How to Write a Human Resources Research Paper: Tips from Experts (2024)

A human resources research paper is an essay dedicated to human resource management in the format of a scientific investigation. Before providing the actual tips, the main components of human resources research should be defined in advance as well to write a decent paper. A research paper is not a review and not a compilation of the academic sources dedicated to a particular question. Definitely, research paper writing contains the actual research and writing process based on an argument or a research question in the field of human resources that requires a clear vision of how it works.

If it’s your first time when you’re asked to write a research paper, it may seem to be a daunting task. With the adequate preparation and focus of mind on better results in research paper writing, you can make the writing process easier. Let’s break down the whole process of research paper research paper writing into the simple and productive steps.

2 Aspects of Human Resources Research

Human resource management is a special system designed for the inner company’s resources control. An HR manager is a person who is responsible for employee education, support, and guiding. The purpose of human resource management is to maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees. Human resource management is not a simple rearrangement of people. The core principle of the system is to build a comfortable sphere for the company’s workers and the creation of possibilities for their development. Human resource management has several directions which can be divided into:

1. The individual-level implies finding and nourishing the individual talents and skills of the employee.
2. The organizational field of human resource management is responsible for the immediate organization of the work-flow process.

Moreover, it should be pointed out that human resource management evolves with technological advancement. Nowadays not only the processes are in the scope of the research, but methods of the management are a subject of the interest as well. At the moment, all possible ways of communication go further traditional conferences: telecommunication, mass email delivery, and communication from the distance. As a rule, new possibilities create new challenges. In such a variety of topics, choose one to research may be challenging as well.

Get Informed Before the Final Choice of Topics

There are a wide variety of topics that can be researched in your human resources paper. In such a diversity, it is important to remember that every piece of research has a certain goal:

• Answer a question that is little-investigated,
• Prove the available theory,
• Develop theoretical and practical knowledge.

Before the actual structuring and defining a topic for research, a deductive method should be applied. The first point that should be defined is a subfield of human resources management. Secondly, an author should decide: will he or she develop a something new or explore existing issues and challenges. Finally, the author should define a particular topic. For example, proper topics for your essay will be:

• The Human Resource Management Evolution over the Last Decade
• Human Resource Managers and Their Responsibility in the Business World
• Strategic Human Resource Management: What to Apply and What to Avoid?
• Changing Roles in the Human Resource Management System
• Human Resource Management Practices in Big World’s Companies;
• Human Resources Training: What Does It Involve?
• Do the Risky Human Resources Depend on the Human Factor Only?
• Top Human Resource Paradigms That Contribute to the Business Development

You as an author of good essays should avoid topics that do not refer to the human resource management system. It is not about the law-making process in the business field and not about ethical dilemmas in the field. Besides, human resource management does not cover topics related to any scientific areas. For example, a topic which sounds like “The Influence of Stress in a Workplace” does not relate to HR management. The variety of topics allows choosing anything that an author may find interesting. For example, an author may explore a theme of minimizing workplace negativity. Any kind of work often causes stress which brings negativity to a working group. A skillful HR manager knows how to minimize negativity and change its vector. Determining a strategic framework, company’s values, and vision may become another important topic for the research. A company that clearly defines its goal has half of success. People, who understand this goal is the second half. An HR manager is responsible for the development of this goal and sharing it with the employee. Employee encouraging, however, may not be enough. A manager should not only encourage but retain the employees as well. This aspect may be studied through the ways of appreciating or demonstrating the issue.

Pre-Writing Tips That Really Work

Before writing, in-depth research should be conducted to gather all the necessary information. Peer-reviewed journals dedicated to the HR sphere can be a starting point for your research. However, some trustworthy Internet resources on the particular topic should not be ignored as well. Such resources as Inc.com and Investopedia may provide the necessary and the most recent information concerning existing HR management, business terms, and phenomenon. New York Times and BBC News may provide information concerning the latest changes in the given area, its key tendencies, and prognoses. The well-chosen sources for your own research is a guarantee of the accurate topic lighting on paper. The examples of real companies serve as additional resources for exploring an HR topic to the fullest extent.

Among the vast number of journals, there are 10 ones that can be used as the most useful for your HR research paper:

• Academy of Management Journal available on the Academy of Management. The journal covers the practical application of managerial practice and provides respectful data.
• Academy of Management Review available on the Academy of Management. This journal covers the theoretical aspects of the management field and provides recent conceptions and theories related to the field.
• Journal of International Business Studies available on Springer. The journal covers the management-related topics focused on multinational enterprises’ communication.
• Journal of Management available on Sage. The journal covers a wide list of topics: starting from business strategies and ending with organizational behavior. Besides, these topics are supported by both empirical and theoretical data.
• Journal of Business Ethics available on Springer. The journal covers the ethical aspect of the business providing. The journal is not advised as a primary source, but it may be used as support material.
• Review of Accounting Studies available on Springer. The journal of accounting studies which may provide the necessary statistics.
• Accounting, Organizations, and Society available on Elsevier. The journal overviews the subject of accounting and behavior relations. May serve as a helpful link between the statistics and actual HR management techniques.
• Administrative Science Quarterly available on Sage. The journal shows a complex approach toward the organizational process and ways of researches related to it. The journal may be used as a background for interdisciplinary data providing.
• Journal of Business & Economic Statistics available on the American Statistical Association. The journal publishes materials related to business statistics. It may be used as a source of precise numerical data.
• Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice available on the Wiley Online Library. The journal covers both theoretical and practical aspects of management and publishes respective researches.

