preliminary sketches, it’s important to keep your target audience grain mind first and foremost. Are you making this illustration for fellow academics or other scientists who already have a detailed understanding of the material? Or are you creating it for the general public? Determining your target audience will make it clear what information you need to include and what information you can leave out of your illustration.

Finally, before you turn to digital tools, remember that the purpose of a scientific illustration is not to introduce new materials. Scientific illustrations are used to present the information in your article in a way that is easier to understand for your audience. The illustration should clarify the topic of your research. For example, if you are writing about the way a stent opens up blocked arteries in a heart, then you can create an illustration showing the key components and highlighting the function of the stent.

Digital Tools for Scientific Illustrations

Once you have your preliminary ideas sketched out, it’s time to turn to digital tools. Most researchers are familiar with tools such as PowerPoint and Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. While PowerPoint is good for making slideshows, it falls short when it comes to making actual illustrations. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are wonderful tools, but they are difficult to learn and can be expensive. Fortunately, some recent innovators have created illustration tools especially for scientists .

The hottest tool right now is BioRender , which was created by a group of women in Toronto who recognized the need for a simple illustration program for scientists. BioRender has a library of more than 30,000 life-science icons, which includes anatomical drawings and pictures of everything from SARS-CoV-2 virus particles to fruit flies. The program allows you to drag and drop icons easily and also has special drawing tools. The founders created the program after recognizing the need for it in fast-growing fields like immunology and microbiology that don’t have standard tools for illustrating, unlike engineering or chemistry. However, it does come with an institutional price tag of USD $35 a month or USD $99 for five users.

But BioRender isn’t the only company trying to meet the need for better tools to illustrate scientific concepts. EDrawSoft offers professional scientific diagrams and templates and is great for physics, mathematics, and chemistry. Gimp is another popular illustration software offering tools for high-quality image manipulation . Gimp’s popularity isn’t only because of its variety of tools and ability to work across platforms like Linux. It is also free. However, it’s often considered an alternative to Adobe Photoshop, meaning beginners might have a difficult time getting started. InkScape is another free tool popular for scientists who want to edit vector graphics. Cacoo is great for collaboration as it has the ability to create diagrams as well as edit and comment in real-time. These are just a few of the many tools available now to make high-quality images and scientific illustrations.

Tips for Making Eye-Catching Scientific Illustrations

Once you have identified the best tool for your purpose and learned the basics, it’s time to think about what makes a good scientific illustration. The short answer is: a good scientific illustration should present information clearly in an eye-catching way. It should enhance the understanding of the viewer, not make it more confusing. You can use color, but there’s no need to use the whole rainbow—color sparingly applied can highlight the most important aspects of your illustration. Scientific illustrations can also make use of text to help viewers understand what they are looking at. A great illustration can add a whole new dimension to the presentation of your research, leaving a strong impression on your audience.

As more journals accept illustrations along with articles, the demand for the skill of scientific illustration is also growing. The founders of BioRender highlight what a well-paying field scientific illustration is . Shiz Aoki is one of very few people in the world with an actual degree in medical illustration from Johns Hopkins University. The program only produces six graduates per year. Before Aoki started BioRender, she ran a medical illustration firm that charged between USD $1000 to USD $10,000 for commissions. For many scientists and researchers struggling to make ends meet due to the fallout from the coronavirus epidemic, freelancing in scientific illustration may offer a lucrative side hustle. With the number of tools available, investing some time in learning this new skill now can boost your career in more ways than one.

Do you create illustrations for your articles and presentations? What tools have you found helpful or difficult? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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• Published: 08 June 2016

Science illustration: Picture perfect

• Jyoti Madhusoodanan 1  

Nature volume  534 ,  pages 285–287 ( 2016 ) Cite this article

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• Communication

Enlisting the help of an illustrator can add impact to research papers and outreach projects.

On canvas, a 390-million-year-old forest springs to life. Massive tree trunks jut into a sunlit clearing from a crowded forest floor. Stubby green branches battle with frilly leaf-like filaments to touch the pink-tinged sky. Palaeobotanist Chris Berry had worked for years with samples from the Gilboa Fossil Forest in New York, but had never before seen what the living forest might have looked like so many millennia ago.

Dubbed 'Lost Worlds', the digital oil painting was created by Victor Leshyk to accompany a 2012 research paper in Nature by Berry and his colleagues (W. E. Stein et al . Nature 483 , 78–81; 2012). It was commissioned to appear on the cover of the journal and Berry features it in his talks today, especially those for lay audiences.

It was Berry's first experience in teaming up with a scientific illustrator, and Leshyk's work exceeded his expectations. “It was very prestigious for us to have it on the cover, and the image proved very good for engagement and outreach,” he says. Berry, who is based at the University of Cardiff, UK, has collaborated with artists twice since then, for press releases and museum exhibitions that involve his research, and he is discussing a second project with Leshyk. “If you've got a story you want to get out there and you've got a really good image,” he says, “it will fly a lot farther than just words.”

The use of striking images to accompany manuscripts and outreach efforts is growing as more journal publishers are requiring graphical abstracts — depictions of a paper's main thrust or concept — to accompany studies. These commissioned illustrations differ from the everyday photograph, sketch or overview figure that usually accompanies research manuscripts or talks. They get to the core of concepts; they may also depict unobservable phenomena, ranging from subatomic particles to what extinct life forms might have looked like. Although working on such images with an illustrator might seem like a lot of extra toil, and paying for their services extravagant, the benefits of skilled artistic presentation can be manifold.

Visually stunning representations that result from collaborations between scientists and artists can grab millions of online views, and attract a much wider audience than a non-illustrated paper, both of which are particularly useful for researchers whose grant applications or funding proposals require them to show a public-outreach component. They are also more likely to be written about and shared digitally, helping to raise the visibility of a scientist's work, attract more students to a lab, boost career standing and improve chances of garnering funding. They can even inspire new experiments — or reveal gaps in knowledge.

Even when photographs or images already exist, hand-rendered or digital illustrations and 3D animations can clarify and enhance the technical details of a key data point or finding — exactly how proteins latch onto the surface of DNA, for example, or the shape of butterfly larvae that are usually hidden in leaf litter. Scientists who want to examine their research question or findings more fully, to 'see' their data or to provide a pictorial boost to their manuscript should consider teaming up with an illustrator. Scientific artists can also help to create artwork for a project's website, or explain hard-to-grasp concepts with short videos.

Learning point

Most such collaborations begin when researchers are writing a paper, but it can be helpful to start even earlier (see 'Turn science into art' ). Discussing with an artist how best to depict a mechanism or process — what to include and exclude, how molecules, stars or fossils should be positioned relative to one another — can help researchers to hone their hypothesis, reveal points of disagreement between authors and even identify holes in understanding.

Chemist Lauren Benz of the University of San Diego, California, found that talking with an illustrator helped her to uncover important issues that she had not considered when she started drafting her review article about the applications of membranes made from polymers and other materials. She had commissioned freelance artist Mary O'Reilly, who earned her PhD in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, to help illustrate how these membranes work at the molecular level. O'Reilly asked whether she should depict molecules filtering through a particular spot in the membrane, and Benz and her collaborators realized that they didn't know exactly where the filtering happened.

“It made me question some assumptions I had about the filtration mechanism, and going back and forth with Mary helped us come up with some research questions we could ask going forward,” she says. She is now planning experiments to tackle them.

Scientific illustration can encapsulate information that is not easily or often conveyed by text, line drawings or simple graphics. But it can also be used when direct imagery such as photographs are impractical or even impossible. Biologist Jessica Linton, who works with the Canadian consulting firm Natural Resource Solutions in Waterloo, was working on a recovery strategy for the endangered mottled duskywing butterfly ( Erynnis martialis ) when she realized that there were no available images of the creature's microscopic eggs and pupae, which tend to be buried in soil under leaf litter, and are extremely difficult to photograph.

Armed with scientific descriptions, she turned to illustrator Emily Damstra, whom she had met through a local butterfly enthusiasts' group. Damstra's illustrations — which are now included in the Ontario government's policy document outlining the recovery strategy — received enthusiastic appreciation from butterfly researchers and ecologists.

For those who work at the molecular level, illustrations and videos often provide the first visualization of materials or concepts that the researchers might have worked on for years — and it can be a revelation. As a graduate student, Janet Iwasa often found herself and her lab mates resorting to stick-figure drawings or waving their hands around to depict the movements of the protein they were studying: kinesin, which scuttles along skeletal filaments inside cells. “Scientific information was often lost,” she says. “The first time I really understood how kinesin worked was when my principal investigator hired an animator to illustrate it.” (In part because of her frustration over this, she left bench research after completing a postdoc and now works on molecular visualization in her post at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.)

These depictions can offer surprising perspectives. “Sometimes, you need an image to tell the story effectively,” says visual science communicator Kate Patterson of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia. “They can also be question-generating, as scientists start to think about what they're seeing in a new way.” When Patterson showed some researchers her animation of how DNA can be modified at the chemical level, a lively discussion ensued about how the process. Thanks to the animation, the group began to consider the physical arrangements of molecules inside the nucleus, rather than just the chemistry or enzymes involved.

Working with illustrators can also help scientists to hone their own skills at presenting data in images. Cell biologist Matt Thomson at the University of California, San Francisco, says that collaborating with science illustrator Jessica Huppi for his study on embryonic cells taught him to prune less-relevant details for better impact, and that colour and layout can often convey information more effectively than text labels.

The paper showed that genes in growing embryonic cells can be controlled by light ( C. Sokolik et al . Cell Syst. 1 , 117–129; 2015 ), and Huppi's illustrations helped him to realize that there were many ways of conveying information visually. Seeing how Huppi used effects such as colours, shapes and relative sizes has helped him to represent data effectively in subsequent work, he says. “Working with an illustrator gives you a chance to learn how to approach this type of process of thinking visually — how you convey time in a drawing, or how you can convey cause and effect.”

Conceptual approach

Many researchers who have worked with illustrators say that they expect to do so again. But they note that the time needed to produce good artwork can add weeks to preparing a paper, and the expense of hiring a professional ranges from a few hundred dollars to thousands. This kind of time and money is not always defensible. Benz says that illustrations are useful for portraying general ideas or concepts, but that simple data can often be conveyed clearly in charts and graphs. Thomson cautions against enlisting professional help just to make a paper more decorative. Scientists who want to save money and create their own art and figures can use Microsoft Excel, molecular-visualization software and tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, but those without artistic training may find they need to invest time in learning how to use the programs.

Sometimes, you need an image to tell the story effectively.

But they should consider more than just the money when making that choice. Hiring an illustrator saved Benz's two graduate-student co-authors from a huge time sink. “For them to not have to spend hours on learning how to draw a figure was hugely helpful,” she says. “There was a direct impact on our work.”

And although the right software can help a researcher to produce simple figures and visualize single molecules, that will not always result in a professional-style animation or illustration. Researchers who are not artists tend to lack the sense of design and aesthetics that are a keystones of fabulous artwork. “Where illustrators come in is in their knowledge of colour theory, using composition to guide someone's eye around a page or image in the right order,” says O'Reilly. “Or drawing their eye to the centre of interest.”

When Berry published a paper about a different fossil forest, his institution's press office asked him for images. With no illustrator accessible at the time, he sketched out trees by hand and sent his line drawings to a colleague who helped to add colour. The image is now widely used on websites, news stories and in research presentations, Berry says. Although his drawing was much simpler than Leshyk's, the process still took him nearly two weeks. “It was a lot of fun,” he says. “But I'm not sure I could do it again. That was the first time I tried to draw a whole forest to a standard good enough to let other people look at.” The experience underscored to him how much effort — and talent — is required for illustration. Since then, he has chosen to seek professional help when he needs artwork.

Yet the value of professional scientific illustration has been tough to quantify or explain to many. Few, if any, studies have examined its impact on a manuscript, presentation or grant proposal. But many researchers vow that illustrated manuscripts get better results. “Anecdotally, people say you get more citations, or reviewers are happier with a paper, if you have good figures,” Patterson says. “Or if you have a cover image, it'll get more attention. But the actual data behind that are lacking.”

Still, researchers agree that whether through a simple graphic or a 3D animation, the visual communication of science is growing increasingly important. Some researchers think that professionally made figures can ease a manuscript's path through peer review. Although this is tough to verify, geneticist Deborah Kurrasch of the University of Calgary in Canada says that she has opted to work with illustrators many times before submitting a paper. And when she's acting as a reviewer, she adds, well-made figures make it easier to read and understand the data.

“Making data into art takes skill,” Berry says. “If I had the resources, I would always hire an illustrator.”

Box 1: Turn science into art

Here are some tips for getting the most out of the experience of creating art for science.

Establish a working relationship with an illustrator long before you will need her or him — when you start writing a review article, for example, or when pursuing outreach projects for schools or museums.

Seek out illustrators who have expertise in areas related to your research and look through their portfolios for artistic styles that you like. Scientists typically find artists through referrals from colleagues or through online searches for illustrators in their geographic area or field of study. The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators in Washington DC maintains a list of contacts, and many illustrators share their own work on Twitter under #sciart.

Clearly establish the data points that need to be in the art from the outset, so that the end product is accurate. But allow the artist to maximize the visual impact of their illustration.

Be bold with ideas. One image isn't the definitive description of a scientific theory, so it's fine if an image includes some ambiguity about unknowns or hypotheses as long as it's done with sufficient context.

Seek illustrators who ask questions. You should aim to find an artist who engages with your work.

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Title: on the importance of illustration for mathematical research.

Abstract: Mathematical understanding is built in many ways. Among these, illustration has been a companion and tool for research for as long as research has taken place. We use the term illustration to encompass any way one might bring a mathematical idea into physical form or experience, including hand-made diagrams or models, computer visualization, 3D printing, and virtual reality, among many others. The very process of illustration itself challenges our mathematical understanding and forces us to answer questions we may not have posed otherwise. It can even make mathematics an experimental science, in which immersive exploration of data and representations drive the cycle of problem, conjecture, and proof. Today, modern technology for the first time places the production of highly complicated models within the reach of many individual mathematicians. Here, we sketch the rich history of illustration, highlight important recent examples of its contribution to research, and examine how it can be viewed as a discipline in its own right.

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Illustration research methods

Gannon, Rachel and Fauchon, Mireille (2020) Illustration research methods. Bloomsbury. 224p. ISBN 9781350051430 (In Press)

Illustration Research Methods is a dedicated theoretical text offering a discipline specific vocabulary to explore the processes and methods languages through which illustration operates. Proposing ‘illustration’ to be considered as holistic processes consisting of a range of project appropriate interpretative and creative practices rather than simply a finished outcome, the book is structured into five core chapters which places the illustrator in a specific role – author, educator, activist, craftsperson and reporter. The content of each chapter then outlines and discusses a range of methods surrounding that theme ranging from ethical and philosophical considerations, practical processes, materiality and making. The book features work by a range of different illustrators to demonstrate different models of practice. In writing the text we also endeavored to offer an example of critical writings on illustration, written by illustrators in such a way as appropriate to behaviors of the discipline (as also identified in the book) , for example ‘illustrative’ writing; creative writing, storytelling, evocative description etc.

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The 14th Annual Illustration Research Symposium

Illustration & Heritage

November 22-23, 2024

University of the Arts, London, England

Journal of Illustration 10.2

is out now!

Transitus, Embodiment and affect in a transitional moment in illustration research. 

The work in ‘Transitus issue 2’, responds to our conjured concept of ‘transitus’. We felt that this term might speak to a core quality of illustration being a vibrant mode of crossing over, and of transition.

CAROLYN SHAPIRO; NIGEL OWEN; SUBIR DEY AND MONIKA; JOHANNA ROEHR; GEORGIE BENNETT; TÂNIA A. CARDOSO; NICOLA HAY; BILL PROSSER; DEANNE FERNANDES AND NINA MARTINEZ; CECILIA HEI MEE FLUMÉ; NANETTE HOOGSLAG;  JOHN VERNON LORD

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Scientific Illustration: The Key To a World of Visual Science

Learn everything you need to know about scientific illustrations, how to make them and their crucial role in science here.

In science, visual communication is fundamental. A lot depends on the subject matter, from an atom to a gene to a crystal or even an entire galaxy. It aims to illuminate knowledge with visuals. Hence, to share discoveries, ideas, and observations, researchers have used both images and text to communicate.   In other words, art contributes greatly to advancements in science and how knowledge is spread.  Science and art are often seen as opposites, yet scientific illustration lies at the intersection of the two fields. 

You have probably seen numerous scientific illustrations even if you were unfamiliar with the discipline.  Take a look at your science books, a museum exhibit you experienced, or even that chart in the doctor’s office displaying the outlines of various body parts.

We have so much more information on that in this article. Learn everything you need to know about scientific illustrations and their crucial role in science.

What is Scientific Illustration?

Scientific illustration is a method of communication that allows complex ideas, details, and theories to be presented in an interesting and informative approach.

It is possible to more clearly communicate scientific concepts through illustrations rather than the technical jargon often used to describe them. Drawing or rendering scientific images accurately is how these artists or illustrators communicate science and inform audiences. 

In order to create accurate illustrations, scientific illustrators use a combination of aesthetics and technical expertise.  By using illustrations, graphics, and multimedia, concepts can be clearly presented and portrayed visually, making them more accessible and appealing to a wide range of audiences. 

By using it, users can explain complex concepts to a wider audience, as well as educate doctors or scientists through exemplary illustrations or animations.  After all, the power of pictures cannot be understated.

A Brief History

From prehistoric times, humans have depicted the world around them through art. Cave paintings from Paleolithic times illustrating animals are evidence of this long-established practice.

Chauvet cave paintings in Southern France are a good example of Paleolithic natural illustration. It is estimated that the cave was painted approximately 33000 to 30000 years ago.

Back in 1994, a group of hikers discovered the cave. Throughout the world, Paleolithic carvings of animals have been discovered in caves, ranging from Bhimbetka, India (lions, bison, and paintings) to Ubirr, Australia (kangaroo-themed paintings).

Historically, illustrations have served to document discoveries and inform others. An illustration from more than fifteen thousand years later depicted a mammoth with a heart-shaped smudge on its shoulder: the smudge was situated close to the heart.

Perhaps this is the oldest example of an anthropological illustration. It has been hypothesized that the illustration may have been a way to guide early hunters on where the mammoth’s heart was located during the hunt.

Only centuries later did scholars at Alexandria city in Egypt created a dedicated library for observing. Greek physician Herophilus , who practiced in Alexandria, dissected and drew his subjects to better understand the anatomy of the body. A pioneer in using illustration as a technical tool, he is credited as being one of the first.

Illustrations were crucial to the nascent development of science. Early on in human history, from Greece and Egypt to the Enlightenment in Europe, visual representations were essential for conveying information that was sometimes complex. Illustrations of great artwork were also found on the walls of pyramids.

Until the early 1800s, we had to use scientific illustrations to share visual information . Illustration still holds a lot of power today, even with cell phones and cameras at our disposal. A picture can only portray one perspective at a time; an illustration can depict many.

With the skills of a scientific illustrator, one can illustrate complex designs with multiple lines of focus, draw attention to details, or reassemble disassembled objects in a way that’s impossible with a camera. 

Taking a look at galleries of scientific illustrations from centuries past , you will discover intricate illustrations that seem bizarre and perfect at the same time. Scientists often depict more than just a single specimen in their scientific illustrations. Nevertheless, scientific illustrations have become more precise and clearer with the advancement of innovations and technology.

Various Types of Scientific Illustrations

Natural history illustrations and mappings.

It goes without saying, this is an illustration of historic scientific theories and observations.  The collection includes illustrations of creatures, plants, and microbes in their environment.  Many of the oldest illustrations in science were in this field since it is heavily observation-based. 

It is through their work that illustrators present illustrations of past and present subjects as a way to better understand and study certain natural phenomena. The facts about fossils, animal habitats, and life on the planet can be seen or communicated through these pieces. Several of the older ones include maps and illustrations of the habitat.

Restoration and Illustration of Extinct Species

Although more specific than natural history illustration, this is similar.  There are many illustrations of dinosaurs and other extinct species in collections, including wooly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. 

The artwork you see today were made with the help of scientists and fossil evidence found thousands of years after these creatures went extinct.  In addition to these popular extinct species, a number of lesser-known extinct species also exist, which some illustrators explore in order to illustrate extinct species.

