How to Write a Research Paper
Finding Sources, Taking Good Notes, and Developing a Thesis
Aug 20, 2008
Topics may vary, but there are a few basic principles that apply to any type of research. These help organize thoughts, create a strong paper, and avoid plagiarism.
The following tips are geared especially towards an undergraduate level research paper where the student has access to a library and one to three months to compete the assignment, but can easily be applied to high school or graduate papers as well. Students should always keep the goal of the paper in mind, don't forget the assignment (and target length), and focus on being as critical and accurate as possible.
- Identify a research question. The student should start with some target question for research, and expect that it will change at least two or three times. These usually start too broad, but could be too narrow if limited resources are available. It is amazing how much material is available on almost any topic at a good university library. The ideal topic can be exhaustively covered within the target length, with most of the available sources or opinions considered. If the student thinks, "I could write a book on this," it is probably too big.
- Identify a thesis. A thesis is the answer to the research question. It should be as short as possible, ideally a sentence (that will of course be fleshed out further in the paper). The thesis also tends to change many times. Students should always read critically, seriously questioning both the opinions of the sources and their own opinions. If the sources clearly support a different thesis, then that thesis will probably shift.
- Pretend to be writing a shorter paper. The required length often seems long. It isn't. Students time and time again are daunted by a forty-page paper and end up having to trim sixty pages. The best strategy is to narrow the research question until it can be answered with five to ten fewer pages than the assignment length.
- Use different types of sources. Students should search for everything available. This could include books, journal articles, articles in periodicals and other forms of popular media, political speeches, interviews, or scientific reports. Reference librarians can help find print and online sources. Primary sources are especially useful. No student should rely entirely on something that a scholar says about another source. If the source they're referring to is available, the student should hunt it down and analyze for himself. Also, there may not be time to read entire books, but valuable material may be found in a book chapter or essay in a collection – easy to skim in the library.
- Copy down all information. Students should familiarize themselves with the bibliographical format in advance and find out what information they'll need for the types of sources they are using, then write that information as a heading for the notes for each source. Page numbers should always be included, and quotes put in quotation marks. This will save huge amounts of time in the long run.
- Use bibliographies. The best resource in the world can be the bibliography for a source that was very helpful, or the footnotes. Students should consult these resources whenever available.
- Exhaust research options. The research is finished when all the sources are quoting each other, and they have nothing new to say. If it seems that this point will never be reached, the research question is likely too broad.
Once the student has followed these tips and taken careful notes, it will be easy to construct a bibliography directly from the notes, fill in an outline, and start writing the first draft.
The copyright of the article How to Write a Research Paper in Essay Writing is owned by Judith Faucette. Permission to republish How to Write a Research Paper in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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