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Research Paper Purpose Statement Examples

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When you’re doing academic research, it’s important to define your purpose. That is where a purpose statement comes in. It clearly defines the objective of your qualitative or quantitative research. Get the details on a research purpose statement and how to create one through unique and real-world examples.

What Is a Purpose Statement?

If you think about the words “purpose statement ,” it really tells you what it is. In a research paper , a purpose statement tells you what the purpose of the research will be. In a sentence or two, it clearly defines the direction, reason or goals for the research being conducted.

Making a Purpose Statement

A purpose statement will clearly define what is being explored or studied, how it is being explored and where it is being explored. You will typically see quantitative research purpose statements, which focus on comparing measurable variables, or qualitative research purpose statements, which explore a central phenomenon. Examine how these are different through examples.

Qualitative Research Purpose Statement Examples

Qualitative research purpose statements will present a clear purpose or intent, and study a specific idea. The data is descriptive in nature, rather than focusing on countable, numerical figures. Additionally, you’ll clearly see how and where the learning will take place. The examples clearly define this.

The present article describes a qualitative study of the career development of 18 prominent, highly achieving African American Black and White women in the United States across eight occupational fields. Our aim in the study was to explore critical influences on the career development of these women, particularly those related to their attainment of professional success.

In this psychological research purpose statement, the author is using a qualitative purpose statement. Not only does the author present right away that this will be a qualitative study, but the purpose statement focuses on one idea or concept. The author also uses the action word “explore” to explain how they will learn from the study, in addition to breaking down who will be in the study and where the research will take place.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to discover four genetic factors of aggression of female lions in the Atlanta zoo. The study aims to understand critical influences that affect this aggression through DNA analysis.

The use of the action word “discover” along with the study of a single phenomenon make this a clear qualitative study. The strategy for how the study will be conducted and where it will take place are broken down clearly.

Quantitative Research Purpose Examples

Unlike a qualitative research purpose statement, quantitative purpose statements explore how numerical variables relate or correlate with one another. These purpose statements will define the objective or intent, clarify the variables and outline where the research will take place. Check out the format of this type of research statement through examples.

This study had two purposes: (a) to examine the possible predicting abilities of socioeconomic status, per pupil expenditures, percentage of highly qualified teachers and attendance rates for on-time educational attainment in the state of Virginia and (b) to compare the Appalachian School Divisions of Virginia with the non-Appalachian school divisions for each of these variables.

This sociology paper offers a good example of a quantitative research purpose statement. Not only does the author break down what is going to be studied, but also the different variables that will be looked at. In this case, socioeconomic status, pupil expenditures and attendance, to name a few, are the attributes being recorded. They also discuss where the study will take place.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a relationship that might exist between oxidative balance and clinical features of PKU and MSUD patients in a South Alabama research facility. The oxidative DNA damage markers and amino acid plasma of 20 controls, 22 MSUD and 40 PKU patients were measured.

This quantitative purpose statement discusses the variables, participants and research site. It connects the independent and dependent variables in the first sentence to clarify for the reader the intention and goals of the study. It also breaks down the variables and how they will relate to one another.

A Unique Purpose

You might be wondering how a research paper purpose statement is different from a problem statement, thesis statement or research question.

• In a problem statement , you identify the need for the research because you have identified a problem that needs to be studied. It is the first step, before creating your purpose statement.
• A thesis statement is unique from a purpose statement in that it makes a prediction of the study. A purpose statement, on the other hand, just provides readers with your goals. It doesn’t make any assertions of what the study may find or conclude.
• Research questions are guided by your purpose statement. Using your goals, you can further modify what you want your research to answer through your research questions. When crafting your research questions, it is important to remember what makes a good research question and what doesn’t.

Creating a Purpose Statement

When creating your own purpose statement, there are a few things that you will want to keep in mind:

• Clearly define your study as quantitative or qualitative.
• Use words to clarify your intent like “explore” or “compare.”
• Clearly define how the research will take place.
• Discuss who or what will be researched.
• Clarify where the research will take place.

Defining Your Purpose

When you’re doing research, it is important to define your purpose. Whether you’re testing genes or looking at behavior, you need to clearly define the aim of your research. To help you on your way to graduate writing prowess, it is important to perfect your academic writing skills .

• Graduate School

How to Write an Effective Statement of Intent

While most students have heard of a personal statement or statement of purpose, not many can accurately describe what a statement of intent is. This grad school admissions requirement is subtly different from the other “statement” essays you may be familiar with. It is most often requested as an application component for research intensive master’s programs. It typically centers around a cohesive narrative of the applicant’s research interests, experiences, long-term goals, and what they intend to study in grad school. You’ll need to tailor your essay to ensure you meet the unique requirements for this application component.

In this blog, our grad school essay tutors reveal what a statement of intent is, how it differs from a statement of purpose for graduate school , and how to write and structure your statement of intent. You can also check out a sample statement of intent for graduate school.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 16 min read

What is a statement of intent.

A statement of intent, sometimes called statement of interest, is one of the many written essay-style components requested during the higher education admissions process to help admissions committees understand the applicant better. Specifically, a statement of intent is something you’ll need to write to get into grad school . Not all master’s programs ask for it. It is typically requested in addition to the statement of purpose or as an alternative to the statement of purpose. Research-intensive programs most often favor this type of statement. In this essay, they are looking for applicants to expand on their research skills, research experience, and specialized interests.

A statement of intent is, at its core, a functional document with an implicit argument. It serves a very specific purpose and has a singular theme: explaining how your research or career interests align with the features of the program you’re applying to.

It’s important to understand the difference between a statement of purpose and a statement of intent, especially if you need to submit both during a single application cycle. It’s easy to mix up these two essay components! They have a lot of overlap in terms of their content, presentation, and format. Both ask applicants to focus on their research interests, describe why they are interested in a specific field, expand on relevant past academic/professional experiences, and explain their long-term career goals. Admissions committees evaluate both of these statements to assess specific skills and qualities: communication skills, research skills, scientific literacy, problem solving, intellectual curiosity, teamwork, and leadership potential.

Despite these similarities, there are certain factors that differentiate a statement of intent and statement of purpose. The key difference is the scope. A statement of purpose is more general, focused on your overall suitability for the program. A statement of intent is more specific and detailed, focused on your intention to make use of actual features of the program. Statement of intent prompts often ask you to talk about which faculty members you want to work with, what program faculties you wish to use, etc.

The way you discuss your experiences is also different in each of these essays. In a statement of purpose, you can discuss your overall research vision, and connect your past experiences to your long-term career goals. While you can certainly do this in a statement of intent as well, you need to take it one step further. Programs actually expect you to use this essay to expand on the specific skills you gained through past research experiences and connect them with program details like curriculum, preferred departments or modules, faculty members, on-going projects, etc.

The statement of intent actually works as a base template for your research proposal. Many students opt to use their statement of intent to develop their research proposals later in their career. As it’s extremely detailed, some programs even opt to use it in lieu of an interview. On the other hand, some programs refer to your statement of intent as a kind of blueprint to structure your graduate school interview questions . You can expect questions that directly reference the ideas and experiences you’ve discussed in your statement of intent. That’s why it’s so important to be confident about and committed to the ideas you discuss in your statement of intent.

Are you working on your statement of purpose and looking for tips? Check this out:

The structure of your statement of intent is very important as it serves to build a coherent progression of experiences. In this type of essay, you need to provide specific, technical details related to your research interests and experiences, while also telling an engaging narrative that logically builds to the conclusion of you applying to grad school. The key to achieving this balance is creating an effective essay structure.

Start by creating an outline of your essay that is centered around your basic thesis or main point. Return to this thesis periodically to ensure you’re not straying from it as you structure your essay.

Add the following paragraphs:

Introduction:

The first paragraph should immediately grab the reader’s attention and set up a clear framework for the rest of the statement. Unlike, say, a medical school personal statement , or college essays , we don’t recommend starting with an “anchor” story or incident. Since this is a more functional document, including dramatic personal details or childhood memories would only end up clouding the key message of your statement. It’s better to go with a more straightforward introduction that succinctly sets up the main thesis. You can opt to make your introduction more engaging by adding a quote or referencing a specific book or mentor who inspired you; having said that, make sure any external references are always relevant to your actual research interest and further your central argument. Critically, make sure you don’t forget to introduce your research topic, the name of the school you’re applying to, as well as the name of the specific program/department in the very first paragraph.

Body Paragraph 1/2/3/4/5

Next, you can add 1 to 5 main body paragraphs (depending on your word count) where you build a foundation of your research work, interests, experiences, and goals. Each paragraph should be clear, concise and informative. There are certain critical content targets you should keep in mind as you write these paragraphs:

Address the prompt and talk about the specific aspects of the program you\u2019re interested in, such as faculty members you\u2019d love to work with. "}]">

Your conclusion should include a concise statement of your key qualifications and unique suitability for the program. Touch upon how you’ll make use of your time at this school, and how that will help you in your long-term career goals. Reiterate your interest in their specific program.

The word count for a statement of intent can vary from school to school, but it generally ranges between 250 to 1000 words. You should tailor your statement as per your specific word count requirements.

Top Tips for Writing Your Statement of Intent

Keep these tips in mind to write an outstanding statement of intent that effectively communicates your research strengths.

Develop your central research thesis

If you’re applying to grad school, then you probably already have some idea about the kind of research you want to specialize in. If you’re having trouble formulating this idea or condensing it down for your statement of intent, try using the following strategy to structure your thinking and organize your thoughts in a more logical flow. Break down your research interest into three levels, as follows:

Are you solving any specific problem or addressing an existing issue via this research? ","label":"Problem","title":"Problem"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

As we mentioned above, your statement of intent needs to be very specific and must reference the programs you’re applying to. Some schools even provide a specific prompt asking you to talk about which faculty members you want to work with, what sub-department you want to study under, and so on. Make sure you do the required research about what the school and the program have to offer so you can accurately reference this information in your statement. To begin with, you should check the program websites. If they don’t provide enough information, we recommend you reach out to alumni, professors, and current students to learn more.

Find out about the credentials of faculty members, their previous published work, their on-going projects, etc. Check the range of facilities that the school is offering, such as equipment, labs, and academic resources, as well as unique research or clinical experience opportunities. Don’t neglect the extracurriculars such as student support groups, prestigious clubs, and other opportunities that you won’t get on any other campus.

While you’re doing this research, make notes about how your own strengths connect to the unique features of the program. Do you have skills that could be particularly useful for an on-going research project? Do you have past research experience in the same topics that a faculty member is an expert in? When you’re actually writing the statement, these notes will help you to explain not only what you have to offer to the program, but also how you can use this program to further your long-term professional or academic goals.

Looking for a summary of our top tips for writing an effective statement of intent? Check out this infographic:

Follow the guidelines

As you begin your writing, ensure that you review all the guidelines that the school has provided and are closely adhering to then. For example, if there’s a prompt, go through it a few times, and make sure you are responding to the spirit as well as the letter of the prompt. Other considerations you should keep in mind include the maximum and minimum word count, the specific format, and “recommended” stylistic guidelines. For example, some schools ask you to write a formal statement that includes academic citations of works to support each of your research arguments along with references to works that have inspired you. You’ll have to customize the presentation, format, and content of each statement of intent to meet these kinds of specific requirements.

Tell a story with your experiences

It’s very important to remember that your statement of intent, though it is a more technical and functional essay, should not be merely a dry summary of facts, similar to a CV for grad school . Instead, you should write a logical and engaging narrative of the achievements and experiences that led you to your research goals, and how they connect to the program you’re applying to. Add details of your skills and commendable qualities backed up by actual experiences that demonstrate your passion and enthusiasm for the subject. Admissions committees are always more impressed by “proof” of abilities i.e., they want applicants to show them their journey, not merely tell them about it. For example, instead of merely saying that you have an extensive knowledge of bio-chemical reactions in banana enzymes, identify the specific research experience where you honed this knowledge, and explain the circumstances in your essay. If it was a research project, then provide details about the project name and supervisor, as well as your own role in the project and the daily tasks you performed.

Check out this video for tips on writing your CV for Grad School:

Don’t clutter your statement of intent with too many experiences and achievements. Always keep referencing your central thesis and evaluating if a specific experience will add to your overall narrative or not. After you’ve worked out your central thesis, spend some time analyzing all your academic, research, volunteer, extracurricular, employment, and life experiences. Select 2 to 5 of the most suitable experiences that align with both your research interests and the program admissions criteria and add only those. If you have numerous such experiences to choose from, we suggest prioritizing current or recent experiences.

As you’re discussing each experience or achievement, be specific and detailed, and provide all the relevant information including the names of supervisors, a detailed list of your duties, and so on. You can also make your statement of intent more robust by referring to a wide variety of sources as your research “inspiration”, including classes, academic conversations, workshops, lectures, seminars, books, as well as the more typical experiences of volunteering, work, or research.

A useful tip: make sure you’re adding transitory statements at the end and beginning of each paragraph, to build that logical flow and connect one experience or idea to the next. If you think your essay is looking too dry or CV-like, this is one quick fix you can try in order to narrativize your experiences.

Since a statement of intent is a more formal document written for a very specific purpose, ensure you are using professional/academic and formal language and, if required, you can use technical terms to explain your research ideas. Your evaluators will most likely be professionals from the same field, and they actually expect you to show your expertise in that specific area.

At the same time, avoid using long, complicated sentences. Make sure you use your authentic voice and keep your tone as natural as possible. Thoroughly check your essays for grammar, spelling, clarity of thought, logical flow, and coherence.

Remember that your statement of intent is very different from a personal statement. As we mentioned previously, it’s more formal and has a very specific focus. The admissions committee is expecting to see a coherent autobiography of your academic or professional interests and experiences. That should be your focus – you should only refer to personal information as it relates to the larger context of your academic experiences. For example, avoid telling stories from your childhood about your early interests or including details about life events that shaped you, unless they are strictly relevant to your research journey.

This isn’t the right platform to expand upon excessively personal issues such as an illness or major life changes. You can briefly touch upon these topics or weave them into your professional narrative, if it makes sense. For example, if your grades took a serious dip in a specific period due to personal circumstances, you could choose to briefly address that. But don’t make such incidents the central thesis of your statement of intent. Focus on skills, abilities and contributions, and your inspiration and motivation to pursue research. Rather than expanding on irrelevant childhood details, expand on your professional, academic, and personal connections to the program and school you’re applying to.

Avoid cliches and focus on facts

You don’t need a high-level research “break-through” or nationally recognized academic or research award to make your statement of intent stand out. Many students turn to cliches such as “I want to make the world a better place” or “I just want to help people” to hide what they perceive as insufficiently impressive experiences. In fact, no matter what your past experiences, it’s much better to focus on covering the facts, rather than evoking sentimental cliches to make your experiences seem grander than they actually are. Admissions committees aren’t expecting you to have advanced achievements beyond your level – the whole point of applying to grad school is to get the opportunity to do that level of work.

So instead of worrying about the “quality” of your experiences, focus on ensuring that your essay effectively discussed your best skills and true capabilities. Spend some time self-reflecting about what you learned from your academic, professional, and extracurricular experiences, how they contributed to your journey to grad school, what new skills you developed, what obstacles you overcame, and so on.

Write multiple drafts and seek feedback from experts

A statement of intent requires a little more intensive writing and editing than your typical admissions essays and statements. We suggest sharing your essay with subject matter experts such as research supervisors, faculty members, and other academic mentors who can give you their detailed feedback about the technical aspects of your statement. Their suggestions can help you refine your essay and identify ways to differentiate your thesis from others.

If you’re sure about the technical content of your essay, but need help with the writing, flow, coherence, grammar, and other such stylistic elements, consider getting expert help from a graduate school admissions consultant . These consultants have worked with numerous other students and can help you improve your written communication skills with proven strategies that work.

Whether or not you engage the help of experts, make sure you ask at least 1 other person to review your statement of intent once, even if they’re just a friend or family member. Remember, after going over the same content over and over again for days and weeks, visual fatigue sets in. A fresh pair of eyes can spot small errors and mistakes that you might have missed.

Sample Statement of Intent

Here’s a sample statement of intent for your reference:

Program/School : Clinical Psychology Masters at Ryerson University

Prompt : Describe your reasons for pursuing graduate study in the Psychology program, your research interests, how your previous studies and experiences have prepared you for the program, as well as your career objectives and how the graduate degree will advance them. (500-1000 words)

Statement of Intent:

“What is the ticking mechanism of the human mind? How can we truly know it?”

Professor Donaldson’s words from my very first Intro to Psychology class sparked my interest in the world of clinical psychology. Following my curiosity rewarded me with the discovery of my central academic passion in life – developmental psychology and its applications for adolescent females. Today, I hope to enroll in Ryerson University’s Clinical Psychology program so I can further explore my research interests and channel them towards my long-term goals of becoming a research-psychologist, combining clinical psychology practice with research experience to make new discoveries in this area. I believe my undergraduate education has prepared me to undertake advanced research projects and I would be an excellent candidate for your program.

My initial interest in psychology at the beginning of my freshman year soon led me to take on advanced psychology coursework, targeted personal reading, and extra credit projects. I soon built up a strong foundational base in the concepts of General Psychology, Behavioral Psychology, Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Psychology of Gender Roles. When completing the last course during my sophomore year, I found that I had a strong academic interest in the intersections of gender theory and clinical psychology. I was simultaneously completing a Psychological Assessment Tools course to hone my clinical lab skills. The confluence of these two courses helped me synthesize my special interest in understanding and addressing the biases in classic psychological assessment tools and analyzing their impact on incorrect diagnosis, failed treatments, and rate of relapse in impacted patients, especially women. That was when I decided that I wanted to improve my research skills so I could eventually complete advanced studies in this area.

A statement of intent is an autobiographical summary of your research interests and experiences, with an emphasis on how the program you’re applying to can help you achieve your goals. Some schools provide specific prompts for their statement of intent, asking students to describe aspects of their program they would most benefit from. A statement of intent is a more formal and functional document than your typical admissions essays, and usually only research-intensive master’s courses request this type of essay in your application.

While these two admissions essays have a lot in common – for example, they are both research-focused and help admissions committees evaluate your academic and professional credentials for their program. However, a key difference between them is the scope. A statement of purpose is more general, focused on your overall academic, professional and/or extracurricular experiences and your long-term career goals. A statement of intent is more targeted and detailed, with a clear focus on your specific research interests. In your statement of intent, you must reference the programs you’re applying to, and explain at length how you can contribute to them and which of their offerings most attract you.

This depends on the specific requirements of the program you’re applying to. Generally, a statement of intent has a prescribed word count ranging from 250 to 1000 words. Even if there’s no maximum word count provided, we recommend not exceeding 900 words. While you need to explain your research interests in detail, remember that this essay is not a research thesis and doesn’t need that level of scientific enquiry.

Your statement of intent should have the following structure:

• Introduction : This should clearly set out your central thesis and reference your research interests and the name of the program/school you’re applying to.
• Main body paragraphs : You can add 1 to 5 body paragraphs to discuss the details of relevant experiences and achievements, key skills and qualities, and your specific interest in the program you’re applying to.
• Conclusion : Here, make sure you reiterate your research thesis, and call back to the program/college name. Provide a clear statement of why you think you are a uniquely well-suited candidate for their program.

To write an impressive statement of intent, you’ll have to spend sufficient time researching the facilities and features of the program and school you’re applying to, analyzing your own research interests and skills, and coming up with a central “thesis” that aligns the two. Include details of multiple experiences, achievements, awards, and activities to support your claims and prove your passion and suitability for a specific research area. Avoid including irrelevant personal details or cliches, and instead focus on creating a logical flow of experiences leading to your current application.

No, your statement of intent must be tailored for each program you’re applying to. That’s the whole point of a statement of intent – it explains why you’re well-suited to a particular program, and how you intend to use their resources to further your research interests. If you don’t refer to their unique offerings and instead just provide a general summary of your research interests, admissions committees will not be able to gauge why you’re a good fit for their program.

No, not all graduate programs ask for a statement of intent. Some ask for an additional statement of intent along with a personal statement and/or statement of purpose, while others only require the statement of intent. You should check the admissions websites of the schools you’re applying to learn more.

We recommend that you spend at least 6 weeks writing your statement of intent. This will give you sufficient time to refine your central “research thesis”, analyze your history of experiences to identify the most suitable ones, write and edit multiple drafts, and seek out feedback from expert reviewers.

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ITABANA, BLESSING EFFIONG

Absolutely loved reading this. Great job!!!

BeMo Academic Consulting

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! So glad you enjoyed this article!

Do you have any research statement of intent for Master's in Physics?

Hello Saba! Thanks for your comment. We will try to include one when we update the blog :)

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How to write a statement of intent

You are required to submit a statement of intent when applying to study a Master of Research at Western Sydney University. These guidelines are designed to help you prepare your statement of intent.

What is a statement of intent?

A statement of intent is an outline of a potential research area for a project you would like to undertake that:

• Highlights your area of research interest.
• Describes the importance of this area of research and why you are the right person to undertake it.
• Identifies a potential supervisor(s) who you would like to work with on the project.

Different disciplines have different requirements and expectations for the statement of intent. We recommend that you discuss your statement of intent with your proposed supervisor prior to submitting your application.

Your statement of intent may vary in length and detail, but it is expected to be approximately 250-500 words and does not need to exceed one page.

What is the purpose of the statement of intent?

We will use your statement of intent to assess your broad understanding of your area of research interest and to determine the School or Institute where you would be best allocated based on research area. It will also help us to identify an appropriate supervisor for your project.

Will I be able to change my statement of intent?

Yes, you will have the opportunity to refine your statement of intent into a full research proposal during the program work stage of the program as you develop your understanding of the field of research and in response to feedback from your lecturers, tutors and supervisor(s).

