Tips on Writing a Great Research Paper
To an inexperienced person, just hearing the term “research paper” might send chills down their spine. But whether you’re studying a healthcare administration degree or a business administration degree, you will have to eventually do it.
Writing a research paper requires time and hard work, and it’s downright awful sometimes. This is why writing an excellent research paper might seem impossible to many. But it isn’t. By following a set of tips during your writing process, you will be able to compose a good research paper. Don’t get us wrong, writing a research paper will still require great dedication on your part, but at least the result will be something you’ll be proud of.
What Is a Research Paper?
As per usual, learning how to do something—in our case, write an excellent research paper—we need first to understand what exactly that something is. The research paper falls under the academic writing category, consisting of in-depth analysis, evaluation, or interpretation of a particular topic based on factual evidence. Research papers resemble analytical essays in a few different aspects. However, research papers make a point of using statistical data, pre-existing research, and citations.
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Research papers are widely used in today’s day and age. Though most of us may have encountered research papers in school for the first time as they are a standard evaluation form, they are also the foundation of modern science. That being said, the language used in a research paper is formal, unbiased, and based on facts.
Steps to Writing a Great Research Paper
If you are a student who is struggling with a research paper assignment, or one who wants to do better, there are always ways to improve your writing. Below you will find a step-by-step guide on how to write an excellent research paper. Keeping in mind that you might not need to go through all of the steps based on the nature of your assignment, let us begin!
Get familiar with the assignment
Before starting your research or writing process, you need to familiarize yourself with the writing guidelines, as they can change based on the assignment. As you will do the research yourself, the guidelines will provide you with the technical information regarding length, format (space, indentation, etc.), and citing format. In addition, some research papers require an abstract (a summary of the research paper) or a cover page.
After you have figured out the technical requirements, you can go ahead and write your research paper. And if you don’t know how to do that, we have also included some writing tips for you.
Choose a topic
Choosing a topic for your research paper is one of the principal decisions you will make regarding your assignment because the topic you choose will affect your whole writing process. Before deciding on any topic, your first concern should be whether or not that topic will yield enough material for your research paper. An ideal topic would be complex enough and have sufficient data to produce a fruitful discussion. That being said, a topic that is too general will result in you having to leave out a lot of information, so opt for a more specific topic.
Last but not least, to make writing a research paper less of a nuisance, try to find a topic that interests you, as this affects how you write.
Do the research
After you have all the information you need on the technical side of the assignment and have chosen a topic, it’s time to start the research process. This part of the process will take significant time, so make sure you start as early as possible. Find out all information on the topic you have chosen in libraries or online so you can determine which way the research paper will go.
As this is a research paper, it is essential only to reference credible sources like articles published in scientific journals. And because you don’t have all the time in the world for one research paper, you will have to determine which pieces you come across are skimmable and which need to be read in full. Lastly, keep track and prepare a list of your sources, as you might need them later.
Form a thesis
After doing a lot of research, you will have enough information to write a thesis statement. A thesis statement has two primary purposes: (1) to inform the reader about what the paper is about and (2) to make your paper more accessible to other writers. A good thesis statement will provide just enough information to get the reader hooked, so they have to read the rest of your paper to find out the details. An easy way to come up with a thesis statement is to pose a question directly related to the title of your article, and a short and concise answer would be the thesis statement.
Create an outline
As we have mentioned before, a research paper is academic writing, which means it needs to meet specific standards. One of these standards is to be well-structured and provide the answers the reader is looking for, and for this, you will need an outline. To create an outline, first, you need to compile a list of topics and subtopics that need to be addressed. After you have determined what you will discuss, you need to structure the subtopics in a way that makes sense to the reader.
Due to the length and complexity of a research paper, it is best to use paragraphs to structure your article. An outline will also help you choose what information is important enough to include in your writing so you won’t be so overwhelmed during the writing process.
Write a first draft
And so, finally, we have reached the writing stage of a research paper. Though there are a lot of steps to follow before you start writing, actually writing will take up most of your time. But not to worry, as the previous tips we listed will help you considerably during the writing process. As you probably know by now, written work is divided into three main parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion.
Introduction
The introduction part of your paper will inform your readers of what’s to come in the rest of your paper. The thesis statement belongs in the introduction of your paper so start with that and some additional information on your paper without getting into too much detail.
Body text
The body part of your research paper is where your outline will come in handy, as this part is usually divided into segments with specific headers to make scanning easier. Remember that this is only the first draft of your paper, so don’t be too focused on small details, as you can revise it later. The first draft helps you put into writing everything you need to address in your paper.
Dividing your paper into segments is necessary to make your paper easy to browse; however, it creates a new issue for the writer. Just because there are different segments throughout the body of the research paper doesn’t mean they are completely independent of each other. The writer needs to find a way to link them to create a logical flow and smooth transitions. This is usually done with the help of transition sentences at the beginning and the end of each paragraph.
Conclusion
Lastly, you need to write a conclusion for your research paper. Though basically everything you have to say on the topic you chose goes in the body paragraphs, you still need to summarize it in the conclusion of your paper. Avoid adding new information in this part of your research paper.
Write a second draft
Even though most of your work should be done in the first draft, there is still room for improvement in the second draft. Go through your paper to fix any mistakes that might have slipped the first time around and polish your writing article.
Edit your paper
After you have finished your second draft, it is time to edit and proofread your paper. This is where you add additional information where needed, remove anything that creates redundancy, correct grammatical and spelling mistakes, etc. You can make this process easier by reading your paper out loud so you can hear it too instead of just reading it, giving your paper to someone else for feedback, or even using tools you find online.
Cite sources and prepare a bibliography
As this is a research paper, it is based on facts and proven data by other researchers. Citing your sources makes your article a credible source and creates a link between your paper and the scientific community. Because there are different citing styles, you will have to follow the guidelines of your research paper to find out which one to use.
Wrapping Up
Writing a research paper requires tremendous work before, during, and after the writing process. This is why most people struggle with writing research papers. You can write an excellent research paper by focusing and working hard on each part of the writing process and using the tips in this article.