Writing a math research paper
Writing a Mathematics Research Paper
Math 191T: Introduction to Scientific Research, Fall 2005
Instructor: Doreen De Leon
The following is meant as a guide to the structure and basic content of a mathematical research paper.
The Structure of the Paper
The basic structure of the paper is as follows:
Abstract (approximately four sentences)
Introduction (approximately 1 page)
The problem/situation (1-2 pages)
Your idea/model (1-2 pages)
The details (5+ pages)
Future directions (approximately 0.5 page)
Conclusions (approximately 0.5 page)
The following sections briefly describe the content of each of the above categories.
The Abstract
The abstract should:
state the problem; state why the problem is important; summarize what your solution is and what the big deal about it is; and say what follows from your solution.
The Introduction
The Introduction should describe the problem, as well as discuss relevant work done by other people in the field. This section should have a lot of references describing what other people have done, and how your work relates.
The Introduction should also briefly describe your contributions to the study of the problem. If your paper is describing a model you have developed, for example, you want to briefly discuss what the model is and why it is important.
Finally, the Introduction should outline the entire paper. For example, you might say:
“Section 2 describes the structure of wickets. Section 3 discusses an alternate method for producing wickets. Sample results obtained from producing wickets with the proposed method are discussed in Section 4.”
The Middle Sections of the Paper
The next section of the paper should discuss the problem/situation. For example, if we are trying to demonstrate that our production method for wickets is superior, we need to make sure that the reader understands what a wicket is and how it is constructed.
Once we have described the problem, the
Math 191T: Introduction to Scientific Research, Fall 2005
Instructor: Doreen De Leon
The following is meant as a guide to the structure and basic content of a mathematical research paper.
The Structure of the Paper
The basic structure of the paper is as follows:
Abstract (approximately four sentences)
Introduction (approximately 1 page)
The problem/situation (1-2 pages)
Your idea/model (1-2 pages)
The details (5+ pages)
Future directions (approximately 0.5 page)
Conclusions (approximately 0.5 page)
The following sections briefly describe the content of each of the above categories.
The Abstract
The abstract should:
state the problem; state why the problem is important; summarize what your solution is and what the big deal about it is; and say what follows from your solution.
The Introduction
The Introduction should describe the problem, as well as discuss relevant work done by other people in the field. This section should have a lot of references describing what other people have done, and how your work relates.
The Introduction should also briefly describe your contributions to the study of the problem. If your paper is describing a model you have developed, for example, you want to briefly discuss what the model is and why it is important.
Finally, the Introduction should outline the entire paper. For example, you might say:
“Section 2 describes the structure of wickets. Section 3 discusses an alternate method for producing wickets. Sample results obtained from producing wickets with the proposed method are discussed in Section 4.”
The Middle Sections of the Paper
The next section of the paper should discuss the problem/situation. For example, if we are trying to demonstrate that our production method for wickets is superior, we need to make sure that the reader understands what a wicket is and how it is constructed.
Once we have described the problem, the