What are some tips to writing a strong statement of intent?

Who can help me develop my statement of intent.

You should try to draft an initial version of your statement of intent on your own, based on your research interests and your understanding of the discipline.

You will need to identify a potential supervisor and contact them to discuss your statement of intent. A researcher that has a mutual interest or experience in your field may be able to provide feedback to help you refine your statement of intent.

You will need to provide a letter of support from your proposed supervisor as part of your application.

What are some tips to writing a strong research proposal?

Your statement of intent has a direct impact on the overall strength of your application to study a research degree. The following advice may help you to improve the quality of your statement of intent.

• Clearly articulate your current understanding of the field and your ideas for a potential area of research that you would like to study.
• Conduct some initial research about the field or discipline you would like to study. You could review the School or Institute pages or keyword search our academic staff profiles to find out what research areas are of strategic interest to Western Sydney University.
• When you have enough background research in your area of interest, you can begin to approach potential supervisors to have a robust discussion about your statement of intent. If you are unable to find a supervisor, you should consider arranging a discussion with the Associate Dean, HDR or HDR Director in a relevant School or Institute to talk about potential projects and supervision.
• Think about the impact you would like to achieve by researching in this area. Why do you want to do it? Who might benefit from your work? Why is it important?
• Demonstrate your passion and enthusiasm for the area of research!

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Gre prep online guides and tips, 7 successful statement of purpose examples.

Not sure what graduate schools are looking for in a statement of purpose? Looking at successful graduate school statement of purpose samples can help! In this guide, we’ll orient you to what makes a great statement of purpose or letter of intent for graduate school. Then we’ll provide you with four successful statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts. We’ll also provide analysis of what makes them successful. Finally, we’ll direct you to even more helpful examples that you can find online!

The Graduate School Statement of Purpose: An Overview

A statement of purpose (also called a letter of intent or a research statement) introduces your interests and experience to the admissions committee. For research-focused programs, like most PhDs and many master’s degrees, your statement of purpose will focus primarily on your past research experience and plans. For more professionally-focused graduate programs, your statement of purpose will primarily discuss how your pursuit of this professional program relates to your past experiences, and how you will use the skills from the program in your future career.

A statement of purpose for grad school is also where you sell the admissions committee on why you belong in their program specifically. Why do you fit there, and how does what they offer fit your interests?

What’s in a Great Grad School Statement of Purpose?

Here are the essential elements of a strong graduate school statement of purpose:

Clear Articulation of Goals and Interests

A strong statement of purpose will clearly and specifically lay out your goals in undertaking the program and what you hope to accomplish with the degree. Again, for a research-focused program, this will focus primarily on the research project(s) you want to undertake while you are there. For a more professional program, discuss what interests you within the professional field and what skills/knowledge you hope to gain through the program.

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You should be as specific as possible in discussing what interests you. Use examples of particular phenomena, tools, or situations that you find exciting. If you are vague or say that everything in the field interests you, you run the risk of seeming unfocused or not actually that passionate.

Don’t worry that being too specific will box you into a particular research area or subfield during your entire tenure in graduate school. Your program understands that interests change—they won’t be pulling out your research statement to cross-reference with your dissertation proposal!

Evidence of Past Experience and Success

A great graduate school statement of purpose will also show programs that you have already been successful. They want applicants that will be able to follow through on their research/professional plans!

To this end, you’ll need to provide evidence of how your background qualifies you to pursue this program and your specific interests in the field. You’ll probably discuss your undergraduate studies and any professional experience you have. But be sure to draw on specific, vivid examples.  You might draw on your thesis, major projects you’ve worked on, papers you have written/published, presentations you’ve given, mentors you’ve worked with, and so on. This gives admissions committees concrete evidence that you are qualified to undertake graduate study!

Interest and Fit With the Program

The third essential ingredient to a great statement of purpose is to clearly lay out why you and the program are a good fit. You should be able to identify both specific reasons why your work fits with the program and why the program suits your work/interests! Are there particular professors you’d like to work with? Does the department have a strong tradition in a certain methodology or theory you’re interested in? Is there a particular facet to the curriculum that you’d like to experience?

Showing that you and the program are a match shows that you chose the program thoughtfully and have genuine interest in it. Programs want to admit students who aren’t just passionate about the field. They want students who are genuinely enthused about their specific program and positioned to get the most out of what they have to offer.

Strong Writing

The final essential piece of a strong statement of purpose or letter of intent is strong writing. Writing skills are important for all graduate programs. You’ll need to demonstrate that you can clearly and effectively communicate your ideas in a way that flows logically. Additionally, you should show that you know how to write in a way that is descriptive but concise. A statement of purpose shouldn’t ever be longer than two pages, even without a hard word limit.

Admissions committees for humanities programs may be a little more focused on writing style than admissions officers for STEM programs. But even in quantitative and science-focused fields, written communication skills are an essential part of graduate school. So a strong statement of purpose will always be effectively written. You’ll see this in our statement of purpose for graduate school samples.

Real, Successful Statement of Purpose Samples

In this section, we’ll present four successful graduate school statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts, along with a brief commentary on each statement. These statements come from a diverse selection of program types to show you how the core essentials of a statement of purpose can be implemented differently for different fields.

Note: identifying information for these statements have been changed—except for example four, which is my statement.

• Statement of Purpose Sample One: Japanese Studies MA

This statement of purpose is notable for its great use of space and its vivid descriptions. The author is able to cram a lot into about a page. She discusses how she came to her two primary research interests (and how they are connected). She integrates this discussion of her interests with information on her past experiences and qualifications for pursuing the course of study. Finally, she includes details on her goals in pursuing the program and components of the program that interest her. Her examples are specific and fleshed-out. There’s a lot very cleverly included in a small amount of page space!

Additionally, the language is very vivid. Phrases like “evocative and visceral” and “steadily unraveling,” are eye-catching and intriguing. They demonstrate that she has the writing skills necessary to pursue both graduate study and her interest in translation.

• Statement of Purpose Sample Two: Music MM

This sample is fairly long, although at 12 point Times New Roman it’s under two pages single-spaced. The length of this statement is partially due to the somewhat expansive nature of the prompt, which asks what role music has played in the applicant’s life “to date.” This invites applicants to speak more about experiences further in the past (in the childhood and teen years) than is typical for a statement of purpose. Given that this is for a master’s degree in music, this is logical; musical study is typically something that is undertaken at a fairly young age.

This statement does an excellent job describing the student’s past experiences with music in great detail. The descriptions of the student’s past compositions and experiences performing new music are particularly vivid and intriguing.

This statement also lays out and elaborates on specific goals the student hopes to pursue through the program, as well as features particular to the program that interest the student (like particular professors).

• Statement of Purpose Sample Three: Economics PhD

One of the first things you’ll likely notice about this statement is that it’s a little on the longer side. However, at 12 point Times New Roman font and single-spaced, it still comes in under 2 pages (excluding references). It makes sense for a PhD statement of purpose sample to be longer than a master’s degree statement of purpose—there’s more to lay out in terms of research interests!

The writing style is fairly straightforward—there’s definitely a stronger focus on delivering content than flashy writing style. As Economics is a more quantitative-focused field, this is fine. But the writing is still well-organized, clear, and error-free.

The writer also gives numerous examples of their past work and experience, and shows off their knowledge of the field through references, which is a nice touch.

• Statement of Purpose Sample Four: History of the Book MA

This is actually my statement of purpose. It was for a program that I got accepted to but did not end up attending, for a Master’s in the History of the Book. You’ll notice that the two essay prompts essentially asked us to split our statement of purpose into two parts: the first prompt asked about our research interests and goals, and the second prompt asked about our relevant experience and qualifications.

I’ll keep my comments on this graduate school statement of purpose sample brief because I’ll do a deep dive on it in the next section. But looking back at my statement of purpose, I do a good job outlining what within the field interests me and clearly laying out how my past experiences have qualified me for the program.

Obviously this statement did its job, since I was accepted to the program. However, if I were to improve this statement, I’d change the cliche beginning  (“since I was a child”) and provide more specificity in what about the program interested me.

Deep Dive Analysis of a Sample Statement of Purpose for Graduate School

Next, we’ll do a paragraph by paragraph analysis of my statement, statement of purpose sample four. I’ll analyze its strengths and suggest ways I could shore up any weaknesses to make it even stronger.

Essay 1: Academic Interests

To refresh, here’s the first prompt: Please give a short statement that describes your academic interests, purpose, objectives and motivation in undertaking this postgraduate study. (max 3500 chars – approx. 500 words)

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Paragraph 1

Since I was a child, my favorite thing has always been a book. Not just for the stories and information they contain, although that is a large part of it. Mostly, I have been fascinated by the concept of book as object—a tangible item whose purpose is to relate intangible ideas and images. Bookbindings and jackets, different editions, the marginalia in a used book—all of these things become part of the individual book and its significance, and are worth study and consideration. Books and their equivalent forms—perfect bound, scrolled, stone tablets, papyrus—have long been an essential part of material culture and are also one of our most significant sources of information about the human historical past. Through both the literal object of the book, the words contained thereon, and its relationship to other books—forms of context, text and intertext—we are able to learn and hopefully manage layers of information with which we would otherwise have no familiarity.

First, the good: this paragraph does a good job introducing my academic interest in the book-as-object, and shows off pre-existing knowledge both of the study of material culture and literary theory. Additionally, the language is engaging: the juxtaposition of “tangible” and “intangible” in the beginning and phrases like “perfect bound, scrolled, stone tablets, papyrus” lend life to the writing and keep the reader engaged.

If I were to go back and improve this paragraph, first, I would absolutely change the first sentence to something less cliche than talking about my childhood. I might try something like “My love of books is a multifaceted thing. I don’t only love them for the stories and….” Second, I would chill out on the em dashes a little bit. Three sets in one paragraph is a little excessive. Finally, I might actually cut this paragraph down slightly to make more room word-wise later in the statement to discuss what specific things about the program interest me.

Paragraph 2

Furthermore, blogs, webcomics, digital archives, e-readers, and even social media sites like tumblr and Facebook have revolutionized the concept of the book by changing how we share and transmit ideas and information, just as the Gutenberg printing press revolutionized the book all those years ago in the fifteenth century. Once again there has been an explosion both in who can send out information and who can receive it.

This paragraph briefly and effectively introduces my other main academic interest: how new technology has changed the concept of the book-as-object. The tie-back to the printing press is a nice touch; it’s a vivid example that shows that I’m aware of important historical moments in book history.

Paragraph 3

I am deeply interested in the preservation of the physical book, as I think it is an important part of human history (not to mention a satisfying sensory experience for the reader). However I am also very concerned with the digitization and organization of information for the modern world such that the book, in all of its forms, stays relevant and easy to access and use. Collections of books, archives, and information as stored in the world’s servers, libraries and museums are essential resources that need to be properly organized and administered to be fully taken advantage of by their audiences. My purpose in applying to the University of Edinburgh’s Material Culture and History of the Book is to gain the skills necessary to keep all forms of the book relevant and functional in an age when information can move more radically than ever before.

This paragraph actually has a focus problem. Since it covers two topics, I should split it into two paragraphs: one on the integration of my two interests, and one on my goals and interests in the program. I could also stand to expand on what features the program has that interest me: professors I’d like to work with, particular aspects of the curriculum, etc.

In spite of these things, however, this paragraph does a good job clearly integrating the two academic interests related to the book I introduced in the first two paragraphs. And the language is still strong —“satisfying sensory experience” is a great phrase. However, I’ve been using the word “information,” a lot; I might try to replace with appropriate synonyms (like “knowledge”) in a couple of places.

Paragraph 4

Additionally, I intend on pursuing a PhD in Library and Information Sciences upon completion of my master’s and I feel that this program while make me uniquely suited to approach library science from a highly academic and interdisciplinary perspective.

This final paragraph offers just quick touch on my future goals beyond the program. It’s typically fine for this to be relatively brief, as it is here, just so long as you can clearly identify some future goals.

Essay 2: Relevant Experience

The second prompt just asked me to describe my relevant knowledge, training, and skills.

As a folklore and mythology student, I have gained a robust understanding of material culture and how it relates to culture as a whole. I have also learned about the transmission of ideas, information, stories and pieces of lore among and between populations, which is an important component of book history. Folklore is also deeply concerned with questions of the literary vs. oral lore and the tendency for text to “canonize” folklore, and yet text can also question or invert canonized versions; along with this my studies in my focus field of religion and storytelling have been deeply concerned with intertextuality. One of my courses was specifically concerned with the Heian-period Japanese novel The Tale of Genji and questions of translation and representation in post-Heian picture scrolls and also modern translations and manga. In addition to broader cultural questions concerned with gender and spirituality both in historical Japan and now, we considered the relationships between different Genji texts and images.

This is a strong, focused paragraph. I relate my academic background in Folklore and Mythology to my interests in studying the book, as well as showing off some of my knowledge in the area. I also chose and elaborated on a strong example (my class on the Tale of Genji ) of my relevant coursework.

I also have work experience that lends itself to the study of the book. After my freshman year of college I interned at the Chicago History Museum. Though I was in the visitor services department I was exposed to the preservation and archival departments of the museum and worked closely with the education department, which sparked my interest in archival collections and how museums present collection information to the public. After my sophomore year of college and into my junior year, I worked at Harvard’s rare books library, Houghton. At Houghton I prepared curated collections for archival storage. These collections were mostly comprised of the personal papers of noteworthy individuals, categorized into alphabetical folders. This experience made me very process-oriented and helped me to understand how collections come together on a holistic basis.

This paragraph also has a clear focus: my past, relevant work experience. Discussing archival collections and presenting information to the public links the interests discussed in my first statement with my qualifications in my second statement. However, if I were to revise this paragraph, I would add some specific examples of the amazing things I worked on and handled at Houghton Library. In that job, I got to touch Oliver Cromwell’s death mask! An interesting example would make this paragraph really pop even more.

Finally, in my current capacity as an education mentor in Allston, a suburb of Boston, I have learned the value of book history and material culture from an educational perspective. As a mentor who designs curriculum for individual students and small groups, I have learned to highly value clearly organized and useful educational resources such as websites, iPad apps, and books as tools for learning. By managing and organizing collections in a way that makes sense we are making information accessible to those who need it.

This final paragraph discusses my current (at the time) work experience in education and how that ties into my interest in the history of the book. It’s an intriguing connection and also harkens back to my discussion of information availability in the paragraph three of the first statement. Again, if I were to amp up this statement even more, I might include a specific example of a book-based (or book technology-based) project I did with one of my students. I worked on things like bookbinding and making “illuminated manuscripts” with some of my students; those would be interesting examples here.

This statement is split into two parts by virtue of the two-prompt format. However, if I were to integrate all of this information into one unified statement of purpose, I would probably briefly introduce my research interests, go in-depth on my background, then circle back around to speak more about my personal interests and goals and what intrigues me about the program. There’s not really one correct way to structure a statement of purpose just so long as it flows well and paragraphs are structured in a logical way: one topic per paragraph, with a clear topic and concluding sentence.

More Statement of Purpose Examples

We’ve provided you with four great graduate school statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts. However, if you’re looking for more, there are other sample letters of intent and statements of purpose for graduate school online. We’ve rounded up the best ones here, along with some strengths and weaknesses about each example.

Majortests Statement of Purpose Sample

This is a fairly straightforward, clearly written statement of purpose sample for a biology program. It includes useful commentary after each paragraph about what this statement of purpose is accomplishing.

• This statement of purpose sample is well-organized, with clear topic sentences and points made in each paragraph.
• The student clearly identifies what interests her about the program.
• The student proactively addresses questions about why she hasn’t gone directly to graduate school, and frames her professional research experience as a positive thing.
• She gives a tiny bit of color about her personality in a relevant way by discussing her involvement with the Natural History Society.
• In general, discussing high school interests is too far back in time unless the anecdote is very interesting or unusual. The detail about The Theory of Evolution is intriguing; the information about the high school teacher seems irrelevant. The student should have condensed this paragraph into a sentence or two.
• While this statement is cogently written and makes the candidate sound competent and well-qualified, it’s not exactly the most scintillating piece of writing out there. Some of the constructions are a little awkward or cliche. For example, the “many people have asked me” sentence followed by “the answer is” is a little bit clunky. This is probably fine for a STEM program. But just be aware that this statement is not a paragon of writing style.

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UC Berkeley History Statement of Purpose Sample

This is a graduate school statement of purpose example from the UC Berkeley History department’s PhD program, with annotations from a professor as to why it’s a successful statement.

• The author is able to very clearly and articulately lay out her research interests and link them to past work she has successfully completed, namely, her thesis.
• She is able to identify several things about the program and Berkeley that indicate why it is a good fit for her research interests.
• She addresses the time she spent away from school and frames it as a positive, emphasizing that her use of time was well-considered and productive.
• Her writing is very vivid, with excellent word choice and great imagery.

While very well-written and engaging, this sample statement of purpose for graduate school is a little bit on the long side! It’s a little over two single-spaced pages, which is definitely pushing the limits of acceptable length. Try to keep yours at 2 pages or less. Some of the information on the thesis (which comprises over half of the statement of purpose) could be condensed to bring it down to two pages.

Pharmacy Residency Letter of Intent Sample

This is not technically a sample letter of intent for graduate school because it’s actually for a pharmacy residency program. However, this example still provides illumination as to what makes a decent graduate school letter of intent sample.

• This is a serviceable letter of intent: the writer clearly lays out their own goals within the field of pharmacy, what qualifications they have and how they’ve arrived at their interests, and how the program fits their needs.
• The writing is clearly structured and well-organized.
• The main weakness is that some of the writer’s statements come across as fairly generic. For example, “The PGY-1 Residency Program at UO Hospitals will provide me with the opportunity to further develop my clinical knowledge, critical thinking, teaching, research, and leadership skills” is a generic statement that could apply to any residency program. A punchier, more program-specific conclusion would have amped up this letter.
• While the writer does a decent job providing examples of their activities, like working as a tutor and attending the APhA conference, more specificity and detail in these examples would make the statement more memorable.
• There’s a typo in the last paragraph —a “to” that doesn’t belong! This is an unprofessional blip in an otherwise solid letter. Read you own letter of intent aloud to avoid this!

NIU Bad Statement of Purpose Example

This is an ineffective graduate school statement of purpose example, with annotations on why it doesn’t work.

As you might imagine, the main strength in this document is as an example of what not to do. Otherwise, there is little to recommend it.

• The annotations quite clearly detail the weaknesses of this statement. So I won’t address them exhaustively except to point out that this statement of purpose fails at both content and style. The author includes irrelevant anecdotes and lists without offering a decisive picture of interests or any particular insight into the field. Additionally, the statement is riddled with grammatical mistakes, awkward sentence structures, and strange acronyms.
• You’ll note that the commentary advises you to “never start with a quote.” I agree that you should never start with a freestanding quote as in this example. However, I do think starting with a quote is acceptable in cases like the Berkeley history example above, where the quote is brief and then directly linked to the research interest.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Examples: 4 Key Points

Graduate programs ask for statement of purpose to hear about your interests and goals and why you think you and the program would be a good fit.

There are four key elements to a successful statement of purpose:

• A clear articulation of your goals and interests
• Evidence of past experiences and success
• Interest and fit with the program
• Strong writing

We’ve provided you with four successful statement of purpose samples from our graduate school experts!

We also provided additional statement of purpose samples (and a sample letter of intent) for graduate school from other sources on the internet. Now you have all kinds of guidance!

What’s Next?

If you’re looking for more information on graduate school , see our guide to what makes a good GPA for grad school .

Not sure if you need to take the GRE ? See if you can get into graduate school without GRE scores .

Want more information about the GRE? We can help you figure out when to take the GRE , how to make a GRE study plan , and how to improve your GRE score .

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Author: Ellen McCammon

Ellen is a public health graduate student and education expert. She has extensive experience mentoring students of all ages to reach their goals and in-depth knowledge on a variety of health topics. View all posts by Ellen McCammon

Flawless Statement Of Purpose For PhD: Samples & Tips

As an aspiring PhD student, you’ve probably heard it time and time again – your statement of purpose (SOP) is one of the most important elements of your application. In just a few short pages, the admissions committee needs to understand your research interests, fit for the program, and long-term career goals. It’s no small feat to efficiently and powerfully convey all this within the character limit restrictions. That’s why we are here to walk you through everything you need to know to create the perfect SOP and bolster your chances of admissions success. In this post, we’ll unpack the anatomy of a compelling SOP, including essential components and structure. We’ll also share statement of purpose for PhD samples from both real and fictional but effective essays to give you a sense of the different styles and tones you can take.Finally, we’ll provide my top writing and editing tips to help you put your best foot forward and craft the type of polished, punchy statement that makes admissions officers eager to admit you into their program. Let’s dive in and get started on building your application’s most pivotal piece.

Understand the purpose

A statement of purpose for a PhD program is more than just a formal requirement for the application process; it is a critical component that helps the admission committee understand your academic journey, your research interests, and your fit into the program. The SOP serves a dual purpose- it demonstrates your ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and concisely, reflecting your communication skills, and it outlines your intellectual curiosity and dedication to your field of study. The committee uses the SOP to gauge whether your research interests align with those of the faculty, whether you have the potential to contribute significantly to the field, and whether you have the resilience and dedication to withstand the rigors of a PhD program. Essentially, the SOP is your opportunity to convince the committee that you are a compatible candidate for the program and that you have the ambition, curiosity, and academic prowess to succeed.

