Research Paper Writing Do’s and Dont’s
Saturday, August 21st, 2010Tips for your research paper writing
It is quite common in higher education to be asked to write a research paper. But the frequency of this kind of task doesn’t make it easier. Quite on the contrary, many students have difficulties when they have to deal with their research paper writing. And that is because most teachers don’t actually provide their students with the basic facts for writing an appropriate research paper. Note that the concept of the research is not as simple as it seems: at first, we as students believe all we have to do is choose a topic, do some research on it and then, write the paper based on such a research, when the truth is that a research paper writing takes a lot of work. It is not so simple after all.
By reading this article you’ll get a better perspective on how to (and how not to) prepare a research paper. Sit down comfortably and keep reading.
Do’s
- Choose a question: When writing research papers you must keep in mind that they should be structured not only through their topics, but also around answering a certain essay question the student gets to choose. After all, it is not just writing a report on everything you have read about a certain topic, but answering a question or controversy related to the topic instead.
- Organize your paper: Remember you should always start your work by planning your writing carefully. Include an introduction, in where you delimit your topic, establish your question and write about your research methodology; some body paragraphs with subtitles; and a conclusion.
- Reference bibliography: Always quote in your research paper the main bibliography you consulted. Try to include as many texts, documents and testimonies as possible, to show the examiner your commitment to your investigation.
Dont’s
- Don’t choose a topic way too broad: You may think that preparing a research paper writing on a general topic makes your life simpler, when the opposite is true. A broad topic will require you to deal with too much information for just one paper. That is why, when trying to respect a certain word count, a broad topic will be quite superficial: you can say many things about this topic, but everything you write will be at a very basic level. The answer is narrowing your topic.
- Don’t choose more than one essay question: When choosing the topic, you already know you should try to find a question to answer through research. But you shouldn’t choose more than one because, if you did, it would be very difficult for you to manage two or more at the same time in the very same research. A single question is enough for a good research.
- Don’t leave everything to the last minute: a good research paper writing takes its time. Don’t leave it for the previous weekend because you just won’t meet your deadlines. In such a case, the best thing you can do is to buy a custom paper.
