The 10 Steps to Writing an Amazing Research Paper
Steps 1 - 3: Understand your research assignment, Identify your research topic, and Refine your research topic.
So you're beginning your research assignment. Everyone's research paper will turn out differently, and how it turns out is always related to how we plan it. Here is how we create a solid foundation for our research paper.
Understand the assignment.
Review your assignment. Ask yourself 3 questions:
What are the rules and guidelines my teacher has given me that I need to follow?
Has my teacher stated how many sources I need, and the types of sources (Example: scholarly articles, textbooks, encyclopedia entries) I need to use?
What is the scope of the project? Ex: Is it 5 pages or 15? Am I writing a paper or presenting?
2. Identify your research topic.
Part of identifying a topic is making sure it's something we can work with. As you create your topic, ask yourself these three questions:
Is my topic appropriate to the requirements of the project? Is it doable in 5 or 15 pages?
Can I support this research topic with evidence?
Am I interested in this, like at all?
3. Refine your research topic.
Refining a topic is like smoothing it over. Make it specific. You want to make sure every word in your topic has a purpose and will be addressed.
Use Who, What, Where, When, and keep track of details. See an example below:
Research topic: Irish immigrants in Brooklyn.
Who? Irish immigrants
What (main subject of your topic)? I want to know the economic living conditions of Irish immigrants.
Where? Brooklyn, New York.
When? Early 19th century (1900-1920).
Any other details? I am interested in immigrants who immigrated with their families.
Steps 4 - 5: Brainstorm search terms, and Broaden OR Narrow your topic.
It's easy to see research as a bunch of mind-numbing tasks you need to succeed. Try seeing the beginning of the research topic as a way of choosing a topic that you'll legit LOVE spending time reading about. You can make the research process way less confusing and super interesting by coming up with a solid research topic, through search terms and adjusting your topic to the beginning research.
4. Brainstorm search terms.
It helps to organize your research topic using broad ideas (Living conditions, work conditions, poor/poverty), and specific ideas (Brooklyn, Irish immigrant). To brainstorm specific ideas, try organizing your topic into these areas:
Event: An event relating to your topic. Ex: Irish immigration, Irish diaspora.
Time: The time period relating to your topic. Ex: Early 19th century, 1900-1920.
Person or group: Names of individuals and groups you can relate to your topic. Ex. Irish immigrants.
Place: A region, city, or geographic area related to your research. Ex: Brooklyn, New York, New York City.
While brainstorming, get familiar with key words and phrases that relate to your topic. Try searching for specific keywords by Googling some of the words you already know. To help you make focused search strategies, use Boolean Operator search strategies. For instance, by Googling Irish immigration, I found the phrase "Irish diaspora", which is a phrase for the movement of Irish people out of their country of Ireland. What's really cool about this search skill, is that I can apply the same skill to databases I'll use for more heavy duty researching.
5. Broaden OR Narrow your topic.
Narrowing
Just say I've found so many articles or books on my topic, that I'm beginning to get overwhelmed. These books and articles explore so many different areas of the topic, I couldn't possibly cover it all! This is because I need to narrow down my topic: it's too broad to cover in, say, 5 pages. Here's an example of moving from broad to narrow:
Too broad: The lives of Irish immigrants in Brooklyn.
Better: The working conditions of Irish textile workers in early 19th century Brooklyn.
Broadening
It's easy to lose "the trees for the forest" or, focus on too much when there's a little more your topic has to offer. You can always ask your school librarian to help you find more sources. You can also use your research to help you see your topic from a different angle:
Expand the the ideas you're researching:
Too narrow: Fuel efficiency of the Toyota Prius.
Better: Comparing/contrasting the fuel efficiency of the 2020 Toyota Prius to the electric vehicle efficiency of the Tesla Model 3.
Expand the time periods or groups of people you're researching:
Too narrow: The influence of 90s hip hop on younger artists.
Better: Analyzing the lyrical style of Kendrick Lamar in relation to the lyrics of Tupac.
Steps 6 - 7: Choose your sources, and keep track of them too.
O.K. So you've made an amazing research topic and, in the process, did some "presearch" (pre-research) on your topic. Now, we need to start gathering more detailed info. Here is some need-to-know info on choosing the types of sources that will help you best.
6. Choose your sources.
Need up to date information? Try newspaper search engines.
Need a general overview and introduction to your topic? Try online encyclopedias that relate to the subject you're researching. You can't go wrong with Britannica School or FactCite. Put your Boolean search strategies to the test.
As you choose your sources, be sure that you are checking them for purpose, accuracy, authority, relevance, and currency.
7. Keep track of your sources.
Learning how to cite can be tough. It really helps to organize the sources we're using as we research, by taking notes on the facts we're gathering. On those notes, we should write the title of the source, the date it was published, and the author. Ever try to trace something you remember seeing on the internet, but forgot how you found it in the first place? Here are some tips to organize where you got your research from...
Take notes using index cards: On the top of an index card, write the basic MLA info you'll need to cite your source, and write your notes below. Now, you have your info, and where you got it from, in the same place.
Color code your notes: On your notetaking paper, write your source information in a specific color of pen. Then, take notes you've found on that source with that pen color.
Step 8: Turn your research topic into a research question.
8. Turning a research topic into a research question.
When we express our research topic in the form of a question, it's a way of helping us organize what we'll write in our paper. In other words, when we keep our research on the track of answering a question, we'll be more prepared to answer that question in our paper. Here is an example:
Topic: The characters in Lord of the Flies are symbolic.
Research Question: How are Lord of the Flies' characters a microcosm of civilization?
Step 9: Create a research paper outline using your notes.
9. Outline Your Research
Now that you've made a great resource topic, found great sources, and even turned your research topic into a research question using some A+ info, there's one more step we need to take before we begin writing our paper. We need to outline our information. Try organizing your info using these two templates.
This is the basic outline of a research paper: intro, main ideas, and a conclusion. It's like a sand-which: bread on the outside, meat in the middle. Or a bunch of lettuce if you're vegetarian.
You can begin to outline the order in which your main ideas will be displayed.
This is the basic outline of an introduction paragraph, and your first main idea paragraph. When you write this template, you can insert the actual main idea and supporting topics you'll be using, paragraph-by-paragraph. When it comes time to writing your first draft, you'll have a better idea of the order your ideas will go. Of course that can still change, but you'll have a far better idea.
10. Write your introduction.
10 steps in, and we can begin writing our actual research paper. Amazing that we've gotten this far, but don't pat yourself on the back just yet. You need to begin with an introduction. Your introduction will consist of 3 main points...
10. The steps to writing an intro...
Begin with an opening hook. Capture your audience. Discuss why your topic is relevant, or important. Ask questions. Share exciting quotes which "sum up" your research topic.
Provide background info. Give your reader the main points, and tell the, why your topic is important. You can even give them an outline of your paper, as you've been working on in Step 9.
State your research topic. Clearly state your research topic; the topic which has generated all of the info that you've been researching since Step 1. It's important your audience knows what your research topic is now: that way, they won't be lost later on.