The Forensic Reconstruction of Facial Structures 

In a similar way to our previous illustration, this one is also more focused. An anthropological reconstruction of the face using a skull or bones from our early hominid ancestors as a basis for this type of illustration.  As a result, we are able to get a sense of who our ancestors were, as well as learn about them.

Botanical Illustrations

Natural history illustrations often depict botanical subjects and their anatomical characteristics.  It is always interesting to illustrate new subjects because there are so many plant species and discoveries. Illustrations in this section detail the entire process of how the plant performs, as well as its unique features.

Models and Images for Museum Exhibits

The artistic creation of exhibitions for museums contributes greatly to the educational purposes of scientific art.  Content varies widely between exhibits, ranging from interactive exhibits including fossils to text-based exhibits. Since the public can easily comprehend the content, these serve a large part of public education.

Infographics

The creation of functional art is heavily influenced by data and information.  As a visual artist, it is important to select relevant and precise data that can be portrayed in a comprehensible and aesthetically pleasing fashion.

Frequently, you can find infographics, such as those made in Mind the Graph’s Infographic Maker , in newspapers, on websites, and even on your mobile device. Depending on the complexity of the design, it could be used for scientific research or for everyday use by the general public.

Digital 3-D models, Animations & Videos

3D modeling and animation have gained in popularity with the advancement of technology.  With it, you can model the organism, processes, plants, and animals in their entirety rather than just visually. 

The user can interact with the subject and see how body parts work, as well as how it looks from different perspectives. Processes can be demonstrated, and working models can also be made at a smaller scale to show how it works.

Examples of Scientific Illustrations in Practice

Modern scientific illustrations are undeniably very distinctive from cave paintings. Throughout history, the methods of depicting nature have evolved, from primitive art and engravings to digital art, data graphics, and photographs. Scientists’ illustrations have evolved in line with the advancement of technology and the evolution of science itself. Take a look at some examples.

Botanical Scientific Illustration Examples

Some of the most famous science illustrators have worked on natural history illustrations, which depict observations of plant and insect life. 

During the 16th and 17th centuries, European naturalists ventured to South America, Australia, and the Galápagos Islands to gather and examine the natural world. 

As the ‘New World’ came to be known, a greater number of illustrations documented its newly discovered environment. Scientist and illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian illustrated many plants and insects. It was she who studied metamorphosis and explained the relationship between organisms and the host plant.

Animals’ Scientific Illustrations Examples

Ernst Haeckel was a zoologist who focused on nature’s symmetry and natural beauty, which helped redefine scientific illustrations. The images he drew helped define modern scientific illustration. 

In fact, they still appear in science books and had a profound influence on the arts and architecture of the 20th century. Additionally, he proposed a classification system based on evolutionary history for the kingdom he named “Protista” and discovered a variety of new species within it. 

His work paved the way for terms such as phylum, phylogeny, and ecology that have become commonplace in biology. Throughout his life, he was fascinated by the origin of non-random forms, which led him to create Kunstformen der Natur, an illustrated book of life forms.

Medical Scientific Illustration Examples

Leonardo Da Vinci illustrated the human heart (around 1511-1513). While Da Vinci is best known for his paintings, he was also an avid stargazer, a skilled architect, a skilled weapons designer, and a serious researcher of human anatomy and botany during his illustrious career. 

He found that the heart has four chambers as opposed to two chambers, and most importantly, observed how the aortic valve opens and closes, so blood can only flow one way. Da Vinci’s illustration, now part of the Royal Collection, has survived in remarkably good condition.

How to Make a Scientific Illustration

1.  the importance of research is immeasurable.

After you’ve chosen a topic for a new research, it’s time to start it.  Scientific illustrators begin by researching the topic.  It is only possible to create a good illustration if you have a clear vision of what you are trying to illustrate and recognize how important it is.

In the end, sharing accurate information can take a long time, but it’s crucial.  Illustrators need to conduct research on the topic and the surroundings around their focal point in order to produce high-quality illustrations.

2.  An initial sketch

There will be a lot of roughness in initial sketches. Almost every piece of art goes through rough sketching and conceptual stages before it finally comes to fruition, no matter what the expectation may be. Embrace the process! In order to accomplish a work of art, you will have to revise and edit it for a long time.

3.  Experiment with selected tools

Depending on the medium employed by the illustrator, it is essential for them to practice using the tool selected (for example, pen and ink, illustrating software, 3D software, etc.) in order to achieve visual effects and to perfect their technique.  Consider using a drawing tablet and digital brushes in Adobe Photoshop before settling on Adobe Illustrator. But if you need easy smooth illustrations, think about Mind the Graph , a platform made specially for scientific art projects with the world’s largest gallery of scientific illustrations to work from.

4.  Decide on the composition & transfer drawings

It depends on what type of media is used, but typically in conventional drawing or painting, the finished composition or outline is transferred onto the surface. To transfer a sketch, tracing paper must be used. Light boxes can be used by illustrators to expedite the transfer process.

Over the original sketch is placed the paper for the final illustration, allowing light to shine through for tracing a final illustration into the paper. Digital illustrations work a bit differently from traditional sketches. The majority of the work is done through software, so it can be done easily and cleanly. With Mind the Graph’s tool, you may edit composition freely with many assets and customizable elements to achieve the intended goal.

5.  Finish the final illustration

This step, although seemingly simple, takes a lot of time.  During the process of creating the final scientific illustration, an illustrator must continually reevaluate the content, layout, design, and appearance of the product.

You can use reference images to illustrate various subjects realistically and to observe how lighting and positions influence a subject’s appearance. The inclusion of a scale and measurements is also prevalent in scientific illustrations, depending on the domain or content.

Creating a Science Figure with Mind the Graph

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistakes with scientific illustrations arise from confusing them with naturalistic drawings, or even extremely realistic drawings. There is a great debate among professionals in illustration over the limit of these disciplines.

While there are semantic debates over the meaning of each branch, there are certain points where there is a degree of consensus.

Avoid Subjectiveness

Making an illustration has a tendency to be subjective, which is one of the most common errors discussed in this area. The main problem can be found in the overly subjective approach of the author, who mixes up the work’s informative function and its personal interpretation.

Don’t Let Aesthetics Overtake

Scientists, researchers, museums, editors, and journalists use scientific illustrations to explain something. Illustrations of scientific information are not created by themselves or by their authors. Therefore, valuing aesthetics over functionality is a grave mistake. Scientific illustrations must be both accurate and visually appealing.

One mistake that is often made is giving excessive weight to the exactitude of certain features of the image and overlooking the synthesis of the message. There are times when an illustration acquires a work of art status more than that of a scientific illustration due to its interdisciplinary aspects, thus compromising the scientific information instead of other aesthetic considerations.

Also, Don’t Do the Opposite

The opposite difficulty occurs when too much attention is paid to scientific veracity and not enough to aesthetic aspects. One can find works that are very useful for academic research, but not necessarily for informational purposes, which is yet another of the various uses for scientific illustrations.

Attention to Details

Additionally, errors are made in scientific illustration because of a low degree of consistency in color, pattern, and format, incoherence between concepts and designs, disregard for discipline-specific codes, inconsistent proportions and angles, the use of difficult-to-understand words and symbols, and the absence of graphs with accurate scales. 

So, it’s important to do thorough research on the subject, understand it, and then begin illustrating it. If you want an easier path to achieve that, try creating from a ready-to-use template that provides the ideal layout for you to enhance. You may find a nice gallery of scientific templates to edit from in Mind the Graph .

Today, scientists have at their disposal a variety of visualization tools, with each contributing to science communication in different ways. The use of macro-and microphotographs, as well as images derived from scientific data, is an integral part of scientific practice because they are objective and convey knowledge about a subject.

Illustrations, however, can also obscure the bigger picture by focusing on in-depth details. As in textbooks and scientific journals, illustrations simplify complex systems so that audiences can grasp scientific concepts. Illustrations’ artistic quality and creative quality increase reader interest in scientific texts and make science more approachable for everyone.

If you seek inspiration for scientific illustration, you must check the world’s largest scientific illustrations gallery , where you can choose from many categories to use in creations. Moreover, as a Mind the Graph user, you can also request specific custom illustrations from a team of illustration experts.

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Fabricio Pamplona is the founder of Mind the Graph - a tool used by over 400K users in 60 countries. He has a Ph.D. and solid scientific background in Psychopharmacology and experience as a Guest Researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (Germany) and Researcher in D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR, Brazil). Fabricio holds over 2500 citations in Google Scholar. He has 10 years of experience in small innovative businesses, with relevant experience in product design and innovation management. Connect with him on LinkedIn - Fabricio Pamplona .

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Tools for creating scientific illustrations

Most people quickly browse a research paper before deciding if they want to invest time in reading it. Great scientific illustrations are one of the keys that can turn the decision in your favor.

Here are two ways of explaining what DNA is. Which one do you think will attract more attention? Which one is easier to perceive?

Explanation No.1: This polymer is made of a double-stranded tertiary molecular structure with sugar-phosphate backbone to which base pairs consisting of four chemical bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine) are attached.

Explanation No.2:

As you can see from the DNA example, a scientific illustration can be a very powerful means of explaining scientific principles. For example:

• A visualization can allow demonstrating scientific models and replace photographs (e.g. when it is impossible to make photography).
• A schematic can draw attention to the key components of a device.
• A good flow chart can allow the viewer to quickly understand a research methodology.

Whether it is a research paper, a conference presentation, a research proposal, or a classroom lecture, diagrams, schematics, drawings, images, and other forms of scientific illustrations are all an important part of academic communication. 

Let’s look at the tools that will help you to develop scientific illustrations.

Creating 2D images

Adobe Illustrator is the go-to software many professionals use for creating and editing vector graphics. In case you are not familiar with the term, vector graphics refer to images that are defined in terms of points and lines, rather than static pixels of color like it is in raster graphics. This has the advantage that images can be scaled up without becoming blurry. Many journals prefer the illustration to be created this way and it will also come in handy when you want to show an image on a big screen at a conference. Cost: Yes.

Inkscape is an open-source alternative to Illustrator and it can do many of the same things without breaking the bank. There is also a strong Inkscape user community for when you hit a wall. Cost: free.

VectorStock offers a large selection of vector images that you might use for your illustrations, posters, social media updates, and the like. Being vector graphics, you will be able to modify them using the tools above.

Mind the graph is a platform for medical scientists and life sciences in general. It offers icons and various scientific illustrations that you can mix and use for papers, presentations, teaching, or creating infographics. Cost: yes.

Bio Render is similar to Mind the Graph and offers many icons that are purposefully designed for life sciences. You can drag and drop them to create your own scientific illustration. Cost: yes.

Adobe Sketchbook is a free drawing software by Adobe. It is especially nice if you own a digital drawing pad or a tablet. I used Sketchbook for creating all the illustrations for the Peer Recognized series books. Cost: free.

Krita is an open-source alternative to Adobe Sketchbook. Cost: free.

Creating 3D images

A scientific illustration in 3D can add a sort of a “reality feeling” to a concept that you are presenting. It will also come in handy in cases when making photography is difficult or simply impossible.

3D visualizations can be especially useful in life sciences and biomedical science in particular. That is why in this list I included some extensions that can greatly simplify the visualization.

Maya is a professional-grade software for creating 3D images, rendering, and animation. Cost: a lot

Molecular Maya is an extension of Maya that is designed for modeling and animating molecular structures. Cost: free, but there are add-on kits that do have a cost

Blender animation suite is an open-source alternative for Maya. Cost: free

Bioblender is a molecular structure plug-in for Blender. Cost: free

There are, of course, many more 3D apps, including Solid Edge and 3ds Max that might be useful. Mostly the choice depends on which program you have experience with because even the best software will do you no good without an adequate skill set. The availability, of course, is another important aspect, because most 3D modeling programs can be pricy.

Make your research stand out using my Scientific Visualization Cheat Sheet .

Good visuals make your papers get noticed and presentations remembered. The Cheat Sheet will help you make this happen.

Tools for creating diagrams, posters, and infographics

Adobe InDesign is the go-to app professionals use for designing pages and creating graphics. This makes it very useful for creating professional-looking posters, flow-charts, and infographics.

Publisher is Microsoft’s version of page layout design software. Due to the general familiarity with Microsoft’s products, many might find it more intuitive than InDesign. Besides, it is quite possible that it already is installed on your PC. Cost: yes.

PowerPoint quite often might be the only tool you need for creating simple diagrams, infographics, and posters. I have used it for most of my posters. Cost: yes

MS Visio is designed for creating complex diagrams and flow-charts. Although my flow-charts are quite simple, I use it as well because, from any of the Microsoft products, it does the job the best. Cost: yes, but it may already be on your PC.

Canva offers many stylish templates for creating infographics, posters, and illustrations for presentations. Cost: There is a free version and a premium upgrade with a larger library of images. I have found that the free version is enough, especially since I most often I use my own images.

Piktochart is similar to Canva as it allows the creation of infographics, posters, presentations, and graphics for social media. Cost: yes

Tools for editing and analyzing images

ImageJ is a Java-based open-source image processing software that was developed by the National Institutes of Health. It offers a wide functionality for analyzing and processing scientific images. There are many free plugins available, which might help you with many tasks. Plus, it has gathered a community of fans, so when you hit a roadblock, there is most likely someone who already found a way around it. Cost: free

Photoshop is perhaps the most powerful tool for editing images, and scientific illustrations are no exception. But remember there is a reason why “photoshopping” is used with a negative connotation nowadays. When creating scientific illustrations, you have to be unbias and disclose all the edits to images (e.g. microscopy images). Cost: yes.

GIMP is an open-source alternative to Photoshop. Many third-party plugins are available, that might help you with whatever task you have. Cost: free.

How to find free scientific illustrations

In many cases, you may not need to create your own illustrations. Someone might have already created an image that would be perfect for you. In some other cases, you might want to make some tweaks to an existing image using one of the image editing apps we looked at earlier.

The problem is, you are not allowed to simply use whatever you find online. Images are by default protected by copyright and you need permission from the author to re-use them publicly. Fortunately, many people choose to make their work publicly shareable.

Here are some tools that allow to find images that you can reuse freely. Check the license though. Even if you are allowed to re-use them, in most cases you are obliged to give attribution to the author.

NOA is a search engine built specifically for scientific illustrations. Its collection is made of millions of images from open-access journals. Before using them, though, double-check the license on the webpage of the corresponding paper.

PDB-101 stands for Protein Data Bank entry-level (101). It offers free-to-use visualizations of biomolecular structures and their functions.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that works to enable sharing of different types of creative works that normally would be copyrighted by default. It also offers a search engine for searching free-to-use images.

Unsplash offers a selection of generic photographs that the authors have chosen to make freely available to everyone. Even attribution is not mandatory, but of course, the authors will appreciate it. The photographs might come in handy in presentations, for example, to show a real-world example of a problem that you are solving with your research.

Pexels offers a selection of free videos and generic photographs that can be useful for your scientific illustrations and scientific videos. I especially like the video section since searching with the appropriate keywords allowed me to find scenes from research life.

Tools without knowledge are of no use

Regardless of the tool you choose, it will only serve you if you really learn to use it. Even the most expensive software will be of little help if you have only a vague idea about its functionality.

And even if you do know the ins and outs of the software you want to use, you also need to be familiar with the basic principles of visual design. Otherwise, the result is likely not going to impress anyone.

I wrote the book “ Research Data Visualization and Scientific Graphics ” with a busy scientist in mind. It will show you step-by-step instructions for how to create figures for papers, presentations, and research proposals alike. To make sure you can efficiently apply tips, the book includes a cheat sheet with a list of graphical features that you can refer to whenever creating a new graphic, diagram, or illustration.

Even if you would like to outsource the task of creating your illustration, it will be useful to know the basics. Otherwise, conversations with the freelancers can turn out very one-sided (and not in your favor).

Outsourcing a scientific illustration

There is no shame in admitting that you just don’t have the skills to create the graphic that you would like to. And you don’t care or have enough time to learn it. Thankfully with the advance of freelancing platforms, it is quite easy to find someone who can do the job for you without breaking the bank.

Fiverr is a platform where you can find freelancers for many types of work, including the creation of illustrations. Every freelancer has a rating, so make sure to check their profile before handing out what is called a “gig”. https://www.fiverr.com/

Upwork is similar to Fiverr, except that you will create a description of the job first. Then the freelancers will place bids on it. Similar to Fiverr, check the rating of the people who are offering to do the work and don’t fall for the cheapest offer. To start you will have to create a profile: https://www.upwork.com/

Ideas for inspiration

In the end, let me share some very cool platforms that can serve as an inspiration for creating your own scientific illustrations.

Wehi-TV offers a stunning library of biomedical animations, GIFs, and images. https://www.wehi.edu.au/wehi-tv

Roche has created guided visualizations showing metabolic reactions as well as cellular and molecular processes. http://biochemical-pathways.com/

A practical guide for creating scientific illustrations

Informative scientific visualizations and clear graphics draw citations to papers, make presentations memorable, and encourage reviewers to approve research proposals. The book “ Research Data Visualization and Scientific Graphics ” will show you how to make it happen.

Hi! My name is Martins Zaumanis and I am obsessed with communicating science visually. But I know you are not, so I wrote a book that will show you eleven principles that you can use for turning your ideas into clear meaningful diagrams, and memorable scientific visualizations, even if you don’t possess the artistic gene. The book also holds a step-by-step guide for turning research data into meaningful charts. Go to Amazon to read a preview.

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Software to draw illustrative figures in papers

I would like to have suggestions of good software for drawing illustrations in research papers. I already know about Xfig , but this works only on Linux and is at times, clunky when it comes to text. Moreover the resolution is not always perfect making it difficult to manoeuvre the objects. Besides it is tough to learn and master, with all its weird click procedures.

I would love to know about better alternatives. Not talking about graphs here, just block diagrams and explanatory illustrations.

• There are similar questions at math.SE: e.g. this one and the linked question. –  Martin Commented Apr 12, 2012 at 7:51
• And at physics.SE - physics.stackexchange.com/questions/401/… . –  Piotr Migdal Commented Apr 12, 2012 at 8:26
• See also this answer with more recent recommendations including gnuplot, matplotlib, and R/ggplot2 : academia.stackexchange.com/questions/131445/… –  henning no longer feeds AI Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 8:02

17 Answers 17

As drawing software, I use OmniGraffle which is much more modern that Xfig, but based on similar principles. It's only available for the Mac and is not free, as far as I know. With little effort, one can produce very attractive diagrams.

I also use Tikz/PGF . It produces very nice diagrams and is very flexible. On the other hand, it requires that you specify the diagram in LaTeX and it has a bit of a steep learning curve.

• 30 Tikz/PGF is really great, and I would advise to start directly by tweaking some existing examples, rather than learning it from scratch. –  user102 Commented Apr 12, 2012 at 7:36
• 2 I've given some arguments for the use of Tikz at the stats site as well, see here . Mainly Tikz is pretty simple for directed graphs, and that it is much easier to maintain a template between multiple diagrams in Tikz than it is with a WYSIWYG editor. –  Andy W Commented Apr 12, 2012 at 11:59

A free, fairly portable, and very complete tool for general illustration is Inkscape . It uses SVG as its native file format, and aside from attempting to be a decent drawing tool in its own right, one of its design goals was to provide complete coverage of the features available in SVG .

For block diagrams, flow charts, and other simple sketches of process and data flow there is Dia . It's primary design goal is to duplicate the features of Visio in free software. Like Visio, it uses a stencils and connections drawing model that works really well for diagramming relationships and flow, but gets tedious when attempting to do art.

For clean layout of directed or undirected graph diagrams, it is difficult to beat the Graphviz tools. They are primarily designed to be used from a textual description ( a concise intro here (PDF)) of the graph, but there are various GUI tools that can edit their .dot files.

I know that TikZ was mentioned already, but I think it deserve its own answer. It is different from Omnigraffle just like TeX is different from Word . But, if you're up for the effort, you'll enjoy the freedom of producing extremely high quality figures!

True, using TikZ for "heavy" diagrams can lead to lengthy compilations, but this can be solved using the externalize library of TikZ , or the Standalone class. See also this possible approach using make .

Although TikZ is not at all WYSIWYG, there are several editors, that enable the use to draw "by hand" the diagram and export it to a Tikz snippet. Personally, I don't have experience with this kind of combination.

