Academic research consists of many parts or sections. Do you know what those sections are? Yes, you have guessed it right. The chapters included in academic research are sections you have answered by researching the topic. However, there are two sections in academic research to which researchers pay the least attention, i.e., future scope and references. The future scope may or may not come in academic research because it depends entirely on the researcher. However, the references are a mandatory part.
Over the last two to three years, it has been seen that mostly student researchers are facing problems citing the sources. Either they do not know how to write the references or do it knowingly. However, in today’s article, I am assuming the former case. So, in today’s article, you will find a step-by-step guide on future scope and references in academic research. Before going into this discussion, let’s define the terms references and future scope.
What does it mean by future scope in academic research?
The future scope is the section in academic research that explains where the results can lead other researchers in the future. What are the next steps which can be taken in this research area? This is the question you will try to answer in this future research section. Different tests and experiments are left for the future in a research study. It can be due to a lack of time, resources, or any other reason hindering the research process. In such a scenario, you craft the future scope section of your academic research and tell the readers about the scope of future research in your particular research topic.
What is the definition of references in academic research?
As explained earlier, future scope and references are two crucial parts of research. A reference is the use of a source or information to ascertain something. In academic research, you take help from many online sources, databases, and papers to collect the research data. A mention of such sources in academic research is a reference. References have many styles, depending on whether you go for APA, Harvard, MLA, or Chicago. Also, there are some good firms to get PhD dissertation help for your academic research.
A step-by-step guide to writing future scope
From the discussion above, you know about the meaning of future scope in academic research. Assuming that you have a concrete understanding of this term, let’s move on to the guide for writing this section. Hence, a brief description of the steps is as follows:
Emphasise the significance of future research
To craft this section perfectly, start by emphasising the significance of future research based on your current research. Briefly explain the current findings and research and then jump on to the significance of future research. Talk about the potential effects that future research can have on society or culture.
Discuss the limitations of your research
Not a single research is perfect in all its meaning. Every research has limitations, and so is the case with your research. To write a future scope section, you must discuss the limitations of your current academic research. The reason is that the limitations have compelled you to write a future scope section. Hence, discussing the limitations while writing the future scope is a must.
Justify the future scope
As explained earlier, the necessity for future research arises when the researcher does not have enough time to conduct all the experiments or for any other reason. Whatever the case is, you need to justify future scope. For example, if it is about the shortage of time, explain the reasons in detail why you failed to meet the deadline.
Future scope suggestions
After writing about all the three crucial elements first, your reader is almost convinced why this future scope or future research is mandatory. Now is the time to put forward some suggestions relating to future research. Be direct and concise while writing the suggestions so the reader can easily understand further what needs to be done.
A step-by-step guide to references
Initially, I mentioned that today’s article is about guidelines on writing future scope and references. As the future scope section of the article is discussed, let’s move on to the references now. Hence, below are some points you must follow when writing the references.
- The first step in creating the references is choosing a referencing style. As many styles in practice these days, you need to choose one. So, decide whether you want to use APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago style of referencing. Sometimes, you do not need to choose the style. It is because the teacher has already notified you about it.
- Knowing about the type of source you want to reference is another crucial step. The reason is that there are different guidelines for different sources. It means that a reference generated using the website content will be different than a reference from a research paper or journal. Hence, knowledge about the source type.
- The third step is all about creating the reference. You have an idea of your source and referencing style from the steps above, so create the reference. Gone are the days when people used to create references by hand. Now, there are multiple tools available that can create references for you in a minute. So, use such kinds of tools and make your work easy. Some tools are Citethisforme, Mendeley, and ref-n-write.
Conclusion
The time has come to conclude our today’s discussion. The future scope and references are two crucial sections of academic research. In the future scope section, you talk about the research areas that can be explored further in your subject. On the other hand, the references are all about giving information about the sources you have used. So, craft both sections carefully as both are important.