What your statement of purpose should not do

While your statement of purpose should provide a comprehensive picture of your academic journey, it should not merely rehash what can already be found on your resume or CV. The resume primarily lists your qualifications, the courses you’ve taken, the projects you’ve completed, and the positions you’ve held. Simply repeating these details in your statement does not add any value to your application and can be redundant.

As demonstrated in the statement of purpose for PhD samples below, the aim of the essay is to provide context, explain the motivations behind your academic and professional decisions, and to outline your future research goals and aspirations. Rehashing your resume wastes valuable space that could be used to highlight your research interests, demonstrate your analytical thinking, and elucidate your understanding of the academic field. Moreover, it reflects a lack of creativity and an inability to think critically, traits that are extremely important for a successful PhD candidate. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure that your SOP goes beyond your resume, offering a deeper insight into your intellectual journey and your commitment to your chosen field of study.

Here is an illustration of how your statement of purpose can provide a comprehensive account of your academic journey without simply echoing your resume or CV:

“As an undergraduate, I was drawn to the complexities and intricacies of molecular biology, a fascination that was kindled during my sophomore year project on DNA replication. This wasn’t simply a course requirement for me, but a thrilling dive into the minuscule yet mighty world of cells and DNA. The project led me to identify my research interest and, subsequently, to choose an internship in a lab specializing in gene editing techniques. This experience allowed me to work with renowned professionals and gain hands-on experience, igniting a desire to contribute meaningfully to this field. My decision to apply for a PhD program in molecular biology stems from this inquisitiveness and the profound desire to delve deeper into the mysteries of genetic codes. If granted the opportunity, my aim is to focus on gene therapy research to combat genetic disorders, a pursuit that I believe can change countless lives. This is not merely an academic endeavor for me; it is my commitment to contribute to a field that holds immense potential for human health.”

Know your audience

Understanding your audience is central to crafting a compelling statement of purpose for a PhD program. When preparing your SOP, consider the specifics of the program and department you’re applying to — what are their research focus areas, what methodologies do they frequently employ, who are the key faculty members, and what are their contributions to the field? Incorporating these details into your SOP will demonstrate that you’ve done your homework and that you’re genuinely interested in the program.

It’s not about pandering to the department; rather, it’s about showing that you’ve taken the time to understand their objectives and that you see a genuine alignment between their work and your research interests. For instance, if the department is known for its focus on quantitative methods, you might want to highlight your experience with these methods and how you plan to utilize them in your research. Similarly, if a faculty member in the department is doing groundbreaking work in your area of interest, mentioning this work and how it aligns with your research goals could work in your favor.

Remember, the SOP is not just about selling your skills and achievements; it’s about weaving a narrative that shows a deep understanding of the program, a clear vision of your research journey, and a firm belief in your compatibility with the department’s goals and values. Among the statement of purpose for PhD samples provided in this blog post, the following one demonstrates how to do just that:

“As an aspiring PhD candidate, I am drawn to the University of XYZ’s Department of Neuroscience due to its renowned focus on neurodegenerative diseases. I have a particular interest in the methodologies that Dr. Jane Doe employs in her groundbreaking research on Parkinson’s disease. Having utilized quantitative methods extensively during my master’s thesis, I plan to further refine these skills to contribute to this field’s evolving discourse. I am particularly impressed by the department’s innovative approach to integrating molecular biology and computational modeling . This aligns closely with my own vision of utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach to understand the complexities of neurodegenerative disorders. My past research endeavors along with my desire to delve deeper into this particular field have equipped me with a unique perspective and a steadfast determination. I firmly believe that the application of my skills and the alignment of our research interests will significantly contribute to the department’s ongoing projects and overarching goals.”

Focus on your research experience

In your statement of purpose, the articulation of past experiences forms a pivotal part. It lays a foundational layer that demonstrates your abilities, commitment, and growth. Each experience that you narrate should be a reflection of your intellectual curiosity, research acumen, and dedication to your chosen field.

This does not mean that you just sequentially list your experiences. Instead, it is essential to focus on those that had a significant impact on your academic journey or shaped your research interests. Discuss your learnings, illustrate how challenges were addressed and remember to underline your contribution to each experience shared.

The idea is to paint a picture of your capabilities, showcasing not just your technical skills, but also your problem-solving ability, perseverance, and team spirit. When an admissions committee member reads your SOP, they should not only grasp your past experiences but also see your potential to effect meaningful change in the future.

As such, your SOP should be a blend of your present and future – a snapshot of who you have been, who you are, and who you aspire to become. Therefore, invest the time to reflect, compose, and meticulously proofread your SOP, as it serves as a powerful tool that can impress the admissions committee, setting you apart from other candidates.

“During my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to be a part of a research team working on nano-sensor technology. This experience ignited my passion for nanotechnology and sensor systems, as I found the potential of these technologies in addressing some of the pressing environmental issues remarkable. I contributed to this project by identifying a novel approach for enhancing the sensor’s sensitivity, which was an outcome of my methodical problem-solving approach and rigorous testing. This experience was not without its challenges, and it was during these trying times that my perseverance shone through. There were instances when our team hit roadblocks, but we resolved them collaboratively, highlighting my ability to work effectively in a team. The knowledge and skills that I gained from this experience have significantly influenced my academic path and future aspirations. Now, I aim to delve deeper into this domain in my graduate studies, with the ultimate goal of developing innovative solutions for environmental challenges. I believe that my dedication, combined with my problem-solving skills and team spirit, will enable me to contribute significantly to the ongoing projects at your esteemed institution.”

Highlight your research interests

As shown in the statement of purpose for PhD samples below, general statements about being interested in a broad field, such as ‘molecular biology’ or ‘international relations,’ will not make you stand out. Instead, delve into the intricate aspects of your area of interest, demonstrating your profound understanding and passion for the subject.

For instance, if your research interest lies in the domain of molecular biology, you might specify that you are particularly intrigued by the role of microRNAs in gene regulation and its implications for cancer treatment. If international relations is your field, you might express a keen interest in the interplay of economic sanctions and nuclear disarmament, using specific case studies such as North Korea or Iran.

Back your assertions with evidence of your knowledge and skills – refer to relevant research you’ve done, courses you’ve taken, or seminal literature you’ve read. Tying your research interests to current debates and pressing issues in the field will further underscore your commitment and preparedness for PhD-level work. You also need to mention potential research questions you wish to explore, thereby showcasing your ability to conceptualize and execute research.

Remember, your research interests are the cornerstone of your PhD journey, and the statement of purpose is an opportunity to demonstrate that these interests are informed, well-articulated, and aligned with the department’s expertise.

“My fascination with molecular biology is deeply rooted in the complex world of microRNAs and their potential in gene regulation. I am particularly captivated by the implications this has for cancer treatment, a connection I have explored in my undergraduate research examining the role of microRNA-155 in breast cancer progression. This research, coupled with my advanced coursework in cellular biology and genetics, has equipped me with a robust understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving disease. Furthermore, my keen interest extends to pressing debates in the field, as I am actively engaged in studying the potential of microRNAs as therapeutic targets. Looking forward, I wish to delve deeper into this area during my PhD, with an initial research question centered around understanding the differential expression patterns of microRNAs in various cancer types. I am confident that the department’s expertise in molecular biology, notably the groundbreaking work on microRNA-based therapies, aligns perfectly with my research interests, and I am excited about the possibility of contributing to this pioneering field.”

Emphasize your motivation

Your motivation is the driving force behind your aspiration to pursue a PhD, and it is crucial to articulate this effectively in your statement of purpose . It is not enough to merely state that you are passionate about your subject; you need to demonstrate your commitment and dedication through tangible examples and anecdotes.

For instance, you might talk about a seminal moment or experience that sparked your interest in the field – perhaps a particular course you took or a paper you read that opened up a new perspective. You might recount how you pursued this interest, undertaking independent reading, engaging in research projects, or seeking out mentors in your field. You might discuss how these experiences fueled your passion further, inciting an insatiable curiosity and a determination to contribute to the field.

Convey how your subject has influenced your worldview, shaped your career goals, and ingrained a sense of purpose and direction in your life. This passion should seep into every facet of your statement of purpose, presenting a compelling narrative that resonates with the admissions committee. Ultimately, your motivation should underscore your willingness to embrace the rigors of a PhD program, your readiness to delve deeper into your field, and your ambition to make a profound impact on it.

“My fascination with neurobiology was truly sparked when I took an introductory course in my sophomore year of undergraduate studies. The intricate workings of the human brain and how it influences behavior captivated me. I sought to dive deeper into this subject, undertaking independent reading beyond the scope of my coursework. I also volunteered for a research project under the guidance of a respected professor in the field. This hands-on experience introduced me to the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of contributing to scientific knowledge. These experiences reinforced my passion for neurobiology, instilling an insatiable curiosity and a determination to delve deeper. Today, this subject has evolved from merely an academic interest to a defining aspect of my life, shaping my career aspirations and directing my purpose. My motivation to pursue a PhD stems from this profound desire to deepen my understanding, participate in groundbreaking research, and ultimately contribute significantly to our understanding of the human brain.”

Discuss your qualifications

Your qualifications form a significant part of your application and should be highlighted effectively in your statement of purpose. Start by discussing your academic background, emphasizing the relevance of your degrees, courses, and thesis projects to your proposed area of study.

For example, if you’re applying for a PhD in psychology, you might mention your bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the same field, the psychology courses you’ve mastered, and the dissertation you’ve completed on a related topic.

Next, delve into relevant work experiences, internships, or research projects you’ve partaken in, explaining the insights and skills you’ve gleaned from these opportunities. Be specific about your roles and responsibilities, the methodologies you’ve used, the challenges you’ve overcome, and the results you’ve achieved.

Remember, each aspect of your qualifications should align with your research interests and underscore your readiness for the PhD program.

Show how you can contribute

In the conclusion of your statement of purpose, it’s essential to clearly articulate how you can contribute to the PhD program and the broader academic community. This involves showing how your unique perspectives, experiences, skills, and aspirations can enrich the learning environment, push the boundaries of your field, and address pertinent societal issues.

For example, you might highlight how your innovative research methodology can fill existing gaps in knowledge, how your commitment to mentorship can foster a supportive academic culture, or how your interdisciplinary approach can facilitate collaborations and yield groundbreaking insights.

Be sure to also touch on your long-term career goals, such as becoming a professor, a policy-maker, or a consultant, and explain how these align with the objectives of the PhD program and the institution’s mission. This gives the admissions committee a clear vision of your future trajectory and reassures them of your determination and potential to succeed.

Remember, your conclusion is your final chance to leave a lasting impression, so ensure it’s compelling, coherent, and reflective of your passion, readiness, and potential to excel in the PhD program.

“To conclude, I am keen to join your esteemed PhD program as I see it as a platform where my experiences, skills, and aspirations can have a significant impact. With my in-depth background in environmental science and a passion for data analytics, I intend to explore innovative methodologies that address the pressing issue of climate change. This interdisciplinary approach, I believe, can fill gaps in current research and provide novel insights that could potentially lead to impactful solutions. I am equally committed to fostering a supportive academic culture through active mentorship in the X program, leveraging my experience as a TA during my master’s in Y activities. Looking ahead, my ultimate career goal is to work as a policy consultant, leveraging research to shape powerful environmental policies. I am confident that this aligns with the mission of your institution and the objectives of the PhD program. In summary, I am eager to contribute to the academic community and believe that with my passion, readiness, and potential, I will be a valuable addition to your program.”

Express clearly and concisely

As demonstrated in the statement of purpose for PhD samples above, writing an essay that is clear and concise necessitates a logical structure and a succinct, yet compelling language.

Use simple, direct language, focusing on precision and clarity. Be mindful of wordiness and redundancy, as these can dilute your message and confuse the reader. It’s crucial to use strong, active verbs and to avoid jargon, ensuring that your SOP is accessible and engaging. Breaking down complex ideas into simpler terms not only demonstrates your understanding of the subject but also makes your SOP easier to read.

Each paragraph should flow seamlessly into the next, maintaining a logical progression of ideas. Providing relevant examples and conveying them succinctly can further enhance the clarity and impact of your SOP. Moreover, a well-structured, concise SOP reflects your ability to communicate effectively, a skill integral to any academic pursuit. Whether you’re describing your research interests, academic achievements, or future plans, make every word count.

Remember, your goal is to convince the admissions committee that you are a promising candidate who will contribute positively to their program.

Show, don’t just tell

One of the most persuasive techniques in writing a compelling SOP is to employ a ‘show, don’t tell’ approach. This involves illustrating your claims with vivid examples and stories that demonstrate your qualifications and passion, rather than merely stating them.

For instance, instead of claiming that you have strong research skills, you might describe a complex project that you successfully managed, explaining the strategies you used and the challenges you overcame. You could bring your academic interests to life by detailing the precise moment when you realized your passion for your field of study, whether it was a fascinating lecture, a thought-provoking book, or a groundbreaking research paper.

You can also substantiate your career aspirations by recounting relevant experiences, such as internships, workshops, or leadership roles, that shaped your career goals and prepared you for the future. These narratives not only provide concrete evidence of your attributes but also make your SOP more engaging and memorable.

Be sure to use vibrant language to paint a clear picture and evoke emotions, making your experiences resonate with the reader. Incorporating a personal touch — your unique perspective, insights, or reflections — can give your SOP a distinct voice that stands apart from others.

Through compelling storytelling, you can transform your SOP into a captivating narrative that leaves a lasting impression on the admissions committee.

Warning: The purpose of statement of purpose for PhD samples

When it comes to crafting an impactful statement of purpose, samples can serve as invaluable tools. They offer a glimpse into the structure, content, and tone expected in a well-curated SOP. More than mere templates to be copied, statement of purpose for PhD samples should be viewed as guides for understanding how to articulate your academic and career aspirations effectively. They showcase successful attempts at conveying passion for a field, highlighting academic achievements, and outlining future goals within the constraints of a limited word count.

Despite the benefits of statement of purpose for PhD samples, it’s critical to remember that each SOP is unique and personal. Simply copying a sample would undermine the primary purpose of the SOP: to provide a distinct and authentic narrative of your journey and aspirations. The correct way to utilize these statement of purpose for PhD samples is by analyzing the writing strategies used, deriving inspiration, and then creating an original piece of work that reflects the applicant’s unique story. This approach ensures that the SOP not only meets the formal requirements set forth by the academic institution but also captures the individuality of the applicant, thus making a lasting impression on the admissions committee.

The high stakes of your statement of purpose

Your SOP is much more than a mere component of your application; it is a crucial determinant of your acceptance. This document breathes life into your application, rendering a vivid picture of your past, present, and future aspirations to the admissions committee. Its weight is such that a well-crafted SOP can elevate an otherwise average application, while a poorly constructed one can diminish the impact of an exceptional academic record.

Think of it as a double-edged sword, capable of either bolstering your chances of admission or, alternatively, significantly undermining them. The smallest of errors — be it a grammatical faux pas, a lack of coherence, or a failure to aptly convey your passion — can be detrimental, casting doubt on your abilities and commitment.

On the other hand, a compelling, polished SOP that succinctly encapsulates your journey, goals, and potential can resonate profoundly with the committee, positioning you as a desirable candidate. The stakes, then, are undeniably high. It’s a daunting task to undertake alone, and the margin for error is slim. Assessing your work objectively can be challenging, and subtle nuances may escape your notice. Seeking feedback in this critical endeavor may prove invaluable in ensuring your SOP is not just good, but exceptional.

Let’s recap. As demonstrated through our statement of purpose for your PhD samples, the SOP is one of the most important elements of the application process and needs to distinctly capture your research interests, fit for the program and future aspirations in its few pages. We have provided you with helpful information about components and structure, given real samples to emulate, and shared tips on writing and editing to ensure you submit a top-notch statement that will leave a favorable impression. Now that you know how to write an effective SOP for your PhD application confidently, what are you waiting for? Put your newfound knowledge into action and get started on creating an outstanding SOP that truly speaks for itself. And if you find yourself struggling or needing a bit of guidance along this journey, we offer statement of purpose services – whether it be helping you write your SOP from scratch or providing personalized feedback. Make sure to check them out!

With a Master’s from McGill University and a Ph.D. from New York University, Dr. Philippe Barr is the founder of The Admit Lab . As a tenure-track professor, Dr. Barr spent a decade teaching and serving on several graduate admission committees at UNC-Chapel Hill before turning to full-time consulting. With more than seven years of experience as a graduate school admissions consultant, Dr. Barr has stewarded the candidate journey across multiple master’s programs and helped hundreds of students get admitted to top-tier graduate programs all over the world .

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Graduate School Applications: Writing a Research Statement

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What is a Research Statement?

A research statement is a short document that provides a brief history of your past research experience, the current state of your research, and the future work you intend to complete.

The research statement is a common component of a potential candidate’s application for post-undergraduate study. This may include applications for graduate programs, post-doctoral fellowships, or faculty positions. The research statement is often the primary way that a committee determines if a candidate’s interests and past experience make them a good fit for their program/institution.

What Should It Look Like?

Research statements are generally one to two single-spaced pages. You should be sure to thoroughly read and follow the length and content requirements for each individual application.

Your research statement should situate your work within the larger context of your field and show how your works contributes to, complicates, or counters other work being done. It should be written for an audience of other professionals in your field.

What Should It Include?

Your statement should start by articulating the broader field that you are working within and the larger question or questions that you are interested in answering. It should then move to articulate your specific interest.

The body of your statement should include a brief history of your past research . What questions did you initially set out to answer in your research project? What did you find? How did it contribute to your field? (i.e. did it lead to academic publications, conferences, or collaborations?). How did your past research propel you forward?

It should also address your present research . What questions are you actively trying to solve? What have you found so far? How are you connecting your research to the larger academic conversation? (i.e. do you have any publications under review, upcoming conferences, or other professional engagements?) What are the larger implications of your work?

Finally, it should describe the future trajectory on which you intend to take your research. What further questions do you want to solve? How do you intend to find answers to these questions? How can the institution to which you are applying help you in that process? What are the broader implications of your potential results?

Note: Make sure that the research project that you propose can be completed at the institution to which you are applying.

Other Considerations:

• What is the primary question that you have tried to address over the course of your academic career? Why is this question important to the field? How has each stage of your work related to that question?
• Include a few specific examples that show your success. What tangible solutions have you found to the question that you were trying to answer? How have your solutions impacted the larger field? Examples can include references to published findings, conference presentations, or other professional involvement.
• Be confident about your skills and abilities. The research statement is your opportunity to sell yourself to an institution. Show that you are self-motivated and passionate about your project.

How to Write a Statement of Intent: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Are you planning to apply to a university or graduate school, or for a scholarship or fellowship program? One of the most important components of your application will be your statement of intent. This critical document provides the admissions committee with a window into who you are, what you hope to achieve, and how you plan to contribute to the program. In this step-by-step guide, we'll help you craft a compelling statement of intent that showcases your strengths and sets you apart from the competition.

Understanding the Purpose of a Statement of Intent

Before you start writing your statement of intent, it's important to understand what this document is and why it matters. Essentially, your statement of intent is a brief essay in which you introduce yourself, describe your background and experience, and articulate your academic and professional goals. It's an opportunity for you to showcase your strengths, demonstrate your fit for the program, and convince the admissions committee that you're the best candidate for the position.

What is a Statement of Intent?

A statement of intent is a document that accompanies your application and provides information about your goals, objectives, and motivations for pursuing further education or a particular accomplishment. It is usually a one to two-page essay in which applicants provide information about themselves and their past experiences as well as their future goals and plans.

When writing a statement of intent, it's important to keep in mind that this document is not just a summary of your resume or CV. It should be a well-crafted essay that tells a story about who you are, what motivates you, and why you are passionate about your chosen field of study or career path.

One way to approach writing a statement of intent is to think about it as a personal statement. This means that you should write in the first person and use your own voice to convey your ideas and experiences. Be sure to include specific examples of your achievements, skills, and experiences that are relevant to the program or position you are applying for.

Why is it Important?

Admissions committees use your statement of intent to get a sense of who you are beyond your grades and test scores. This document allows them to understand your background, experience, and goals, and determine if you are a good fit for the program. A well-written statement of intent can help you stand out from other candidates and increase your chances of being accepted.

It's important to remember that your statement of intent is not just a formality. It's an opportunity for you to make a case for why you are the best candidate for the program or position. Take the time to research the program or position you are applying for and tailor your statement of intent to demonstrate your fit and enthusiasm for the opportunity.

Remember to proofread your statement of intent carefully and have someone else read it over as well. A well-crafted and error-free statement of intent can make a strong impression on the admissions committee and help you achieve your academic and professional goals.

Preparing to Write Your Statement of Intent

Before you start writing, take some time to prepare and gather information. Here are some key steps you should keep in mind:

Research the Institution or Program

Before you begin writing, it's important to have a thorough understanding of the institution or program you're applying to. You should research the program, learn about its mission, and have a sense of what the admissions committee is looking for in candidates. Make sure you know the key values and goals of the program and that you tie your ambitions back to them in your statement.

Identify Your Goals and Objectives

Take some time to reflect on your own career and academic goals. Consider the reasons why you want to attend the program or receive funding. Make a list of your professional objectives and what you hope to achieve from the program. These goals should be specific and measurable.

Gather Relevant Information and Experiences

Take some time to gather information about your own background and experience that is relevant to the program. Highlight any relevant coursework, internships, or work experience that you have that can help you achieve your goals.

Crafting a Strong Introduction

Your introduction is the first impression that the admissions committee will have of you, so it's essential to make it memorable and engaging. Here are some tips to help you create an attention-grabbing introduction:

Grab the Reader's Attention

Your introduction should be attention-grabbing and memorable. Begin with a statement or anecdote that draws the readers' attention and sets the tone for the rest of your essay.

