How to Write a Research Paper

Published: November 13, 2017 | Updated: November 4, 2024

Getting education is a process full of tricky challenges. You will be assigned with plenty of different tasks, research papers included. This type of writing confuses a lot of students. And professors’ strict demands only make the work more complicated. There is no easy way to perform such kind of assignment, but there is advice, which can help you implement research paper excellently. Follow the guide and submit outstanding research paper!

What is a research paper?

The research paper is a combination of processes, which include research, examination of data and results publication. This complex academic task requires applying more skills than knowledge. To write research paper one has to gather a lot of information and analyze it in a written form. Such assignment cannot be performed fast because the procedure of data selection is arduous and challenging.

how to write research papers

The research paper is frequently met on the academic road, and every student has to know writing basics to complete this task.

How to start a research paper?

To avoid putting off the task and sitting for hours not be able to start, you should determine few critical for yourself aspects. What is interesting for you now? What keeps you inspired? What motivates you to do more? Answering this question, you will come across an idea, how you should start writing.

But don’t expect the idea to come in a moment. Examine your desires and professors’ demands to find out what is essential to write about and what subordinate factors are. You have to scoop many concepts to decide on the crucial for you one. That will be your start.

How to Choose a Research Topic

If you want to complete your research paper successfully, you need to clearly understand the principles that characterize a good research topic. No matter what your level of education or the subject is, all research papers must be done on some exciting and acute topics. Besides, there are some more rules for selecting a good argument for your future writing work. These rules are listed below. Make use of them while working on your paper and be sure to succeed.

  1. Your future topic must fit into the guidelines of your assignment. Keep in mind that this point is the most important one. As a rule, such guidelines offer some choice of different topics for you to pick from and the other identifies the type of topic that must be selected for the research. So, you need to study all the instructions attentively before you begin to choose your theme.
  2. An excellent research topic should belong to the similar subject area for which you are making your research paper. Remember that many topics can be multifaceted and should be researched from the viewpoints of different subjects. That is why you need to make sure that the central aspect of your topic would surely come under the proper subject area.
  3. Keep in mind that the topic you choose must fulfill the objective of your assignment. A tutor allots every assignment with some specific purpose in mind. This purpose will be plainly stated directly or indirectly in the guidelines or told about during the lectures. When the objective of your project is defined, it will be much easier to find good research topics.
  4. Make sure your topic appeals to you. Remember that your interest in the topic will profoundly influence the results of the research. There may be some circumstances when your choice of topic can be limited to specific areas set by your tutor. In such case, you may not always have the opportunity to select a problem which is really interesting for you. But in any case, you should try to find at least something that you will be able to work with, without getting bored of it. Keep in mind that the process of research is quite long and a topic that does not appeal to you can turn this process into the distressing experience.

If it is difficult for you to find excellent research topics and you need some guidance, it is straightforward to apply for research paper help. Alternatively, you can buy custom research paper from highly experienced writers who can assist with all stages of the research and writing process. They will complete any assignment on your chosen topic while adhering to your specific requirements, ensuring a high-quality, plagiarism-free paper that meets your academic standards. All you need to do is to visit custom research writing helper – academic custom writing services and place your order there. Highly experienced writers can help you with all stages of research and writing processes. Besides, they can complete any writing an assignment on the topic of your choice and according to your requirements.

Find relevant information

research paper writing guide

Information is your weapon. The more you read and browse, the easier it will be for you to complete any writing task. However, no one can give you a guarantee that while searching the web you will come across credible sources. Thus, you have to be demanding and captious in looking for data. But to ensure a successful search, you need the help of public libraries and sources gatherings that are accessible online or from our service. Those are:

  • EBSCO – a community that provides access to more than 70 libraries. This information service focuses on the students’ and scholars’ needs to present quality sources and reliable data.
  • Google Scholar – a free search engine that comprehends full texts of scientific publications.
  • JURN – the online free tool that covers university full-text repositories and journals in different fields of knowledge.
  • RefSeek – web search engine that supports students and scholars in their search for information. The engine processes one billion documents to present only reliable sources.
  • DOAJ – an organization the aim of which is to ease the access to scientific journals promoting their usage.
  • Medline Plus – promoted by the world’s most extensive medical library, the source provides credible information in the medical sphere
  • NBER – an economic organization that presents free industrial researchers and various publications
  • NCJRS – service that offers justice and drug-related information
  • Ipl2 – perfect learning and teaching environment for students and tutors. The service covers the gathering of the internet public library sources.
  • SweetSearch – this place is where the research begins. The service was created by more than 50 librarians and scholars, who devoted their time to finding credible sources.
  • Microsoft Academic Search – service informs about academic events, research news, and new publications.
  • Science.gov – this service browses more than 60 databases and 2000 scientific sites to provide users with federal data. NASA is one of the participating agencies.

