Question

I need help with an outline for my research paper, I'm not good with doing outlines and I also seriously hurt my knee and mag need surgery so I'm on pain medication right now so I really need this help, my proposal for my research paper and for my outline is The Outsourcing of Business Functions in the Global Era.
My thesis : With the Outsourcing of business Functions usually depending on the decisions of management and these decisions affecting the outsourcing of the business functions, which in turn have major implications that also allows the ability to get a lot of work done fast and without too much cost and complications.
Three supporting elements:
(1) Reduce the work tension and pressure on the employees and management.
(2) It helps in attaining the resources and gets the work done with a minimal cost and if possible at a faster rate than it would usually take.
(3) And the final supporting element would be that the work can be done with a lot of accuracies and the management can concentrate on other important processes of the business.
Challenges to the research: The details gathered regarding the outsourcing of such business functions my be withdrawn by the companies and still they may not have been updated in the resources used, some business entities may not allow us to research on thier business function outsourcing since they may involve confidential information and much more.
I need this by Friday or Saturday, please help me. thank you.

Answer 1

Seems you're trying to research the advantages of outsourcing business operations.

The outline (i.e. structure) of any research paper, typically, follows a standard format covering-

1. Title:
   • The theme of your study (best written at the end - once you're done with your research and have revised whatever it is that you've accomplished by means of your study)
   • e.g. "A study on the advantages of outsourcing business operations in the global era"
2. Abstract:
   • A very brief summary of your research, conclusions and recommendations.
   • This depends on your research really... but the text of this question seems fine enough to be used as an abstract...
3. Contents:
   • A breakdown of the sections, subsections, Tables/Charts/Graphs etc. by page number.
   • Again, this depends on your research. Just refer to a contents page of any credible academic source for an idea.
4. Introduction:
   • A quick and succinct history of your research and experiment, with correct citations. You may add the challenges you faced (and any limitations to your study thereof) over here.
   • You need to expand along the lines of your abstract. Everything from the title to the introduction is best written after you've completed your study. These elements are like cake-walk once you know what you've accomplished through your research..
5. Literature Review:
   • Find material that's relevant to your research topic. Study it and decide which of the various literature sources contributes significantly to your research. Summarise your study/findings/conclusions in the form of a discussion. Show what you're planning to analyse further and why.
   • Examples of some possible topics you may want to include are - Introduction to outsourcing, Factors impacting outsourcing decisions, specific business models, prevalence of outsourcing and examples, services and systems, legalities, advantages- potential performance improvements (benchmarking of internal performances with potential suppliers), cost saving etc.
6. Research Methodology:
   • Once you've decided what you wish to analyse, think on how you're going to analyse it. Describe the study methods you're going to employ - including sampling techniques, data gathering and processing methods, analysis techniques/software etc.
   • As you've noted, companies may not provide access to their resources. In such situations, adopt secondary research. Choose from qualitative or quantitative methods (or do both) depending on the context, your skills, resources etc. Try and analyse the performance metrics (financial growth, sales/profits, market valuation, organisational size, expansion etc.) pre and post outsourcing for any organisation (or any group of organisations or some industry). Use credible/reliable information sources - e.g. annual reports, government websites etc.
7. Conclusions:
   • A quick review of the facts and figures along with appropriate interpretation(s). Don't cite too much data in order to avoid cluttering. Use tables/graphs instead. Create appendices for raw data.
   • See what the numbers from your research say and provide your judgement(s) accordingly. Do keep in mind the limitations of your study and any consequent implications - that may impact your conclusions
8. Recommendations:
   • Discuss your findings, and show how they compared/differed from the results you anticipated (refer back to your literature review). Provide recommendations accordingly.
9. Reflective Essay:
   • Write about your research journey, why you did what you did...the challenges you faced, the people you met, the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt...etc.