What is the standard research paper format for high school?
When writing a high school research paper, there is a standard format that you can use. It is probably one that you were taught in second or third grade and that you have been using ever since. It is called a five paragraph essay format. This is a great format to use but it may need to be modified in order to accommodate the additional information.
Your teacher may require that you use a certain font style and font size. This is usually required to ensure that everyone is responsible for writing the same amount of pages. If some students choose a font size that is bigger or a font style that is bigger, they may have to write less if the instructor just tells you how many pages to write. The teacher may also note that she wants the margins to be a certain length too. So, to ensure that this doesn’t happen they will require that the set up for everyone’s paper is the same. Set up your paper in your word processor first so that you have everything ready to go and save it until you get the writing portion.
Modified five paragraph for high school research papers
The introduction of your paper will stay the same. It may be more than one paragraph if need be. This section should include all of the necessary background information as well as any vocabulary that your audience may need to know. The last sentence of this section whether it is one or two paragraphs long should be your thesis statement. If you break it into two paragraphs, you may want to use one paragraph for background information and one for vocabulary.
The body paragraphs will still contain the main supporting ideas. There are usually three paragraphs in this section. You want to use a main point for each one. If you need to expand on the original model, you can use two paragraphs for each main supporting idea which would turn the three into six paragraphs. The breakdown of the two paragraphs within each supporting idea will be one paragraph per supporting fact.
The conclusion paragraph should be one paragraph. This will restate your thesis and give the reader a recap of the overall idea behind your paper.
That is how you can modify your original five paragraph paper format to accommodate a larger paper like a research paper.