How to Write a Methodology Section for a Capstone Project

A capstone project is completed by a student who is very close to earning her degree. The project is generally very intensive and demanding, and in most fields, it can involve some type of research. You may need to write a research paper as part of your capstone project. Within the paper, you must include a methodology section. Knowing all you can about how to write each section of the research paper for your capstone project will make completing the entire project seem less daunting.

Label the methodology section of the research report for your capstone project as "Methods."

Include information about the materials you used to conduct your research in the methodology section. Materials can mean any instruments or equipment you used, any subjects being studied and any treatments that were administered as part of your research.

Explain how you used the materials listed. To complete your research, you most likely used or manipulated the materials in some way. A thorough explanation specific to your research needs to be provided.

Talk about what your research entailed, how you gathered information and how measurements were made, when relevant. All of these details about your research are vital to a complete methods section.

Mention the statistical methods or tests that you used to analyze the research and data that you collected using the previously described methods.

Check your work. After reading through your methods section, a person should be able to replicate your research exactly. Read the section carefully, making sure you did not leave out any information. Additionally, the language you use should be direct and to the point, with no extraneous words or phrases, and your sentence structure should include short, declarative sentences whenever possible.

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