Understand The Rocket Science Behind Writing A Good Research Paper
Often in your academic career you will be asked to write a research paper. Students find it hard to write a research-based paper. Research paper is a document that is written in reply to a research question. It is written with the intent to provide interpretation of your research. It can be written for technical, scientific and social issues.
· How to find a Topic
Research for various research based projects or ideas. Find a topic of your interest, discuss it with your classmates and also ask them what topics they are writing about. List down all the topics and start with first, start research on the topic before start writing and if you are not comfortable writing a research paper on that topic, you can change your topic, even if you have started the research work. Pick a new and unique problem, so you can suggest fresh opinions. Present your topic as a problem or a question. Be real, while writing a research paper, think from reader’s perspective and try to produce unique and fresh content.
· Start Researching
After choosing a topic you need to start your research work. Consider various papers, blogs, research journals and websites for research. Make sure the research sources you are considering must be reliable and authentic. Look for the articles or papers written on the topic of your field. Go to library and search for books and journals written by famous authors in that field. Research using search engines seems most feasible but is not a very reliable way to do research because these search engines sort results on the basis of keywords. Suppose I want to write a paper on ‘Describe the modern history of viral epidemics and describe in details the causes of the emergence of deadly viruses’. As I type this topic on any of the popular search engine, it will list down hundred of websites with matching maximum number of words of the topic. Therefore, it is recommended to consider official and reliable websites only. Apart from research involved in your writing also think of crafting it in an interesting and innovative way.
· Structuring your Research Paper
Brainstorm your ideas and try to give a proper structure to your research paper. List down all the links or sources you have researched for assistance or referencing. Add bookmarks on the pages you want to refer. Add some comments or points to each reference so you remember for what purpose you have bookmarked them. If you don’t follow this step, it is very possible that you forget them later or need to do all efforts right from the start.
Generally, the research paper follows this structure but it can vary as per the requirements specified by your professor:
- Title of Research
- Abstract (brief summary of your research)
- Introduction (create a scenario to introduce your reader to your research topic)
- Methodology (what analyzing techniques you have adopted to do this research)
- Result (what outcomes you can obtain from this research)
- Conclusion (conclude your paper by restating your research, its significance and how beneficial its implementation can be. End up with some call to action, predictable future or a question)
- References (list all the references you have quoted or consulted to write your paper)
· Analyzing your target audience
Ask yourself, Is this research worth publishing? How can I make my reader praise it?
Before start writing your paper, analyze for whom you are writing it. Emphasize on what’s in it for them. Even if you are doing it just as a college assignment, make your writing sound like you are writing it for a broader audience. If you have any technical research project and you want its paper to be published, try to explain your audience each technical terminology as you explain them to an absolute beginner.
· Work on your thesis statement
Thesis statement is the most important part of your research paper. It is written in the start of your research paper and highlights the purpose of your research. It includes what your research is about and you present crucial arguments.
· Follow an appropriate format
It depends on the structure of your document and sometimes professor ask you to follow a particular format. Whatever style guide you pick or the format you choose, you have to draft your research paper accordingly.
· Draft bibliography or Referencing
Brainstorm your ideas and try to give a proper structure to your research paper. List down all the links or sources you have researched for assistance or referencing. Add bookmarks on the pages you want to refer. Add some comments or points to each reference so you remember for what purpose you have bookmarked them. If you don’t follow this step, it is very possible that you forget them later or need to do all efforts right from the start.
· Proofread your paper
When you start making changes to your rough document, you need to be keen to pick mistakes as well. Also ask your friends or anyone to go through the paper and let you know if you have made any mistake drafting your document. Spelling mistakes leave a bad impression on reader. There should not be any mismatch in margins and fonts. Make sure if you have quoted any theory or statement, you have to provide its proper referencing.
Author’s Bio
Julie Smith is a lead technical writer at Theeducationalists.com. She is an inspirational blogger and a professional academic writer. She is providing academic writing assistance to deserving students for years.
