An Academic Research is systematic investigation into a problem or situation, where the intention is to identify facts and/or opinions that will assist in solving the problem or dealing with the situation.

The following are the steps generally followed while doing an academic research, they have been explained with the example of “Fitness and Health” as the chosen topic.

Step 1 : Do a preliminary search for information

You would look up - fitness, health, healthy living, how are fitness and health related, etc. Then, find basic information in your textbooks, and proceed to locate websites, articles, PDFs, you can use to learn from.

Step 2: Evaluate your sources

You would verify whether located sources are credible or not and eliminate any accordingly.

Step 3: Make notes

You would note the information that will be useful in your paper, organise all the data you have, along with the links to all of your resources

Step 4: Write your paper

You will create an introductory write up, list all the subtopics and write about them from what you know at the moment, a basic rough draft will have been made.

Step 5: Cite your sources properly

You will give credit where credit is due; cite your sources. Failure to cite your sources properly is plagiarism. You would do this by creating footnotes on every page and properly citing the sources you have used wherever you have. If I used this word from a source, I would cite it as I have in this document.

Step 6: Proofread

You will read through the text and check for any errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. You will make sure the sources you used are cited properly, the message that you want to get across to the reader has been thoroughly stated. You may run your document through Grammarly or other such software.

Step 7: Feedback

You will seek feedback from your mentor and peers. Revisit your research paper and make changes accordingly.