Another advantage of TikZ , that as it is somewhat a programing language (after all TeX is turing-complete) you can program your diagram and use external data sources and visualize them. To that end, you can use a combination of TeX , lua or other languages of your choice.

Finally, and most important; TikZ provides an amazing live community which can help you with everything related to it. A perfect starting point would be the TeX.se .

PS: You can also have a look at pstricks . It implements a similar spirit like TikZ but... Well, I'm not using it so I cannot say much. I can say, that I saw amazing outputs of pstricks .

GeoGebra is free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education that joins geometry, algebra, tables, graphing, statistics and calculus in one easy-to-use package. Constructions can be made with points, vectors, segments, lines, polygons, conic sections, inequalities, implicit polynomials and functions. All of them can be changed dynamically afterwards. Elements can be entered and modified directly on screen, or through the Input Bar. GeoGebra has the ability to use variables for numbers, vectors and points, find derivatives and integrals of functions and has a full complement of commands like Root or Extremum. Teachers and students can use GeoGebra to make conjectures and prove geometric theorems.

To add something that I personally liked a lot, it has the ability to generate TikZ code for any drawing made using the software! Also, the community recently completed a kick-starter campaign, in which they raised enough funds for an IPad version of the software, to be also available for free!

[EDIT] - The tablet app is available now, both in App Store and Google Play!

Mathematica is actually good for making all sorts of graphics. Think of it as vector graphics software, but that every control point/coordinate can be specified to the decimal.

Edit: The syntax is really clear, it is easy to procedurally construct graphics, and it has lines, arrows, bezier curves, and of course a bunch of nice builtin plot functions that one can add extra decorations to. Furthermore, it IS a programming language, so if you have multiple images, it is easy to share common components, so that a singe change affects all images (provided you use a good programming technique). It is also easy to get help with mathematica over at mathematica.stackexchange.

The included image was entirely produced via a few lines of mathematica code, for example:

I use Ipe almost exclusively. It's not well polished, and some things are non-intuitive, but it does those things I need well (simple sketches of math. structures with LaTeX formatted text). Also, LaTeX wiki book has some useful suggestions for alternatives.

The vector graphics language Asymptote is a very nice tool for both 2D and 3D images. From its website:

Asymptote is a powerful descriptive vector graphics language that provides a natural coordinate-based framework for technical drawing. Labels and equations are typeset with LaTeX, for high-quality PostScript output.

Checkout a gallery for samples. Just like TeX, you can "program" your image and obtain exactly what you want.

If you really care about typography, it is best to produce the figures and the text with the same layout engine. This is the only way in which you can be sure that fonts, stroke size and spacing match those of your text.

TikZ, already suggested in Dave Clarke's answer, solves this problem excellently for TeX. Although, like TeX, it can be difficult for a newcomer. Adobe InDesign is a WYSIWYG solution. MS Publisher is another one, although less powerful. Word has limited capabilities in this respect.

Most often, this requires access to the final article style of the journal, and is work for a typographer rather than a scientist. So it would be better left to the journal staff. However, it is an unfortunate truth that most journals try to reduce costs at the expense of quality when it comes to typography. Some of them offer "professional figure editing" as an extra paid service for authors. Some of them just take what is provided and do not care about fonts and stroke sizes.

TikZ/PGF is great when you get it to work. However, designing your stuff in this language can really be frustrating at times. If you want something a little bit easier to learn, but you still want to program your illustrations rather than drawing them yourself, check out Processing . There are a lot of excellent tutorials on this language, some of them specifically aimed towards people with no prior programming experience (for example this one ).

If you want to check out what some examples of what Processing is capable of (and how you can do it yourself), take a look at this page . As an added bonus, if you learn processing, you can later use it for creating animations, interactive applications, games, and similar things, some of which might be useful in a scientific context.

Some random examples of what Processing can do:

Also, check out this video for an example of an animation with Processing, and this video for a tutorial on how to use Processing for data visualization.

In general, if you intend to draw either mind maps or flow diagrams , you may use the conceptdraw tool. It serves both Mac and MS Windows users.

All ways that allow you to produce the graphic you want is what you should use. I have used many different software over the years. I have gradually abandoned ones when I found better alternatives.

I usually make "raw" data plots using Matlab and then use Adobe Illustrator to put the finishing touches to them (Inkscape or Corel draw would work equally well). The benefit of doing things this way is, for me, that I can add material from different sources or plots in layers and change them as I see fit. I am sure this can be accomplished in other ways but I have found my way to the final product. I also happen to like messing with graphics so that helps me to explore new ways.

I also use LaTeX and TikZ (which has been mentioned in replies) and so as I see it there is obviously no single way to generate the graphics but you need to chose the best ones. In my case: Illustrator (alt. Inkscape, Corela Draw), matlab, TikZ, and Photoshop (alt. Gimp) for photographic manipulation.

I really like using yEd for flow charts. You can easily arrange lot's of components, which is quite a pain if the tool does not provide functionality to do that (Inkscape does for example, but yEd does this even better). Also, the connections between components remain fixed, so rearranging a graph does not require you to redraw the connections. The tool is available for Linux, Mac and Windows.

To add to the mix, there are online diagramming tools available as well, namely Gliffy and LucidChart . Both have free subscriptions that allow limited use which is usually sufficient for simple diagrams. With these tools, you draw the diagram in your browser and can download it as PNG, PDF or JPEG. LucidChart allows a free upgrade if you register using a *.edu.* email address.

Another good offline tool is Microsoft Visio which works on Windows only. It is great for drawing flow charts and other simple diagrams. There are many Visio clones but none of them live up to the original. In fact, I stumbled upon the above online tools looking for Visio alternatives for Linux.

I used to use pstricks extensively, and now use TikZ/PGF . Both are excellent LaTeX packages and neither has any major advantage over the other, as far as I can tell. pstricks seems to be better at colour gradients, though possibly less accurate at colours for (.ps to) PDF output, whereas TikZ can be easier to use. Both are programming languages that allow you to use fairly sophisticated code to generate graphics, and TikZ in particular allows very helpful implicit calculations, such as "find the intersections between this curve and that curve".

Combined with other programs, these two packages can be really powerful. For more advanced pictures involving organic shapes and curves, I first draw a rough picture by hand, tidy it up with Inkscape , which is excellent vector-based graphics freeware. I then either export it to TikZ code and tidy that code up, or include the Inkscape picture as background image and manually trace over the outlined curves with TikZ. Either method involves some effort but the results are beautiful.

A second combination of methods is used when I want to show the output of computational research. After the computational work is completed, for instance by Python or C code, some further code can quickly create and compile LaTeX+TikZ code showing the output. This is particularly useful when updating a database or an Excel spreadsheet, and just running a Python script to update the associated TikZ-generated graphs and tables. It is even more useful for automatically generating high numbers of pictures, such as a large collection of heat maps to illustrate different data.

Maybe I missed it but for any workflow diagram (and not only, I do all kind of diagrams with it), I'd also mention draw.io (which is open source and can be installed from Flathub ), and its online version app.diagrams.net .

A rather new option for creating illustrations for geometric objects is Penrose . It is able to generate nice figures for different objects described in a mathematical notation. See the paper for examples and more explanation.

There are a lot of different options, as people have mentioned. For flowchart / block diagrams, I often use diagrams.net or sometimes Visio.

For further vector-image touchup I often turn to Affinity Designer, which has a commercial level of polish but is much less expensive than Adobe Illustrator.

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How to Write an Illustration Essay: Complete Guide

In academic writing, there are types of papers used to corroborate certain ideas and hypotheses prior to studying and analyzing them in larger, more substantial academic works. Illustration essays belong to this category of academic writing – their aim is to prove the existence of a particular thing by demonstrating, or, as the name of the type of the paper suggests, illustrate its validity. The illustration of ideas and things in this type of essay can be done through answering a question extensively, providing solid proof to the idea offered, or exemplifying things and objects.

How to write an illustration essay, then? The process is indeed complicated and highly specific, underlied by a number of requirements and standards. If you doubt in your writing skills, you can always request “ write essay for me ” help from our experts.

For this reason, in this broad guide, you’ll discover the secret on how to write a comprehensive illustration essay. Moreover, in our helpful guide, you will find select illustration essay topics!

What is an illustration essay?

An illustration essay is aimed at proving that a particular idea or thing exists through introducing the reader to valid statements that back up the existence of the subject. This type of essay serves as a fundamental introduction to deeper research to be made in an academic paper. Illustration essays are based on evidence, relevant facts, logical conclusions, and supporting arguments.

As a rule, illustration essays are written by students to learn how to make broader research in their research papers, obtaining the necessary skills that other, more complex forms of writing require. When creating an illustration essay, students learn the basics of science writing, thus getting acclimated to working with substantial research papers.

Now, we can move on to our hands-on guide on how to write an illustration essay.

Elements of an illustration essay

Creating an illustration essay requires a diligent and consistent approach from the writer. The structure of an illustration essay is, in a way, similar to other types of academic writing and comprises several stages that need to be considered by writers. An illustration essay is made of an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Introduction

This part is critically important for your essay to be perceived properly by readers. The introductory part is expended to guide the reader into the further understanding of the essay and hook them. In your introduction, you have to provide readers with the brief information on what the essay is about and what exactly you’ll be illustrating in it.

Body paragraphs

This is the main and most substantial part of your essay. The bulk of your essay needs to feature information on the subject matter and provide the reader with evidence for why the idea or thing discussed exists. The body paragraphs of an illustration essay include the following points:

In an illustration essay, the conclusion should recap the entire information provided earlier and briefly emphasize the essay’s main idea. You have to summarize everything stressed earlier and let the readers comprehend the essay’s main idea.

A detailed guide to writing an illustrative essay

1. Select a topic. Determine your main idea and think about what exactly worries you to decide on the object. You can use the list of topics we provide below to get an idea of choosing a topic and what to discuss.

2. Do your research. You may know the topic chosen by you or the professor well, but you still need to study the material more carefully. You can direct your train of thought along a new path while you explore the resources and decide to change your mind.

3. Make a plan. It would help if you focused on the ideas that arise while searching for information and planning for them. Think about what you want to put in the body text and what is in the rest of the paragraphs. After you think over the program, you will be able to choose the best options for illustration.

4. Work on the main text. Please make it so that you turn the plan you previously made into an actual academic essay. First, you must write a strong thesis that can hook the professor and show professionalism. Summarize the same thought you described in the view at the end of the essay. Explain your chosen example in each of your main paragraphs.

5. Essay proofreading. Before sending your essay to a professor for review, you should carefully check it for errors and context. What you have come up with is only the basis that the number of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors can quickly spoil. Therefore, checking your essay with a fresh mind after a break for typos and other incorrectness in the text is best. Proofreading will greatly help with good grades.

How to find inspiration and evidence for an illustrative essay

Online and not only, but there is also enough information to look for evidence intended for your illustrative document. Sometimes too much information can make selecting just a few examples difficult if you’re interested in how to write an extended essay that your professor will love, start by looking for quality sources of ideas.

For you, the most comprehensive source of ideas is the media. Read the article and learn how to write your creative essay for college. You can find a quote in a suitable book or browse the social networks of celebrities or friends. Inspiration for people often comes from nowhere or from the simplest things in our daily lives. An evening outing with friends or a mundane situation at the supermarket can spark off-the-beaten-path and unique essay ideas. It is straightforward to communicate with people, watch the news, and pay attention to what is happening in the world around you every day.

It is also essential that the format of your research for an essay does not have a plain meaning. You need to use different kinds of sources and naturally make the examples you provide more versatile. You can quickly look for inspiration and ideas for your illustration essay on social networks, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Linkedin, etc. Scroll through the currently trending posts, then check which tags are trending today. You can also watch some of the current videos on YouTube channels, listen to podcasts, or focus on movies or TV shows. Also, pay attention to resources like online newspapers, which often have interesting posts.

Tips to help you write an illustration essay

• Gather evidence

Let’s imagine that you will write your essay in four paragraphs, which means you will need to use four illustrations. Still, you should be bold and increase your essay length to at least six points if you have something to say. If you still choose more illustrations than you need, try to narrow it down to a few examples to describe each of them better.

• Keep your essay short

Most often, the essay volume is indicated in the requirements from the professor at the time of issuing the assignment. But if this differs from the case, you should write at least a few pages of an essay. You can describe some of the ideas you have. It would help if you focused on excellent and concise argumentation for your examples. Focus on the evidence that most demonstrates your opinion for the essay.

• Use clear examples

You must understand that the professor should save time revealing your thoughts and what you had in mind while writing the work. Everything you decide to add to your essay should be exciting and accurate, and sometimes even impressive. Don’t be like everyone else. Create something worthwhile, or ask for help with term paper , or essay writing from professionals. Your main task is to evoke emotions in the reader. It is also helpful to incorporate your personal experience into the text. It is also essential that the examples you provide in your text match your readership for easy flow.

Illustration essay topics

• Is it true that customers are always right?
• Why the environment should be protected.
• What makes personal choice a critical asset of human life.
• Why people need US medical insurance.
• Self-development is a great way to succeed.
• Motivation helps college students accomplish large academic goals.
• The importance of legislation in regulating LGBT culture.
• Why the IT industry needs constant improvement.
• Do governments need to go harder on implementing crime-related laws?
• Is there any need for an eco-friendly education?
• Charity as one of the most progressive forms of modern life.

Illustration essay sample

Why school uniforms should be banned.

Every person is unique and incomparable by nature. And our uniqueness always manifests itself in numerous ways, from what we say to what we wear. When it comes to clothes, however, the common stereotypes and social dogmas right away come into play: people tend to impose their biased values and preferences on others, dictating norms and rules of how they should dress. And this problem is especially critical in the educational sector, particularly in the school realm. As victims of social and cultural stereotypes, school students are forced to lose their individuality to some extent and obey the rules requiring them to wear uniforms.

The progressive lifestyle of today sets its own standards and norms, proclaiming the following: the implementation of school uniforms is unfitting for modern education and needs to be reviewed by the committee boards of schools. According to the latest methods that the secondary education sector is adopting, wearing uniforms is humiliating for pupils, as it prevents them from expressing their unique identities and developing the sense of identification and self-awareness. Based on psychological studies, imposing the rule of wearing a school uniform on students decreases their self-esteem and diminishes their belief in themselves.

Srinivasan, P. (2017, March 5.) 5 Reasons why uniforms should be banned. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@PriyaMadhuSrinivasan/5-reasons-why-uniforms-should-be-banned-d369722bcbb6.

Drawing the line

Illustration essays help students to gain the proper knowledge of how to tend to larger academic works and gain skills in researching topics. This type of academic essay serves as a basis for more substantial scholarly papers that require students to develop deeper proficiency in research. Through illustration essays, students can grasp the practice of science writing at large, learning to study topics and substantiate points in their papers. We hope that the super-effective guide from our scholarship essay writing service will assist you in your writing endeavors. Remember that, in order to write like professionals do, you need to read professional recommendations first!

EssayShark can help you out!

Our essay service is famous for providing students with reliable and cheap academic assistance. EssayShark has gathered the industry’s top professionals and developed a win-win system for helping college kids from across the world. How to write an illustration essay? And where can you find decent illustration essay topics? Our sharp-witted experts have it all figured out for you. With us, you’ll no longer experience writing issues or any trouble finding solutions to your academic pains! Ask us for essay writing help and break free!

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• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Using Images and Non-Textual Materials in Presentations, Papers, Theses, and Dissertations

• Documenting and Citing Images
• Finding Images - Select Sources

Documenting and Citing Images/Photographs and Their Sources

Please note that this is advice on best practices and considerations in documenting and citing images and non-print materials. It does not represent legal advice on obtaining permissions.

Generally, images copied from other sources should not be used without permissions in publications or for commercial purposes. Many American academic institutions require graduate students to archive their finished and approved theses/dissertations in institutional electronic repositories and/or institutional libraries and repositories, and/or to post them on Proquest's theses database. Unpublished theses and dissertations are a form of scholarly dissemination. Someone else's images, like someone else's ideas, words or music, should be used with critical commentary, and need to be identified and cited. If a thesis/dissertation is revised for publication,  waivers or permissions from the copyright holder(s) of the images and non-textual materials must be obtained. Best practices also apply to materials found on the internet and on social media, and, properly speaking, require identification, citation, and clearance of permissions, as relevant.

Use the following elements when identifying and citing an image, depending on the information you have available . It is your responsibility to do due diligence and document as much as possible about the image you are using:

• Artist's/creator's name, if relevant;
• Title of the work/image, if known, or description;
• Ownership information (such as a person, estate, museum, library collection) and source of image;
• Material, if known, particularly for art works;
• Dimensions of the work, if known.

The Chicago Manual of Style online can be searched for norms on appropriate ways to caption illustrations, capitalize titles of visual works, or cite print materials that contain images.

Including images/photographs in a bibliography:

Best practice is to not include images within a bibliography of works cited. It is common, instead, to create a separate list of images (or figures) and their source, such as photographer (even if it's you) or collection. It may be useful to also include location, e.g., museum, geographic reference, address, etc.

Examples of Documenting Images

The image below is scanned from a published book. It can be used in a critical context within a presentation, classroom session, or  paper/thesis, as follows:

[ Figure 1. This photograph from 1990 shows the Monument against Fascism designed by Jochen Gerz and Esther Shalev-Gerz, Hamburg, 1986-1993. Image from James Young, ed.,  Art of Memory: Holocaust Memorials in History (New York: Prestel, 1994), 70]

If you need to use this image in a published work, you will have to seek permission. For example, the book from which this image was scanned should have a section on photo credits which would help you identify the person/archive holding this image.

The image below was found through Google Images and downloaded from the internet. It can be used in a critical context within a presentation,  classroom session, or paper/thesis, as follows:

[Figure 2. This image shows the interior of Bibliotheca Alexandrina designed by the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta in 2001. Image downloaded from https://mgkhs.com/gallery/alexandria in March 2016.]

If you want to use this image in a published work, you will have to do your best to track down its source to request permission to use. The web site or social media site where you found the image may not be an appropriate source, since it is common for people to repost images without attribution. Just because "everyone does it" does not mean that you should be using such materials without attribution or documentation. In this specific example, you may need to write to the photographer or to the architecture firm. If you have done due diligence and were unable to find the source, or have not received a response, you may be able to use an image found on the internet with appropriate documentation in a publication.

The image below was downloaded from a digitized historic collection of photographs held by an institutional archive. It can be used in a critical context within a presentation,  classroom session, or paper/thesis, as follows:

[Figure 3. In the 1920s the urban landscape of Los Angeles started to change, as various developers began building multi-family apartment houses in sections previously zoned for single family dwellings. Seen in this photograph by Dick Whittington is the Warrington apartment building, which was completed in 1928, surrounded by older single family structures. Downloaded from the USC Digital Library in February 2016]

I f you plan to use this photograph in a publication, seek permission from the library/institution from whose digital archive you downloaded the image. Contact information is usually found in the record for the image.

The image below was taken by the author. It can be used in a critical context within a presentation, classroom session , paper/thesis, or a publication* as follows:

[Figure 4. Genex Tower, also known as West City Gate, is a residential tower located in New Belgrade. This example of late 20th century brutalist-style architecture was designed in 1977 by Mihajlo Mitrović. Photographed by the author in 2013.]

*Please note, if you re-photographed someone else's photograph or a work of art, or if you re-photographed a published image, you may not be able to publish your photograph without first seeking permission or credit for its content.  If you have done due diligence and were unable to find the source or have not received a response, you may be able to use your image with appropriate documentation.

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• Last Updated: Jan 19, 2023 3:12 PM
• URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/fair_use

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• Knowledge Base

Methodology

• What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

Published on June 7, 2021 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023 by Pritha Bhandari.

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall research objectives and approach
• Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research design.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities—start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed-methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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See an example

Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.

• Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
• Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analyzing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study—plants, animals, organizations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

• Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalize your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study , your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalize to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question .

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviors, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews .

Observation methods

Observational studies allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviors or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what kinds of data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected—for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

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As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are high in reliability and validity.

Operationalization

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalization means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in—for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced, while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method , you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample—by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method , it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method , how will you avoid research bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organizing and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymize and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well-organized will save time when it comes to analyzing it. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings (high replicability ).

On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarize your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarize your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analyzing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question . It defines your overall approach and determines how you will collect and analyze data.

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

Quantitative research designs can be divided into two main categories:

• Correlational and descriptive designs are used to investigate characteristics, averages, trends, and associations between variables.
• Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used to test causal relationships .