Introduce Your Main Goals

Your introduction should also set the stage for the rest of your essay and introduce your main goals. Be clear and concise about what you hope to achieve, and how it aligns with the program's mission.

Outlining Your Academic and Professional Background

The bulk of your statement of intent should focus on your academic and professional background. This is your opportunity to showcase your strengths and accomplishments, and explain how your experience has prepared you for the program.

Highlight Your Educational Achievements

Be sure to discuss your academic record and any relevant coursework and research experience. Highlight any awards or accolades you have received, as well as any relevant coursework and research experience.

Showcase Relevant Work Experience

Demonstrate how your professional experience has helped you develop the skills and knowledge required to succeed in the program. Highlight your work experience and explain how it has helped you prepare for future academic and professional opportunities.

Discuss Skills and Qualifications

Identify the skills and qualifications that make you a strong candidate and explain how they will help you succeed in the program.

Demonstrating Your Interest and Fit for the Program

The final section of your statement of intent should demonstrate how your goals and interests align with the program.

Explain Your Motivation for Applying

Show the admissions committee your passion for the program by discussing your personal motivation for applying. Write about your hopes and dreams and why the program is the perfect fit for you.

Connect Your Goals to the Program's Offerings

Provide examples of how the program aligns with your goals and objectives. Show that you have done your research and that you understand and appreciate the program's goals and offerings.

Show How You Will Contribute to the Program

Lastly, it's important to show the admissions committee how you will contribute to the program, both academically and through your unique personal experience and skills. Discuss the unique perspective you will bring to the program and how it will contribute to the program's community.

ChatGPT Prompt for Writing a Statement of Intent

Use the following prompt in an AI chatbot . Below each prompt, be sure to provide additional details about your situation. These could be scratch notes, what you'd like to say or anything else that guides the AI model to write a certain way.

Please draft a clear and detailed document that outlines your intentions, goals, and objectives regarding a specific matter or project. This statement should provide a comprehensive overview of your plans, strategies, and expected outcomes, and should be written in a detailed and precise manner that accurately conveys your intentions.

[ADD ADDITIONAL CONTEXT. CAN USE BULLET POINTS.]

A statement of intent is a critical component of your application. By following these steps, you can craft a compelling document that showcases your strengths and sets you apart from the competition. Remember to research the program, identify your goals and experiences, craft a strong introduction, outline your academic and professional background, and demonstrate your fit for the program. With this guide in hand, you can write a winning statement of intent that will help you achieve your academic and professional goals.

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Research proposal or statement of purpose.

Second only to the Personal Statement, is your Research/Project Proposal or Purpose Statement, which you can also expect to include in nearly every national scholarship or fellowship application.  And, you can certainly anticipate some variation of this particular kind of statement to be an expected part of your graduate school applications as well.  As with your Personal Statement, it needs to reflect something of you but with a much more specific focus on your academic plans and preparation.  A Purpose Statement will also be relatively short, at most two-pages in length, and is your opportunity to make a well-substantiated case for what you are proposing to do in the future. Most students will find the Purpose Statement, Research or Project Proposal surprisingly comfortable to write as opposed to the Personal Statement because it is expected that your Purpose Statement is written from a largely academic focus.  Your statement should include the following:

• A clear, early (as in the first sentence or two) introduction of what you intend to do and/or study;
• A well-substantiated (through your CV, transcripts, other essays, writing sample, and letters  of recommendation) case for your exceptional preparation for what you are proposing to pursue and/or study;
• A description of the institution, program, department, research group, faculty and resources that you are interested in being a part of and engaging with in your advanced studies.  Note: the more specific, the better.  It is appropriate, perhaps even expected, to name the individual faculty you would like to work with and make every effort to contact those individuals in advance of submitting your application.  Keep in mind that you are making a case for the following:
• Why you have to be at that particular location or institution;
• With whom you must study in order to be most successful in your efforts;
• What resources will support and sustain your efforts (research and lab facilities, archives, special collections, field-work opportunities, etc.

In short, try to convince your reader that what you are proposing to research or work on can only be done in that particular part of the world and that you, simply, must be there to be the most successful. 

As with your Personal Statement, the more time you devote to careful planning, thought, and writing, the stronger your Purpose Statement will be.  Make sure to ask your faculty mentors and advisors to review your Purpose Statement and/or Research Proposal as they will be able to best guide you in refining your subject and even providing you with further contacts and resources.  Give yourself time to revise, edit, and revise some more. 

NOTE: Some national scholarship and fellowship opportunities require an actual Research Essay ( Goldwater  and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship ).  In this case, expect to submit a very detailed description of your undergraduate research efforts and how you expect to see the work continue in the coming years.  Successful Goldwater research essays often include graphs, charts, notes and bibliographies to give evidence not only to the quality of the research but also to the quality of the students’ ability to put it in writing. 

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program’s research- and study-grants also requires a similar effort in crafting a highly specific project-proposal based on what an applicant intends to pursue in a foreign country.  The proposal needs to be a specific and targeted articulation on research and project plans while still attending to the Fulbright’s ultimate concern of cultural exchange. 

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• You are currently on: Statement of Research Intent

Statement of Research Intent

Explanation of document.

A Statement of Research Intent defines your chosen area of study and details the aims of your proposed research project. 

Why this document may be required?

If you’re applying for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or a Named Doctorate, you will be asked to submit a Statement of Research Intent.

This statement is needed because it provides an indication of the subject, scope, and approach to the research you wish to undertake. Additionally, it will assist in determining whether supervision is available for your intended project.

Your statement must clearly layout your:

• Area of research interest
• Intended topic
• Research background
• Professional background

Your statement must also show:

• Why you have chosen your area of research interest
• What you plan to achieve in your studies with the University of Auckland

Please note, the Statement of Research Intent requirements vary depending on the faculty you’re applying to.

You can find the required Statement of Research Intent template for your chosen faculty further down this page.

University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship

If you’re interested in the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, you will need to indicate in your Statement of Research Intent that you wish to be considered.

For more information, please see University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarships .

Where to submit your document

When you have finished your Statement of Research Intent, you can upload your statement to your application portal as a supporting document.

We recommend that you submit your Statement of Research Intent as a pdf document.

To access your application portal, please visit Continue your application .

Is certification required?

Your Statement of Research Intent does not need to be certified. 

Is translation required?

If your Statement of Research Intent is written in a language other than English, you will need to translate your statement into English.

The University of Auckland is an English-medium university.

What are your next steps?

The requirements for your Statement of Research Intent will vary depending on the faculty you apply to.

Your statement is an important part of your application. If you meet all the entry requirements for your chosen doctoral programme, your Statement of Research Intent is sent to the relevant department for assessment.

The department will identify suitable supervisors for your proposed topic of research.

This may take some time as the process differs between each faculty.

In general, doctoral applications can take eight weeks or longer to be assessed. This is because there are different levels of approvals required.

For more information about the doctoral admissions process, please see Doctoral applications .

Download your Statement of Research Intent template

Each Faculty and Large Scale Research Institute has their own Statement of Research Intent. Some University Research Centres also have their own Statement of Research Intent: 

• Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa, Centre for Pacific and Global Health

CCREATE-AGE: Centre for Co-Created Ageing Research

Download the relevant document for your intended programme of study

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Arts - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 140.8 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Faculty of Arts.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 140.8 kB .

Faculty of Business and Economics

Business School - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 50.6 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Business School.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 50.6 kB .

Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries

Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 184.7 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 184.7 kB .

Faculty of Education and Social Work

Faculty of Education and Social Work - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 61.3 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Faculty of Education and Social Work.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 61.3 kB .

Faculty of Engineering

Faculty of Engineering - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 222.2 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Faculty of Engineering.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 222.2 kB .

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Law - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 148.1 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Faculty of Law.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 148.1 kB .

Faculty of Medical and Health Science

Faculty of Medical and Health Science - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 166.9 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Faculty of Medical and Health Science.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 166.9 kB .

Faculty of Science

Faculty of Science - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 259.9 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Faculty of Science.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 259.9 kB .

Large Scale Research Institute

Auckland Bioengineering Insitute

Auckland Bioengineering Institute - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 667.3 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Auckland Bioengineering Institute.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 667.3 kB .

Liggins Institute

Liggins Institute - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 49.3 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for the Liggins Institute.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 49.3 kB .

University Research Centres

Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa | Centre for Pacific and Global Health

Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 73.4 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa, Centre for Pacific and Global Health.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 73.4 kB .

CCREATE-AGE - Initial Statement of Research Intent . Size: 116.3 kB. Type: DOCX .

Document Description: A statement to indicate your area of research interest, and research and professional background. This is for CCREATE-AGE: Centre for Co-Created Ageing Research.

Download this DOCX file. Size: 116.3 kB .

Research Writing and Analysis

• NVivo Group and Study Sessions
• SPSS This link opens in a new window
• Statistical Analysis Group sessions
• Using Qualtrics
• Dissertation and Data Analysis Group Sessions
• Defense Schedule - Commons Calendar This link opens in a new window
• Research Process Flow Chart
• Research Alignment Chapter 1 This link opens in a new window
• Step 1: Seek Out Evidence
• Step 2: Explain
• Step 3: The Big Picture
• Step 4: Own It
• Step 5: Illustrate
• Annotated Bibliography
• Literature Review This link opens in a new window
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
• How to Synthesize and Analyze
• Synthesis and Analysis Practice
• Synthesis and Analysis Group Sessions
• Problem Statement
• Purpose Statement
• Conceptual Framework
• Theoretical Framework
• Quantitative Research Questions
• Qualitative Research Questions
• Trustworthiness of Qualitative Data
• Analysis and Coding Example- Qualitative Data
• Thematic Data Analysis in Qualitative Design
• Dissertation to Journal Article This link opens in a new window
• International Journal of Online Graduate Education (IJOGE) This link opens in a new window
• Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning (JRIT&L) This link opens in a new window

Jump to DSE Guide

Purpose statement overview.

The purpose statement succinctly explains (on no more than 1 page) the objectives of the research study. These objectives must directly address the problem and help close the stated gap. Expressed as a formula:

Good purpose statements:

• Flow from the problem statement and actually address the proposed problem
• Are concise and clear
• Answer the question ‘Why are you doing this research?’
• Match the methodology (similar to research questions)
• Have a ‘hook’ to get the reader’s attention
• Set the stage by clearly stating, “The purpose of this (qualitative or quantitative) study is to ...

In PhD studies, the purpose usually involves applying a theory to solve the problem. In other words, the purpose tells the reader what the goal of the study is, and what your study will accomplish, through which theoretical lens. The purpose statement also includes brief information about direction, scope, and where the data will come from.

A problem and gap in combination can lead to different research objectives, and hence, different purpose statements. In the example from above where the problem was severe underrepresentation of female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies and the identified gap related to lack of research of male-dominated boards; one purpose might be to explore implicit biases in male-dominated boards through the lens of feminist theory. Another purpose may be to determine how board members rated female and male candidates on scales of competency, professionalism, and experience to predict which candidate will be selected for the CEO position. The first purpose may involve a qualitative ethnographic study in which the researcher observes board meetings and hiring interviews; the second may involve a quantitative regression analysis. The outcomes will be very different, so it’s important that you find out exactly how you want to address a problem and help close a gap!

The purpose of the study must not only align with the problem and address a gap; it must also align with the chosen research method. In fact, the DP/DM template requires you to name the  research method at the very beginning of the purpose statement. The research verb must match the chosen method. In general, quantitative studies involve “closed-ended” research verbs such as determine , measure , correlate , explain , compare , validate , identify , or examine ; whereas qualitative studies involve “open-ended” research verbs such as explore , understand , narrate , articulate [meanings], discover , or develop .

A qualitative purpose statement following the color-coded problem statement (assumed here to be low well-being among financial sector employees) + gap (lack of research on followers of mid-level managers), might start like this:

In response to declining levels of employee well-being, the purpose of the qualitative phenomenology was to explore and understand the lived experiences related to the well-being of the followers of novice mid-level managers in the financial services industry. The levels of follower well-being have been shown to correlate to employee morale, turnover intention, and customer orientation (Eren et al., 2013). A combined framework of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory and the employee well-being concept informed the research questions and supported the inquiry, analysis, and interpretation of the experiences of followers of novice managers in the financial services industry.

A quantitative purpose statement for the same problem and gap might start like this:

In response to declining levels of employee well-being, the purpose of the quantitative correlational study was to determine which leadership factors predict employee well-being of the followers of novice mid-level managers in the financial services industry. Leadership factors were measured by the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) assessment framework  by Mantlekow (2015), and employee well-being was conceptualized as a compound variable consisting of self-reported turnover-intent and psychological test scores from the Mental Health Survey (MHS) developed by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

Both of these purpose statements reflect viable research strategies and both align with the problem and gap so it’s up to the researcher to design a study in a manner that reflects personal preferences and desired study outcomes. Note that the quantitative research purpose incorporates operationalized concepts  or variables ; that reflect the way the researcher intends to measure the key concepts under study; whereas the qualitative purpose statement isn’t about translating the concepts under study as variables but instead aim to explore and understand the core research phenomenon.  

Best Practices for Writing your Purpose Statement

Always keep in mind that the dissertation process is iterative, and your writing, over time, will be refined as clarity is gradually achieved. Most of the time, greater clarity for the purpose statement and other components of the Dissertation is the result of a growing understanding of the literature in the field. As you increasingly master the literature you will also increasingly clarify the purpose of your study.

The purpose statement should flow directly from the problem statement. There should be clear and obvious alignment between the two and that alignment will get tighter and more pronounced as your work progresses.

The purpose statement should specifically address the reason for conducting the study, with emphasis on the word specifically. There should not be any doubt in your readers’ minds as to the purpose of your study. To achieve this level of clarity you will need to also insure there is no doubt in your mind as to the purpose of your study.

Many researchers benefit from stopping your work during the research process when insight strikes you and write about it while it is still fresh in your mind. This can help you clarify all aspects of a dissertation, including clarifying its purpose.

Your Chair and your committee members can help you to clarify your study’s purpose so carefully attend to any feedback they offer.

The purpose statement should reflect the research questions and vice versa. The chain of alignment that began with the research problem description and continues on to the research purpose, research questions, and methodology must be respected at all times during dissertation development. You are to succinctly describe the overarching goal of the study that reflects the research questions. Each research question narrows and focuses the purpose statement. Conversely, the purpose statement encompasses all of the research questions.

Identify in the purpose statement the research method as quantitative, qualitative or mixed (i.e., “The purpose of this [qualitative/quantitative/mixed] study is to ...)

Avoid the use of the phrase “research study” since the two words together are redundant.

Follow the initial declaration of purpose with a brief overview of how, with what instruments/data, with whom and where (as applicable) the study will be conducted. Identify variables/constructs and/or phenomenon/concept/idea. Since this section is to be a concise paragraph, emphasis must be placed on the word brief. However, adding these details will give your readers a very clear picture of the purpose of your research.

Developing the purpose section of your dissertation is usually not achieved in a single flash of insight. The process involves a great deal of reading to find out what other scholars have done to address the research topic and problem you have identified. The purpose section of your dissertation could well be the most important paragraph you write during your academic career, and every word should be carefully selected. Think of it as the DNA of your dissertation. Everything else you write should emerge directly and clearly from your purpose statement. In turn, your purpose statement should emerge directly and clearly from your research problem description. It is good practice to print out your problem statement and purpose statement and keep them in front of you as you work on each part of your dissertation in order to insure alignment.

It is helpful to collect several dissertations similar to the one you envision creating. Extract the problem descriptions and purpose statements of other dissertation authors and compare them in order to sharpen your thinking about your own work.  Comparing how other dissertation authors have handled the many challenges you are facing can be an invaluable exercise. Keep in mind that individual universities use their own tailored protocols for presenting key components of the dissertation so your review of these purpose statements should focus on content rather than form.

Once your purpose statement is set it must be consistently presented throughout the dissertation. This may require some recursive editing because the way you articulate your purpose may evolve as you work on various aspects of your dissertation. Whenever you make an adjustment to your purpose statement you should carefully follow up on the editing and conceptual ramifications throughout the entire document.

In establishing your purpose you should NOT advocate for a particular outcome. Research should be done to answer questions not prove a point. As a researcher, you are to inquire with an open mind, and even when you come to the work with clear assumptions, your job is to prove the validity of the conclusions reached. For example, you would not say the purpose of your research project is to demonstrate that there is a relationship between two variables. Such a statement presupposes you know the answer before your research is conducted and promotes or supports (advocates on behalf of) a particular outcome. A more appropriate purpose statement would be to examine or explore the relationship between two variables.

Your purpose statement should not imply that you are going to prove something. You may be surprised to learn that we cannot prove anything in scholarly research for two reasons. First, in quantitative analyses, statistical tests calculate the probability that something is true rather than establishing it as true. Second, in qualitative research, the study can only purport to describe what is occurring from the perspective of the participants. Whether or not the phenomenon they are describing is true in a larger context is not knowable. We cannot observe the phenomenon in all settings and in all circumstances.

Writing your Purpose Statement

It is important to distinguish in your mind the differences between the Problem Statement and Purpose Statement.

The Problem Statement is why I am doing the research

The Purpose Statement is what type of research I am doing to fit or address the problem

The Purpose Statement includes:

• Method of Study
• Specific Population

Remember, as you are contemplating what to include in your purpose statement and then when you are writing it, the purpose statement is a concise paragraph that describes the intent of the study, and it should flow directly from the problem statement.  It should specifically address the reason for conducting the study, and reflect the research questions.  Further, it should identify the research method as qualitative, quantitative, or mixed.  Then provide a brief overview of how the study will be conducted, with what instruments/data collection methods, and with whom (subjects) and where (as applicable). Finally, you should identify variables/constructs and/or phenomenon/concept/idea.

Qualitative Purpose Statement

Creswell (2002) suggested for writing purpose statements in qualitative research include using deliberate phrasing to alert the reader to the purpose statement. Verbs that indicate what will take place in the research and the use of non-directional language that do not suggest an outcome are key. A purpose statement should focus on a single idea or concept, with a broad definition of the idea or concept. How the concept was investigated should also be included, as well as participants in the study and locations for the research to give the reader a sense of with whom and where the study took place. 

Creswell (2003) advised the following script for purpose statements in qualitative research:

“The purpose of this qualitative_________________ (strategy of inquiry, such as ethnography, case study, or other type) study is (was? will be?) to ________________ (understand? describe? develop? discover?) the _________________(central phenomenon being studied) for ______________ (the participants, such as the individual, groups, organization) at __________(research site). At this stage in the research, the __________ (central phenomenon being studied) will be generally defined as ___________________ (provide a general definition)” (pg. 90).

Quantitative Purpose Statement

Creswell (2003) offers vast differences between the purpose statements written for qualitative research and those written for quantitative research, particularly with respect to language and the inclusion of variables. The comparison of variables is often a focus of quantitative research, with the variables distinguishable by either the temporal order or how they are measured. As with qualitative research purpose statements, Creswell (2003) recommends the use of deliberate language to alert the reader to the purpose of the study, but quantitative purpose statements also include the theory or conceptual framework guiding the study and the variables that are being studied and how they are related. 

Creswell (2003) suggests the following script for drafting purpose statements in quantitative research:

“The purpose of this _____________________ (experiment? survey?) study is (was? will be?) to test the theory of _________________that _________________ (compares? relates?) the ___________(independent variable) to _________________________(dependent variable), controlling for _______________________ (control variables) for ___________________ (participants) at _________________________ (the research site). The independent variable(s) _____________________ will be generally defined as _______________________ (provide a general definition). The dependent variable(s) will be generally defined as _____________________ (provide a general definition), and the control and intervening variables(s), _________________ (identify the control and intervening variables) will be statistically controlled in this study” (pg. 97).

