WRITING YOUR

CONCEPT PAPER
Preparation for Midterm Exams
 PARTS:
• TITLE
• RATIONALE
• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
• METHODOLOGY
• REFERENCES
 TITLE
• Make sure your title can encapsulate the
whole idea of your research.
• The title itself should give the readers an idea
of what they would be expecting when they
read the paper.
• However, you also have to make sure that the
title is enticing enough to make it more
inviting.
 TITLE
• Certain institutions have different guidelines
as to the number of words in the title. In our
case, we can assign up to 12 words for our
title, to be safe.
• For quantitative research: adopt a scientific
and objective tone.
• For qualitative research: you may adopt a
more creative tone.
 TITLE
Titles can also carry the research design of the
paper. Here are some keywords that can be
included in the title to imply certain approaches:
 Word Approach Research Design

Effect Quantitative Experimental

Level, Extent Quantitative Descriptive

Inferential

Relationship Quantitative Descriptive-

Correlational
Lived Experience Qualitative Phenomenology

Case Qualitative Case Study

 TITLE
Note: Other research designs do not have a
specific key word.

In formulating your titles, try not to use the

name of your research design. This is done to
avoid redundancy and to promote novelty.
 Examples

The Analgesic Effect of Capsicum Frutescens

Reading Comprehension and Academic

Performance of Grade 9 Students

Lived Experiences of Children in Conflict with the

Law at a Local Community Facility
 Examples

Plant Design for the Production of Flour from

Mature Coconut

The Art of Dying: A Psychoanalytic Criticism on

Selected Sylvia Plath Poems
 RATIONALE
• The rationale serves as the main point of your
concept paper. It is usually written in 1-3
paragraphs.
 RATIONALE
• Make sure to include the following parts in
writing your rationale.
– The existence of the research trend.
– The main concepts and theories involved in
conducting the research.
– The research gap.
– The intent to fill the research gap.
– The researchers’ reason for writing the paper.
 SOP/RQ/Obj.
• The problem statement has two parts: (1) the general
objective and the (2) specific objectives.
• The general objective usually written in 1-2 sentences. It
declares what the research endeavor is trying to achieve.
• The specific objects or the research questions are a set of
inquiries aligned from the general objective. These
inquiries are the ones being answered in the “results”
section of a research paper.
• Specific objectives can also adopt the keywords listed
earlier.
 Example:
This study aims to determine the relationship between the level of reading
comprehension of UNO-R BSED students and their academic performance.

Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of reading comprehension of the UNO-R BSED students
when grouped as a whole and when grouped according sex and year level?
2. What is the general weighted average of the UNO-R BSED students when
grouped as a whole and when grouped according to sex and year level?
3. Is there a significant relationship between the level of reading
comprehension and academic performance of UNO-R BSED students when
grouped as a whole and when grouped according to sex and year level?
METHODOLOGY
This section of the concept paper talks about the
possible steps the researcher/s would have to
take in order to finish the research paper. Make
sure to include the following sub-parts:
• Approach
• Research Design
• Process/Procedure
• Ethical Consideration
METHODOLOGY
– APPROACH – this dictates what approach to
research will be used by the researchers. The
approaches can either be quantitative, qualitative,
or a mixed-method.
– DESIGN – this sections talks about the specific
research design that the researcher/s will use in
order to answer the generated research questions.
METHODOLOGY
PROCESS/PROCEDURE – this section enumerates and
explains all the possible steps that would be taken by
the researcher/s in conducting the research. This
section talks about the data gathering and data analysis
procedure. It also tells about the target participants of
the study and how they will be determined (sampling),
as well as the research locale.
METHODOLOGY
ETHICAL CONSIDERATION – this section declares all the
possible ethical considerations that would be taken by
the researcher. It tells what steps the researcher/s
would take to ensure anonymity of the participants and
the confidentiality of data. This section should also tell
how the researchers will get the consent of their
participants, subjects, interviewees, or respondents.
 REFERENCES
It’s not a research paper without proper
reference list. This section lists down all the
references used by the researcher.
 REFERENCES
Take note of the following guidelines:
• The list should be in APA 6th edition format.
• The list should be in alphabetical order.
• For online and electronic sources, note the
date of the retrieval.
• References should be not older than 10 years
old. This means that the oldest source should
be dated 2011.
 ADDITIONAL NOTE
• CITATIONS – makes sure that your whole
concept paper is properly cited using APA 6th
edition format.
 CITATIONS
Take note of the parts that should always be cited:
• Concepts and Theories in Rationale
• Generalized ideas
• Definition of the research approach
• Definition of the research design
• Definition sampling method
• Definition of data collection tool/strategy
• Definition of data analysis tool/strategy
• Steps for ensuring ethical considerations
 FORMAT
• Paper Size: 8.5 x 11
• Margin: 1.5in on the left; 1in for the rest
• Font size: 12pt.
• Font style: Times New Roman
• Spacing: Double spaced
• Alignment: Justified
• In-Text Citations: APA 6th Edition
END