At the end of a semester or an academic year, students are required to write at least one research paper. Many students might get stress and sleepless night due to a lot of work. Does it have to be complicated?
At first, it may seem difficult, but it is not that hard. The most important thing is that you divide the work into smaller manageable stages.
To write a good research paper and stay motivated, you will need some advice, a plan of action and some useful tools. Here are the tips to simplify your work and write an amazing research paper.
Pick an engaging topic
Choosing a topic is important. Research paper involves studying various approaches, techniques, and hypotheses. Therefore, you will need to make sure that the topic you want to write about has been studied before by other scholars. A new topic will require more effort and time for you to come up with reliable results.
You should also consider an interesting topic so that you will enjoy the research. Write down some questions that you want to find answers for and ask your instructor to recommend a topic based on them.
Start looking for reputable sources
To understand the topic very well and ensure that the research is based on reliable statistics and facts, you should only use verified sources. Utilize popular services such as Google Books, Google Scholar, and Microsoft Academic. You will find journals, scientific articles, books and more research materials. Use the search bar and check the relevant links. Also, you can use websites with .edu or .gov extensions.
Have a precise thesis statement
When you have a list of sources, you can create a thesis statement. Check the list and place the sources in logical order. Add the ideas you have on the list. You should be precise as much as possible. If sentences are long, make them smaller and avoid unnecessary adjectives or adverbs.
A thesis statement explains what the research paper is dedicated to. Here are the questions that need to be answered:
- What is the subject of the research?
- How are the goals achieved?
- What methods are being used to prove the point?
- What are the expected results?
When the thesis statement is developed, the instructor should see it for approval. If it needs some changes, he/she will tell you where the changes should be.
Create a rough outline and come up with a draft
Coming up with a detailed outline is half the battle, especially when the instructor has seen it and recommended some corrections. That would be a good thing. The outline will guide you through the research until you finish it. Also, you can have subheadings to make the outline more precise. It will help in avoiding draft rewrites.
When you start to write paper, separate the notes from the sources. When you don’t do that, you might find yourself with a paper full of plagiarism. You can be found guilty even when you did it unintentionally. However, you can check for originality against web sources.
Have the bibliography formatted and sources cited
When you don’t cite sources in your research paper, the work will be considered blatantly plagiarized. You can avoid the consequences by citing the sources accurately.
There are many formatting rules that apply to different styles such as MLA, APA or other academic writing styles and it can be confusing sometimes. You can use some online tools to help you with that such as Mendeley. It has a free reference tool with a lot journal that you can cite. There are also some add-ons that might help you such as a feature that allows you to highlight, annotate and place sticky notes on pdf sources that you would like to mention in the research paper.
Sum it all up and check if everything is correct
When your work is complete, ensure that everything is correct before submitting. Check for grammar, punctuation and stylistic mistakes. You writing should not have any typos. Remember also to check your writing with plagiarism checker and cite everything that needs to mention.
Ensure that your text is easy to understand and well-structured. Make headlines, subheadings, and paragraphs. The text should be coherent when you restructure the paper and add some extra information.
Conclusion
If you follow these tips when writing your research paper, you will impress your instructor. Follow them and ensure that your work is gone and you will pass.