The usage of business cases of successful and unsuccessful management strategies and decisions emphasizes the practical part of researching writing. You should take notes from available pieces of researches and point out some relevant facts to use them in your research paper only with the correct citations. These notes will provide a support to your paper writing in various ways:

• Outlining points, topics, and subtopics that will be discovered in details,
• Referencing phrases that support your arguments,
• Guiding points that help to develop your own thoughts.

Outline Briefly What Your Research Paper Should Have

During the proper preparation for human resources research paper writing, the outline may be useful to organize every point in a logical manner. Traditionally, an outline consists of the main points according to the basic structure – an introduction, body (literature review, methodology, results, and discussion), and conclusion.

First of all, the outline should be divided into bullet points, and these bullet points should be numbered. The bullet points reflect topics which relate to the research question and its disclosure. If a research question is complex enough, then there should be subpoints which should be reflected in the outline as well. The outline creation is an important step in the writing preparation: it helps to create a solid framework for the future essay and define its structure. The outline of research papers usually has a similar structure. Look at it:

It should be pointed out that the process of writing is iterative. A writer should not concentrate too much on the accuracy and grammar in the first draft. The main aim of the first draft is to convey a thought and give it a decent form. At the second circle, the writer should pay more attention to the paper sections, title, and the thesis statement.

Title

The title is the first point that a reader sees holding the research paper in hands or in front of eyes on a computer. That is why it is important to make it eye-catching and interesting to read to the end. However, a writer should not forget to keep the title believable. The title should reflect the research question in a brief manner. Besides, the active voice is the must. Sticking to these features will make the title acceptable and intriguing for readers. At the top of that, the title should be accurate. Readers should know what they are going to read or on what topic an essay is written.

Thesis Statement

A deliberate thesis statement is a core framework of an essay. If the title defines the topic of a paper and gives the first glimpse of it, then a thesis statement shows the author’s position concerning the stated research question. Besides, the thesis statement should not be about the pros and cons that oversimplify the complex research question. Besides, don’t simply report well-known facts. Go further than the simple repetition of what is known about a topic.

Body Paragraphs

Body parts are the essence of research paper writing where the thesis statement is discovered and explained according to the review of the related literature, research methods used for answering the question under analysis. Each body paragraph should be started from a topic sentence that is detailed by supportive sentences. At this stage, some notes from the outline may serve as an appropriate point for topic sentence creation. A paragraph should end with a closing sentence that sums up the main paragraph’s idea. Traditionally, an essay consists of an introductory paragraph, three body parts, and a conclusion. However, the number of parts depends on the paper requirements.

Conclusion

After the body sections are written, it is time to conclude logically in the form of an analytical summary of the paper’s main points. Focusing on a minor point in the paper may lead you to write new information. However, it is inappropriate to end a research paper in such a way. As an alternative, you can give some recommendation for further research in the given field.

3 Post-Writing Tips from Our Experts: Improve Your Research Paper in an Instance

At the final stage of research paper writing, the primary concern is its overall look.

• Are all the necessary parts provided as required?
• Does the flow of thoughts move from the general to the particular?
• Is a paper free of structural, grammatical, spelling mistakes? and so on.

Start with editing after you’re sure you have nothing to write on a topic. It is no wonder to delete some extra words during the editing process. But stick to the word/page count of a paper. Even if you remove something unsubstantial from your paper, add something relevant for a part. Besides, pay double attention to the essential essay components. During the proofreading process, you should remain concentrated and put aside any source of distraction. It will be useful to watch closely for hom*onyms in which there are a lot of typical spelling mistakes. Just remember hom*onyms are words which share the same pronunciation or spelling but have different meanings. Besides, no contraction is used in academic writing. Punctuation is the next important step in proofreading. Put some missing or delete extra commas and periods. Read your research paper backward to find the final mistakes.

The last but not least element is referencing. All the research papers are grounded on the previous pieces of research and scientific publications that should be used for strong support of your main arguments. all the sources are used for the actual research fit perfectly for referencing. The format of referencing should be minded as well. Depending on the required referencing format, all the guidelines are met.

After you see an accurately-formatted paper, that is it – your research paper is ready for the submission. Hope you manage to submit a research paper on human resources on time or even earlier the deadline, and have no questions how to write a good human resources research paper.