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible. Common types of qualitative design include case study , ethnography , and grounded theory designs.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioral avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalize the variables that you want to measure.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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Research Paper Examples

Research paper examples are of great value for students who want to complete their assignments timely and efficiently. If you are a student in the university, your first stop in the quest for research paper examples will be the campus library where you can get to view the research sample papers of lecturers and other professionals in diverse fields plus those of fellow students who preceded you in the campus. Many college departments maintain libraries of previous student work, including large research papers, which current students can examine.

Embark on a journey of academic excellence with iResearchNet, your premier destination for research paper examples that illuminate the path to scholarly success. In the realm of academia, where the pursuit of knowledge is both a challenge and a privilege, the significance of having access to high-quality research paper examples cannot be overstated. These exemplars are not merely papers; they are beacons of insight, guiding students and scholars through the complex maze of academic writing and research methodologies.

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Importance of Research Paper Examples

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A Sample Research Paper on Child Abuse

A research paper represents the pinnacle of academic investigation, a scholarly manuscript that encapsulates a detailed study, analysis, or argument based on extensive independent research. It is an embodiment of the researcher’s ability to synthesize a wealth of information, draw insightful conclusions, and contribute novel perspectives to the existing body of knowledge within a specific field. At its core, a research paper strives to push the boundaries of what is known, challenging existing theories and proposing new insights that could potentially reshape the understanding of a particular subject area.

The objective of writing a research paper is manifold, serving both educational and intellectual pursuits. Primarily, it aims to educate the author, providing a rigorous framework through which they engage deeply with a topic, hone their research and analytical skills, and learn the art of academic writing. Beyond personal growth, the research paper serves the broader academic community by contributing to the collective pool of knowledge, offering fresh perspectives, and stimulating further research. It is a medium through which scholars communicate ideas, findings, and theories, thereby fostering an ongoing dialogue that propels the advancement of science, humanities, and other fields of study.

Research papers can be categorized into various types, each with distinct objectives and methodologies. The most common types include:

• Analytical Research Paper: This type focuses on analyzing different viewpoints represented in the scholarly literature or data. The author critically evaluates and interprets the information, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic.
• Argumentative or Persuasive Research Paper: Here, the author adopts a stance on a contentious issue and argues in favor of their position. The objective is to persuade the reader through evidence and logic that the author’s viewpoint is valid or preferable.
• Experimental Research Paper: Often used in the sciences, this type documents the process, results, and implications of an experiment conducted by the author. It provides a detailed account of the methodology, data collected, analysis performed, and conclusions drawn.
• Survey Research Paper: This involves collecting data from a set of respondents about their opinions, behaviors, or characteristics. The paper analyzes this data to draw conclusions about the population from which the sample was drawn.
• Comparative Research Paper: This type involves comparing and contrasting different theories, policies, or phenomena. The aim is to highlight similarities and differences, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of the subjects under review.
• Cause and Effect Research Paper: It explores the reasons behind specific actions, events, or conditions and the consequences that follow. The goal is to establish a causal relationship between variables.
• Review Research Paper: This paper synthesizes existing research on a particular topic, offering a comprehensive analysis of the literature to identify trends, gaps, and consensus in the field.

Understanding the nuances and objectives of these various types of research papers is crucial for scholars and students alike, as it guides their approach to conducting and writing up their research. Each type demands a unique set of skills and perspectives, pushing the author to think critically and creatively about their subject matter. As the academic landscape continues to evolve, the research paper remains a fundamental tool for disseminating knowledge, encouraging innovation, and fostering a culture of inquiry and exploration.

Browse Sample Research Papers

iResearchNet prides itself on offering a wide array of research paper examples across various disciplines, meticulously curated to support students, educators, and researchers in their academic endeavors. Each example embodies the hallmarks of scholarly excellence—rigorous research, analytical depth, and clear, precise writing. Below, we explore the diverse range of research paper examples available through iResearchNet, designed to inspire and guide users in their quest for academic achievement.

Anthropology Research Paper Examples

Our anthropology research paper examples delve into the study of humanity, exploring cultural, social, biological, and linguistic variations among human populations. These papers offer insights into human behavior, traditions, and evolution, providing a comprehensive overview of anthropological research methods and theories.

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The art research paper examples feature analyses of artistic expressions across different cultures and historical periods. These papers cover a variety of topics, including art history, criticism, and theory, as well as the examination of specific artworks or movements.

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Our cancer research paper examples focus on the latest findings in the field of oncology, discussing the biological mechanisms of cancer, advancements in diagnostic techniques, and innovative treatment strategies. These papers aim to contribute to the ongoing battle against cancer by sharing cutting-edge research.

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Communication Research Paper Examples

These examples explore the complexities of human communication, covering topics such as media studies, interpersonal communication, and public relations. The papers examine how communication processes affect individuals, societies, and cultures.

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The crime research paper examples provided by iResearchNet investigate various aspects of criminal behavior and the factors contributing to crime. These papers cover a range of topics, from theoretical analyses of criminality to empirical studies on crime prevention strategies.

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Criminal Justice Research Paper Examples

Our criminal justice research paper examples delve into the functioning of the criminal justice system, exploring issues related to law enforcement, the judiciary, and corrections. These papers critically examine policies, practices, and reforms within the criminal justice system.

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Criminal Law Research Paper Examples

These examples focus on the legal aspects of criminal behavior, discussing laws, regulations, and case law that govern criminal proceedings. The papers provide an in-depth analysis of criminal law principles, legal defenses, and the implications of legal decisions.

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Criminology Research Paper Examples

iResearchNet’s criminology research paper examples study the causes, prevention, and societal impacts of crime. These papers employ various theoretical frameworks to analyze crime trends and propose effective crime reduction strategies.

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Culture Research Paper Examples

The culture research paper examples examine the beliefs, practices, and artifacts that define different societies. These papers explore how culture shapes identities, influences behaviors, and impacts social interactions.

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Economics Research Paper Examples

Our economics research paper examples offer insights into the functioning of economies at both the micro and macro levels. Topics include economic theory, policy analysis, and the examination of economic indicators and trends.

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These examples address a wide range of issues in education, from teaching methods and curriculum design to educational policy and reform. The papers aim to enhance understanding and improve outcomes in educational settings.

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History Research Paper Examples

Our history research paper examples cover significant events, figures, and periods, offering critical analyses of historical narratives and their impact on present-day society.

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Leadership Research Paper Examples

These examples explore the theories and practices of effective leadership, examining the qualities, behaviors, and strategies that distinguish successful leaders in various contexts.

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The mental health research paper examples provided by iResearchNet discuss psychological disorders, therapeutic interventions, and mental health advocacy. These papers aim to raise awareness and improve mental health care practices.

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Political Science Research Paper Examples

Our political science research paper examples analyze political systems, behaviors, and ideologies. Topics include governance, policy analysis, and the study of political movements and institutions.

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Psychology Research Paper Examples

These examples delve into the study of the mind and behavior, covering a broad range of topics in clinical, cognitive, developmental, and social psychology.

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Sociology Research Paper Examples

The sociology research paper examples examine societal structures, relationships, and processes. These papers provide insights into social phenomena, inequality, and change.

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Technology Research Paper Examples

Our technology research paper examples address the impact of technological advancements on society, exploring issues related to digital communication, cybersecurity, and innovation.

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Other Research Paper Examples

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• Drugs Research Paper
• Environmental Issues Research Paper
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• Law Research Paper
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• Public Health Research Paper
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• Statistics Research Paper
• Other Sample Research Papers

Each category of research paper examples provided by iResearchNet serves as a valuable resource for students and researchers seeking to deepen their understanding of a specific field. By offering a comprehensive collection of well-researched and thoughtfully written papers, iResearchNet aims to support academic growth and encourage scholarly inquiry across diverse disciplines.

Sample Research Papers: To Read or Not to Read?

When you get an assignment to write a research paper, the first question you ask yourself is ‘Should I look for research paper examples?’ Maybe, I can deal with this task on my own without any help. Is it that difficult?

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The significance of research paper examples in the academic journey of students cannot be overstated. These examples serve not only as a blueprint for structuring and formatting academic papers but also as a beacon guiding students through the complex landscape of academic writing standards. iResearchNet recognizes the pivotal role that high-quality research paper examples play in fostering academic success and intellectual growth among students.

Blueprint for Academic Success

Research paper examples provided by iResearchNet are meticulously crafted to demonstrate the essential elements of effective academic writing. These examples offer clear insights into how to organize a paper, from the introductory paragraph, through the development of arguments and analysis, to the concluding remarks. They showcase the appropriate use of headings, subheadings, and the integration of tables, figures, and appendices, which collectively contribute to a well-organized and coherent piece of scholarly work. By studying these examples, students can gain a comprehensive understanding of the structure and formatting required in academic papers, which is crucial for meeting the rigorous standards of academic institutions.

Sparking Ideas and Providing Evidence

Beyond serving as a structural guide, research paper examples act as a source of inspiration for students embarking on their research projects. These examples illuminate a wide array of topics, methodologies, and analytical frameworks, thereby sparking ideas for students’ own research inquiries. They demonstrate how to effectively engage with existing literature, frame research questions, and develop a compelling thesis statement. Moreover, by presenting evidence and arguments in a logical and persuasive manner, these examples illustrate the art of substantiating claims with solid research, encouraging students to adopt a similar level of rigor and depth in their work.

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Engagement with high-quality research paper examples is instrumental in improving research skills among students. These examples expose students to various research methodologies, from qualitative case studies to quantitative analyses, enabling them to appreciate the breadth of research approaches applicable to their fields of study. By analyzing these examples, students learn how to critically evaluate sources, differentiate between primary and secondary data, and apply ethical considerations in research. Furthermore, these papers serve as a model for effectively citing sources, thereby teaching students the importance of academic integrity and the avoidance of plagiarism.

In essence, research paper examples are a fundamental resource that can significantly enhance the academic writing and research capabilities of students. iResearchNet’s commitment to providing access to a diverse collection of exemplary papers reflects its dedication to supporting academic excellence. Through these examples, students are equipped with the tools necessary to navigate the challenges of academic writing, foster innovative thinking, and contribute meaningfully to the scholarly community. By leveraging these resources, students can elevate their academic pursuits, ensuring their research is not only rigorous but also impactful.

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In the academic journey, the ability to craft a compelling and meticulously researched paper is invaluable. Recognizing the challenges and pressures that students face, iResearchNet has developed a suite of research paper writing services designed to alleviate the burden of academic writing and research. Our services are tailored to meet the diverse needs of students across all academic disciplines, ensuring that every research paper not only meets but exceeds the rigorous standards of scholarly excellence. Below, we detail the multifaceted aspects of our research paper writing services, illustrating how iResearchNet stands as a beacon of support in the academic landscape.

At iResearchNet, we understand the pivotal role that research papers play in the academic and professional development of students. With this understanding at our core, we offer comprehensive writing services that cater to the intricate process of research paper creation. Our services are designed to guide students through every stage of the writing process, from initial research to final submission, ensuring clarity, coherence, and scholarly rigor.

The Need for Research Paper Writing Services

Navigating the complexities of academic writing and research can be a daunting task for many students. The challenges of identifying credible sources, synthesizing information, adhering to academic standards, and articulating arguments cohesively are significant. Furthermore, the pressures of tight deadlines and the high stakes of academic success can exacerbate the difficulties faced by students. iResearchNet’s research paper writing services are crafted to address these challenges head-on, providing expert assistance that empowers students to achieve their academic goals with confidence.

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A research paper is an academic piece of writing, so you need to follow all the requirements and standards. Otherwise, it will be impossible to get the high results. To make it easier for you, we have analyzed the structure and peculiarities of a sample research paper on the topic ‘Child Abuse’.

The paper includes 7300+ words, a detailed outline, citations are in APA formatting style, and bibliography with 28 sources.

To write any paper you need to write a great outline. This is the key to a perfect paper. When you organize your paper, it is easier for you to present the ideas logically, without jumping from one thought to another.

In the outline, you need to name all the parts of your paper. That is to say, an introduction, main body, conclusion, bibliography, some papers require abstract and proposal as well.

A good outline will serve as a guide through your paper making it easier for the reader to follow your ideas.

I. Introduction

Ii. estimates of child abuse: methodological limitations, iii. child abuse and neglect: the legalities, iv. corporal punishment versus child abuse, v. child abuse victims: the patterns, vi. child abuse perpetrators: the patterns, vii. explanations for child abuse, viii. consequences of child abuse and neglect, ix. determining abuse: how to tell whether a child is abused or neglected, x. determining abuse: interviewing children, xi. how can society help abused children and abusive families, introduction.

An introduction should include a thesis statement and the main points that you will discuss in the paper.

A thesis statement is one sentence in which you need to show your point of view. You will then develop this point of view through the whole piece of work:

‘The impact of child abuse affects more than one’s childhood, as the psychological and physical injuries often extend well into adulthood.’

Child abuse is a very real and prominent social problem today. The impact of child abuse affects more than one’s childhood, as the psychological and physical injuries often extend well into adulthood. Most children are defenseless against abuse, are dependent on their caretakers, and are unable to protect themselves from these acts.

Childhood serves as the basis for growth, development, and socialization. Throughout adolescence, children are taught how to become productive and positive, functioning members of society. Much of the socializing of children, particularly in their very earliest years, comes at the hands of family members. Unfortunately, the messages conveyed to and the actions against children by their families are not always the positive building blocks for which one would hope.

In 2008, the Children’s Defense Fund reported that each day in America, 2,421 children are confirmed as abused or neglected, 4 children are killed by abuse or neglect, and 78 babies die before their first birthday. These daily estimates translate into tremendous national figures. In 2006, caseworkers substantiated an estimated 905,000 reports of child abuse or neglect. Of these, 64% suffered neglect, 16% were physically abused, 9% were sexually abused, 7% were emotionally or psychologically maltreated, and 2% were medically neglected. In addition, 15% of the victims experienced “other” types of maltreatment such as abandonment, threats of harm to the child, and congenital drug addiction (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006). Obviously, this problem is a substantial one.

In the main body, you dwell upon the topic of your paper. You provide your ideas and support them with evidence. The evidence include all the data and material you have found, analyzed and systematized. You can support your point of view with different statistical data, with surveys, and the results of different experiments. Your task is to show that your idea is right, and make the reader interested in the topic.

In this example, a writer analyzes the issue of child abuse: different statistical data, controversies regarding the topic, examples of the problem and the consequences.

Several issues arise when considering the amount of child abuse that occurs annually in the United States. Child abuse is very hard to estimate because much (or most) of it is not reported. Children who are abused are unlikely to report their victimization because they may not know any better, they still love their abusers and do not want to see them taken away (or do not themselves want to be taken away from their abusers), they have been threatened into not reporting, or they do not know to whom they should report their victimizations. Still further, children may report their abuse only to find the person to whom they report does not believe them or take any action on their behalf. Continuing to muddy the waters, child abuse can be disguised as legitimate injury, particularly because young children are often somewhat uncoordinated and are still learning to accomplish physical tasks, may not know their physical limitations, and are often legitimately injured during regular play. In the end, children rarely report child abuse; most often it is an adult who makes a report based on suspicion (e.g., teacher, counselor, doctor, etc.).

Even when child abuse is reported, social service agents and investigators may not follow up or substantiate reports for a variety of reasons. Parents can pretend, lie, or cover up injuries or stories of how injuries occurred when social service agents come to investigate. Further, there is not always agreement about what should be counted as abuse by service providers and researchers. In addition, social service agencies/agents have huge caseloads and may only be able to deal with the most serious forms of child abuse, leaving the more “minor” forms of abuse unsupervised and unmanaged (and uncounted in the statistical totals).

While most laws about child abuse and neglect fall at the state levels, federal legislation provides a foundation for states by identifying a minimum set of acts and behaviors that define child abuse and neglect. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), which stems from the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum, “(1) any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation; or (2) an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk or serious harm.”

Using these minimum standards, each state is responsible for providing its own definition of maltreatment within civil and criminal statutes. When defining types of child abuse, many states incorporate similar elements and definitions into their legal statutes. For example, neglect is often defined as failure to provide for a child’s basic needs. Neglect can encompass physical elements (e.g., failure to provide necessary food or shelter, or lack of appropriate supervision), medical elements (e.g., failure to provide necessary medical or mental health treatment), educational elements (e.g., failure to educate a child or attend to special educational needs), and emotional elements (e.g., inattention to a child’s emotional needs, failure to provide psychological care, or permitting the child to use alcohol or other drugs). Failure to meet needs does not always mean a child is neglected, as situations such as poverty, cultural values, and community standards can influence the application of legal statutes. In addition, several states distinguish between failure to provide based on financial inability and failure to provide for no apparent financial reason.

Statutes on physical abuse typically include elements of physical injury (ranging from minor bruises to severe fractures or death) as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, shaking, throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting (with a hand, stick, strap, or other object), burning, or otherwise harming a child. Such injury is considered abuse regardless of the intention of the caretaker. In addition, many state statutes include allowing or encouraging another person to physically harm a child (such as noted above) as another form of physical abuse in and of itself. Sexual abuse usually includes activities by a parent or caretaker such as fondling a child’s genitals, penetration, incest, rape, sodomy, indecent exposure, and exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.

Finally, emotional or psychological abuse typically is defined as a pattern of behavior that impairs a child’s emotional development or sense of self-worth. This may include constant criticism, threats, or rejection, as well as withholding love, support, or guidance. Emotional abuse is often the most difficult to prove and, therefore, child protective services may not be able to intervene without evidence of harm to the child. Some states suggest that harm may be evidenced by an observable or substantial change in behavior, emotional response, or cognition, or by anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or aggressive behavior. At a practical level, emotional abuse is almost always present when other types of abuse are identified.

Some states include an element of substance abuse in their statutes on child abuse. Circumstances that can be considered substance abuse include (a) the manufacture of a controlled substance in the presence of a child or on the premises occupied by a child (Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia); (b) allowing a child to be present where the chemicals or equipment for the manufacture of controlled substances are used (Arizona, New Mexico); (c) selling, distributing, or giving drugs or alcohol to a child (Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, and Texas); (d) use of a controlled substance by a caregiver that impairs the caregiver’s ability to adequately care for the child (Kentucky, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas); and (e) exposure of the child to drug paraphernalia (North Dakota), the criminal sale or distribution of drugs (Montana, Virginia), or drug-related activity (District of Columbia).

One of the most difficult issues with which the U.S. legal system must contend is that of allowing parents the right to use corporal punishment when disciplining a child, while not letting them cross over the line into the realm of child abuse. Some parents may abuse their children under the guise of discipline, and many instances of child abuse arise from angry parents who go too far when disciplining their children with physical punishment. Generally, state statutes use terms such as “reasonable discipline of a minor,” “causes only temporary, short-term pain,” and may cause “the potential for bruising” but not “permanent damage, disability, disfigurement or injury” to the child as ways of indicating the types of discipline behaviors that are legal. However, corporal punishment that is “excessive,” “malicious,” “endangers the bodily safety of,” or is “an intentional infliction of injury” is not allowed under most state statutes (e.g., state of Florida child abuse statute).

Most research finds that the use of physical punishment (most often spanking) is not an effective method of discipline. The literature on this issue tends to find that spanking stops misbehavior, but no more effectively than other firm measures. Further, it seems to hinder rather than improve general compliance/obedience (particularly when the child is not in the presence of the punisher). Researchers have also explained why physical punishment is not any more effective at gaining child compliance than nonviolent forms of discipline. Some of the problems that arise when parents use spanking or other forms of physical punishment include the fact that spanking does not teach what children should do, nor does it provide them with alternative behavior options should the circumstance arise again. Spanking also undermines reasoning, explanation, or other forms of parental instruction because children cannot learn, reason, or problem solve well while experiencing threat, pain, fear, or anger. Further, the use of physical punishment is inconsistent with nonviolent principles, or parental modeling. In addition, the use of spanking chips away at the bonds of affection between parents and children, and tends to induce resentment and fear. Finally, it hinders the development of empathy and compassion in children, and they do not learn to take responsibility for their own behavior (Pitzer, 1997).

One of the biggest problems with the use of corporal punishment is that it can escalate into much more severe forms of violence. Usually, parents spank because they are angry (and somewhat out of control) and they can’t think of other ways to discipline. When parents are acting as a result of emotional triggers, the notion of discipline is lost while punishment and pain become the foci.