Sample Purpose Statements

• The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how participation in service-learning in an alternative school impacted students academically, civically, and personally.  There is ample evidence demonstrating the failure of schools for students at-risk; however, there is still a need to demonstrate why these students are successful in non-traditional educational programs like the service-learning model used at TDS.  This study was unique in that it examined one alternative school’s approach to service-learning in a setting where students not only serve, but faculty serve as volunteer teachers.  The use of a constructivist approach in service-learning in an alternative school setting was examined in an effort to determine whether service-learning participation contributes positively to academic, personal, and civic gain for students, and to examine student and teacher views regarding the overall outcomes of service-learning.  This study was completed using an ethnographic approach that included observations, content analysis, and interviews with teachers at The David School.
• The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental cross-sectional linear multiple regression design was to investigate the relationship among early childhood teachers’ self-reported assessment of multicultural awareness as measured by responses from the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS) and supervisors’ observed assessment of teachers’ multicultural competency skills as measured by the Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale (MTCS) survey. Demographic data such as number of multicultural training hours, years teaching in Dubai, curriculum program at current school, and age were also examined and their relationship to multicultural teaching competency. The study took place in the emirate of Dubai where there were 14,333 expatriate teachers employed in private schools (KHDA, 2013b).
• The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study is to examine the degree to which stages of change, gender, acculturation level and trauma types predicts the reluctance of Arab refugees, aged 18 and over, in the Dearborn, MI area, to seek professional help for their mental health needs. This study will utilize four instruments to measure these variables: University of Rhode Island Change Assessment (URICA: DiClemente & Hughes, 1990); Cumulative Trauma Scale (Kira, 2012); Acculturation Rating Scale for Arabic Americans-II Arabic and English (ARSAA-IIA, ARSAA-IIE: Jadalla & Lee, 2013), and a demographic survey. This study will examine 1) the relationship between stages of change, gender, acculturation levels, and trauma types and Arab refugees’ help-seeking behavior, 2) the degree to which any of these variables can predict Arab refugee help-seeking behavior.  Additionally, the outcome of this study could provide researchers and clinicians with a stage-based model, TTM, for measuring Arab refugees’ help-seeking behavior and lay a foundation for how TTM can help target the clinical needs of Arab refugees. Lastly, this attempt to apply the TTM model to Arab refugees’ condition could lay the foundation for future research to investigate the application of TTM to clinical work among refugee populations.
• The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study is to describe the lived experiences of LLM for 10 EFL learners in rural Guatemala and to utilize that data to determine how it conforms to, or possibly challenges, current theoretical conceptions of LLM. In accordance with Morse’s (1994) suggestion that a phenomenological study should utilize at least six participants, this study utilized semi-structured interviews with 10 EFL learners to explore why and how they have experienced the motivation to learn English throughout their lives. The methodology of horizontalization was used to break the interview protocols into individual units of meaning before analyzing these units to extract the overarching themes (Moustakas, 1994). These themes were then interpreted into a detailed description of LLM as experienced by EFL students in this context. Finally, the resulting description was analyzed to discover how these learners’ lived experiences with LLM conformed with and/or diverged from current theories of LLM.
• The purpose of this qualitative, embedded, multiple case study was to examine how both parent-child attachment relationships are impacted by the quality of the paternal and maternal caregiver-child interactions that occur throughout a maternal deployment, within the context of dual-military couples. In order to examine this phenomenon, an embedded, multiple case study was conducted, utilizing an attachment systems metatheory perspective. The study included four dual-military couples who experienced a maternal deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) or Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) when they had at least one child between 8 weeks-old to 5 years-old.  Each member of the couple participated in an individual, semi-structured interview with the researcher and completed the Parenting Relationship Questionnaire (PRQ). “The PRQ is designed to capture a parent’s perspective on the parent-child relationship” (Pearson, 2012, para. 1) and was used within the proposed study for this purpose. The PRQ was utilized to triangulate the data (Bekhet & Zauszniewski, 2012) as well as to provide some additional information on the parents’ perspective of the quality of the parent-child attachment relationship in regards to communication, discipline, parenting confidence, relationship satisfaction, and time spent together (Pearson, 2012). The researcher utilized the semi-structured interview to collect information regarding the parents' perspectives of the quality of their parental caregiver behaviors during the deployment cycle, the mother's parent-child interactions while deployed, the behavior of the child or children at time of reunification, and the strategies or behaviors the parents believe may have contributed to their child's behavior at the time of reunification. The results of this study may be utilized by the military, and by civilian providers, to develop proactive and preventive measures that both providers and parents can implement, to address any potential adverse effects on the parent-child attachment relationship, identified through the proposed study. The results of this study may also be utilized to further refine and understand the integration of attachment theory and systems theory, in both clinical and research settings, within the field of marriage and family therapy.

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Home » Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

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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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How to Write a Purpose Statement (Templates, Examples)

By Status.net Editorial Team on September 30, 2023 — 15 minutes to read

• Key Elements of a Purpose Statement Part 1
• How to Write a Purpose Statement Step-by-Step Part 2
• Identifying Your Goals Part 3
• Defining Your Audience Part 4
• Outlining Your Methods Part 5
• Stating the Expected Outcomes Part 6
• Purpose Statement Example for a Research Paper Part 7
• Purpose Statement Example For Personal Goals Part 8
• Purpose Statement Example For Business Objectives Part 9
• Purpose Statement Example For an Essay Part 10
• Purpose Statement Example For a Proposal Part 11
• Purpose Statement Example For a Report Part 12
• Purpose Statement Example For a Project Part 13
• Purpose Statement Templates Part 14

A purpose statement is a vital component of any project, as it sets the tone for the entire piece of work. It tells the reader what the project is about, why it’s important, and what the writer hopes to achieve.

Part 1 Key Elements of a Purpose Statement

When writing a purpose statement, there are several key elements that you should keep in mind. These elements will help you to create a clear, concise, and effective statement that accurately reflects your goals and objectives.

1. The Problem or Opportunity

The first element of a purpose statement is the problem or opportunity that you are addressing. This should be a clear and specific description of the issue that you are trying to solve or the opportunity that you are pursuing.

2. The Target Audience

The second element is the target audience for your purpose statement. This should be a clear and specific description of the group of people who will benefit from your work.

3. The Solution

The third element is the solution that you are proposing. This should be a clear and specific description of the action that you will take to address the problem or pursue the opportunity.

4. The Benefits

The fourth element is the benefits that your solution will provide. This should be a clear and specific description of the positive outcomes that your work will achieve.

5. The Action Plan

The fifth element is the action plan that you will follow to implement your solution. This should be a clear and specific description of the steps that you will take to achieve your goals.

Part 2 How to Write a Purpose Statement Step-by-Step

Writing a purpose statement is an essential part of any research project. It helps to clarify the purpose of your study and provides direction for your research. Here are some steps to follow when writing a purpose statement:

• Start with a clear research question: The first step in writing a purpose statement is to have a clear research question. This question should be specific and focused on the topic you want to research.
• Identify the scope of your study: Once you have a clear research question, you need to identify the scope of your study. This involves determining what you will and will not include in your research.
• Define your research objectives: Your research objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They should also be aligned with your research question and the scope of your study.
• Determine your research design: Your research design will depend on the nature of your research question and the scope of your study. You may choose to use a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approach.
• Write your purpose statement: Your purpose statement should be a clear and concise statement that summarizes the purpose of your study. It should include your research question, the scope of your study, your research objectives, and your research design.

Research question: What are the effects of social media on teenage mental health?

Scope of study: This study will focus on teenagers aged 13-18 in the United States.

Research objectives: To determine the prevalence of social media use among teenagers, to identify the types of social media used by teenagers, to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health, and to provide recommendations for parents, educators, and mental health professionals.

Research design: This study will use a mixed-methods approach, including a survey and interviews with teenagers and mental health professionals.

Purpose statement: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of social media on teenage mental health among teenagers aged 13-18 in the United States. The study will use a mixed-methods approach, including a survey and interviews with teenagers and mental health professionals. The research objectives are to determine the prevalence of social media use among teenagers, to identify the types of social media used by teenagers, to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health, and to provide recommendations for parents, educators, and mental health professionals.

Part 3 Section 1: Identifying Your Goals

Before you start writing your purpose statement, it’s important to identify your goals. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I want to achieve?
• What problem do I want to solve?
• What impact do I want to make?

Once you have a clear idea of your goals, you can start crafting your purpose statement. Your purpose statement should be a clear and concise statement that outlines the purpose of your work.

For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a business, your statement might look something like this:

“Our purpose is to provide high-quality products and services that improve the lives of our customers and contribute to the growth and success of our company.”

If you’re writing a purpose statement for a non-profit organization, your statement might look something like this:

“Our purpose is to improve the lives of underserved communities by providing access to education, healthcare, and other essential services.”

Remember, your purpose statement should be specific, measurable, and achievable. It should also be aligned with your values and goals, and it should inspire and motivate you to take action.

Part 4 Section 2: Defining Your Audience

Once you have established the purpose of your statement, it’s important to consider who your audience is. The audience for your purpose statement will depend on the context in which it will be used. For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a research paper, your audience will likely be your professor or academic peers. If you’re writing a purpose statement for a business proposal, your audience may be potential investors or clients.

Defining your audience is important because it will help you tailor your purpose statement to the specific needs and interests of your readers. You want to make sure that your statement is clear, concise, and relevant to your audience.

To define your audience, consider the following questions:

• Who will be reading your purpose statement?
• What is their level of knowledge or expertise on the topic?
• What are their needs and interests?
• What do they hope to gain from reading your purpose statement?

Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, you can begin to craft your purpose statement with their needs and interests in mind. This will help ensure that your statement is effective in communicating your goals and objectives to your readers.

For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a research paper on the effects of climate change on agriculture, your audience may be fellow researchers in the field of environmental science. In this case, you would want to make sure that your purpose statement is written in a way that is clear and concise, using technical language that is familiar to your audience.

Or, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a business proposal to potential investors, your audience may be less familiar with the technical aspects of your project. In this case, you would want to make sure that your purpose statement is written in a way that is easy to understand, using clear and concise language that highlights the benefits of your proposal.

The key to defining your audience is to put yourself in their shoes and consider what they need and want from your purpose statement.

Part 5 Section 3: Outlining Your Methods

After you have identified the purpose of your statement, it is time to outline your methods. This section should describe how you plan to achieve your goal and the steps you will take to get there. Here are a few tips to help you outline your methods effectively:

• Start with a general overview: Begin by providing a brief overview of the methods you plan to use. This will give your readers a sense of what to expect in the following paragraphs.
• Break down your methods: Break your methods down into smaller, more manageable steps. This will make it easier for you to stay organized and for your readers to follow along.
• Use bullet points: Bullet points can help you organize your ideas and make your methods easier to read. Use them to list the steps you will take to achieve your goal.
• Be specific: Make sure you are specific about the methods you plan to use. This will help your readers understand exactly what you are doing and why.
• Provide examples: Use examples to illustrate your methods. This will make it easier for your readers to understand what you are trying to accomplish.

Part 6 Section 4: Stating the Expected Outcomes

After defining the problem and the purpose of your research, it’s time to state the expected outcomes. This is where you describe what you hope to achieve by conducting your research. The expected outcomes should be specific and measurable, so you can determine if you have achieved your goals.

It’s important to be realistic when stating your expected outcomes. Don’t make exaggerated or false claims, and don’t promise something that you can’t deliver. Your expected outcomes should be based on your research question and the purpose of your study.

Here are some examples of expected outcomes:

• To identify the factors that contribute to employee turnover in the company.
• To develop a new marketing strategy that will increase sales by 20% within the next year.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a new training program for improving customer service.
• To determine the impact of social media on consumer behavior.

When stating your expected outcomes, make sure they align with your research question and purpose statement. This will help you stay focused on your goals and ensure that your research is relevant and meaningful.

In addition to stating your expected outcomes, you should also describe how you will measure them. This could involve collecting data through surveys, interviews, or experiments, or analyzing existing data from sources such as government reports or industry publications.

Part 7 Purpose Statement Example for a Research Paper

If you are writing a research paper, your purpose statement should clearly state the objective of your study. Here is an example of a purpose statement for a research paper:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of social media on the mental health of teenagers in the United States.

This purpose statement clearly states the objective of the study and provides a specific focus for the research.

Part 8 Purpose Statement Example For Personal Goals

When writing a purpose statement for your personal goals, it’s important to clearly define what you want to achieve and why. Here’s a template that can help you get started:

“I want to [goal] so that [reason]. I will achieve this by [action].”

Example: “I want to lose 10 pounds so that I can feel more confident in my body. I will achieve this by going to the gym three times a week and cutting out sugary snacks.”

Remember to be specific and realistic when setting your goals and actions, and to regularly review and adjust your purpose statement as needed.

Part 9 Purpose Statement Example For Business Objectives

If you’re writing a purpose statement for a business objective, this template can help you get started:

[Objective] [Action verb] [Target audience] [Outcome or benefit]

Here’s an example using this template:

Increase online sales by creating a more user-friendly website for millennial shoppers.

This purpose statement is clear and concise. It identifies the objective (increase online sales), the action verb (creating), the target audience (millennial shoppers), and the outcome or benefit (a more user-friendly website).

Part 10 Purpose Statement Example For an Essay

“The purpose of this essay is to examine the causes and consequences of climate change, with a focus on the role of human activities, and to propose solutions that can mitigate its impact on the environment and future generations.”

This purpose statement clearly states the subject of the essay (climate change), what aspects will be explored (causes, consequences, human activities), and the intended outcome (proposing solutions). It provides a clear roadmap for the reader and sets the direction for the essay.

Part 11 Purpose Statement Example For a Proposal

“The purpose of this proposal is to secure funding and support for the establishment of a community garden in [Location], aimed at promoting sustainable urban agriculture, fostering community engagement, and improving local access to fresh, healthy produce.”

Why this purpose statement is effective:

• The subject of the proposal is clear: the establishment of a community garden.
• The specific goals of the project are outlined: promoting sustainable urban agriculture, fostering community engagement, and improving local access to fresh produce.
• The overall objective of the proposal is evident: securing funding and support.

Part 12 Purpose Statement Example For a Report

“The purpose of this report is to analyze current market trends in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, assess consumer preferences and buying behaviors, and provide strategic recommendations to guide [Company Name] in entering this growing market segment.”

• The subject of the report is provided: market trends in the electric vehicle industry.
• The specific goals of the report are analysis of market trends, assessment of consumer preferences, and strategic recommendations.
• The overall objective of the report is clear: providing guidance for the company’s entry into the EV market.

Part 13 Purpose Statement Example For a Project

“The purpose of this project is to design and implement a new employee wellness program that promotes physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace.”

This purpose statement clearly outlines the objective of the project, which is to create a new employee wellness program. The program is designed to promote physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace, which is a key concern for many employers. By implementing this program, the company aims to improve employee health, reduce absenteeism, and increase productivity. The purpose statement is concise and specific, providing a clear direction for the project team to follow. It highlights the importance of the project and its potential benefits for the company and its employees.

Part 14 Purpose Statement Templates

When writing a purpose statement, it can be helpful to use a template to ensure that you cover all the necessary components:

Template 1: To [action] [target audience] in order to [outcome]

This template is a straightforward way to outline your purpose statement. Simply fill in the blanks with the appropriate information:

• The purpose of […] is
• To [action]: What action do you want to take?
• [Target audience]: Who is your target audience?
• In order to [outcome]: What outcome do you hope to achieve?

For example:

• The purpose of our marketing campaign is to increase brand awareness among young adults in urban areas, in order to drive sales and revenue growth.
• The purpose of our employee training program is to improve customer service skills among our frontline staff, in order to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• The purpose of our new product launch is to expand our market share in the healthcare industry, by offering a unique solution to the needs of elderly patients with chronic conditions.

Template 2: This [project/product] is designed to [action] [target audience] by [method] in order to [outcome].

This template is useful for purpose statements that involve a specific project or product. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information:

• This [project/product]: What is your project or product?
• Is designed to [action]: What action do you want to take?
• By [method]: What method will you use to achieve your goal?
• This app is designed to provide personalized nutrition advice to athletes by analyzing their training data in order to optimize performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key elements of a purpose statement.

A purpose statement should clearly communicate the main goal or objective of your writing. It should be concise and specific, providing a clear direction for your work. The key elements of a purpose statement include the topic or subject matter, the intended audience, and the overall goal or objective of your writing.

How can a purpose statement benefit your writing?

A purpose statement can help you stay focused and on track when writing. It can also help you to avoid going off-topic or getting bogged down in unnecessary details. By clearly identifying the main goal or objective of your writing, a purpose statement can help you to stay organized and ensure that your writing is effective and impactful.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a purpose statement?

One common mistake is being too vague or general in your purpose statement. Another mistake is making your purpose statement too long or complex, which can make it difficult to understand. Additionally, it’s important to avoid including unnecessary information or details that are not directly relevant to your main goal or objective.

How can you tailor your purpose statement to your audience?

When writing a purpose statement, it’s important to consider your audience and their needs. You should tailor your purpose statement to your audience by using language and terminology that they will understand. You should also consider their level of knowledge or expertise on the subject matter and adjust your purpose statement accordingly.

What are some effective templates for writing a purpose statement?

There are many effective templates for writing a purpose statement, but one common approach is to use the following structure: “The purpose of this writing is to [insert goal or objective] for [insert audience] regarding [insert topic or subject matter].”

Can you provide examples of successful purpose statements?

• “The purpose of this report is to provide an analysis of the current market trends and make recommendations for future growth strategies for our company.”
• “The purpose of this essay is to explore the impact of social media on modern communication and its implications for society.”
• “The purpose of this proposal is to secure funding for a new community center that will provide educational and recreational opportunities for local residents.”
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How to Write a Research Statement

• Experimental Psychology

Task #1: Understand the Purpose of the Research Statement

The primary mistake people make when writing a research statement is that they fail to appreciate its purpose. The purpose isn’t simply to list and briefly describe all the projects that you’ve completed, as though you’re a museum docent and your research publications are the exhibits. “Here, we see a pen and watercolor self-portrait of the artist. This painting is the earliest known likeness of the artist. It captures the artist’s melancholic temperament … Next, we see a steel engraving. This engraving has appeared in almost every illustrated publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and has also appeared as the television studio back-drop for the …”

Similar to touring through a museum, we’ve read through research statements that narrate a researcher’s projects: “My dissertation examined the ways in which preschool-age children’s memory for a novel event was shaped by the verbal dialogue they shared with trained experimenters. The focus was on the important use of what we call elaborative conversational techniques … I have recently launched another project that represents my continued commitment to experimental methods and is yet another extension of the ways in which we can explore the role of conversational engagement during novel events … In addition to my current experimental work, I am also involved in a large-scale collaborative longitudinal project …”

Treating your research statement as though it’s a narrated walk through your vita does let you describe each of your projects (or publications). But the format is boring, and the statement doesn’t tell us much more than if we had the abstracts of each of your papers. Most problematic, treating your research statement as though it’s a narrated walk through your vita misses the primary purpose of the research statement, which is to make a persuasive case about the importance of your completed work and the excitement of your future trajectory.

Writing a persuasive case about your research means setting the stage for why the questions you are investigating are important. Writing a persuasive case about your research means engaging your audience so that they want to learn more about the answers you are discovering. How do you do that? You do that by crafting a coherent story.

Task #2: Tell a Story

Surpass the narrated-vita format and use either an Op-Ed format or a Detective Story format. The Op-Ed format is your basic five-paragraph persuasive essay format:

First paragraph (introduction):

• broad sentence or two introducing your research topic;
• thesis sentence, the position you want to prove (e.g., my research is important); and
• organization sentence that briefly overviews your three bodies of evidence (e.g., my research is important because a, b, and c).

Second, third, and fourth paragraphs (each covering a body of evidence that will prove your position):

• topic sentence (about one body of evidence);
• fact to support claim in topic sentence;
• another fact to support claim in topic sentence;
• another fact to support claim in topic sentence; and
• analysis/transition sentence.

Fifth paragraph (synopsis and conclusion):

• sentence that restates your thesis (e.g., my research is important);
• three sentences that restate your topic sentences from second, third, and fourth paragraph (e.g., my research is important because a, b, and c); and
• analysis/conclusion sentence.

Although the five-paragraph persuasive essay format feels formulaic, it works. It’s used in just about every successful op-ed ever published. And like all good recipes, it can be doubled. Want a 10-paragraph, rather than five-paragraph research statement? Double the amount of each component. Take two paragraphs to introduce the point you’re going to prove. Take two paragraphs to synthesize and conclude. And in the middle, either raise six points of evidence, with a paragraph for each, or take two paragraphs to supply evidence for each of three points. The op-ed format works incredibly well for writing persuasive essays, which is what your research statement should be.

The Detective Story format is more difficult to write, but it’s more enjoyable to read. Whereas the op-ed format works off deductive reasoning, the Detective Story format works off inductive reasoning. The Detective Story does not start with your thesis statement (“hire/retain/promote/ award/honor me because I’m a talented developmental/cognitive/social/clinical/biological/perception psychologist”). Rather, the Detective Story starts with your broad, overarching research question. For example, how do babies learn their native languages? How do we remember autobiographical information? Why do we favor people who are most similar to ourselves? How do we perceive depth? What’s the best way to treat depression? How does the stress we experience every day affect our long-term health?

Because it’s your research statement, you can personalize that overarching question. A great example of a personalized overarching question occurs in the opening paragraph of George Miller’s (1956) article, “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.”

My problem is that I have been persecuted by an integer. For seven years this number has followed me around, has intruded in my most private data, and has assaulted me from the pages of our most public journals. This number assumes a variety of disguises, being sometimes a little larger and sometimes a little smaller than usual, but never changing so much as to be unrecognizable. The persistence with which this number plagues me is far more than a random accident. There is, to quote a famous senator, a design behind it, some pattern governing its appearances. Either there really is something unusual about the number or else I am suffering from delusions of persecution. I shall begin my case history by telling you about some experiments that tested how accurately people can assign numbers to the magnitudes of various aspects of a stimulus. …

In case you think the above opening was to a newsletter piece or some other low-visibility outlet, it wasn’t. Those opening paragraphs are from a Psych Review article, which has been cited nearly 16,000 times. Science can be personalized. Another example of using the Detective Story format, which opens with your broad research question and personalizes it, is the opening paragraph of a research statement from a chemist:

I became interested in inorganic chemistry because of one element: Boron. The cage structures and complexity of boron hydrides have fascinated my fellow Boron chemists for more than 40 years — and me for more than a decade. Boron is only one element away from carbon, yet its reactivity is dramatically different. I research why.

When truest to the genre of Detective Story format, the full answer to your introductory question won’t be available until the end of your statement — just like a reader doesn’t know whodunit until the last chapter of a mystery. Along the way, clues to the answer are provided, and false leads are ruled out, which keeps readers turning the pages. In the same way, writing your research statement in the Detective Story format will keep members of the hiring committee, the review committee, and the awards panel reading until the last paragraph.

Task #3: Envision Each Audience

The second mistake people make when writing their research statements is that they write for the specialist, as though they’re talking to another member of their lab. But in most cases, the audience for your research statement won’t be well-informed specialists. Therefore, you need to convey the importance of your work and the contribution of your research without getting bogged down in jargon. Some details are important, but an intelligent reader outside your area of study should be able to understand every word of your research statement.

Because research statements are most often included in academic job applications, tenure and promotion evaluations, and award nominations, we’ll talk about how to envision the audiences for each of these contexts.

