Research Paper Writing Tips

 

Benjamin Franklin once said that if you want to be remembered when you are dead, you only have two choices: write things that people will soon read or do things that future writers will soon write about.

 

While this may give you the impression that only literary pieces are worth reading, you might not know that academic writing has moved nations, too. Scientific research programs have changed the world. Extensive studies were conducted to produce things that were once just products of the imagination.

 

1. The Topic Fever

 

Admit it: the most difficult word to write when doing a research paper is the first word. You surely wouldn’t think that fillers like “the,” “a” or “there” are interesting words to start your paper with. Before your insomniac reader falls asleep, think about writing a first sentence that will captivate your reader.

 

Before you can think of an interesting punch line, don’t you think that you should be writing about an interesting topic to begin with? There is nothing easier than writing about a topic you know about already. If you are a war junkie and your professor asks you to write about the US-Iraq War, you will find this research paper easy.

 

Knowing the terms and jargon employed when discussing military organizations and procedures will make it easier for you to start your research paper. Your professor may ask you to focus on an angle in which you discover the relationship between mass media coverage and the US-Iraq war. Even if you don’t know anything about mass media, your knowledge about the war will help you with half the battle.

 

But what if you are faced with a situation where you think you have nowhere to go but down? Say your professor asks you to write about how the depiction of women in television commercials for alcoholic beverages affects the way people see women.

 

Given that you don’t know anything about alcoholic drinks, nor are you at all inclined in gender studies, how do you get along? This leads you to the next rule, which suggests that you should practice angling.

 

2. Angle: More Than a Bait Trick

 

Angling is not just about looking for the right turn or position to wait until a fish feeds on your bait. Looking for the right angle is also significant when writing a research paper. This is where you will squeeze out your creative juices to get away from staring at a clean sheet of paper or a blank page on your computer’s monitor.

 

Never think that the interesting topic is out of your hands. There is no reason to be frustrated, because you can always connect your interest to something that you think is uninteresting.

 

If, for example, you don’t know anything about feminism or television commercials, you can talk about how commercials affect the implementation of the law when it comes to drinking. You can also talk about what soldiers do during their leisure time and how these commercials affect the way these men think about women.

 

With the right angle, you can make your job easier. Angling will not only provide you with ample space to write and research. It also narrows down your task by limiting the research and writing you have to do. Since you are comfortable with your angle, your focus should be on researching about feminism, advertising and politics or the military, depending on your choice.

 

Now that you know what to do with your topic, be it your own choice or not, you can be sure that your research paper will be successful.

 

3. It Is a Research Paper, Not a Blog Entry

 

Lest you want a grade of F, always bear in mind that you are not writing a position paper, a feature article, a news report or an editorial piece. You are writing a research paper. The body of your research paper should be packed with as many research citations as possible. There are many sources from which you can get materials to reinforce your argument.

 

You can read books, journals, magazines and newspapers that reveal information about your topic. There are websites that release facts that can support your topic sentence. You can also do a survey or an interview to get the opinion of various people.

 

4. Outlining: Research Papers Have Backbones, Too

 

If you have found the perfect topic for your research, start building its skeleton. The skeleton is what you will technically call an outline. This is where you will determine the issue you will discuss from the first part of your research down to the last. Outlining helps you organize your thoughts. Follow your outline when writing your research paper.

 

5. Style Is Directly Proportional to Quality

 

While it is true that this is purely academic, having your own style won’t kill you. In fact, this will save you and your professor from boredom. The first key to knowing if your paper functions as a sleeping pill rather than a reference material is to read your research. If it bores you, then it will bore your reader. Write in the style that will make your research more interesting than it already is. Write in such a way that your reader will keep looking forward to learning more interesting information throughout your research paper.

 

6. Show, Not Tell

 

Along with your style comes your tone. You paper is no longer just a collection of research material. It is also a paper that tells a story on its own. Your tone makes your style and arguments sound smarter and believable. It has the power to make or break your research paper.

 

7. Clarity of Writing Is about Making Sense

 

What makes your research paper a readable one is not the type of printer you use or the font you choose; it is how well you express your ideas and how well versed you are in communicating your points.

 

Don’t invent words. Never attempt to misplace phrases. If you can’t master the art of clarity in writing, your reader won’t understand your research paper. If worse comes to worst, you won’t even understand your own piece of work.

 

8. Even Shakespeare and T.S Elliot Wrote Drafts

 

Do not expect that the first draft qualifies as your final paper. Somewhere in the writing process, you will find mediocre areas that you may want to change or eliminate. You may also want to add more research in the third paragraph or in the conclusion, depending on where you think your paper became less significant or unsubstantial. Drafts give you leeway to edit your work.

 

9. Read Your Paper like You Are the Professor

 

This can be an exciting part in which you need to set all your personal biases behind and frankly grade your paper from 1 to 10 or A to F. Look at the gray areas that you think will affect the overall quality of your paper. This is a chance to edit your paper for the last time – make it or break it, it is now or never.

 

10. Stop Stealing: Acknowledge Your Sources

 

Sometimes, it does not matter that you have a topic that is interesting to you. While the credibility of your sources is a major factor in strengthening the power of your argument or position about the issue you are researching about, a grade of A will never happen if you don’t acknowledge these sources. If you do not acknowledge your sources, you are giving your research paper a well-deserved space in the trash bin.

 

Citing sources is more than just following a universal academic rule in research paper writing. It is about paying respect to the people who have researched and worked hard to make your paper a good read as a result. Citing sources puts your paper in this situation: do or die.

 

Academic writing is fun. If people tell you that there is no future in writing and research, prove them all wrong by starting your semester with a research paper that earns a well-deserved grade of A. These tips can help you change the world in your own little way.

 

* Follow the above tips faithfully and research paper writing will be peanuts compared to lifting weights after a long vacation. You can learn how to write research papers giving yourself ample time to write and rewrite all the stuff you have researched on.