In 2006, of the children who were found to be victims of child abuse, nearly 75% of them were first-time victims (or had not come to the attention of authorities prior). A slight majority of child abuse victims were girls—51.5%, compared to 48% of abuse victims being boys. The younger the child, the more at risk he or she is for child abuse and neglect victimization. Specifically, the rate for infants (birth to 1 year old) was approximately 24 per 1,000 children of the same age group. The victimization rate for children 1–3 years old was 14 per 1,000 children of the same age group. The abuse rate for children aged 4– 7 years old declined further to 13 per 1,000 children of the same age group. African American, American Indian, and Alaska Native children, as well as children of multiple races, had the highest rates of victimization. White and Latino children had lower rates, and Asian children had the lowest rates of child abuse and neglect victimization. Regarding living arrangements, nearly 27% of victims were living with a single mother, 20% were living with married parents, while 22% were living with both parents but the marital status was unknown. (This reporting element had nearly 40% missing data, however.) Regarding disability, nearly 8% of child abuse victims had some degree of mental retardation, emotional disturbance, visual or hearing impairment, learning disability, physical disability, behavioral problems, or other medical problems. Unfortunately, data indicate that for many victims, the efforts of the child protection services system were not successful in preventing subsequent victimization. Children who had been prior victims of maltreatment were 96% more likely to experience another occurrence than those who were not prior victims. Further, child victims who were reported to have a disability were 52% more likely to experience recurrence than children without a disability. Finally, the oldest victims (16–21 years of age) were the least likely to experience a recurrence, and were 51% less likely to be victimized again than were infants (younger than age 1) (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006).

Child fatalities are the most tragic consequence of maltreatment. Yet, each year, children die from abuse and neglect. In 2006, an estimated 1,530 children in the United States died due to abuse or neglect. The overall rate of child fatalities was 2 deaths per 100,000 children. More than 40% of child fatalities were attributed to neglect, but physical abuse also was a major contributor. Approximately 78% of the children who died due to child abuse and neglect were younger than 4 years old, and infant boys (younger than 1) had the highest rate of fatalities at 18.5 deaths per 100,000 boys of the same age in the national population. Infant girls had a rate of 14.7 deaths per 100,000 girls of the same age (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006).

One question to be addressed regarding child fatalities is why infants have such a high rate of death when compared to toddlers and adolescents. Children under 1 year old pose an immense amount of responsibility for their caretakers: they are completely dependent and need constant attention. Children this age are needy, impulsive, and not amenable to verbal control or effective communication. This can easily overwhelm vulnerable parents. Another difficulty associated with infants is that they are physically weak and small. Injuries to infants can be fatal, while similar injuries to older children might not be. The most common cause of death in children less than 1 year is cerebral trauma (often the result of shaken-baby syndrome). Exasperated parents can deliver shakes or blows without realizing how little it takes to cause irreparable or fatal damage to an infant. Research informs us that two of the most common triggers for fatal child abuse are crying that will not cease and toileting accidents. Both of these circumstances are common in infants and toddlers whose only means of communication often is crying, and who are limited in mobility and cannot use the toilet. Finally, very young children cannot assist in injury diagnoses. Children who have been injured due to abuse or neglect often cannot communicate to medical professionals about where it hurts, how it hurts, and so forth. Also, nonfatal injuries can turn fatal in the absence of care by neglectful parents or parents who do not want medical professionals to possibly identify an injury as being the result of abuse.

Estimates reveal that nearly 80% of perpetrators of child abuse were parents of the victim. Other relatives accounted for nearly 7%, and unmarried partners of parents made up 4% of perpetrators. Of those perpetrators that were parents, over 90% were biological parents, 4% were stepparents, and 0.7% were adoptive parents. Of this group, approximately 58% of perpetrators were women and 42% were men. Women perpetrators are typically younger than men. The average age for women abusers was 31 years old, while for men the average was 34 years old. Forty percent of women who abused were younger than 30 years of age, compared with 33% of men being under 30. The racial distribution of perpetrators is similar to that of victims. Fifty-four percent were white, 21% were African American, and 20% were Hispanic/Latino (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006).

There are many factors that are associated with child abuse. Some of the more common/well-accepted explanations are individual pathology, parent–child interaction, past abuse in the family (or social learning), situational factors, and cultural support for physical punishment along with a lack of cultural support for helping parents here in the United States.

The first explanation centers on the individual pathology of a parent or caretaker who is abusive. This theory focuses on the idea that people who abuse their children have something wrong with their individual personality or biological makeup. Such psychological pathologies may include having anger control problems; being depressed or having post-partum depression; having a low tolerance for frustration (e.g., children can be extremely frustrating: they don’t always listen; they constantly push the line of how far they can go; and once the line has been established, they are constantly treading on it to make sure it hasn’t moved. They are dependent and self-centered, so caretakers have very little privacy or time to themselves); being rigid (e.g., having no tolerance for differences—for example, what if your son wanted to play with dolls? A rigid father would not let him, laugh at him for wanting to, punish him when he does, etc.); having deficits in empathy (parents who cannot put themselves in the shoes of their children cannot fully understand what their children need emotionally); or being disorganized, inefficient, and ineffectual. (Parents who are unable to manage their own lives are unlikely to be successful at managing the lives of their children, and since many children want and need limits, these parents are unable to set them or adhere to them.)

Biological pathologies that may increase the likelihood of someone becoming a child abuser include having substance abuse or dependence problems, or having persistent or reoccurring physical health problems (especially health problems that can be extremely painful and can cause a person to become more self-absorbed, both qualities that can give rise to a lack of patience, lower frustration tolerance, and increased stress).

The second explanation for child abuse centers on the interaction between the parent and the child, noting that certain types of parents are more likely to abuse, and certain types of children are more likely to be abused, and when these less-skilled parents are coupled with these more difficult children, child abuse is the most likely to occur. Discussion here focuses on what makes a parent less skilled, and what makes a child more difficult. Characteristics of unskilled parents are likely to include such traits as only pointing out what children do wrong and never giving any encouragement for good behavior, and failing to be sensitive to the emotional needs of children. Less skilled parents tend to have unrealistic expectations of children. They may engage in role reversal— where the parents make the child take care of them—and view the parent’s happiness and well-being as the responsibility of the child. Some parents view the parental role as extremely stressful and experience little enjoyment from being a parent. Finally, less-skilled parents tend to have more negative perceptions regarding their child(ren). For example, perhaps the child has a different shade of skin than they expected and this may disappoint or anger them, they may feel the child is being manipulative (long before children have this capability), or they may view the child as the scapegoat for all the parents’ or family’s problems. Theoretically, parents with these characteristics would be more likely to abuse their children, but if they are coupled with having a difficult child, they would be especially likely to be abusive. So, what makes a child more difficult? Certainly, through no fault of their own, children may have characteristics that are associated with child care that is more demanding and difficult than in the “normal” or “average” situation. Such characteristics can include having physical and mental disabilities (autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], hyperactivity, etc.); the child may be colicky, frequently sick, be particularly needy, or cry more often. In addition, some babies are simply unhappier than other babies for reasons that cannot be known. Further, infants are difficult even in the best of circumstances. They are unable to communicate effectively, and they are completely dependent on their caretakers for everything, including eating, diaper changing, moving around, entertainment, and emotional bonding. Again, these types of children, being more difficult, are more likely to be victims of child abuse.

Nonetheless, each of these types of parents and children alone cannot explain the abuse of children, but it is the interaction between them that becomes the key. Unskilled parents may produce children that are happy and not as needy, and even though they are unskilled, they do not abuse because the child takes less effort. At the same time, children who are more difficult may have parents who are skilled and are able to handle and manage the extra effort these children take with aplomb. However, risks for child abuse increase when unskilled parents must contend with difficult children.

Social learning or past abuse in the family is a third common explanation for child abuse. Here, the theory concentrates not only on what children learn when they see or experience violence in their homes, but additionally on what they do not learn as a result of these experiences. Social learning theory in the context of family violence stresses that if children are abused or see abuse (toward siblings or a parent), those interactions and violent family members become the representations and role models for their future familial interactions. In this way, what children learn is just as important as what they do not learn. Children who witness or experience violence may learn that this is the way parents deal with children, or that violence is an acceptable method of child rearing and discipline. They may think when they become parents that “violence worked on me when I was a child, and I turned out fine.” They may learn unhealthy relationship interaction patterns; children may witness the negative interactions of parents and they may learn the maladaptive or violent methods of expressing anger, reacting to stress, or coping with conflict.

What is equally as important, though, is that they are unlikely to learn more acceptable and nonviolent ways of rearing children, interacting with family members, and working out conflict. Here it may happen that an adult who was abused as a child would like to be nonviolent toward his or her own children, but when the chips are down and the child is misbehaving, this abused-child-turned-adult does not have a repertoire of nonviolent strategies to try. This parent is more likely to fall back on what he or she knows as methods of discipline.

Something important to note here is that not all abused children grow up to become abusive adults. Children who break the cycle were often able to establish and maintain one healthy emotional relationship with someone during their childhoods (or period of young adulthood). For instance, they may have received emotional support from a nonabusing parent, or they received social support and had a positive relationship with another adult during their childhood (e.g., teacher, coach, minister, neighbor, etc.). Abused children who participate in therapy during some period of their lives can often break the cycle of violence. In addition, adults who were abused but are able to form an emotionally supportive and satisfying relationship with a mate can make the transition to being nonviolent in their family interactions.

Moving on to a fourth familiar explanation for child abuse, there are some common situational factors that influence families and parents and increase the risks for child abuse. Typically, these are factors that increase family stress or social isolation. Specifically, such factors may include receiving public assistance or having low socioeconomic status (a combination of low income and low education). Other factors include having family members who are unemployed, underemployed (working in a job that requires lower qualifications than an individual possesses), or employed only part time. These financial difficulties cause great stress for families in meeting the needs of the individual members. Other stress-inducing familial characteristics are single-parent households and larger family size. Finally, social isolation can be devastating for families and family members. Having friends to talk to, who can be relied upon, and with whom kids can be dropped off occasionally is tremendously important for personal growth and satisfaction in life. In addition, social isolation and stress can cause individuals to be quick to lose their tempers, as well as cause people to be less rational in their decision making and to make mountains out of mole hills. These situations can lead families to be at greater risk for child abuse.

Finally, cultural views and supports (or lack thereof) can lead to greater amounts of child abuse in a society such as the United States. One such cultural view is that of societal support for physical punishment. This is problematic because there are similarities between the way criminals are dealt with and the way errant children are handled. The use of capital punishment is advocated for seriously violent criminals, and people are quick to use such idioms as “spare the rod and spoil the child” when it comes to the discipline or punishment of children. In fact, it was not until quite recently that parenting books began to encourage parents to use other strategies than spanking or other forms of corporal punishment in the discipline of their children. Only recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics has come out and recommended that parents do not spank or use other forms of violence on their children because of the deleterious effects such methods have on youngsters and their bonds with their parents. Nevertheless, regardless of recommendations, the culture of corporal punishment persists.

Another cultural view in the United States that can give rise to greater incidents of child abuse is the belief that after getting married, couples of course should want and have children. Culturally, Americans consider that children are a blessing, raising kids is the most wonderful thing a person can do, and everyone should have children. Along with this notion is the idea that motherhood is always wonderful; it is the most fulfilling thing a woman can do; and the bond between a mother and her child is strong, glorious, and automatic—all women love being mothers. Thus, culturally (and theoretically), society nearly insists that married couples have children and that they will love having children. But, after children are born, there is not much support for couples who have trouble adjusting to parenthood, or who do not absolutely love their new roles as parents. People look askance at parents who need help, and cannot believe parents who say anything negative about parenthood. As such, theoretically, society has set up a situation where couples are strongly encouraged to have kids, are told they will love kids, but then society turns a blind or disdainful eye when these same parents need emotional, financial, or other forms of help or support. It is these types of cultural viewpoints that increase the risks for child abuse in society.

The consequences of child abuse are tremendous and long lasting. Research has shown that the traumatic experience of childhood abuse is life changing. These costs may surface during adolescence, or they may not become evident until abused children have grown up and become abusing parents or abused spouses. Early identification and treatment is important to minimize these potential long-term effects. Whenever children say they have been abused, it is imperative that they be taken seriously and their abuse be reported. Suspicions of child abuse must be reported as well. If there is a possibility that a child is or has been abused, an investigation must be conducted.

Children who have been abused may exhibit traits such as the inability to love or have faith in others. This often translates into adults who are unable to establish lasting and stable personal relationships. These individuals have trouble with physical closeness and touching as well as emotional intimacy and trust. Further, these qualities tend to cause a fear of entering into new relationships, as well as the sabotaging of any current ones.

Psychologically, children who have been abused tend to have poor self-images or are passive, withdrawn, or clingy. They may be angry individuals who are filled with rage, anxiety, and a variety of fears. They are often aggressive, disruptive, and depressed. Many abused children have flashbacks and nightmares about the abuse they have experienced, and this may cause sleep problems as well as drug and alcohol problems. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and antisocial personality disorder are both typical among maltreated children. Research has also shown that most abused children fail to reach “successful psychosocial functioning,” and are thus not resilient and do not resume a “normal life” after the abuse has ended.

Socially (and likely because of these psychological injuries), abused children have trouble in school, will have difficulty getting and remaining employed, and may commit a variety of illegal or socially inappropriate behaviors. Many studies have shown that victims of child abuse are likely to participate in high-risk behaviors such as alcohol or drug abuse, the use of tobacco, and high-risk sexual behaviors (e.g., unprotected sex, large numbers of sexual partners). Later in life, abused children are more likely to have been arrested and homeless. They are also less able to defend themselves in conflict situations and guard themselves against repeated victimizations.

Medically, abused children likely will experience health problems due to the high frequency of physical injuries they receive. In addition, abused children experience a great deal of emotional turmoil and stress, which can also have a significant impact on their physical condition. These health problems are likely to continue occurring into adulthood. Some of these longer-lasting health problems include headaches; eating problems; problems with toileting; and chronic pain in the back, stomach, chest, and genital areas. Some researchers have noted that abused children may experience neurological impairment and problems with intellectual functioning, while others have found a correlation between abuse and heart, lung, and liver disease, as well as cancer (Thomas, 2004).

Victims of sexual abuse show an alarming number of disturbances as adults. Some dislike and avoid sex, or experience sexual problems or disorders, while other victims appear to enjoy sexual activities that are self-defeating or maladaptive—normally called “dysfunctional sexual behavior”—and have many sexual partners.

Abused children also experience a wide variety of developmental delays. Many do not reach physical, cognitive, or emotional developmental milestones at the typical time, and some never accomplish what they are supposed to during childhood socialization. In the next section, these developmental delays are discussed as a means of identifying children who may be abused.

There are two primary ways of identifying children who are abused: spotting and evaluating physical injuries, and detecting and appraising developmental delays. Distinguishing physical injuries due to abuse can be difficult, particularly among younger children who are likely to get hurt or receive injuries while they are playing and learning to become ambulatory. Nonetheless, there are several types of wounds that children are unlikely to give themselves during their normal course of play and exploration. These less likely injuries may signal instances of child abuse.

While it is true that children are likely to get bruises, particularly when they are learning to walk or crawl, bruises on infants are not normal. Also, the back of the legs, upper arms, or on the chest, neck, head, or genitals are also locations where bruises are unlikely to occur during normal childhood activity. Further, bruises with clean patterns, like hand prints, buckle prints, or hangers (to name a few), are good examples of the types of bruises children do not give themselves.

Another area of physical injury where the source of the injury can be difficult to detect is fractures. Again, children fall out of trees, or crash their bikes, and can break limbs. These can be normal parts of growing up. However, fractures in infants less than 12 months old are particularly suspect, as infants are unlikely to be able to accomplish the types of movement necessary to actually break a leg or an arm. Further, multiple fractures, particularly more than one on a bone, should be examined more closely. Spiral or torsion fractures (when the bone is broken by twisting) are suspect because when children break their bones due to play injuries, the fractures are usually some other type (e.g., linear, oblique, compacted). In addition, when parents don’t know about the fracture(s) or how it occurred, abuse should be considered, because when children get these types of injuries, they need comfort and attention.

Head and internal injuries are also those that may signal abuse. Serious blows to the head cause internal head injuries, and this is very different from the injuries that result from bumping into things. Abused children are also likely to experience internal injuries like those to the abdomen, liver, kidney, and bladder. They may suffer a ruptured spleen, or intestinal perforation. These types of damages rarely happen by accident.

Burns are another type of physical injury that can happen by accident or by abuse. Nevertheless, there are ways to tell these types of burn injuries apart. The types of burns that should be examined and investigated are those where the burns are in particular locations. Burns to the bottom of the feet, genitals, abdomen, or other inaccessible spots should be closely considered. Burns of the whole hand or those to the buttocks are also unlikely to happen as a result of an accident.

Turning to the detection and appraisal of developmental delays, one can more readily assess possible abuse by considering what children of various ages should be able to accomplish, than by noting when children are delayed and how many milestones on which they are behind schedule. Importantly, a few delays in reaching milestones can be expected, since children develop individually and not always according to the norm. Nonetheless, when children are abused, their development is likely to be delayed in numerous areas and across many milestones.

As children develop and grow, they should be able to crawl, walk, run, talk, control going to the bathroom, write, set priorities, plan ahead, trust others, make friends, develop a good self-image, differentiate between feeling and behavior, and get their needs met in appropriate ways. As such, when children do not accomplish these feats, their circumstances should be examined.

Infants who are abused or neglected typically develop what is termed failure to thrive syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by slow, inadequate growth, or not “filling out” physically. They have a pale, colorless complexion and dull eyes. They are not likely to spend much time looking around, and nothing catches their eyes. They may show other signs of lack of nutrition such as cuts, bruises that do not heal in a timely way, and discolored fingernails. They are also not trusting and may not cry much, as they are not expecting to have their needs met. Older infants may not have developed any language skills, or these developments are quite slow. This includes both verbal and nonverbal means of communication.

Toddlers who are abused often become hypervigilant about their environments and others’ moods. They are more outwardly focused than a typical toddler (who is quite self-centered) and may be unable to separate themselves as individuals, or consider themselves as distinct beings. In this way, abused toddlers cannot focus on tasks at hand because they are too concerned about others’ reactions. They don’t play with toys, have no interest in exploration, and seem unable to enjoy life. They are likely to accept losses with little reaction, and may have age-inappropriate knowledge of sex and sexual relations. Finally, toddlers, whether they are abused or not, begin to mirror their parents’ behaviors. Thus, toddlers who are abused may mimic the abuse when they are playing with dolls or “playing house.”

Developmental delays can also be detected among abused young adolescents. Some signs include the failure to learn cause and effect, since their parents are so inconsistent. They have no energy for learning and have not developed beyond one- or two-word commands. They probably cannot follow complicated directions (such as two to three tasks per instruction), and they are unlikely to be able to think for themselves. Typically, they have learned that failure is totally unacceptable, but they are more concerned with the teacher’s mood than with learning and listening to instruction. Finally, they are apt to have been inadequately toilet trained and thus may be unable to control their bladders.

Older adolescents, because they are likely to have been abused for a longer period of time, continue to get further and further behind in their developmental achievements. Abused children this age become family nurturers. They take care of their parents and cater to their parents’ needs, rather than the other way around. In addition, they probably take care of any younger siblings and do the household chores. Because of these default responsibilities, they usually do not participate in school activities; they frequently miss days at school; and they have few, if any, friends. Because they have become so hypervigilant and have increasingly delayed development, they lose interest in and become disillusioned with education. They develop low self-esteem and little confidence, but seem old for their years. Children this age who are abused are still likely to be unable to control their bladders and may have frequent toileting accidents.

Other developmental delays can occur and be observed in abused and neglected children of any age. For example, malnutrition and withdrawal can be noticed in infants through teenagers. Maltreated children frequently have persistent or untreated illnesses, and these can become permanent disabilities if medical conditions go untreated for a long enough time. Another example can be the consequences of neurological damage. Beyond being a medical issue, this type of damage can cause problems with social behavior and impulse control, which, again, can be discerned in various ages of children.