Job Applications . Even in the largest department, it’s doubtful that more than a couple of people will know the intricacies of your research area as well as you do. And those two or three people are unlikely to have carte blanche authority on hiring. Rather, in most departments, the decision is made by the entire department. In smaller departments, there’s probably no one else in your research area; that’s why they have a search going on. Therefore, the target audience for your research statement in a job application comprises other psychologists, but not psychologists who study what you study (the way you study it).

Envision this target audience explicitly.Think of one of your fellow graduate students or post docs who’s in another area (e.g., if you’re in developmental, think of your friend in biological). Envision what that person will — and won’t — know about the questions you’re asking in your research, the methods you’re using, the statistics you’re employing, and — most importantly — the jargon that you usually use to describe all of this. Write your research statement so that this graduate student or post doc in another area in psychology will not only understand your research statement, but also find your work interesting and exciting.

Tenure Review . During the tenure review process, your research statement will have two target audiences: members of your department and, if your tenure case receives a positive vote in the department, members of the university at large. For envisioning the first audience, follow the advice given above for writing a research statement for a job application. Think of one of your departmental colleagues in another area (e.g., if you’re in developmental, think of your friend in biological). Write in such a way that the colleague in another area in psychology will understand every word  — and find the work interesting. (This advice also applies to writing research statements for annual reviews, for which the review is conducted in the department and usually by all members of the department.)

For the second stage of the tenure process, when your research statement is read by members of the university at large, you’re going to have to scale it down a notch. (And yes, we are suggesting that you write two different statements: one for your department’s review and one for the university’s review, because the audiences differ. And you should always write with an explicit target audience in mind.) For the audience that comprises the entire university, envision a faculty friend in another department. Think political science or economics or sociology, because your statement will be read by political scientists, economists, and sociologists. It’s an art to hit the perfect pitch of being understood by such a wide range of scholars without being trivial, but it’s achievable.

Award Nominations . Members of award selection committees are unlikely to be specialists in your immediate field. Depending on the award, they might not even be members of your discipline. Find out the typical constitution of the selection committee for each award nomination you submit, and tailor your statement accordingly.

Task #4: Be Succinct

When writing a research statement, many people go on for far too long. Consider three pages a maximum, and aim for two. Use subheadings to help break up the wall of text. You might also embed a well-designed figure or graph, if it will help you make a point. (If so, use wrap-around text, and make sure that your figure has its axes labeled.)

And don’t use those undergraduate tricks of trying to cram more in by reducing the margins or the font size. Undoubtedly, most of the people reading your research statement will be older than you, and we old folks don’t like reading small fonts. It makes us crabby, and that’s the last thing you want us to be when we’re reading your research statement.

Nice piece of information. I will keep in mind while writing my research statement

Thank you so much for your guidance.

HOSSEIN DIVAN-BEIGI

Absolutely agree! I also want to add that: On the one hand it`s easy to write good research personal statement, but on the other hand it`s a little bit difficult to summarize all minds and as result the main idea of the statement could be incomprehensible. It also seems like a challenge for those guys, who aren`t native speakers. That`s why you should prepare carefully for this kind of statement to target your goals.

How do you write an action research topic?? An then stAte the problem an purpose for an action research. Can I get an example on language development?? Please I need some help.

Thankyou I now have idea to come up with the research statement. If I need help I will inform you …

much appreciated

Just like Boote & Beile (2005) explained “Doctors before researchers” because of the importance of the dissertation literature review in research groundwork.

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About the Authors

Morton Ann Gernsbacher , APS Past President, is the Vilas Research Professor and Sir Frederic Bartlett Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She can be contacted at [email protected] . Patricia G. Devine , a Past APS Board Member, is Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She can be contacted at [email protected] .

Careers Up Close: Joel Anderson on Gender and Sexual Prejudices, the Freedoms of Academic Research, and the Importance of Collaboration

Joel Anderson, a senior research fellow at both Australian Catholic University and La Trobe University, researches group processes, with a specific interest on prejudice, stigma, and stereotypes.

Experimental Methods Are Not Neutral Tools

Ana Sofia Morais and Ralph Hertwig explain how experimental psychologists have painted too negative a picture of human rationality, and how their pessimism is rooted in a seemingly mundane detail: methodological choices. 

APS Fellows Elected to SEP

In addition, an APS Rising Star receives the society’s Early Investigator Award.

Privacy Overview

/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="research paper statement of intent"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Research statement, what is a research statement.

The research statement (or statement of research interests) is a common component of academic job applications. It is a summary of your research accomplishments, current work, and future direction and potential of your work.

The statement can discuss specific issues such as:

• funding history and potential
• requirements for laboratory equipment and space and other resources
• potential research and industrial collaborations
• how your research contributes to your field
• future direction of your research

The research statement should be technical, but should be intelligible to all members of the department, including those outside your subdiscipline. So keep the “big picture” in mind. The strongest research statements present a readable, compelling, and realistic research agenda that fits well with the needs, facilities, and goals of the department.

Research statements can be weakened by:

• overly ambitious proposals
• lack of clear direction
• lack of big-picture focus
• inadequate attention to the needs and facilities of the department or position

Why a Research Statement?

• It conveys to search committees the pieces of your professional identity and charts the course of your scholarly journey.
• It communicates a sense that your research will follow logically from what you have done and that it will be different, important, and innovative.
• It gives a context for your research interests—Why does your research matter? The so what?
• It combines your achievements and current work with the proposal for upcoming research.
• areas of specialty and expertise
• potential to get funding
• academic strengths and abilities
• compatibility with the department or school
• ability to think and communicate like a serious scholar and/or scientist

Formatting of Research Statements

The goal of the research statement is to introduce yourself to a search committee, which will probably contain scientists both in and outside your field, and get them excited about your research. To encourage people to read it:

• make it one or two pages, three at most
• use informative section headings and subheadings
• use bullets
• use an easily readable font size
• make the margins a reasonable size

Organization of Research Statements

Think of the overarching theme guiding your main research subject area. Write an essay that lays out:

• The main theme(s) and why it is important and what specific skills you use to attack the problem.
• A few specific examples of problems you have already solved with success to build credibility and inform people outside your field about what you do.
• A discussion of the future direction of your research. This section should be really exciting to people both in and outside your field. Don’t sell yourself short; if you think your research could lead to answers for big important questions, say so!
• A final paragraph that gives a good overall impression of your research.

Writing Research Statements

• Avoid jargon. Make sure that you describe your research in language that many people outside your specific subject area can understand. Ask people both in and outside your field to read it before you send your application. A search committee won’t get excited about something they can’t understand.
• Write as clearly, concisely, and concretely as you can.
• Keep it at a summary level; give more detail in the job talk.
• Ask others to proofread it. Be sure there are no spelling errors.
• Convince the search committee not only that you are knowledgeable, but that you are the right person to carry out the research.
• Include information that sets you apart (e.g., publication in  Science, Nature,  or a prestigious journal in your field).
• What excites you about your research? Sound fresh.
• Include preliminary results and how to build on results.
• Point out how current faculty may become future partners.
• Acknowledge the work of others.
• Use language that shows you are an independent researcher.
• BUT focus on your research work, not yourself.
• Include potential funding partners and industrial collaborations. Be creative!
• Provide a summary of your research.
• Put in background material to give the context/relevance/significance of your research.
• List major findings, outcomes, and implications.
• Describe both current and planned (future) research.
• Communicate a sense that your research will follow logically from what you have done and that it will be unique, significant, and innovative (and easy to fund).

Describe Your Future Goals or Research Plans

• Major problem(s) you want to focus on in your research.
• The problem’s relevance and significance to the field.
• Your specific goals for the next three to five years, including potential impact and outcomes.
• If you know what a particular agency funds, you can name the agency and briefly outline a proposal.
• Give broad enough goals so that if one area doesn’t get funded, you can pursue other research goals and funding.

Identify Potential Funding Sources

• Almost every institution wants to know whether you’ll be able to get external funding for research.
• Try to provide some possible sources of funding for the research, such as NIH, NSF, foundations, private agencies.
• Mention past funding, if appropriate.

Be Realistic

There is a delicate balance between a realistic research statement where you promise to work on problems you really think you can solve and over-reaching or dabbling in too many subject areas. Select an over-arching theme for your research statement and leave miscellaneous ideas or projects out. Everyone knows that you will work on more than what you mention in this statement.

Consider Also Preparing a Longer Version

• A longer version (five–15 pages) can be brought to your interview. (Check with your advisor to see if this is necessary.)
• You may be asked to describe research plans and budget in detail at the campus interview. Be prepared.
• Include laboratory needs (how much budget you need for equipment, how many grad assistants, etc.) to start up the research.

Samples of Research Statements

To find sample research statements with content specific to your discipline, search on the internet for your discipline + “Research Statement.”

• University of Pennsylvania Sample Research Statement
• Advice on writing a Research Statement (Plan) from the journal  Science

• Open access
• Published: 22 April 2024

RecSOI: recommending research directions using statements of ignorance

• Adrien Bibal 1 ,
• Nourah M. Salem 1 ,
• Rémi Cardon 2 ,
• Elizabeth K. White 1 ,
• Daniel E. Acuna 3   na1 ,
• Robin Burke 3   na1 &
• Lawrence E. Hunter 4   na1  

Journal of Biomedical Semantics volume  15 , Article number:  2 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The more science advances, the more questions are asked. This compounding growth can make it difficult to keep up with current research directions. Furthermore, this difficulty is exacerbated for junior researchers who enter fields with already large bases of potentially fruitful research avenues. In this paper, we propose a novel task and a recommender system for research directions, RecSOI, that draws from statements of ignorance (SOIs) found in the research literature. By building researchers’ profiles based on textual elements, RecSOI generates personalized recommendations of potential research directions tailored to their interests. In addition, RecSOI provides context for the recommended SOIs, so that users can quickly evaluate how relevant the research direction is for them. In this paper, we provide an overview of RecSOI’s functioning, implementation, and evaluation, demonstrating its effectiveness in guiding researchers through the vast landscape of potential research directions.

Finding new research topics is a task that researchers must handle very often, especially when starting a PhD degree. However, navigating the increasingly vast expanse of scientific knowledge, which sees a doubling of publication output every 17.3 years [ 1 ], is an arduous task for even the most experienced academics. Amid the many papers published each year and the surge of scientists joining the workforce, pinpointing the most suitable research direction becomes increasingly challenging. Some argue that this phenomenon could be one of the reasons behind the seeming slowdown of novel scientific progress [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. This observation underlines the importance of managing the vast and rapidly increasing volume of existing knowledge and being able to discern gaps and opportunities for innovation. It stands to reason that researchers in science, and especially newcomers, would therefore benefit from a recommender system that provides them with research directions that align with their profile or the profiles of their collaborators or their supervisor. While this paper focuses on helping new researcher find research directions that are relevant to them, many other use cases exist for our recommender system (see, e.g., Boguslav et al. [ 5 ] for some ideas of use cases). For instance, another use case could be to help principal investigators (PIs) navigate the literature in order to find the crucial state-of-the-art problems that match the expertise of their lab. Not only would this help PIs target suitable grant funding, but it would also help society, as difficult problems would be matched to researchers with the corresponding skills.

Such a recommender system is only possible if new research directions can be extracted from papers in the literature. In order to accomplish that, Boguslav et al. [ 5 , 6 ] recently provided ways to identify sentences in papers stating a lack of knowledge, or ignorance, that can then be used to discover possible research directions. Therefore, starting from the premise that identifying such statements of ignorance (SOIs) is possible, we propose a novel task and a new system, RecSOI (Recommender of research directions using Statements Of Ignorance), to recommend to researchers, based on their profile, SOIs that they would be interested in investigating. Furthermore, RecSOI’s pipeline provides a module for extracting the SOI’s context from the paper. With this background information, researchers may be able to get the gist of most recommended research directions without needing to read the papers that mention them. A user evaluation is proposed in this paper to make it possible to assess the importance of extracting context. The overall RecSOI pipeline can be seen in Fig.  1 . Our main contributions are the following:

A description of a way to recommend research directions based on statements of ignorance in papers;

An estimation of the difficulty of the task;

A system, called RecSOI, for recommending research directions to researchers;

A user evaluation of the context that can be provided alongside recommended research directions;

A detailed discussion about the task, including about potential fairness issues.

RecSOI pipeline, from an author name provided as input to a list of recommended directions and their context

In order to introduce our novel task and RecSOI, we first start by providing some work related to ours in the Related work  section. Then, we provide some background about statements of ignorance in the Statements of ignorance  section. We introduce the problem of identifying relevant research directions from these statements of ignorance in the Research directions using SOIs  section. RecSOI and its evaluation are then presented in the Methods  section. The results of our evaluation are presented in the Results  section. An analysis of the extraction of context to better understand the recommendations is provided in the Extracting ignorance context  section. We close the paper with a detailed discussion in the Discussion  section and our conclusion in the Conclusion  section.

Related work

Our work is closely related to Boguslav et al.’s [ 5 , 6 ], which detects SOIs. However, we extend that work by recommending new research directions based on these SOIs to researchers.

There are many components of scientific discourse that can help us navigate the current state of knowledge. One such type is claims, which are related to finding the current knowledge, or answers, in the literature. Achakulvisut et al. [ 7 ] propose to extract scientific claims from the literature. Another type of discourse is arguments , which are logical and evidence-based processes that seek to establish or support a particular scientific claim or hypothesis. The work of Stab et al. [ 8 ] aims to develop argument-mining methods in the context of scientific papers and persuasive essays and draws conclusions about these tasks. Another type, and the focus of our paper, concerns discourses about the known unknowns , which Boguslav et al. [ 5 ] call statements of ignorance (SOIs). In contrast to claims and arguments, these SOIs have been much less studied.

Close to our work, Lahav et al. [ 9 ] propose a search engine for research directions given a certain topic (e.g., COVID-19). Like Boguslav et al. [ 5 ], who identify sentences with SOIs, Lahav et al. identify sentences that contain mentions of challenges or research directions and then index these sentences based on the entities contained in them. One of the main differences between these two works is that Boguslav et al. focus on analyzing, describing and categorizing the SOIs, while Lahav et al. focus on providing a search engine on top of the detected challenges/directions. Like Lahav et al., we focus on recommending research directions, but our reliance on researcher profiles, rather than keywords, allows us to tailor searches to the interests and expertise of the researcher, so that, for example, instead of finding new research directions related to “COVID-19”, we can provide directions that are more specific to the interests of the researcher (e.g., “the impact of COVID-19 on the heart”).

The field of recommender systems is rich with studies aiming to select research papers from various perspectives (for more information, see Bai et al. [ 10 ]), and many papers in the literature tackle this problem, each through a different lens (see, e.g., [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]). Our work is unique in recommending research directions mentioned in these research papers. Although one can argue that by recommending research directions, we are also implicitly recommending papers from the literature (i.e., the papers that contain the directions), we also justify why each paper is recommended based on the potentially relevant research directions that it mentions. This innovation takes us a step beyond traditional paper recommendation to create a richer, more helpful guidance system for researchers.

• Statements of ignorance

Boguslav et al. recently developed the term “statements of ignorance” [ 5 ] (SOIs), inspired by the work of Firestein [ 23 ], and defined it as “statements about knowledge that does not exist yet” [ 5 ]. In their work, Boguslav et al. thoroughly studied the concept by identifying the different categories of SOIs in the literature. The authors also analyzed the different lexical cues that are often present in each category of SOIs.

In this work, we are interested in the SOIs that can indicate a possible new research direction for a researcher. Indeed, if a paper states that something is still unknown and deserves more investigation, then this lead can probably be used to start a new research project. This, therefore, means that we are interested in the subset of the SOI categories that indicate possible new research directions. All of the categories highlighted by Boguslav et al. [ 5 ] (see Table  1 ) pertain to a lack of knowledge. Some categories are related to how the lack of knowledge is expressed (e.g., “explicit questions” and “future work”). Other categories relate to the intent of the statements (e.g., “question answered by this work” serves the purpose of motivating the paper stating it). The SOI categories that are relevant for our recommendation of research directions are “full unknown”, “explicit question”, “problem or complication”, “future work” and “future prediction”.

Research directions using SOIs

As SOIs state a certain lack of knowledge, one can investigate this lack of knowledge to pursue new research directions. For instance, a sentence that mentions that “the relation between X and Y is unexpected and requires further investigations” indicates that a new research direction would be to investigate this relation between X and Y more deeply.

However, one issue with SOIs, which Boguslav et al. [ 5 ] found in their study, is that many sentences in papers can be considered to be SOIs. In fact, as we have also discovered in our research, approximately half of the sentences in papers can be perceived to contain a certain form of ignorance. As a consequence, parsing all papers of the literature (or of a certain field of the literature) and extracting the SOIs would leave researchers with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of SOIs to explore - an impractical number for researchers to leverage them for finding new research directions.

This motivates the need to build a recommender system on top of these SOIs in order to rank them with respect to the researcher’s interests and expertise. This entails (1) building a researcher profile that can be used for recommendation, (2) vectorizing the SOIs in the database to make them candidates for a recommendation system, and (3) linking researcher profiles to relevant research directions for them. Please note that for (3), we make the assumption that research directions are more interesting for a researcher if they relate to research subjects that are close to the researcher’s own work. One can argue that some researchers may be interested in research directions that deviate from their own work. We leave the recommendation of this kind of research directions as a future work. In the next section, we show how RecSOI, our proposed method, can recommend new research directions to researchers, leveraging a database of SOIs.

This section introduces RecSOI through two steps: building the profile of the researcher and then recommending research directions based on that profile.

Researcher profile embedding

The first step to recommending research directions is summarizing researchers’ work in a certain vector, or embedding, space. Two strategies can be used to summarize researcher profiles. First, to achieve good recommendation performance, it can be important to consider specific combinations of concepts that are often invoked by the researcher, rather than full texts. This is not effective for all researchers, as it ignores the big picture. Second, having a comprehensive view of what and how the researcher wrote can also be important for knowing what to recommend. However, this strategy is weaker when important concepts are buried in many irrelevant texts. Although these two strategies tend to work for different subsets of researchers, neither one provides a “one size fits all” solution.

In our recommender system of statements of ignorance (RecSOI), we propose in this section to combine the best of the two worlds to embed researcher profiles. For a particular abstract a (without the title of the article) from researcher r , a sentence-BERT model [ 24 ] (more precisely, “sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2”) is first run on each sentence \(s_i\) of this abstract to obtain the corresponding embedding \(e_i\) .

Different versions of BERT (like, e.g., BioBERT [ 25 ]) have been tested in our preliminary experiments. sentence-BERT was chosen has the embedding models for four reasons. First, we observed during our preliminary experiments that the recommendation results were not better when using more specific versions of BERT. Second, due to the sensitivity of our recommender to overfitting (see the Discussion  section for a discussion about that), we decided to opt for the most generic version of BERT. Third, by not using very specific versions of BERT like BioBERT and BlueBERT [ 26 ], we also want to show that the task can be extended to other fields than the biomedical field. Finally, as our most important elements (SOIs) are expressed with sentences, we decided to work with a version of BERT that is fine-tuned to embed sentences.

For the next step, a logistic regression model (LR) is run on the same sentences to get the probability that the sentence was written by this author. In order to do so, LR is trained on a dataset of abstracts in a binary classification setup: 1 if the first author of the abstract is r and 0 otherwise. Then, in a similar fashion as the Rocchio algorithm [ 27 ], the final embedding of the abstract a is the average of the embedding of the sentences in a , positively or negatively weighted by LR predictions. The LR predictions are therefore used to estimate the relevance of the sentences in the average. The objective is to obtain a representation of the abstract in the embedding space that is as close as possible to the sentences that are representative to the author. More formally, the weight for each sentence \(s_i\) is given by

with LR \((s_i)\) being a probability given by the LR prediction for \(s_i\) when a TF-IDF vectorization of \(s_i\) is considered. The use of a TF-IDF vectorization of the researcher’s papers allows to put an emphasis on the concepts that are specifically used by the researcher. The abstract embedding( a ) is then given by

where \(e_i\) is the sentence-BERT embedding of \(s_i\) and \(|\text {weight}(s_i)|\) is the absolute value of \(\text {weight}(s_i)\) .

The final profile of researcher r is then built by keeping a list of each \(\text {embedding}(a_j)\) for all available abstracts \(a_j\) of researcher r . In our case, as we consider the use case in which junior researchers look for research directions, the number of abstracts for each researcher is between 1 and 5.

As our profile embedding is designed to work on previous abstracts, very new researchers (i.e. with no previous papers) may face limitations to use our system. Three solutions can help bootstrap the system in such a case. In the first solution, if the new researcher has at least one paper but is not first author for any of them, these papers can be used if they are close enough to the general research direction the new researcher will take in their main research. In the second solution, one can use the profile of another researcher with similar research interests (e.g., their supervisor, or a PhD student working on a similar question). In the third solution, one can use methods relying on keywords, such as the one of Lahav et al. [ 9 ], until at least one abstract is available to build a profile.

Recommending research directions

During our preliminary experiments, we found that using metric learning methods to learn the best distance between user profiles and SOIs did not perform well. Based on other results discussed later in this paper, our assumption is that building such a metric learning model has the tendency to overfit in our task. On the other hand, classic metrics like the Euclidean distance and the cosine similarity perform quite well. As overcomplicating the solution tends to provide a lower performance (because of the overfitting effect), our best solution was to simply compute the Euclidean distance between the author profile and each SOI candidate. The candidates that are then recommended are the ones for which the distance to at least one abstract in the author’s profile is the smallest.