These sources are great at selecting credible information for students and scholars. You can use those sources for finding relevant data for your research.

Make thesis statement

The thesis statement is a one-two sentence idea, presented at the beginning of your paper. It should be clear, precise and laconic. But it also has to represent the primary purpose of your writing. The thesis statement can be written in the form of issue, opinion or problem that concern you the most.

The thesis is the core of your paper. All the following paragraphs will revolve around this core creating a complex system. Thus, think over your thesis to make it engaging and debatable for readers.

Make research paper outline

To do that you have to determine the aim of your research. State why you choose that particular topic, emphasize the essential facts and briefly describe what the purpose of the research is.

You can do this part at the beginning of your work. However, sometimes it is better to write outline reviewing already written task. Both two ways are possible but choose the one, which is preferable to you.

Write the first draft

After having gathered some thoughts, it is time to write the draft. To not to miss a thing, you have to make a thorough plan. You can outline primary points on the piece of note and place it somewhere you can see. Every time, you have a short look at the note, you will review your plan and make some changes.

This is a perfect method for developing a thorough and detailed plan of your writing.

Then, you can start creating your first draft. Outline your thoughts and maintain them with arguments and facts. How can you do that? Make a list. Create a bulleted list of ideas for your research. Don’t forget that each idea has to be directly connected to the topic. Opposite each idea, state arguments or facts that can prove the opinion. Thus, you have detailed instruction on your work.

Compose a text, following your plan. Outline your thoughts, maintained by arguments and facts in the main body. Don’t forget to add examples to show the importance of research.

Revise outline and draft

When the draft and outline are ready, you have to revise them. Don’t revise the same day you write the whole text – let your mind relax and rest. Sleep and refresh your mind to do the quality revision.

Check, whether your opinion matches the idea, you have already presented in the text. If not – make some changes to demonstrate your real thoughts on the researched topic. Examine if the topic of your research is maintained throughout the text. Pay attention to structure – the writing has to be logical and intelligible. If your text is more of a set of words, divide it into parts and make sure each paragraph stands for one clear opinion.

The text can be clear for you, but not for others. Ask some of your friends to revise for you. Thus, you can get an objective opinion on the text.

Checklist

Now it is time to get your notes! Those piece of writing is very valuable because it demonstrates your intentions and ideas to write about. Thus, you can review the written assignment and check whether it corresponds your bullet-points outlined earlier. Check whether you have included all the arguments in your writing and added some examples.

Revise whether the information you used is credible. Do some examination to guarantee the facts you have chosen are relatable to the topic.

Review the notes again to determine whether you implemented all the steps and intentions in your text.

Bibliography

A bibliography is a list of information sources you used while conducting the research. A bibliography is usually added at the end of the report.

When the paper is written, it can be difficult to recall all the internet sources, books, scientific journals you used in the research. You can easily miss some sources and forget what abstracts you used. To prevent this from happening, mark down the name of the author, page number and other publishing info in the process of composing the text.  Use colorful notepapers and stickers to remind you where did you borrow each sentence.

research paper citation

You can ask why bibliography is essential. The answer is simple: it makes your paper original. It is impossible to conduct proper research without consulting other sources of information. Thus, if you aim to avoid plagiarism and present authentic text, cite every textbook or publication you use.

Proofread

This step is crucial. Here you have to check everything you have written. Even if you believe your text is flawless, there can be mistakes you don’t see. You can check spelling and grammar using specialized programs and applications. But don’t rely on their help. It is more efficient when a human intellect does the examination.

Read your writing thoroughly and check every sentence for grammar structure. Once again, ask your friend to check some parts for you in case you missed something. Consult the dictionary, when some expressions or collocations seem confusing to you.

Type final research paper

That’s it. You have almost done it. But the last steps seem the hardest.

Your final part of work will be typing final paper. Gather all the information you have collected, bring your notes, add some patience and start typing the text. Don’t be picky about yourself: give yourself some time to concentrate and focus on essential things.

To make the final part of work easier, divide it into two activities: typing and formatting. Firstly, complete the writing part. Focus your attention on the structure and don’t miss a single element of your research. After this, you can begin formatting the written assignment. Most of the academic writings have to be formatted MLA style accordingly. But if your tutor gave you some instructions on formatting, adhere to them to make your assignment outstanding!

As you see, writing a research paper is not that complicated. It takes time, but if you follow the guide and do all the steps, this task won’t be difficult for you.

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