Once child abuse is suspected, law enforcement officers, child protection workers, or various other practitioners may need to interview the child about the abuse or neglect he or she may have suffered. Interviewing children can be extremely difficult because children at various stages of development can remember only certain parts or aspects of the events in their lives. Also, interviewers must be careful that they do not put ideas or answers into the heads of the children they are interviewing. There are several general recommendations when interviewing children about the abuse they may have experienced. First, interviewers must acknowledge that even when children are abused, they likely still love their parents. They do not want to be taken away from their parents, nor do they want to see their parents get into trouble. Interviewers must not blame the parents or be judgmental about them or the child’s family. Beyond that, interviews should take place in a safe, neutral location. Interviewers can use dolls and role-play to help children express the types of abuse of which they may be victims.

Finally, interviewers must ask age-appropriate questions. For example, 3-year-olds can probably only answer questions about what happened and who was involved. Four- to five-year-olds can also discuss where the incidents occurred. Along with what, who, and where, 6- to 8-year-olds can talk about the element of time, or when the abuse occurred. Nine- to 10-year-olds are able to add commentary about the number of times the abuse occurred. Finally, 11-year-olds and older children can additionally inform interviewers about the circumstances of abusive instances.

A conclusion is not a summary of what a writer has already mentioned. On the contrary, it is the last point made. Taking every detail of the investigation, the researcher makes the concluding point. In this part of a paper, you need to put a full stop in your research. You need to persuade the reader in your opinion.

Never add any new information in the conclusion. You can present solutions to the problem and you dwell upon the results, but only if this information has been already mentioned in the main body.

Child advocates recommend a variety of strategies to aid families and children experiencing abuse. These recommendations tend to focus on societal efforts as well as more individual efforts. One common strategy advocated is the use of public service announcements that encourage individuals to report any suspected child abuse. Currently, many mandatory reporters (those required by law to report abuse such as teachers, doctors, and social service agency employees) and members of communities feel that child abuse should not be reported unless there is substantial evidence that abuse is indeed occurring. Child advocates stress that this notion should be changed, and that people should report child abuse even if it is only suspected. Public service announcements should stress that if people report suspected child abuse, the worst that can happen is that they might be wrong, but in the grander scheme of things that is really not so bad.

Child advocates also stress that greater interagency cooperation is needed. This cooperation should be evident between women’s shelters, child protection agencies, programs for at-risk children, medical agencies, and law enforcement officers. These agencies typically do not share information, and if they did, more instances of child abuse would come to the attention of various authorities and could be investigated and managed. Along these lines, child protection agencies and programs should receive more funding. When budgets are cut, social services are often the first things to go or to get less financial support. Child advocates insist that with more resources, child protection agencies could hire more workers, handle more cases, conduct more investigations, and follow up with more children and families.

Continuing, more educational efforts must be initiated about issues such as punishment and discipline styles and strategies; having greater respect for children; as well as informing the community about what child abuse is, and how to recognize it. In addition, Americans must alter the cultural orientation about child bearing and child rearing. Couples who wish to remain child-free must be allowed to do so without disdain. And, it must be acknowledged that raising children is very difficult, is not always gloriously wonderful, and that parents who seek help should be lauded and not criticized. These kinds of efforts can help more children to be raised in nonviolent, emotionally satisfying families, and thus become better adults.

Bibliography

When you write a paper, make sure you are aware of all the formatting requirements. Incorrect formatting can lower your mark, so do not underestimate the importance of this part.

Organizing your bibliography is quite a tedious and time-consuming task. Still, you need to do it flawlessly. For this reason, analyze all the standards you need to meet or ask professionals to help you with it. All the comas, colons, brackets etc. matter. They truly do.

Bibliography:

• American Academy of Pediatrics: https://www.aap.org/
• Bancroft, L., & Silverman, J. G. (2002). The batterer as parent. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 5106g (1998).
• Childhelp: Child Abuse Statistics: https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-statistics/
• Children’s Defense Fund: https://www.childrensdefense.org/
• Child Stats.gov: https://www.childstats.gov/
• Child Welfare League of America: https://www.cwla.org/
• Crosson-Tower, C. (2008). Understanding child abuse and neglect (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
• DeBecker, G. (1999). Protecting the gift: Keeping children and teenagers safe (and parents sane). New York: Bantam Dell.
• Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire: https://cola.unh.edu/family-research-laboratory
• Guterman, N. B. (2001). Stopping child maltreatment before it starts: Emerging horizons in early home visitation services. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Herman, J. L. (2000). Father-daughter incest. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Medline Plus, Child Abuse: https://medlineplus.gov/childabuse.html
• Myers, J. E. B. (Ed.). (1994). The backlash: Child protection under fire. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: https://www.missingkids.org/home
• National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. (2006). Child maltreatment 2006: Reports from the states to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
• New York University Silver School of Social Work: https://socialwork.nyu.edu/
• Pitzer, R. L. (1997). Corporal punishment in the discipline of children in the home: Research update for practitioners. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
• RAND, Child Abuse and Neglect: https://www.rand.org/topics/child-abuse-and-neglect.html
• Richards, C. E. (2001). The loss of innocents: Child killers and their victims. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources.
• Straus, M. A. (2001). Beating the devil out of them: Corporal punishment in American families and its effects on children. Edison, NJ: Transaction.
• Thomas, P. M. (2004). Protection, dissociation, and internal roles: Modeling and treating the effects of child abuse. Review of General Psychology, 7(15).
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/

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Home » Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Table of Contents

Research Paper

Definition:

Research Paper is a written document that presents the author’s original research, analysis, and interpretation of a specific topic or issue.

It is typically based on Empirical Evidence, and may involve qualitative or quantitative research methods, or a combination of both. The purpose of a research paper is to contribute new knowledge or insights to a particular field of study, and to demonstrate the author’s understanding of the existing literature and theories related to the topic.

Structure of Research Paper

The structure of a research paper typically follows a standard format, consisting of several sections that convey specific information about the research study. The following is a detailed explanation of the structure of a research paper:

The title page contains the title of the paper, the name(s) of the author(s), and the affiliation(s) of the author(s). It also includes the date of submission and possibly, the name of the journal or conference where the paper is to be published.

The abstract is a brief summary of the research paper, typically ranging from 100 to 250 words. It should include the research question, the methods used, the key findings, and the implications of the results. The abstract should be written in a concise and clear manner to allow readers to quickly grasp the essence of the research.

Introduction

The introduction section of a research paper provides background information about the research problem, the research question, and the research objectives. It also outlines the significance of the research, the research gap that it aims to fill, and the approach taken to address the research question. Finally, the introduction section ends with a clear statement of the research hypothesis or research question.

Literature Review

The literature review section of a research paper provides an overview of the existing literature on the topic of study. It includes a critical analysis and synthesis of the literature, highlighting the key concepts, themes, and debates. The literature review should also demonstrate the research gap and how the current study seeks to address it.

The methods section of a research paper describes the research design, the sample selection, the data collection and analysis procedures, and the statistical methods used to analyze the data. This section should provide sufficient detail for other researchers to replicate the study.

The results section presents the findings of the research, using tables, graphs, and figures to illustrate the data. The findings should be presented in a clear and concise manner, with reference to the research question and hypothesis.

The discussion section of a research paper interprets the findings and discusses their implications for the research question, the literature review, and the field of study. It should also address the limitations of the study and suggest future research directions.

The conclusion section summarizes the main findings of the study, restates the research question and hypothesis, and provides a final reflection on the significance of the research.

The references section provides a list of all the sources cited in the paper, following a specific citation style such as APA, MLA or Chicago.

How to Write Research Paper

You can write Research Paper by the following guide:

• Choose a Topic: The first step is to select a topic that interests you and is relevant to your field of study. Brainstorm ideas and narrow down to a research question that is specific and researchable.
• Conduct a Literature Review: The literature review helps you identify the gap in the existing research and provides a basis for your research question. It also helps you to develop a theoretical framework and research hypothesis.
• Develop a Thesis Statement : The thesis statement is the main argument of your research paper. It should be clear, concise and specific to your research question.
• Plan your Research: Develop a research plan that outlines the methods, data sources, and data analysis procedures. This will help you to collect and analyze data effectively.
• Collect and Analyze Data: Collect data using various methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, or experiments. Analyze data using statistical tools or other qualitative methods.
• Organize your Paper : Organize your paper into sections such as Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Ensure that each section is coherent and follows a logical flow.
• Write your Paper : Start by writing the introduction, followed by the literature review, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Ensure that your writing is clear, concise, and follows the required formatting and citation styles.
• Edit and Proofread your Paper: Review your paper for grammar and spelling errors, and ensure that it is well-structured and easy to read. Ask someone else to review your paper to get feedback and suggestions for improvement.
• Cite your Sources: Ensure that you properly cite all sources used in your research paper. This is essential for giving credit to the original authors and avoiding plagiarism.

Research Paper Example

Note : The below example research paper is for illustrative purposes only and is not an actual research paper. Actual research papers may have different structures, contents, and formats depending on the field of study, research question, data collection and analysis methods, and other factors. Students should always consult with their professors or supervisors for specific guidelines and expectations for their research papers.

Research Paper Example sample for Students:

Title: The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health among Young Adults

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the impact of social media use on the mental health of young adults. A literature review was conducted to examine the existing research on the topic. A survey was then administered to 200 university students to collect data on their social media use, mental health status, and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. The results showed that social media use is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. The study also found that social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) are significant predictors of mental health problems among young adults.

Introduction: Social media has become an integral part of modern life, particularly among young adults. While social media has many benefits, including increased communication and social connectivity, it has also been associated with negative outcomes, such as addiction, cyberbullying, and mental health problems. This study aims to investigate the impact of social media use on the mental health of young adults.

Literature Review: The literature review highlights the existing research on the impact of social media use on mental health. The review shows that social media use is associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and other mental health problems. The review also identifies the factors that contribute to the negative impact of social media, including social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO.

Methods : A survey was administered to 200 university students to collect data on their social media use, mental health status, and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. The survey included questions on social media use, mental health status (measured using the DASS-21), and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis.

Results : The results showed that social media use is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. The study also found that social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO are significant predictors of mental health problems among young adults.

Discussion : The study’s findings suggest that social media use has a negative impact on the mental health of young adults. The study highlights the need for interventions that address the factors contributing to the negative impact of social media, such as social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO.

Conclusion : In conclusion, social media use has a significant impact on the mental health of young adults. The study’s findings underscore the need for interventions that promote healthy social media use and address the negative outcomes associated with social media use. Future research can explore the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing the negative impact of social media on mental health. Additionally, longitudinal studies can investigate the long-term effects of social media use on mental health.

Limitations : The study has some limitations, including the use of self-report measures and a cross-sectional design. The use of self-report measures may result in biased responses, and a cross-sectional design limits the ability to establish causality.

Implications: The study’s findings have implications for mental health professionals, educators, and policymakers. Mental health professionals can use the findings to develop interventions that address the negative impact of social media use on mental health. Educators can incorporate social media literacy into their curriculum to promote healthy social media use among young adults. Policymakers can use the findings to develop policies that protect young adults from the negative outcomes associated with social media use.

References :

• Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventive medicine reports, 15, 100918.
• Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Barrett, E. L., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., … & James, A. E. (2017). Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among US young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 1-9.
• Van der Meer, T. G., & Verhoeven, J. W. (2017). Social media and its impact on academic performance of students. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 16, 383-398.

Appendix : The survey used in this study is provided below.

Social Media and Mental Health Survey

• How often do you use social media per day?
• Less than 30 minutes
• 30 minutes to 1 hour
• 1 to 2 hours
• 2 to 4 hours
• More than 4 hours
• Which social media platforms do you use?
• Others (Please specify)
• How often do you experience the following on social media?
• Social comparison (comparing yourself to others)
• Cyberbullying
• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
• Have you ever experienced any of the following mental health problems in the past month?
• Do you think social media use has a positive or negative impact on your mental health?
• Very positive
• Somewhat positive
• Somewhat negative
• Very negative
• In your opinion, which factors contribute to the negative impact of social media on mental health?
• Social comparison
• In your opinion, what interventions could be effective in reducing the negative impact of social media on mental health?
• Education on healthy social media use
• Counseling for mental health problems caused by social media
• Social media detox programs
• Regulation of social media use

Thank you for your participation!

Applications of Research Paper

Research papers have several applications in various fields, including:

• Advancing knowledge: Research papers contribute to the advancement of knowledge by generating new insights, theories, and findings that can inform future research and practice. They help to answer important questions, clarify existing knowledge, and identify areas that require further investigation.
• Informing policy: Research papers can inform policy decisions by providing evidence-based recommendations for policymakers. They can help to identify gaps in current policies, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and inform the development of new policies and regulations.
• Improving practice: Research papers can improve practice by providing evidence-based guidance for professionals in various fields, including medicine, education, business, and psychology. They can inform the development of best practices, guidelines, and standards of care that can improve outcomes for individuals and organizations.
• Educating students : Research papers are often used as teaching tools in universities and colleges to educate students about research methods, data analysis, and academic writing. They help students to develop critical thinking skills, research skills, and communication skills that are essential for success in many careers.
• Fostering collaboration: Research papers can foster collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers by providing a platform for sharing knowledge and ideas. They can facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships that can lead to innovative solutions to complex problems.

When to Write Research Paper

Research papers are typically written when a person has completed a research project or when they have conducted a study and have obtained data or findings that they want to share with the academic or professional community. Research papers are usually written in academic settings, such as universities, but they can also be written in professional settings, such as research organizations, government agencies, or private companies.

Here are some common situations where a person might need to write a research paper:

• For academic purposes: Students in universities and colleges are often required to write research papers as part of their coursework, particularly in the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities. Writing research papers helps students to develop research skills, critical thinking skills, and academic writing skills.
• For publication: Researchers often write research papers to publish their findings in academic journals or to present their work at academic conferences. Publishing research papers is an important way to disseminate research findings to the academic community and to establish oneself as an expert in a particular field.
• To inform policy or practice : Researchers may write research papers to inform policy decisions or to improve practice in various fields. Research findings can be used to inform the development of policies, guidelines, and best practices that can improve outcomes for individuals and organizations.
• To share new insights or ideas: Researchers may write research papers to share new insights or ideas with the academic or professional community. They may present new theories, propose new research methods, or challenge existing paradigms in their field.

Purpose of Research Paper

The purpose of a research paper is to present the results of a study or investigation in a clear, concise, and structured manner. Research papers are written to communicate new knowledge, ideas, or findings to a specific audience, such as researchers, scholars, practitioners, or policymakers. The primary purposes of a research paper are:

• To contribute to the body of knowledge : Research papers aim to add new knowledge or insights to a particular field or discipline. They do this by reporting the results of empirical studies, reviewing and synthesizing existing literature, proposing new theories, or providing new perspectives on a topic.
• To inform or persuade: Research papers are written to inform or persuade the reader about a particular issue, topic, or phenomenon. They present evidence and arguments to support their claims and seek to persuade the reader of the validity of their findings or recommendations.
• To advance the field: Research papers seek to advance the field or discipline by identifying gaps in knowledge, proposing new research questions or approaches, or challenging existing assumptions or paradigms. They aim to contribute to ongoing debates and discussions within a field and to stimulate further research and inquiry.
• To demonstrate research skills: Research papers demonstrate the author’s research skills, including their ability to design and conduct a study, collect and analyze data, and interpret and communicate findings. They also demonstrate the author’s ability to critically evaluate existing literature, synthesize information from multiple sources, and write in a clear and structured manner.

Characteristics of Research Paper

Research papers have several characteristics that distinguish them from other forms of academic or professional writing. Here are some common characteristics of research papers:

• Evidence-based: Research papers are based on empirical evidence, which is collected through rigorous research methods such as experiments, surveys, observations, or interviews. They rely on objective data and facts to support their claims and conclusions.
• Structured and organized: Research papers have a clear and logical structure, with sections such as introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. They are organized in a way that helps the reader to follow the argument and understand the findings.
• Formal and objective: Research papers are written in a formal and objective tone, with an emphasis on clarity, precision, and accuracy. They avoid subjective language or personal opinions and instead rely on objective data and analysis to support their arguments.
• Citations and references: Research papers include citations and references to acknowledge the sources of information and ideas used in the paper. They use a specific citation style, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago, to ensure consistency and accuracy.
• Peer-reviewed: Research papers are often peer-reviewed, which means they are evaluated by other experts in the field before they are published. Peer-review ensures that the research is of high quality, meets ethical standards, and contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the field.
• Objective and unbiased: Research papers strive to be objective and unbiased in their presentation of the findings. They avoid personal biases or preconceptions and instead rely on the data and analysis to draw conclusions.

Advantages of Research Paper

Research papers have many advantages, both for the individual researcher and for the broader academic and professional community. Here are some advantages of research papers:

• Contribution to knowledge: Research papers contribute to the body of knowledge in a particular field or discipline. They add new information, insights, and perspectives to existing literature and help advance the understanding of a particular phenomenon or issue.
• Opportunity for intellectual growth: Research papers provide an opportunity for intellectual growth for the researcher. They require critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, which can help develop the researcher’s skills and knowledge.
• Career advancement: Research papers can help advance the researcher’s career by demonstrating their expertise and contributions to the field. They can also lead to new research opportunities, collaborations, and funding.
• Academic recognition: Research papers can lead to academic recognition in the form of awards, grants, or invitations to speak at conferences or events. They can also contribute to the researcher’s reputation and standing in the field.
• Impact on policy and practice: Research papers can have a significant impact on policy and practice. They can inform policy decisions, guide practice, and lead to changes in laws, regulations, or procedures.
• Advancement of society: Research papers can contribute to the advancement of society by addressing important issues, identifying solutions to problems, and promoting social justice and equality.

Limitations of Research Paper

Research papers also have some limitations that should be considered when interpreting their findings or implications. Here are some common limitations of research papers:

• Limited generalizability: Research findings may not be generalizable to other populations, settings, or contexts. Studies often use specific samples or conditions that may not reflect the broader population or real-world situations.
• Potential for bias : Research papers may be biased due to factors such as sample selection, measurement errors, or researcher biases. It is important to evaluate the quality of the research design and methods used to ensure that the findings are valid and reliable.
• Ethical concerns: Research papers may raise ethical concerns, such as the use of vulnerable populations or invasive procedures. Researchers must adhere to ethical guidelines and obtain informed consent from participants to ensure that the research is conducted in a responsible and respectful manner.
• Limitations of methodology: Research papers may be limited by the methodology used to collect and analyze data. For example, certain research methods may not capture the complexity or nuance of a particular phenomenon, or may not be appropriate for certain research questions.
• Publication bias: Research papers may be subject to publication bias, where positive or significant findings are more likely to be published than negative or non-significant findings. This can skew the overall findings of a particular area of research.
• Time and resource constraints: Research papers may be limited by time and resource constraints, which can affect the quality and scope of the research. Researchers may not have access to certain data or resources, or may be unable to conduct long-term studies due to practical limitations.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Illustration Essays: Definitions, Templates and Examples

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Learn about our Editorial Process

I’m a university professor, and in this article, I’m going to show you exactly how to write an illustration essay.

1. What is an Illustration Essay?

An Illustration Essay is an essay designed to describe and explain with examples. You will be required to use examples to reveal details about the subject you are discussing.

In many ways, it is the easiest form of essay because you don’t have to come up with a thesis or argue a point. All you need to do is explain with descriptions and examples (or ‘illustrate’) a subject or phenomenon.

Much like when someone draws a picture to show you what something looks like, an illustrative essay uses words to show what something is.

Related Article: 141+ Illustration Essay Topics

2. Difference between Illustrative and Argumentative Essays

You can see that in many ways, an illustrative essay should be easier than an argumentative essay . You can put all your efforts into your explanations and examples.

Aim to create a coherent picture in the reader’s mind about the topic you’re discussing.

3. Definition of ‘Illustrate’

Here are a few definitions of ‘illustrate’:

• Oxford Dictionary says that to Illustrate is to “Explain or make (something) clear by using examples, charts, pictures, etc.”
• MacMillan Dictionary provides this nice, simple explanation: “to show what something is like.”

Let’s now put the term into a few sentences to help clarify it for you just a little more:

• The newspaper article illustrates how the dinosaurs became extinct.
• The story of Abraham Lincoln provides a clear illustration of his life achievements.
• My father’s explanation of how to change oil in a car illustrated the process sufficiently.