Note that one important advantage of RecSOI is that given the definition of the profile embedding in the Researcher profile embedding  section and the use of an Euclidean distance for matching profiles to research directions, RecSOI is not dependent on numerical hyperparameters to tune. The only components of RecSOI that can be investigated and improved in future work are (1) the model used to weight the abstract’s sentences in the user profiles, and (2) the distance measure between the user profiles and the research directions. The choices made in this paper for these components are the ones that provided the best results during our preliminary experiments. Another interesting feature of the recommendations of RecSOI is that they are deterministic, which means that, for a given user profile and a given database of SOIs, the recommendations will always be the same.

In order to evaluate RecSOI, we propose a quantitative experiment followed by a qualitative analysis of the errors to better understand the results. In the quantitative evaluation, three heuristics are used to assess the quality of the recommendations. In the qualitative evaluation, particular SOIs are studied to better understand the difficulty of the problem.

Experimental setup

In order to explain our experimental setup, three elements need to be presented. First, we base our evaluation on a uniquely annotated dataset from the biomedical literature, but we needed to expand it further. The dataset and the process used to augment it are described in the Dataset  section. Then, as it is not realistic to gather experts to evaluate 500 recommendations from a very specific field of science, three heuristics are proposed in the Evaluation heuristics  section to assess the quality of the recommendation. Finally, we present in the Baseline methods  section the baseline methods we use to compare to RecSOI.

Boguslav et al. developed classifiers with a high performance for classifying whether a sentence is a SOI or not [ 5 ]. The testing F1-score that they report is 0.85 when the positive class contains SOIs of all categories and the negative class contains the other regular sentences [ 5 ]. These classifiers came alongside a dataset of papers on prenatal nutrition. This dataset is the only dataset in the literature that contains hand-crafted annotations about SOIs and their category. Indeed, the main feature of this dataset is that it went through a thorough annotation campaign with experts in the domain of prenatal nutrition. During the annotation campaign, the sentences containing a certain lack of knowledge were annotated alongside their corresponding category of ignorance.

For our study, we consider Boguslav et al.’s dataset of SOIs as potential research directions because of its unique expert annotations and the well-performing classifiers [ 5 , 6 ]. However, for three reasons, we needed to extend Boguslav et al.’s dataset to make the evaluation of our recommendations possible. Indeed, (1) there were only 60 papers in the dataset, (2) each first author in the dataset has only one paper as first author, and (3) there are no previous papers, abstracts or other information provided in Boguslav et al.’s dataset, which would be used to build a profile for each author and make recommendations based on it.

In order to augment Boguslav et al.’s dataset, we proceed in three steps. In the first step, we gather the PubMed ID (PMID) of the 10,000 papers that are the closest to the “prenatal nutrition” subject using the PubMed API called Entrez [ 28 ]. The query was performed using “prenatal nutrition” as a free text keyword (without the quotation marks) in order to take into account the multiple combinations of MeSH terms referring to the subject. Among these 10,000 PMIDs, 2,818 openly accessible papers could be fetched using the BioC API [ 29 ]. The reason for the focus on “prenatal nutrition” in this dataset augmentation procedure is because of the second step, where Boguslav et al.’s classifiers trained on prenatal nutrition papers are used.

In the second step, Boguslav et al.’s classifiers are used to annotate the SOIs in our new papers. The reason why classifiers are used instead of annotators is because (1) annotating 2,818 papers (i.e., 715,545 sentences) with experts is unrealistic, and (2) it has been proven by Boguslav et al. that the classifiers had a very good performance on these data. In order to ensure that the classifiers still keep their good performance, we stay as close as possible to the scientific field in Boguslav et al.’s dataset (i.e., prenatal nutrition). Since all ignorance categories are not necessarily interesting for our recommendation setup (e.g., “question answered by this work”, which indicates that the research direction is already tackled in the study in question), a specific subset of ignorance categories are selected (as presented in the Statements of ignorance  section): “full unknown”, “explicit question”, “problem or complication”, “future work” and “future prediction”.

In the third step, we gather, for each author in our augmented dataset, the abstract of all papers for which they are first author prior to their oldest paper in our augmented dataset using the OpenAlex API [ 30 ]. The rationale is that we want to be able to leverage these abstracts to build a profile of each author prior to what they published in the augmented dataset. Abstracts have the advantage of being generally openly accessible, even when the full papers are not. This renders our technique independent of the open-access status of the author’s papers. The full dataset of abstracts contains 85,342 abstracts.

However, our experiments involve vectorizing our augmented dataset with TF-IDF and such a large dataset does not fit in memory with a reasonable amount of RAM (i.e., more than 20 GB of RAM). In consequence, a methodological subsampling was used in the experiment to make it possible to evaluate the recommendations in different setups. We therefore subsampled, at random, the augmented dataset containing the full papers to 500 unique first authors. This corresponds to 152,189 sentences. Among these sentences, 61,511 were annotated as SOIs and were therefore considered as recommendation candidates.

After subsampling our dataset of full papers, our dataset of abstracts was also subsampled so that it contains the same 500 first authors. In addition, the number of abstracts per author is limited to 5. These 5 abstracts are chosen at random, to avoid any biases. The rationale for selecting 5 abstracts in the experiment is that authors with lots of abstracts (30, 50, or 100, but probably also for 10) are likely to have a well-developed sense of their field and potential research directions. Through this constraint, we, therefore, limited our scope to new researchers. In a real setting, outside the experiment, we would have considered all the author’s abstracts, even if there are more than 5. In the end, the subsampled version of our dataset of abstracts for our experiment contained 1,923 abstracts. The distribution of abstracts per author was the following: 72 authors have 1 abstract, 57 have 2 abstracts, 38 have 3, 42 have 4 and 291 have 5.

Note that our augmented dataset of papers (and its 61,511 SOIs) is exclusively used for testing the recommendations. Indeed, in order to train the methods in our experiments, only the dataset of abstracts is used.

Evaluation heuristics

As we cannot easily gather the evaluations of the 500 authors in our dataset to determine the ground truth related to the interestingness of SOIs, we defined heuristics that would allow us to assess the quality of our recommendations. We propose 3 heuristics that are summarized in Table  2 . Each of these 3 heuristics (the first-author heuristic, the co-authors heuristic and the concepts heuristic) has pros and cons, so considering them together can provide a more realistic assessment of the recommendation quality. We observed in preliminary experiments that author concepts from tools like OpenAlex are often (1) noisy (i.e., they contain irrelevant concepts for the author) and (2) generic (with concepts such as “computer science”). Because of that, we rely on concepts that can be extracted from the abstracts of the author using a named entity recognition tool. For the concepts heuristic, the concepts in the abstracts and in the SOIs are therefore retrieved using the named entity recognition tool from the work of Raza et al. [ 31 ].

Baseline methods

The recommendation of research directions based on researcher profiles is, to the best of our knowledge, not investigated in the literature. Indeed, the literature on recommender systems for researchers is mainly focused on recommending papers [ 10 , 32 ], and not specific research directions inside these papers. Furthermore, contrary to our approach, modeling the user profile is generally not performed, as keywords search is proposed instead [ 32 ]. As the literature lacks a task like ours, as well as methods and baselines that would come with it, we propose two baselines in this study. The first one is based on BERT and the second one relies on classic machine learning models.

The first baseline sums up researcher profiles using sentence-BERT embeddings [ 24 ] (more precisely, “sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2”) on our dataset of abstracts. For this baseline, the embedding of a researcher consists of the average of the embedding of the researchers’ abstracts for which they are the first author. An abstract embedding is defined by the average of all sentence embeddings (given by sentence-BERT) in that abstract. We then also embed the SOIs with sentence-BERT, and the recommendation is provided by the Euclidean distance between the researcher embedding and the SOI embedding (the closer the two embeddings are in the space, the better). This baseline was the most “simple”, yet well-performing, method we could find during our preliminary experiments. In fact, because of the pervasive overfitting issues in this task (briefly discussed in the Discussion  section), this simple model was one of the best and outperformed more complex approaches.

The second baseline makes use of more classic machine learning models. In order to have a different representation of the features than the first baseline, we use TF-IDF to vectorize each abstract in the dataset of abstracts. Then, the training phase consists of learning the specific features of each author. In order to do that, we use, for a particular researcher, a classification setup with two classes: whether the abstract belongs to the researcher (i.e., the researcher is the first author) or not. By doing so, the model learns what is specific to the researcher in their abstracts. For the recommendation phase, the trained model is then used on all SOIs and the ones recommended to the author are the ones for which the probability of belonging to the researcher is the highest. The rationale behind this is that if a SOI is considered very close to what the researcher writes in their paper, then it may be a SOI of interest for them.

We noted during our preliminary experiments that, like the first strategy based on sentence-BERT, this last strategy was highly prone to overfitting (see the discussion in the Discussion  section). Because of that, more complex models (e.g., neural networks or random forests) yielded worse results in the recommendation phase. Simpler models were systematically better in this setup, as they seem to get rid of the noisy elements in the abstracts (i.e., the textual elements that are not necessary for the recommendation). One model that seemed to outperform the others, because of this overfitting issue, was a Logistic Regression with a Ridge penalty and with C=1. The hyper-parameters of all models were optimized by cross-validation on an external dataset, namely the one of Boguslav et al. [ 5 , 6 ].

Note that we do not include in the baseline models solutions that rely on keyword searches (like, e.g., the one in the work of Lahav et al. [ 9 ]). This is because (1) searching by keywords does not correspond to our setup of modeling users and (2) it is not clear what keywords would best correspond to a researcher to model them. Also note that the proposed heuristics and baseline methods are as much to evaluate RecSOI as to assess the difficulty of our novel task.

The results for the two baselines and RecSOI, given the three heuristics explained in the Evaluation heuristics  section and Table  2 , are presented in Table  3 . Note that, for each heuristic, a different number of researchers is considered: 500 for the first-author heuristic, 59 for the co-authors heuristic and 496 for the concepts heuristic. Indeed, first, the 500 authors in the first-author heuristic are set by design (we subsampled to have 500 unique first authors in our dataset). Second, concerning the co-authors heuristic, there are only 59 co-authors who are themselves first authors among the 500 first authors. Finally, there are 4 first authors among the 500 for whom there are no concepts in common between the concepts in the SOIs to recommend and the concepts in their abstracts. For these 4 authors, the evaluation of the recommendation quality (according to the concepts heuristic) cannot be computed. As a result, these 4 authors are not considered for this heuristic, which leaves 496 authors to compute the concept heuristic. Note that this has no impact on the use of the recommendation techniques in practice. It only means that for the evaluation of the recommendations in our paper, the concept heuristic cannot be computed for 4 authors.

Concerning the evaluation metric, as we want to know the proportion of researchers for which such a recommendation works, we use a score derived from the mean average precision at k (MAP@k). Indeed, while MAP@k is defined as

where R is the set of researchers and n is the number of researchers in R , we instead use

The percentage given by MAP \(_\exists\) @k therefore corresponds to the percentage of researchers for which at least one relevant research direction was given in their top k recommendations. In practice, we use MAP \(_\exists\) @5, MAP \(_\exists\) @10 and MAP \(_\exists\) @20 in our experiments. Note that the notion of “good” or “relevant” recommendation is defined by our three heuristics defined in the Evaluation heuristics  section.

Confidence intervals are also provided in Table  3 . As each percentage in the table is the mean of binary trials (i.e., “Did the researcher get at least one relevant SOI recommended, yes or no?”), the percentages follow a Binomial distribution. The intervals provided in the table are therefore defined accordingly.

In order to assess the quality of the solution when SOIs are drawn at random in the database, the expected random results are also shown in Table  3 . Picking at random, in our setup, corresponds to a hypergeometric distribution, as the question is: how many relevant SOIs would I get if I draw k SOIs from a large pool of SOIs from which a certain number are relevant for the researcher (depending on the chosen heuristic)? If k is the number of SOIs drawn (5, 10, or 20 in our experiments), n is the total number of SOIs in the dataset and \(n_R\) is the number of SOIs relevant for the researcher, the expected number of relevant SOIs that can be retrieved at random is defined for a hypergeometric distribution as \(k*(n_R/n)\) . As, in MAP \(_\exists\) @k, we consider for each author whether at least one relevant SOI has been found in the top k recommendations, “Random” in Table  3 corresponds to the percentage of authors for which \(k*(n_R/n) \ge 1\) .

Analysis of the results

One first thing to note when looking at Table  3 is that the problem of finding a relevant SOI, according to the first-author and the co-authors heuristics, is very hard. One can see that the percentage of authors for which \(k*(n_R/n) \ge 1\) , for \(k = 5, 10 \text { and } 20\) is equal to 0% for these two heuristics. This means that for none of the authors, picking k SOIs at random lead to an expected number of relevant SOIs retrieved greater or equal to 1. In order to provide a concrete example, let’s consider the author with the median number of SOIs belonging to them in the dataset (i.e., relevance defined by the first-author heuristic), which is \(n_R = 99\) . Given that the number of SOIs in our dataset is \(n = 61,511\) , the expected number of relevant SOIs (according to the first-author heuristic) when \(k = 5\) SOIs are picked at random is 0.008 relevant SOIs out of a maximum of 5. For \(k = 20\) SOIs picked at random, the expected number of relevant SOIs is 0.032 out of a maximum of 20. We are therefore far from having at least 1 relevant SOI for this “median reseacher” when 5 or 20 statements are picked at random. It is therefore not possible to solve the problem by picking SOIs at random.

On another note, by looking at the co-authors heuristic, it seems like recommending SOIs from co-authors’ papers is a very difficult task. Indeed, the best result is a MAP \(_\exists\) @20 of 23.7% for sentence-BERT and RecSOI. This may be explained by the fact that, in general, co-authors write very different papers when they are first authors themselves. A potential improvement of this heuristic can therefore be to weight the closeness between author r and the papers of their co-authors \(r'\) based on the order of the co-authors \(r'\) in the papers of r . We leave this challenging definition of the co-author heuristic as a future work. But while the scores of the current definition of the heuristic may indicate that this heuristic may not be the best to assess recommendation quality, its results may shed some light on the difficulty of our task.

Another element that is interesting to note is that increasing the number k of recommendations mainly benefits the methods that do not perform well to begin with. For instance, for MAP \(_\exists\) @20 and the first-author heuristic, the performance increases by only 4.8% for RecSOI, while it increases by 10% for TF-IDF+LR, with respect to the performance for MAP \(_\exists\) @10. A similar observation can be made for the concepts heuristic. This seems to indicate that there is a performance saturation for each heuristic. In other words, while methods performing poorly can always do better, correctly recommending starts to become extremely difficult (for a given heuristic) for the remaining percentage of authors.

Finally, we note that if we consider MAP \(_\exists\) @5 for the concepts heuristic, the problem can be solved with RecSOI for 75.6% of the authors. In other words, 75.6% of the authors have, in their top 5 recommendations, at least one SOI that share one or several concepts that were found in their abstracts. We also note that this problem is not trivial, as if the SOIs were picked at random, 0% of the authors would get recommendations with a relevant topic.

While the results are high enough for the concepts heuristic and explainably low for the co-author heuristic, it is not clear without further analysis why the results are not higher for the first-author heuristic. In the next section, we aim at clarifying these results and at better understanding these errors.

Analysis of the first-author heuristic errors

This section aims to analyze why it is hard to obtain better results with the first-author heuristic. Given the description of the first-author heuristic in Table  2 , a recommended SOI is relevant for researcher r , in the context of our evaluation, if the SOI was in fact written by r .

Let’s now consider the worst recommendations according to this heuristic. In order to find them, we consider the authors for which the 5 best-ranked SOIs written by them have the worst ranks for them. This means that, while, ideally, these 5 SOIs written by r should be in the top 5 for r , they are, for instance, ranked \(\sim\) 10,000 or worse.

One pattern that was identified with this analysis is the “generic SOI issue”. Examples of such issues are shown in Table  4 . These SOIs are very generic and do not contain any specific concepts. Because of that, the SOIs cannot be recommended to the authors (e.g., to N. Liu in the table), despite being written by the authors themselves. This kind of SOIs can be observed for different authors for whom the recommendation results were bad (according to the first-author heuristic). The poor performance of the first-author heuristic can be partly explained by the tendency of the recommender to discard generic SOIs, sentences written by the first author but containing few useful concepts, in favor of other SOIs that contain more relevant concepts for the author, but that are written by someone else. One such example of a SOI containing lots of concepts is the following statement from Monk et al. [ 33 ] that is recommended to Wei Wu (an author given as example in Table  4 ): “In addition to these structural abnormalities, biochemical effects include reduced oxidative metabolism in the hippocampus and frontal cortex and altered fatty acid and myelin profiles throughout the brain have been observed.”

An insight that can be highlighted by these examples of “generic SOIs” is that SOIs may, by nature, be more frequently generic than claims. While it is very difficult to automatically assess how generic a sentence is, one can argue that scientific claims, by nature, more often state their findings in detail. However, stating something that is unknown or unexpected inherently restricts the possibility of going into details. If this is true, this adds to the intrinsic complexity of the task of recommending research directions based on SOIs, as many SOIs would in fact be written in generic terms, such as in the cases of the authors in Table  4 .

One solution to this issue is to consider multi-sentence SOIs. Indeed, thanks to additional sentences, the “generic SOIs” could be contextualized, which could solve the issue. However, this solution suffers from a major drawback: the longer the text representing the statement is, the more difficult it is to adequately embed the concepts inside it. As a result, recommendation performance could suffer. Because of this, embedding statements at the sentence level, as is done in this paper, may be preferable.

This “generic SOI” issue lowers the probability for the author, in the experiment, to be recommended SOIs that they wrote themselves. However, this does not explain why the few specific SOIs written by that author are not recommended to them. We propose two reasons for this. First, it may be that the few SOIs written by the author do not directly relate to their work (e.g., when proposing future works within another field). Second, the few specific SOIs may relate to the current work of the author, but not the previous work used to build their profile. Indeed, let us recall that the abstracts used to build the researchers’ profiles are strictly prior (by construction) to their papers in the dataset of SOIs used for the experiment. This issue should however not be frequent with junior researchers, as their few papers are generally closely related.

If this second hypothesis is true, then this would suggest the relevance of analyzing the changes in researchers’ interests when recommending research directions. To solve this issue, one may try to combine, for instance, RecSOI (our contribution), which is focused on the past, with keyword-based search engines (such as the one of Lahav et al. [ 9 ]). While these search engines cannot provide recommendations that match the profile of the researchers based on their past work, as RecSOI does, they can help find interesting directions that are not aligned with the researcher’s past profile.

Extracting ignorance context

Because RecSOI is based on the extractor of SOIs from Boguslav et al. [ 5 ], one strong limitation of our recommender system is that it recommends single sentences only. While this is not an issue for the recommendation algorithm itself (as the context of the sentence is embedded in the sentence-BERT embedding), it can be very difficult for users to know if the recommendations are relevant based on a single sentence only. Indeed, contextual information outside the sentence may be important to understand the future work. This means that, in most cases, users would have to read the paper for each recommended SOI to really know if the statement is relevant for them to pursue or not. In this section, we show and evaluate different ways to provide context to the user.

In order to solve the issue presented above, the Insights on context extraction section will first present our findings on how to provide context to the user. Then, the Evaluation of the usefulness of context  section will describe our user study evaluating the usefulness of different ways of providing context.

Insights on context extraction

When research directions are recommended, the researcher must read the paper containing the research direction to get more information. In some cases, the researcher might realize that they are not interested in pursuing a particular direction. To avoid reading papers of uninteresting directions and to save time for researchers, we propose an analysis related to the extraction of contextual information about SOIs. This task is close to the extractive summarization task.

Providing contextual information about SOIs is not an easy task. Indeed, in many cases, SOIs are not connected to explicit pieces of information in the paper. For instance, some SOIs refer to information that is implicitly absent from, e.g., the experiment. An example of that from Qiu et al. [ 39 ] is: “Though consistent with studies of men and non-pregnant women, larger studies that include objective measures of sleep duration, quality and apnea are needed to obtain more precise estimates of observed associations.” The implicit information behind this SOI is that apnea was not really measured in the authors’ experiments (only if the participants were snoring), making the association of apnea with other measures difficult to objectively establish. This information, however, is not explicitly present in the paper and is implicitly inferred by the reader after reading the paper and the SOI.

When information about a SOI is explicitly provided, however, the relevant pieces of information are generally in the vicinity of the SOI. Indeed, more often than not, the sentences that immediately precede the SOI provide the necessary context to understand the statement. The problem, therefore, becomes “what are the passages in the SOI’s paragraph that contain enough contextual information?”

During our preliminary experiments, the most powerful methods to solve this problem were large language models (LLMs). More specifically, we observed that the results of available open-source LLMs did not compare with LLMs such as GPT. In the next section, we show some results from GPT to solve that problem and propose an experiment to quantitatively assess the usefulness of LLMs with respect to naive heuristics.

Evaluation of the usefulness of context

One way to quickly grasp the context of a SOI is to provide the paragraph that contains that statement. This section evaluates how often it is the case that providing the paragraph is useful to understand the SOI. On top of that, because paragraphs can sometimes be lengthy, we also evaluate when highlighting shorter passages within the paragraph is helpful. In order to evaluate the usefulness of highlighting, we use both a simple heuristic (highlighting the sentence before the SOI) and a more complex solution (using prompt engineering to tune GPT-3.5 [ 40 ] to provide relevant highlights in the paragraph).

To present our evaluation and the corresponding results, this section comprises three parts. The Experimental setup  section first explains the overall experimental setup. Then, the GPT prompt engineering and other LLMs  section digs deeper into the prompt engineering phase that led to the results of GPT-3.5 in the experiment. This section also extends to other LLMs and their results. Finally, our results are reported and analyzed in the Results and analysis  section.

