STUDENT WRITING Teaching Students to Write Research Papers Preparing the Research Project

Diane Matlock, former GSI, Department of English

The following describes the steps a student should take to write a research paper. A new guide for instructors, Researchscapes: How to Teach Students to Conduct Research in the Framework of a Course, will be added to this site in the coming year.  

What is a Research Paper?

A research paper should provide its writer and its reader with new knowledge and a new understanding of a specific topic. The success of your research paper depends primarily on your critical judgment in selecting sources and on the originality and thoughtfulness of your treatment of the topic.

To write an effective research paper, one that makes an argument about your topic, you must review relevant resources and, using powers of analysis and integration, develop a paper that reveals understanding and original thinking. You want to think of your research topic as a question or problem — not a topic area — that your essay is going to address and/or resolve.

If you take seriously the importance of using sources judiciously and of learning something new through the research process, the paper should embody all of the following characteristics:

• Originality
• Expression of an evaluation or attitude
• A reasoned approach to an argument
• A synthesis of information from several sources
• Systematic documentation of sources
• The result of a time-consuming research process

Preparing for a Research Project

If you have been assigned a research project, be sure you understand the requirements and the limits of the assignment before you begin your research. If you have been assigned a specific research project, keep in mind the cue words in the assignment. Are you to describe, survey, analyze, explain, classify, compare, or contrast? What do such words mean in this field? You also need to know the audience, rhetorical stance, scope, length, and deadline for your project.

Research Log

You should keep a research log — either in print or electronic — to jot down thoughts about your topic, lists of things to do, and ideas about possible sources; also use it to keep track of library materials. You can also use the log as a means of analyzing and developing your research process. What things worked? What didn’t work? How will you do things differently next time?

Project Calendar

Before beginning a research project, you should also map out a rough but realistic schedule for your research. It can include the following action items and the dates they need to be completed:

• Analyze project; decide on primary purpose and audience; choose topic
• Set aside library time; develop search strategy (see below)
• Send for materials needed from Interlibrary Loan
• Do background research, narrow topic if necessary
• Decide on research questions and a tentative hypothesis
• Start working on bibliography; begin tracking down sources
• Gather or develop graphics or visuals needed
• Develop working thesis and rough outline
• If necessary, conduct interviews, make observations, or distribute and collect questionnaires
• Read and evaluate sources; take notes
• Draft explicit thesis and outline
• Prepare first draft, including visuals
• Obtain and evaluate critical responses to your draft
• Do more research if necessary
• Revise draft
• Prepare list of works cited
• Edit and revise draft; use spell checker
• Prepare final draft
• Do final proofreading