Synonyms for ‘Illustrate’

Illustrate may also be interchangeably used with words like:

• Give Detail

4. How to write an Illustration Essay

Here’s how to write an illustration essay:

2.1 How to write your Introduction

The introduction is much like any other in an essay, and therefore I suggest you use the usual I.N.T.R.O formula .

This formula is a way of writing a 5-sentence introduction that orients the reader to the topic. Here’s how it works. Each of the following points forms one sentence of your introduction:

• Inform: Inform the reader of the topic.
• Notify: Notify the reader of one piece of interesting background information about the topic.
• Translate: Translate or paraphrase the essay question.
• Report: Report on your position or argument (This step can be skipped as you will often not need to make an argument)
• Outline: Outline the essay structure. You can use ‘Firstly, secondly, thirdly’ here.

2.2 An example introduction for an illustration essay

This example is for an illustration essay on the topic: Illustrate the various ways young people use social media in their everyday lives.

“Social media has many impacts on young people. Social media is quite new, with the most famous social media site Facebook only being introduced to the world in 2004. This illustrative essay will explain and provide examples of the many ways young people engage with social media every day. The essay will begin with an explanation of what social media is, followed by several illustrative points with examples to give details about what new media is and how it has changed young people’s lives.”

2.3 How to write an illustration paragraph (body paragraph)

Paragraphs in the body of an illustration essay have two purposes:

• Describe and Define: You need to clearly describe and define your subject to the reader. The reader should be left with the impression that you have a deep knowledge of the topic.
• Explain and Exemplify: You need to provide many examples to illustrate your points.

I recommend that you do this in order. Your first few paragraphs should describe and define the subject. Your following paragraphs should give a lot of quality examples.

2.4 Examples of illustrative paragraphs

I’ll keep using the example topic: Illustrate the various ways young people use social media in their everyday lives.

Example of a Describe and Define Paragraph:

“Social media is a form of media that emerged during the Web 2.0 era of the internet. It is unique because it gives people the ability of people to create personal profiles and communicate back-and-forth with one another. It is generally known to have emerged in the early 2000s with websites like MySpace and Facebook, and has changed recently to be heavily mobile responsive with the emergence of smartphones in the 2010s.”

Example of an Explain and Exemplify Paragraph:

“One unique consequence of social media is that it has meant young people are in constant contact with their friends. Whereas in the past young people would have to hang out in person to be in contact, now they can message each other from their homes. For example, young people get home from school and can log into their web forums like Facebook messenger. From here, they can stay in touch and chat about issues that happened at school. While this may be enjoyable, some people also believe that it means young people can continue to be bullied even from within their own bedrooms.”

2.5 How to write a Conclusion for an Illustration Essay

To conclude your illustrative essay, feel free to use the normal conclusion paragraph style. My preferred template for a conclusion is the 5 Cs Conclusion method .

Here’s a brief summary of the 5 Cs Conclusion method. Like the INTRO method, you can write one sentence per point for a 5 sentence conclusion paragraph:

• Close the loop: Refer to a statement you made in your introduction to tie the beginning and end together.
• Conclude: Show your final conclusion on the issue. As this is an illustrative essay that generally does not require a unique thesis statement, this step can be blended with ‘Clarify’.
• Clarify: Show how you have answered the essay question
• Concern: Show who would be concerned about the issue.
• Consequences: Show what the consequences of the issue are for real life.

Read Also: 39 Better Ways to Write ‘In Conclusion’ in an Essay

2.6 Example Conclusion for an Illustrative Essay

Here’s an example conclusion for an illustrative essay on the topic: Illustrate the various ways young people use social media in their everyday lives.

“The beginning of this essay pointed out that social media is quite a new phenomenon. Nonetheless, it appears to have had a significant impact on young people’s everyday lives. This essay has illustrated this fact with examples including points on how many young people use social media at home every night, how it has impact how bullying occurs, and helped them to stay in touch with friends who live long ways away. Parents and teachers should be concerned with this issue in order to help children know when to switch off social media or use it responsibly. Social media is not going anywhere and will continue to impact the ways young people interact with one another on a daily basis.”

5. A Template Just for You

6. Illustration Essay Topic Ideas

I’ve provided a full list of over 120 illustration essay topics you can choose form on this post here .

For a summary of 5 of my favorites, see below:

• Provide an illustration of the lifestyle of American Pilgrims in the first few years of settlement. You can dig deep in this example by giving explanations of the farming practices, initial struggles faced, and the complex relationships between colonizers and Indigenous peoples.
• Provide an illustration of the factory line production model and how it changed the world. Here, you can dig deep with examples of how the production line model was different to anything that came before it. You can also explain it using an example of a product going through a factory, such as a Model T Ford.
• Provide an illustration of the ways the court system seeks to ensure justice is served. Courts are complex places, so you can dig deep here to explain why we have them and how they help keep all of us safe.
• Provide an illustration of human development from birth to 18 years of age. You can dig deep in your explanation of how children move through stages of development before becoming what we consider to be fully grown adults. I selected this example for the illustration essay above.
• Provide an illustration of how and why the Pyramids were built. An illustration of these remarkable structures can help you delve deep into the ways ancient Egypt operated. Discuss the ways pharaohs saw pyramids as spiritual buildings, how they used slaves to build them, and the remarkable engineering coordination required to build enormous structures back before we had machinery to help out!

7. Illustration Essay Example

Topic: “Provide an illustration of human development from birth to 18 years of age. (1000 words)”

Introduction of the Illustration Essay:

Children are born with complete dependence on their parents for their own survival. Over the next 18 years they go through several stages of biological and cognitive development before reaching full maturation. This illustrative essay explores several key ideas about how humans develop in their first 18 years. There are multiple different understandings of how humans develop, and several of the major ones will be illustrated in this essay. First, the key ideas behind human development are defined and described. Then, several examples of key parts of human development in childhood are presented with a focus on Piaget’s approach to human development.

Body Paragraphs of the Illustration Essay – Definition and Description:

Human development is the process of human growth from birth through to adulthood. It is a process that takes somewhere between 16 and 25 years, although most western societies believe a child has reached adulthood on their 18 th birthday (Charlesworth, 2016). The process behind child development has been defined and described in multiple different ways throughout history. Two of the key theorists who describe child development are Piaget and Freud. Both believe all children develop in clear maturational stages, although their ideas about what happens in each stage differ significantly (Davies, 2010).

Freud believes that all children develop through a series of psychological stages. At each stage of development, children face a challenge which they must overcome or risk experiencing psychological fixations in adulthood. Freud outlined five stages of child development: the oral (0 – 1 years of age), anal (1 – 3 years of age), phallic (3 – 6 years of age), latency (6 – 12 years of age) and genital (12+ years of age). For each stage, there is a challenge (Fleer, 2018; Devine & Munsch, 2018). These are: weaning off the breast (oral), toilet training (anal), identifying gender roles (phallic), social interaction (latency) and development of intimate relationships (genital). If the child successfully navigates each stage, they will become a well developed adult.

By contrast, Piaget was focused less on psychological development and more on cognitive maturation. Piaget also believes that all children develop in roughly equal stages (Devine & Munsch, 2014). Piaget outlined five stages of development: the sensorimotor (0 – 2 years of age), preoperational (2 – 7 years of age), concrete operational (7 – 11 years of age) and formal operational (11+ years). In each stage, the child is capable of certain tasks, and should be encouraged to master those tasks to develop successfully to the next stage. These tasks include: mastery of the sense and motor skills to navigate the world (sensorimotor), capacity to use language and think using symbols (preoperational), ability to use logic and understand time, space and quantities (concrete operational), and ability to use abstract and hypothetical thinking (formal operational) (Charlesworth, 2016).

Body Paragraphs of the Illustration Essay – Explanations and Examples:

For the remainder of this essay, Piaget’s stages will be used to illustrate how children are perceived to develop. Piaget’s stages are still widely acknowledged as useful for teaching and guiding children through cognitive development, and are generally more well received in contemporary society than Freud’s. Their value in education make them an important set of stages to understand for teacher educators. Furthermore, many educational curricula around the world continue to roughly teach in stages commensurate with Piaget’s stages (Kohler, 2014). They are therefore important stages of child development to understand.

The first stage is the sensorimotor stage (0 – 2). Children in the sensorimotor stage need support to develop skills in navigating their immediate environments. At this stage, children are given objects with various textures, shapes and compositions to allow children to touch and learn about their world (Kohler, 2014). Children in this stage also learn to develop the understanding that when things are out of their sight, they still exist! Piaget called this skill ‘object permanence’. For example, the game ‘peek-a-boo’ is often very entertaining to young children because their parents’ faces appear to disappear from the world, then reappear randomly (Isaacs, 2015; Devine & Munsch, 2018).

The next stage is the preoperational stage (2 – 7). In the preoperational stage, children learn to develop more complex communicative capacities. Children develop linguistic capacities and begin to express themselves confidently to their parents and strangers. Children also develop imaginative skills, and you often see children engaging in imaginative play where they dress up and pretend to be princesses, firefighters and heroes in their stories (Isaacs, 2015). At this young age, children are very egotistical and continue to see themselves as the centre of the world. To help children develop through this stage, parents and teachers should encourage creative writing and praise children whenever they may see things from other people’s perspectives (MacBlain, 2018).

The third stage is the concrete operational stage (7 – 11). At this stage, children learn to think logically about things in their everyday environments. They therefore develop more complex capacities to reason and do mathematical tasks. At this stage teachers tend to encourage children to learn to come to conclusions using reason and scientific observations (MacBlain, 2018). At this level many children are able to see things from others’ perspectives, but remain focused on their own lives and things in their immediate environments (Kohler, 2014).

Lastly, from ages 11 and up, children develop into the formal operations stage where they can think abstractly. In this stage, ethical and critical thinking emerges. These young people are now starting to think about issues like social justice and politics (Kohler, 2014). They also develop the capacity to do more complex mathematical tasks in the realm of abstract rather than concrete maths. A real life example may include the capacity to complete algebraic tasks. This is why algebra tends to become a part of mathematics curricula in middle and high school years (Charlesworth, 2016; MacBlain, 2018).

While Piaget’s stages are widely acknowledge to be accurate for ‘normal’ development, there is criticism that these stages do not reflect the development of children across all cultures and abilities. For example, children with autism may develop at faster or slower rates (Isaacs, 2015). Similarly, it appears children in some non-Western cultures develop concrete operations at a much younger age than children in Western societies. Thus, other theorists like Vygotsky have demonstrated that we should not see child development in set rigid stages, but instead think of development as being heavily influenced by social and cultural circumstances in which children develop (MacBlain, 2018).

Conclusion of the Illustrative Essay:

At the beginning of this illustrative essay, it was stated that children use the first 18 years of their life to develop biologically, psychologically and cognitively. Zooming in on cognitive development, this essay has illustrated child development through Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development. Through these stages, it is possible to see how children develop from very dependent and unknowledgeable states to full independence from their parents. Teachers should know about these stages of development to properly understand what level children should be at in their learning and to target lessons appropriately.

References:

Charlesworth, R. (2016). Understanding child development. Los Angeles: Cengage Learning.

Davies, D. (2010).  Child development: A practitioner’s guide . New York: Guilford Press.

Fleer, M. (2018). Child Development in Educational Settings . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Isaacs, N. (2015). A Brief Introduction to Piaget. New York: Agathon Press.

Kohler, R. (2014). Jean Piaget. London: Bloomsbury.

Levine, L. E., & Munsch, J. (2018).  Child Development from Infancy to Adolescence: An Active Learning Approach . London: Sage Publications.

MacBlain, S. (2018).  Learning theories for early years practice . London: SAGE.

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Number Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Word Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Outdoor Games for Kids
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 50 Incentives to Give to Students

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How To Write A Research Paper

Research Paper Example

Research Paper Example - Examples for Different Formats

Published on: Jun 12, 2021

Last updated on: Jul 19, 2024

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Writing a research paper is the most challenging task in a student's academic life. researchers face similar writing process hardships, whether the research paper is to be written for graduate or masters.

A research paper is a writing type in which a detailed analysis, interpretation, and evaluation are made on the topic. It requires not only time but also effort and skills to be drafted correctly.

If you are working on your research paper for the first time, here is a collection of examples that you will need to understand the paper’s format and how its different parts are drafted. Continue reading the article to get free research paper examples.

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Research Paper Example for Different Formats

A research paper typically consists of several key parts, including an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and annotated bibliography .

When writing a research paper (whether quantitative research or qualitative research ), it is essential to know which format to use to structure your content. Depending on the requirements of the institution, there are mainly four format styles in which a writer drafts a research paper:

Let’s look into each format in detail to understand the fundamental differences and similarities.

Research Paper Example APA

If your instructor asks you to provide a research paper in an APA format, go through the example given below and understand the basic structure. Make sure to follow the format throughout the paper.

APA Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example MLA

Another widespread research paper format is MLA. A few institutes require this format style as well for your research paper. Look at the example provided of this format style to learn the basics.

MLA Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example Chicago

Unlike MLA and APA styles, Chicago is not very common. Very few institutions require this formatting style research paper, but it is essential to learn it. Look at the example given below to understand the formatting of the content and citations in the research paper.

Chicago Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example Harvard

Learn how a research paper through Harvard formatting style is written through this example. Carefully examine how the cover page and other pages are structured.

Harvard Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Examples for Different Research Paper Parts

A research paper is based on different parts. Each part plays a significant role in the overall success of the paper. So each chapter of the paper must be drafted correctly according to a format and structure.

Below are examples of how different sections of the research paper are drafted.

Research Proposal Example

A research proposal is a plan that describes what you will investigate, its significance, and how you will conduct the study.

Research Proposal Sample (PDF)

Abstract Research Paper Example

An abstract is an executive summary of the research paper that includes the purpose of the research, the design of the study, and significant research findings.

It is a small section that is based on a few paragraphs. Following is an example of the abstract to help you draft yours professionally.

Abstract Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Literature Review Research Paper Example

A literature review in a research paper is a comprehensive summary of the previous research on your topic. It studies sources like books, articles, journals, and papers on the relevant research problem to form the basis of the new research.

Writing this section of the research paper perfectly is as important as any part of it.

Literature Review in Research Sample (PDF)

Methods Section of Research Paper Example

The method section comes after the introduction of the research paper that presents the process of collecting data. Basically, in this section, a researcher presents the details of how your research was conducted.

Methods Section in Research Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Conclusion Example

The conclusion is the last part of your research paper that sums up the writer’s discussion for the audience and leaves an impression. This is how it should be drafted:

Research Paper Conclusion Sample

Research Paper Examples for Different Fields

The research papers are not limited to a particular field. They can be written for any discipline or subject that needs a detailed study.

In the following section, various research paper examples are given to show how they are drafted for different subjects.

Science Research Paper Example

Are you a science student that has to conduct research? Here is an example for you to draft a compelling research paper for the field of science.

Science Research Paper Sample (PDF)

History Research Paper Example

Conducting research and drafting a paper is not only bound to science subjects. Other subjects like history and arts require a research paper to be written as well. Observe how research papers related to history are drafted.

History Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Psychology Research Paper Example

If you are a psychology student, look into the example provided in the research paper to help you draft yours professionally.

Psychology Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example for Different Levels

Writing a research paper is based on a list of elements. If the writer is not aware of the basic elements, the process of writing the paper will become daunting. Start writing your research paper taking the following steps:

• Choose a topic
• Form a strong thesis statement
• Conduct research
• Develop a research paper outline

Once you have a plan in your hand, the actual writing procedure will become a piece of cake for you.

No matter which level you are writing a research paper for, it has to be well structured and written to guarantee you better grades.

If you are a college or a high school student, the examples in the following section will be of great help.

Research Paper Outline (PDF)

Research Paper Example for College

Pay attention to the research paper example provided below. If you are a college student, this sample will help you understand how a winning paper is written.

College Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example for High School

Expert writers of CollegeEssay.org have provided an excellent example of a research paper for high school students. If you are struggling to draft an exceptional paper, go through the example provided.

High School Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Examples are essential when it comes to academic assignments. If you are a student and aim to achieve good grades in your assignments, it is suggested to get help from  CollegeEssay.org .

We are the best writing company that delivers essay help for students by providing free samples and writing assistance.

Professional writers have your back, whether you are looking for guidance in writing a lab report, college essay, or research paper.

Simply hire a writer by placing your order at the most reasonable price. You can also take advantage of our essay writer to enhance your writing skills.

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As a Digital Content Strategist, Nova Allison has eight years of experience in writing both technical and scientific content. With a focus on developing online content plans that engage audiences, Nova strives to write pieces that are not only informative but captivating as well.

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Writing a Research Paper

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The Research Paper

There will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. Such an assignment often creates a great deal of unneeded anxiety in the student, which may result in procrastination and a feeling of confusion and inadequacy. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this genre of writing. Never fear—inexperience and unfamiliarity are situations you can change through practice! Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons this topic is so important.

Becoming an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. There are few individuals for whom this process comes naturally. Remember, even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. Therefore, with diligence, organization, practice, a willingness to learn (and to make mistakes!), and, perhaps most important of all, patience, students will find that they can achieve great things through their research and writing.

The pages in this section cover the following topic areas related to the process of writing a research paper:

• Genre - This section will provide an overview for understanding the difference between an analytical and argumentative research paper.
• Choosing a Topic - This section will guide the student through the process of choosing topics, whether the topic be one that is assigned or one that the student chooses themselves.
• Identifying an Audience - This section will help the student understand the often times confusing topic of audience by offering some basic guidelines for the process.
• Where Do I Begin - This section concludes the handout by offering several links to resources at Purdue, and also provides an overview of the final stages of writing a research paper.

Research Summary

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A research paper analyzes a perspective or argues a point. It is an expanded essay based on your interpretation, evaluation or argument about a certain topic.

According to Sunny Empire State College , “When you write a research paper you build upon what you know about the subject and make a deliberate attempt to find out what experts know. A research paper involves surveying a field of knowledge in order to find the best possible information in that field.” Whatever type of research paper you choose to write, it should present your own ideas backed with others’ (especially experts on the field) information and data.

Every research paper has a research summary. A research summary is a brief overview of what the whole research is about. It is a professional piece of writing that describes your research to the readers. It concisely yet perfectly captures the essence of the research as a whole. You may also see What Should Be in an Executive Summary of a Report?

Fundamentals of a Research Summary

Having a good template for a research summary is nothing if you don’t know its importance and basic function. Before you start writing your research summary, you should first know its fundamentals on the areas you need to pay attention to such as its content, style and organization.

• The content of your research summary must briefly discuss the techniques and tools used in the research and the importance of the research as a whole. Explain how the research can be of benefit for the people.
• To organize your research summary, each topic must be discussed in separate paragraphs. How you came up with a factual research must be briefly explained in a separate paragraph.
• If you have a lengthy research paper, try not to write not more than 10% of the entire paper. If it’s not as lengthy, you should not write more than 300 words in your summary.

However, rules may vary according to your research professor’s standards. This is just the basic fundamentals on how to write your research summary. Also see  Thesis Outline Examples

How to Write a Research Summary

It is apparent that a research summary is a condensed version of the main idea of your research paper. Because of this, it is advised that the summary of your paper is written after you are done with your entire research. This is to ensure that all the added information in your research can be written in your summary as well and all of those that removed can be edited out. Here are a few steps on how to write a research summary:

Read your paper

It should be a fact you should know beforehand; the importance of reading your entire research paper thoroughly to write an effective research summary. Along the way, take notes of the important details and key findings that you want to highlight in your paper. This will help you organize your summary better. Remember that your research summary is a mini-paper of your study and it should contain the main ideas of your entire research.

Write a draft

For your first draft, focus on the content rather than the length of your summary. Your draft is your first outline on what to include in the final summary. Writing a draft ensures you write a clear, thorough and coherent summary of your research paper. Also see  How to Write a Rough Outline

Identify main points

Within your research paper, you must identify the major points that will encourage prospective readers to go through your research paper. These major points must thoroughly and completely explain what the paper is trying to convey.

Separate sections

Identify the differences of the main section in your paper. Write a few sentences describing the main ideas of each section. In short, you should be able to present and thoroughly describe what each main section is focused on. It should have these basic sections:

• Introduction, brief opening statement
• Purpose of the study
• Data gathering method
• Summary of findings
• Description of recommendations with actual justification.