The dataset used for this experiment is a subset of Boguslav et al.’s dataset [ 5 , 6 ]. Because the purpose of this experiment is to assess if the additional context is useful to better understand the SOI, and not to assess if the SOI is indeed about ignorance, a manually annotated dataset is used. Furthermore, to focus the evaluator’s attention on the context rather than on the SOI itself, only SOIs that explicitly stated future work were selected. With this selection, we expect that the evaluators will focus on whether the context helps understand what the future direction is about and not how to use the SOI as a research direction.

The interface is composed of two panels: a main panel to gather the evaluation of the evaluators and a secondary panel to get some optional comments. The main panel of the interface used for the evaluation can be seen in Fig.  2 . In this main panel, the evaluator can see the SOI (highlighted in yellow), the paragraph surrounding this statement, and some blue highlights depending on the strategy. The question for each SOI was: “Is this paragraph and its potentially highlighted part(s) useful for you to understand what this statement of ignorance is about?” While waiting for an answer (“Useful” or “Not Useful”), the interface records the time it takes for the evaluator to give their answer. In this main panel, the abstract of the paper containing the SOI is accessible by clicking on a button. Each time a decision, “Useful” or “Not Useful”, is made by the evaluator, the secondary panel opens, asking whether the evaluator has any comment regarding the decision they just made. For each evaluator, the evaluation ends when a “Useful” or “Not Useful” decision has been provided for all SOIs.

Main panel of the interface used for the experiment about context. The paragraph (from McGrath et al. [ 41 ], in this example) in which the future work sentence (in yellow) is mentioned is provided. In this example, the blue highlight corresponds to the important contextual sentences according to GPT-3.5

The experiments are built upon 30 SOIs selected at random. Each SOI is presented three times during the experiment: once with its contextual paragraph but no highlight, once with the previous sentence highlighted in the paragraph, and once with highlights provided by GPT in the paragraph. This resulted in 90 “Useful”/“Not Useful” trials to perform per participant. The strategies behind the highlights were not provided to the participants (i.e., they only saw highlights, without knowing what generated them). Each participant received the trials in a different order. The randomization was designed by block: for each SOI, each of the three highlight strategies is randomly assigned to one of three blocks. The SOIs inside each block are then further shuffled. This ensures that the same statements with two highlight strategies are not close to each other in the experiment. A further condition was added to filter and only keep the randomized orders where at least five trials separate two highlight strategies on the same SOIs. This condition is necessary because, in some rare cases, two highlight strategies for the same SOI can be assigned at the end of a block and the beginning of the next block. In that case, the same SOI (but with different highlight strategies) would be seen twice in a row, which would bias the experiment as the evaluator would remember their previous judgment when making the second one.

The eight evaluators are all researchers in bioinformatics or have a strong knowledge of biology. This ensures that (1) as they are all researchers, they have a good understanding of what constitutes a future work statement in a research paper, and (2) they have sufficient background to understand the biomedical papers in our dataset. The experiment took between around 60 and 90 minutes, depending on the participant.

In the next section, we discuss in greater length the use of LLMs to provide the highlighted parts of our experiment.

GPT prompt engineering and other LLMs

After some prompt engineering, we discovered that developing a very complex prompt was not necessary to obtain good results on our extraction task. The prompt that worked the best with GPT-3.5 was the following:

Given the following paragraph from a scientific paper: “{PARAGRAPH}” Please provide the most relevant passage(s) from this paragraph that can help a researcher understand “{STATEMENT OF IGNORANCE}" in the paragraph and that is not “{STATEMENT OF IGNORANCE}" itself. Please do not add anything other than the passage(s) in your response.

with {PARAGRAPH} being the paragraph that contains the SOI referred by {STATEMENT OF IGNORANCE}. GPT-4 [ 42 ] offered similar results on our task for a much greater cost. Given the lack of difference in the results, GPT-3.5 is considered for the whole experiment.

Other LLMs, particularly open-source ones like BLOOM [ 43 ], have been tested on our task with different prompts. Unfortunately, none could rival the performance of GPT-3.5. Common issues were (1) not sticking exactly to (i.e., modifying) the text of the paper and (2) adding additional, non-requested information. For the worst LLMs on our task, the outputs were not relevant.

Results and analysis

Table  5 contains the preferences of each participant, where a preference of a given highlight strategy A over B is defined by the fact that the participant found A useful but not B for the same future work statement and the same paragraph. Each row in the table provides the percentage of time, for the same paragraph, a participant preferred a certain combination of methods (with GPT highlights (“GPT” in the table), with the previous sentence highlighted (“PS” in the table), and the paragraph without any highlight (“Paragraph” in the table)). For instance, P1 having 10% for “Both GPT and PS” means that for 10% of the provided future work statements, P1 considered that highlighting using GPT and highlighting using the previous sentence in the paragraph was useful, but having the paragraph only without highlights was not useful.

A paired t-test analysis over each pair of methods and all participants shows that there is no one-fits-all solution. Indeed, the participants can be clustered in groups of preferences, which are canceling out when considered all together. This signals that a more detailed analysis must be performed, in particular, to identify clusters among participants.

One first thing to note is that while the preferences for methods are spread differently among the participants, considering everything useful (first row called “Everything” in Table  5 ) is always the most frequent option. In the most extreme case, P1 and P3 consider that everything is useful (all the possibilities, i.e., the paragraph without highlight, with the previous sentence highlighted and with GPT’s highlights) more than half of the time.

A second thing to note is that the case where nothing is useful (last row called “Nothing” in Table  5 ), always has a low percentage of preference (except for P4). In other words, presenting something alongside the future work statement (the paragraph with or without highlight) was almost always useful for the participants (100% of the time for P1, 83.3% for P2 and P3, 56.7% for P4, 90% for P5 and P7, 76.7% for P6 and 96.7% for P8).

Another trend that has been observed is that participants tend to always prefer GPT highlights (“GPT Only” line in the table), no highlight (“Paragraph Only” line in the table), or both (“Both GPT & Paragraph” line in the table), over naively highlighting the previous sentence (“Paragraph Only” line in the table). Indeed, it can be seen in Table  6 that P2 and P4 consider that GPT is significantly more useful than the previous sentence (“PS”), P5 considers that providing the paragraph without highlights (“Paragraph”) is more useful than the other options, and P3 considers that both GPT and no highlight (“Paragraph”) are better than highlighting the previous sentence (“PS”) only. This result is expected, as it means the sentence before the future work statement is not always related to the future work in question. In these cases, it is better to either use a smarter strategy (e.g., GPT) or to not provide anything at all.

As the most frequent case, for all participants, is when everything is useful, the usefulness of highlights when the paragraph without highlights is considered useful was analyzed (see Table  7 ). The purpose of this analysis is to assess the usefulness of highlights when the participants detected useful information in the paragraph when there were no highlights. In that case, when the paragraph without highlights is considered useful, all participants considered that highlighting the previous sentence was not useful. This indicates that when the participants can identify the useful information in the paragraph, highlighting the previous sentence is not useful for them. This is more rarely the case for GPT, where only P5, P7, and P8 significantly considered that GPT’s highlights were not useful when the paragraph alone is useful.

Another interesting insight comes from the opposite case, i.e., when the paragraph is considered not useful by the participants (see Table  8 ). A paragraph without highlights can be considered not useful for two reasons: (1) the paragraph does not contain useful information to understand the future work statement, or (2) the useful information in the paragraph is hidden in noise and, because of that, the participant did not see the useful information. Five participants considered that it is significantly useful to provide highlights in this context: P1, P2, and P6 considering that any way to highlight is useful in that case, while P7 has a preference for highlights provided by GPT, in this context, and P8 has a preference for highlighting the previous sentence.

Several things can be concluded from this analysis. First, the future work statement should always be shown embedded in the paragraph in which it appears, as it is very rare that this is not useful (see the last row of Table  5 ). Second, as there is a possibility that the useful information in the paragraph has been missed by the researcher, and as providing highlights rarely hurts (see the row “Paragraph Only” in Table  5 to see the percentage of time providing the paragraph has been considered useful, but not the highlights), some highlights should be proposed with the paragraph containing the future work statement. Finally, these highlights should come from an advanced method (such as GPT in our study) instead of a naive one. However, what our study also shows is that even a very advanced way to provide highlights (such as using one of the best-performing LLMs) can have difficulties to compete with a situation where no highlights are provided. This means that, in order to make the highlights useful, they should be provided by a high-performing method that can identify the pieces of information that may be hidden in the paragraph and that may help understand the future work statement.

Several elements of discussion arise from our study of recommending research directions. First, we discuss the different ways to embed researcher profiles. Second, using interpretable models made it possible to highlight interesting insights when solving the task. Third, the difficulty of recommending research directions based on researcher profiles is discussed. Fourth, we mention different fairness issues that can arise from such a recommendation of research directions. Fifth, as no study is empty of limitations, we discuss the limitations of our study in order to suggest future work. Finally, we sum up the significance of our work for the scientific community as a whole.

On the different ways to embed researcher profiles

Many different elements can be considered to embed researcher profiles when recommending research directions. Indeed, in addition to a summary of the previous abstracts (that we perform with sentence-BERT), here are other elements that can be taken into account: embedding summary of the whole previous papers, concepts retrieved in previous abstracts or papers by a concept recognizer, concepts in co-author abstracts or papers, concepts related to the papers cited by the papers of the author, etc.

Each of these strategies has pros and cons. For instance, considering whole papers to represent a researcher (instead of abstracts only) can provide more information but can also bury the important information in a mass of irrelevant texts. Furthermore, alternative strategies can be of interest in other setups than the one considered in this paper. For instance, if no abstract or paper is available for the researcher (for instance, because they are very new researchers), then recent information (abstracts, papers, and/or concepts) about the researcher’s supervisor can be used.

What can be learned from the interpretable models?

Interpretable models are models that provide users access to their inner workings [ 44 , 45 ]. Examples of interpretable models are sparse linear models, for which the weights can be extracted and studied, and decision trees with their human-friendly representation. As we use interpretable models in our experiments, like linear models with TF-IDF vectorization as features, we can leverage the information they provide about their modeling of the data and the task to get new insights. In fact, our interpretable models show that models easily overfit when performing the recommendation. Despite this issue, the weights of linear models can provide important clues about the reasons for this overfitting issue.

An analysis of the interpretable models shows that recommender systems can choose spurious features. For instance, if a researcher often generates a certain typo or refers to a specific city, then a SOI containing this typo or city may be used by the model as an important feature for the recommendation to this researcher. This, of course, leads to poor performance during the recommendation phase. Therefore, the simpler the model is, the less likely it is to overfit terms specific to the author that are in fact irrelevant to the recommendation.

However, these interpretable models also show that recommendations can sometimes be correctly performed with a combination of a few concepts that would otherwise be buried in long texts.

On the difficulty of the task

The results from our experiment in the Evaluation  section show that the task at hand is in fact very difficult. This is partly due to SOIs that are very generic.

Indeed, if we consider for instance the first-author heuristic, a recommendation is considered good for a researcher r , in our experiments, if the recommended SOI has in fact been written by r . However, if a particular SOI written by r is so generic that it is of no interest to the researchers in the field, then the probability of having it in the top 5 recommendations for r themselves is very low. Furthermore, if r tends to write all of their SOIs in such a way, then it may be that none of the SOIs written by r can in fact be recommended to r , which would participate in a bad result according to the first-author heuristic. The heuristic based on concepts alleviates this issue, as any SOI that contains concepts also present in the abstracts of r is considered a relevant recommendation candidate.

One other solution to avoid this issue, that we leave as a future work, is to gather experts in the field covered by the dataset of SOIs (e.g., in our case, experts in prenatal nutrition) and to ask them the question, “would this researcher be interested to work on at least one of these 5 SOIs?”. This solution however requires the gathered experts to study the researchers in the dataset in order to know their work and to be able to judge if the recommendations can be relevant for the researcher or not.

Possible fairness issues in the recommendation of research directions

While recommending research directions can make it easier for junior researchers to navigate their field, possible fairness issues can also arise. In this section, we highlight these potential fairness issues in order to raise awareness and inspire future work on the subject.

There are three categories of persons that are usually considered targets of fairness issues [ 46 ]: consumers, producers, and subjects. Consumers are the users of the recommender system, which corresponds, in our case, to the researchers using our system to obtain recommendations for research directions. Producers, on the other hand, are the persons producing the elements that are recommended. In our case, these persons are the authors of the SOIs and, therefore, of the papers containing them. Finally, the subjects are the persons concerned by the studies in these SOIs. For instance, if a SOI states that additional studies are required about a certain disease in a certain population, this population can also be the target of unfairness.

One first consumer fairness issue relates to the researchers who are non-native English speakers. Indeed, the more the sentences in their abstracts deviate from ordinary English phrasing, the more difficult it can be to match the researcher’s embedding to the SOI embeddings. A second consumer population that can be the target of unfairness is the most junior researchers. Indeed, these researchers may not yet use, in their few papers, the vocabulary of the field following the common usage that is well-known by more senior researchers. For these two issues related to an under-represented use of the language, fine-tuning the sentence-BERT embedding model with examples of non-native and junior researchers can be a solution. Finally, authors working on niche subjects can also suffer from unfairness. However, while this last point also deserves attention, it can more easily be tackled, as it is done by our proposed method RecSOI. Indeed, a niche research direction will be recommended by RecSOI as long as the SOI about this niche subject is close to at least one abstract of the researcher. However, RecSOI relies on an embedding model trained on data that may not contain lots of documents about the niche subject. Because of that, the resulting embeddings of sentences about niche subjects may be of lower quality, which can therefore lower the recommendation performance for niche subjects.

The fairness issues related to producers mirror the ones related to consumers. Indeed, some SOIs may be less often recommended and therefore proposed as research directions, if they have been written by non-native English speakers or junior researchers, or if they state ignorance about a niche subject. This means that the work of these researchers is less likely to be used as a basis for future work. As for consumer issues, fine-tuning the sentence-BERT embeddings to obtain embeddings that are equally good for non-conventional research sentences in English can be a solution.

However, the populations that may be the most impacted by the fact that some SOIs may be less recommended are the subjects in the related studies. Indeed, if, for instance, the medical aspects of a population from a certain non-English speaking country are almost exclusively studied by researchers from that country, then medical abnormalities and other research directions related to this population will be less recommended. However, if the producer unfairness issues mentioned above are solved, and all SOIs are all equally good for recommended, then this fairness issue may be solved at the same time.

Limitations of this work

Like all studies, our work comes with a set of limitations that are important to consider. First of all, our dataset is focused on prenatal nutrition papers. While additional work on generalization will need to be conducted, it is important to note that it is difficult to gather 500 or more authors from the literature to assess recommendations made for them. Likewise, gathering senior researchers to read researcher profiles and assess recommendations is also very difficult. This is why focusing on a specific field makes it easier to develop classifiers with good performance to automatically annotate the SOIs from a large set of papers.

However, in addition to its focus on a specific field, our work is also focused on sentences. Indeed, SOIs are considered to be contained in sentences in our work and the work of Boguslav et al. [ 5 , 6 ]. However, in some cases, multiple sentences are needed to describe the ignorance comprehensively. While we leave the detection and the recommendation of multi-sentence SOIs as a future work, it is worth noting that it can make the task even more difficult, as more words and concepts would have to be encoded in an embedding.

Another limitation of our work, which would require further studies and a dedicated solution, is that we consider SOIs without knowing if the statements have already been answered in recent papers. This task of determining if a solution to the problem has been provided is very difficult for many reasons. Some of these reasons are that (1) the words and the level of formalization used in the paper containing the problem and the one with the solution may be different, and (2) the proposed solutions are generally not complete answers to the question: they make specific hypotheses, have limitations, etc. This makes it therefore very hard to automatically solve the problem “Is this lack of knowledge, not a lack of knowledge at all anymore?”.

Next comes a limitation that is specific to our novel task and its solution: we implicitly make the hypothesis that the papers containing the research directions to recommend are freely and openly accessible. This is certainly not always the case, but research directions inside papers can hardly be extracted if the papers are not accessible. One solution to this issue is to propose research directions as we do for openly accessible papers and recommend whole papers based on meta-data when the papers are not accessible. See Haruna et al. [ 20 ] for a solution to recommend papers when meta-data only are available.

Significance of this work

Despite the inherent limitations and the need for future exploration, our study’s findings can prove useful far beyond our dataset on prenatal nutrition and the broader scope of biomedical research. Our work lies in the larger spectrum of how we keep track of what we know as well as recognize what we have yet to discover. Such an approach is particularly crucial given the accelerating pace of scientific output [ 1 ]. We believe that our study is one of the first to propose a systematic method to counter the decline in innovation, disruptiveness, and return on scientific investments [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. By providing a structured approach to understanding and organizing existing knowledge, the task and the system we propose could be of great utility to other scientific fields, promoting efficient navigation through extensive literature and assisting in the identification of under-explored areas.

This paper introduced a new task - recommending research directions based on statements of ignorance (SOIs) - and a system to solve it. While many papers in the literature focus on recommending scientific papers, our work goes further by recommending specific sentences in these papers that can lead to new research directions. While the mass of scientific papers grows bigger and bigger, we believe it is important to develop solutions to navigate this mass. This is especially true for junior researchers who do not know yet all the potential directions in their field.

Our solution, RecSOI (Recommender of research directions using Statements Of Ignorance) leverages weighted BERT-like embeddings of previous abstracts to build researcher profiles. These profiles can then be used to find SOIs that are relevant to them. Different heuristics are used to estimate the relevancy of our work. For the concepts heuristic, we show that RecSOI achieves a MAP \(_\exists\) @5 of 77.2%. This means that 77.2% of the authors have, in their top 5, at least one SOI that contains at least one concept present in their abstracts.

Furthermore, as one of the contributions of this paper is the task itself, we also provide a detailed discussion of its uses and limitations. Among the important elements that are discussed, we enumerate potential fairness issues that can arise when dealing with this task.

Our work opens the door to many different avenues of future work. One of the most important future work avenues is to detect if a stated lack of knowledge is not a lack of knowledge anymore in the literature. This requires, for a specific SOI, browsing the literature in order to find if a paper fully answers the stated ignorance. While this is a very hard problem, we believe it is one of the most important in the field of “science of science”.

Other future work relates more closely to the solution brought in this paper. First, a multi-sentence extraction of SOIs can be developed and then used for recommendation. Second, a more sophisticated metric learning procedure that does not fall into the overfitting trap can be developed to build researcher profiles. This can achieved in two different ways: (1) by defining a metric that would consider the different sentence-BERT dimensions without sticking too closely to the training data; and/or (2) by defining a new way to embed the researcher profiles, so that metrics applied to these profiles would not overfit. Another interesting future work would also be to add a name disambiguation module when extracting past abstracts, in order to make sure that the author of the abstracts is indeed the author for which recommendations are requested. Another way to build researcher profiles, and an interesting future work, would be to determine the abstract from the past of the researcher that are still relevant to characterize their current research. Finally, a cross-field recommender system can be developed. Indeed, one can argue that the expertise and interests of some researchers can cross scientific domains (e.g., a machine learning researcher following a research direction from the field of AI law).

Through the contributions of this paper, we aim to help science overcome one of its largest current challenges: helping researchers find research directions that are relevant to them.

Availability of data and materials

The annotated dataset of Boguslav et al. is available at https://github.com/UCDenver-ccp/Ignorance-Question-Work-Full-Corpus . RecSOI code, as well as the related data and resources, are available at https://github.com/AdrienBibal/RecSOI . Additional papers can freely be accessed with the PubMed Entrez API, using the query “prenatal nutrition” (without quotes). To get information about the authors, their co-authors and their papers, the OpenAlex API can freely be used.

Abbreviations

Large language models

Mean average precision at k

Mean average precision at k with at least one relevant recommendation

Previous sentence

Recommender of research directions using statements of ignorance

Statement of ignorance

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Acknowledgements

Adrien Bibal would like to thank the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) and Nourah E. Salem would like to thank the National Institutes of Health for their support. The authors would like to thank Dr. Rebecca Marion for her precious insights on the subject of this paper and Dr. Mayla R. Boguslav for sharing various pieces of information related to the dataset. The authors would also like to thank (in alphabetical order) Dr. Mayla R. Boguslav, Sajjad Daneshgar, David Gamero del Castillo, Lucas Gillenwater, Dr. Mélanie Henry, Scott Mongold, Brook Santangelo and Anastasia Theodosiadou for their participation in the evaluation of the importance of context.

Adrien Bibal was supported by a Fellowship of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) and Nourah E. Salem by the National Institutes of Health (grant number R01LM013400).

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Daniel E. Acuna, Robin Burke and Lawrence E. Hunter are co-last authors.

Authors and Affiliations

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA

Adrien Bibal, Nourah M. Salem & Elizabeth K. White

University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Rémi Cardon

University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Daniel E. Acuna & Robin Burke

University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Lawrence E. Hunter

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A.B. studied the problem, and conceptualized and implemented the solution. A.B., N.M.S., D.E.A., R.B. and L.E.H studied the solution for the recommender system and its evaluation. A.B. and N.M.S. prepared the data and developed the evaluation for the recommender system. A.B., R.C., E.K.W. and L.E.H. studied the solution for the extraction of context and its evaluation. A.B. conducted and implemented the evaluation for the extraction of context. L.E.H., R.B. and D.E.A. supervised the research. A.B. wrote the main manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Adrien Bibal .

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Bibal, A., Salem, N., Cardon, R. et al. RecSOI: recommending research directions using statements of ignorance. J Biomed Semant 15 , 2 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13326-024-00304-3

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Received : 08 November 2023

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13326-024-00304-3

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