Combine Information

All the information you have gathered must be then used to make your summary. Remember that your summary is just an overview of your research paper as a whole. It should be not be more than 10% of your whole paper. Also see  5 Summary Writing Examples and Samples

Making The First Draft

After establishing the basic way of writing a research summary, it is a must to write a first draft. It should follow the flow of the original paper. Here’s a few steps on how to make a first draft:

First, state the research question in the introduction of your summary. This holds the ground as to the summary’s direction. Provide an explanation why your research is interesting and how it can help your target recipients.

Second, state the hypothesis you wish to prove. This will help you and your readers stay grounded on the topic at hand.

Third, briefly discuss the methodology used in your research. Discuss and describe the procedure, materials, participants, design, etc. The analysis of your data must also be included. You may also see  How to Write a Successful Thesis Proposal

Fourth, describe the results and significance of your research. And lastly, briefly discuss the key implications of your research. The results and its interpretation should directly coincide with your hypothesis.

Editing your Research Summary

A research paper is a formal piece of writing. Your summary should be tailored to your expected readers. Say for example the prospective readers are your classmates, so the style of your paper should be clearly understood by them.

Eliminate wordiness. Avoid using unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. Write in a way it would be easier for your readers to understand. It is common for research papers to establish a word count. Avoid elongating your sentences when it has shorter versions.

Being vague in describing and explaining the points of your paper might lead to confusion in your readers part. Use specific, concrete language when presenting results. Use reliable and specific examples and references as well. You should also use scientifically accurate language to help support your claims. Avoid informal words and adjectives to describe the results of your research.

Paraphrase the information you want to include in your research paper. Direct quoting the information you have read from a different source is not oftenly used in formal writings. To give the exact credit for the information you paraphrased, follow the citation format required by your professor.

Reread your paper and let others read it as well. This way minor errors you were not able to notice can be quickly pointed out and corrected.

Research Summary Writing Tips

Your research summary should not be more than 10 pages long or not more than 10% of your original document. This keeps your research summary concise and compact. It should be short enough for your readers to read through but long enough for you to clearly explain your study.

Copy and paste

Avoid simply copy and pasting different parts of your paper into your summary. You should paraphrase parts that you want to include. As most research advisers read through all of your paper, it can easily be identified if you have copy-pasted parts from your research and might give you a bad grade.

Consider the readers

Although not a requirement from your professor, catering your summary to what the readers need is sometimes required. As some studies are given out to different influential people in the field, writing a summary that caters to the readers’ necessities might be required.

Research Article Summary Template

• Google Docs

Size: 158 KB

Research Report Executive Summary Template

Size: 120 KB

Research Summary Example

Size: 130 KB

Research Summary Sample

Size: 486 KB

Research Writing Summary Tips (continuation)

Clarity and organization.

One of the common mistakes in writing a research is publishing an unclear and unpolished summary. Bear in mind that your readers are likely reading about the topic of your research for the first time, avoid unclear and uncertain explanations and a disorganized summary.

Use strong and positive language

Use precise and strong words to help strengthen the foundation of your summary. Your summary should be able to stand alone despite it being a part of the research paper. Once you have convinced your readers with the recommendations regarding the topic of your paper, the readers should be able to find concrete evidence and explanations within your summary. Avoid pleas and biased statements in your summary, but make sure you are able to relay the sense of urgency for the recommendations you have given.

Divide into parts

To make things easier for you, divide your paper into different sections and headings, much like creating an outline. With this in mind, every point should be explained limited to its essence. In this way, you avoid writing too much information about your paper in your summary.

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The paper clip paradox.

(By Steve Allan) Consider the lowly paper clip. You probably have scores of them in your desk drawer, but how often do you really use one? In a PDF world, who needs to hold several pages of paper together with a piece of twisted metal?

Yet, according to Verified Market Reports , the global 2023 paper clip market was valued at $11.1 BILLION! And, get this, it is expected to grow by over 14% every year until 2030. To put that in perspective, you can buy 200 paper clips on Amazon for four dollars. That means that in 2023, 2,750,000,000 such units were sold. Really? Who is buying this stuff?

The bigger question is – what does this have to do with radio? 

The short answer: it’s all about perception. Before you read the first two paragraphs of this blog, you probably thought the paper clip industry was in its death throes (if you thought about it at all). If you believe what the pundits say, the same could be applied to radio.

Yes, digital is the “squirrel” of the advertising community. 

True, radio is besieged by new competitors like Spotify, YouTube, and other non-broadcast entities. Music – especially new music – was once radio’s exclusive domain. Information programming has also splintered as so many get their news from digital outlets.

And, let’s face it, we have dumbed down our medium in an attempt to eliminate anything that can be perceived as a negative. We tout “live and local” as we pipe in air talent from outside our markets. We extol the power of personality as we cut our creative teams to the bone.

Yet, despite all of this, radio continues to thrive. According to Kagen Research, radio generated over $15 billion in revenue in 2023 (ha – take that, paper clip!)

Radio remains a viable place for information, entertainment, and advertising. Is it what it was 30 years ago? No. But to paraphrase Monty Python, “We’re not dead yet.”

It is time for us to go on the offensive. It is time to aggressively promote the benefits of radio. We can start by saying it is still free. In an era of mounting subscriptions, radio will not ding your debit card every month. 

You are a radio professional. You know what radio provides to a community. Let’s start selling that.

Here’s a thought – all the big groups get together along with the NAB and the RAB and produce a real, emotionally based campaign on the benefits of radio. Sirius/XM did that quite effectively with their “A Life In Sound” campaign which they previewed during this year’s Oscars telecast. 

Here’s the kicker – we cannot just do this on our own air. That’s called, I believe, preaching to the choir. We need to aggressively market the medium outside of our echo chamber. We need to make it relatable to those under the age of 45. We need to court them, convince them, and appeal to them. We might not be able to make radio cool again, but we can remind people of our value and our benefits.

If the paper clip can thrive in a digital world so, too, can radio. We can make radio a viable part of the future or we can go the way of Clippy. It is in our hands.

This essay is part of a series titled “The Power of Radio.” To view past articles, visit The Ratings Experts at Research Director, Inc. online here .

Steve Allan is the Programming Research Consultant at Research Director, Inc. He can be reached at 410-295-6619 x25 or by e-mail at [email protected] . Read Research Director, Inc.’s Radio Ink archives here .

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Our Print Magazine: Radio Ink

OPWNAI : Cybercriminals Starting to Use ChatGPT

Introduction

At the end of November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, the new interface for its Large Language Model (LLM), which instantly created a flurry of interest in AI and its possible uses.  However, ChatGPT has also added some spice to the modern cyber threat landscape as it quickly became apparent that code generation can help less-skilled threat actors effortlessly launch cyberattacks.

In Check Point Research’s (CPR) previous blog , we described how ChatGPT successfully conducted a full infection flow, from creating a convincing spear-phishing email to running a reverse shell, capable of accepting commands in English. The question at hand is whether this is just a hypothetical threat or if there are already threat actors using OpenAI technologies for malicious purposes.

CPR’s analysis of several major underground hacking communities shows that there are already first instances of cybercriminals using OpenAI to develop malicious tools. As we suspected, some of the cases clearly showed that many cybercriminals using OpenAI have no development skills at all. Although the tools that we present in this report are pretty basic, it’s only a matter of time until more sophisticated threat actors enhance the way they use AI-based tools for bad.

Case 1 – Creating Infostealer

On December 29, 2022, a thread named “ChatGPT – Benefits of Malware” appeared on a popular underground hacking forum. The publisher of the thread disclosed that he was experimenting with ChatGPT to recreate malware strains and techniques described in research publications and write-ups about common malware. As an example, he shared the code of a Python-based stealer that searches for common file types, copies them to a random folder inside the Temp folder, ZIPs them and uploads them to a hardcoded FTP server.

Figure 1 –Cybercriminal showing how he created infostealer using ChatGPT

Our analysis of the script confirms the cybercriminal’s claims. This is indeed a basic stealer which searches for 12 common file types (such as MS Office documents, PDFs, and images) across the system. If any files of interest are found, the malware copies the files to a temporary directory, zips them, and sends them over the web. It is worth noting that the actor didn’t bother encrypting or sending the files securely, so the files might end up in the hands of 3rd parties as well.

The second sample this actor created using ChatGPT is a simple Java snippet. It downloads PuTTY, a very common SSH and telnet client, and runs it covertly on the system using Powershell. This script can of course be modified to download and run any program, including common malware families.

            Figure 2 –Proof of how he created Java program that downloads PuTTY and runs it using Powershell

This threat actor’s prior forum participation includes sharing several scripts like automation of the post-exploitation phase, and a C++ program that attempts to phish for user credentials. In addition, he actively shares cracked versions of SpyNote, an Android RAT malware. So overall, this individual seems to be a tech-oriented threat actor, and the purpose of his posts is to show less technically capable cybercriminals how to utilize ChatGPT for malicious purposes, with real examples they can immediately use.

Case 2 – Creating an Encryption Tool

On December 21, 2022, a threat actor dubbed USDoD  posted a Python script, which he emphasized was the first script he ever created.

Figure 3 –Cybercriminal dubbed USDoD posts multi-layer encryption tool

When another cybercriminal commented that the style of the code resembles openAI code,  USDoD confirmed that the OpenAI gave him a “nice [helping] hand to finish the script with a nice scope.”

Figure 4 –Confirmation that the multi-layer encryption tool was created using Open AI

Our analysis of the script verified that it is a Python script that performs cryptographic operations. To be more specific, it is actually a hodgepodge of different signing, encryption and decryption functions. At first glance, the script seems benign, but it implements a variety of different functions:

• The first part of the script generates a cryptographic key (specifically uses elliptic curve cryptography and the curve ed25519), that is used in signing files.
• The second part of the script includes functions that use a hard-coded password to encrypt files in the system using the Blowfish and Twofish algorithms concurrently in a hybrid mode. These functions allow the user to encrypt all files in a specific directory or a list of files.
• The script also uses RSA keys, uses certificates stored in PEM format, MAC signing, and blake2 hash function to compare the hashes etc.

It is important to note that all the decryption counterparts of the encryption functions are implemented in the script as well. The script includes two main functions; one which is used to encrypt a single file and append a message authentication code (MAC) to the end of the file and the other encrypts a hardcoded path and decrypts a list of files that it receives as an argument.

All of the afore-mentioned code can of course be used in a benign fashion. However, this script can easily be modified to encrypt someone’s machine completely without any user interaction. For example, it can potentially turn the code into ransomware if the script and syntax problems are fixed.

While it seems that UsDoD is not a developer and has limited technical skills, he is a very active and reputable member of the underground community. UsDoD is engaged in a variety of illicit activities that includes selling access to compromised companies and stolen databases. A notable stolen database USDoD shared recently was allegedly the leaked InfraGard database.

Figure 5 –USDoD previous illicit activity that involved publication of InfraGard Database

Case 3 – Facilitating ChatGPT for Fraud Activity

Another example of the use of ChatGPT for fraudulent activity was posted on New Year’s Eve of 2022, and it demonstrated a different type of cybercriminal activity. While our first two examples focused more on malware-oriented use of ChatGPT, this example shows a discussion with the title “Abusing ChatGPT to create Dark Web Marketplaces scripts.” In this thread, the cybercriminal shows how easy it is to create a Dark Web marketplace, using ChatGPT. The marketplace’s main role in the underground illicit economy is to provide a platform for the automated trade of illegal or stolen goods like stolen accounts or payment cards, malware, or even drugs and ammunition, with all payments in cryptocurrencies. To illustrate how to use ChatGPT for these purposes, the cybercriminal published a piece of code that uses third-party API to get up-to-date cryptocurrency (Monero, Bitcoin and Etherium) prices as part of the Dark Web market payment system.

Figure 6 –Threat actor using ChatGPT to create DarkWeb Market scripts

At the beginning of 2023, several threat actors opened discussions in additional underground forums that focused on how to use ChatGPT for fraudulent schemes. Most of these focused on generating random art with another OpenAI technology (DALLE2) and selling them online using legitimate platforms like Etsy. In another example, the threat actor explains how to generate an e-book or short chapter for a specific topic (using ChatGPT) and sells this content online.

Figure 7 –Multiple threads in the underground forums on how to use ChatGPT for fraud activity

It’s still too early to decide whether or not ChatGPT capabilities will become the new favorite tool for participants in the Dark Web. However, the cybercriminal community has already shown significant interest and are jumping into this latest trend to generate malicious code. CPR will continue to track this activity throughout 2023.

Finally, there is no better way to learn about ChatGPT abuse than by asking ChatGPT itself. So we asked the chatbot about the abuse options and received a pretty interesting answer:

Figure 8 –ChatGPT response about how threat actors abuse openAI

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Rick Hess Straight Up

Education policy maven Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute think tank offers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform. Read more from this blog.

A Brief History of Grading—and What That Means for Schools Today

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Over the past several months, Joe Feldman, veteran educator and author of Grading for Equity , and I have been discussing equitable grading. We’ve touched on everything from grade inflation to whether this approach can ever really yield higher standards to what it takes for schools to responsibly pursue equitable grading. Today, we talk about what the research says about equitable grading, and Joe delivers a brief history of grading practices.

Rick: You’ve mentioned to me that there’s a mismatch between what the research on equitable grading says and the way the practice is regarded by its critics. Can you explain what you mean?

Joe: I get that “equity” has become a polarizing term of late, and I also recognize that there are probably bad or ineffective things happening under the banner of “equitable grading” that have little resemblance to the way that I’ve defined—and many others implement—those practices. But the work of more accurate and fair grading, whether you want to call it “equitable grading,” “standards-based grading,” or even “common-sense grading,” is about creating the conditions for deeper, more rigorous teaching and learning through clearer and more truthful reporting of student progress that doesn’t reward or punish students based on teacher biases or circumstances outside a student’s control.

Taking a critical view of how we traditionally grade can lead to profound and positive changes. The most convincing evidence is from teachers who share their experiences. Here’s one quote from Nick, a high school physics teacher, who told me, “I’ve told students that the homework, rather than being included in your grade, is your opportunity to practice and to see how well you understand things. Homework completion at first took a dip when I stopped counting it for points.”

But that’s not the end of the story. Before too long, Nick related, “They realized, ‘Oh, I want to get a good grade in this class. I need to understand the material,’ and then homework completion has shot up. It’s the opposite of what I feared would happen. Now they see that the purpose of homework is actually to learn the material.”

Rick: You’ve suggested that common grading practices should be regarded as the product of inertia more than evidence. Can you say more about what you mean?

Joe: Entrenched practices can persist despite compelling evidence for change. When it comes to grading, our long-held beliefs often diverge from the most recent evidence and real experiences of practitioners. This isn’t unique to education: Physicians are famously resistant when long-standing practices are upended by emerging research or new data, even by fellow physicians. One example is the adoption of handwashing in health-care settings. Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician in the mid-19th century, discovered the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Yet, despite Semmelweis’ findings and evidence, his ideas were initially met with skepticism and resistance from the medical community. It took several decades for handwashing to become widely accepted as a standard practice in health-care settings. I’m not going to claim that equitable grading is the same as handwashing, but I do think that equitable grading practices make grades less likely to be “infected” by teachers’ biases.

I have always approached this work as a dialogue—where you and I approach this work with mutual curiosity and openness. I’ve had many disagreements with skeptics that ended in our realizing that we are interested in the same goals for students—particularly those who have been historically underserved—and we agree more than we disagree about the benefits of equitable grading once we are clear about what it is and what it isn’t. I recall a Fox News interview where I was paired with a teacher who spoke about her adamant disagreement with “equitable grading.” When she shared her concerns, and I responded with clarifications, rationale, and evidence, she shifted to arguing that the biggest problem is that districts aren’t training all teachers to implement improved grading!

Rick: OK, let’s switch gears. We’ve had a number of conversations about grading as practiced today. Given all that, I’m always curious how we got here. You’ve noted in passing that the contemporary grading system grew out of the Industrial Revolution. Can you spell out what you mean by that?

Joe: Our current grading practices were developed over a century ago and shaped by that era’s beliefs about teaching, learning, and human potential—many of which have since been debunked. In the early 20th century, academics and educators believed intelligence was fixed and distributed across the population along a bell curve, with a few people at the high and low ends and most in the middle. Following the lead of universities, K–12 schools used norm-referenced grading, in which a student’s grade signified their achievement relative to others’ in the course.

Our traditional approach to grading largely stems from the century-old beliefs that too many A’s constitutes a weak, easy course and that fewer successful students indicates a rigorous course. That thinking flies in the face of what we now know about academic potential. Grades of A don’t have less value if more students achieve them. Equitable grading reinforces that the size of the bullseye doesn’t get smaller if more people hit the target. Rather, these practices reinforce the goal of great teachers, which is to get the largest number of students to hit the mark as possible.

A second example is that during the Industrial Revolution, animal trials by John Watson and B.F. Skinner supported the belief that humans were most effectively motivated by extrinsic rewards and punishments. This belief underlies the traditional grading practice of using points to incentivize—or some might say control—student behaviors, such as coming on time to class or completing homework.

But, over the past few decades, research from Edward L. Deci and colleagues and from Tony Docan-Morgan has demonstrated that this belief has severe limitations, one of which is that extrinsic rewards and punishments often undermine creative thinking and effective problem-solving. And while some might argue that using points to change behavior prepares students for the professional world, there’s no evidence I’m aware of that supports this. For example, there’s no evidence that employees who come on time to meetings do so because their teachers subtracted points for lateness or that employees who are habitually tardy had teachers with more lenient grading policies.

I believe a primary reason Industrial Revolution-era grading persists is that a critical understanding of grading research and practice hasn’t been included in teacher education or certification. For generations, teachers have had little choice but to replicate how they were graded, and many teachers were successful in school and ostensibly weren’t harmed by traditional grading—the reasoning goes something like, “I did fine, so why change anything?” We find that when teachers think critically about this underdeveloped aspect of their practice, they see the urgency to shift their grading to match modern, research-based understandings of student motivation.

Rick: You’ve previously raised the issue of grade deflation , arguing we focus too much on grade inflation and not enough on deflation. I’m not sure what to make of the argument but would love to hear you explain a little more. Can you expand on what you have in mind?

Joe: Let’s start by clarifying what we mean by grade inflation. Grade inflation occurs when a student’s grade is higher than their actual understanding. When grades are inflated, that student, their parents, college-admissions officers, and others are told that the student is prepared for a certain level of academic challenge when they actually aren’t. This inaccurate grade can have significant consequences, such as requiring unanticipated remediation, which, in college, can make students less likely to graduate on time, if at all.

Grade inflation has received particular attention since the pandemic. Interestingly, research by Seth Gershenson of the Fordham Institute published in 2018—before the pandemic—found that grade inflation was worse in schools attended by higher-income students, while research after the pandemic suggests that, more recently, there has been a disproportionate increase in the grade inflation of students of color and those from low-income families.

Grade deflation—and I have come to believe a more useful term might be “grade depression”—occurs when a teacher-assigned grade is lower than a student’s understanding of course content. Grade depression can be even more harmful than grade inflation. Rather than grade inflation, which opens doors for an opportunity a student is not prepared for, grade depression prevents students from pursuing opportunities—like advanced coursework or postsecondary opportunities—that they are fully prepared for.

We know that traditional grading practices can cause grade inflation and grade depression due to their reliance on the common practice of combining a student’s academic with nonacademic performance in their final grades. This practice renders grades inaccurate and unreliable. The student who doesn’t know the content particularly well but compensates for that weakness by following all class rules earns an inflated grade. On the other hand, the student who has an excellent understanding of the content but doesn’t adhere to all class rules receives a depressed grade. The student with an inflated grade is able to conceal the truth of their deficient academic understanding by pleasing the teacher, and the student with a depressed grade has their excellence hidden.

In a forthcoming paper by the Equitable Grading Project, my co-authors and I compare the teacher-assigned grades of secondary students from multiple states and districts with their corresponding standardized-test scores. The findings revealed a striking mismatch between grades and test scores. Of course, this could be caused by a host of reasons related to the weaknesses of standardized testing. However, we found that when teachers deviated from traditional methods of grading and used improved, more equitable grading practices, grade-test score consistency—i.e., the similarity between grades that teachers assign and test scores—increased, meaning that the use of those practices reduced both grade inflation and grade depression. These results match what we found in 2018.

There’s a lot to excavate about the forces influencing grade inflation and grade depression, but we know we can be confident that equitable grading practices dampen these forces and make grades more accurate and fairer.

The opinions expressed in Rick Hess Straight Up are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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