The Research Paper Created by A. Smith, T. Giffen & G. AuCoin Prince Andrew High School, January 2008

“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, to steal from many is research” Mizner A research paper is similar to an opinion paper, but it assumes that your points need to have validation from secondary sources Basically, none of your ideas can stand on their own without some backup from a credible source (an expert or scholar)

Research takes time! Most first time research writers are surprised by the amount of time a good research essay takes This may be the first experience with research, so you must be prepared to spend three hours doing research for every one hour spent writing

Step 1: Select Your Subject Sometimes the subject will be given to you by your teacher, but if you have choice you have to narrow you search by choosing a topic that you can eventually refine to your final topic. Start with an area of interest or a subject that you know will be substantial enough to write an entire paper

Step 2: Read, Read, Read! You will spend more time at this stage than you will actually writing the paper You cannot read for detail at this stage. You are only trying to narrow your search and eliminate material that will not help you

Where to start? The table of contents and the index are invaluable tools to help you ‘skim’ through material in your initial search. You should start every search here.

Text Mining This is a process in which you ‘skim’ read to identify if the text will be helpful to your initial idea. Take notes and underline quotes, but do not read for detail at this stage.

Step Three: Always Keep Records of Your Research A research notebook is a good idea. You should always get the following information every time you take any data: – –Authors – –Page numbers of material – –All relevant titles – –Editors – –Publishers – –Location of Publication (if there are more than one, always choose the location closest to you) – –Dates of Publication (if there are more than one, always choose the most recent) – –Websites: web addresses (URL), site title, date of search, date of site’s creation (if possible), author of site (if possible)

Helpful hints: Making copies of your research is a great idea Label and highlight sections of your texts that you think you may use. Using different colors to highlight different points may be helpful Tag each potential quote with notes along side to help quick reference when you begin the writing stages

Step Four: Organize and Evaluate Information Gathered Once you have all of your research, you should now read and re-read the selected texts with greater detail in order to figure out how this information will specifically help your essay Look for common ideas, arguments, themes within your work and see what the research supports. You should start to see a common idea emerge. Eliminate any information that will not help support the thesis

Be prepared to read any one text as many as four or fives times!

Step Five: Develop a Thesis That The Research Will Support Ask yourself if your research is clearly linked with the developing argument You need to eliminate any information that will not directly or indirectly support your emerging thesis Be careful not to fall in love with a thesis that your research does not support or with information that does not support your thesis

Step Six: Write Your First Draft Many people believe that ‘good writers’ are people who can write in their first attempt – this is a false assumption! There is no such thing as a perfect first draft. You can always improve your work! Every good writer is committed to the revision process

Revision means: the act of rewriting something (“re-view”- to see something differently) This does not mean that you run your essay through spell and grammar check! That is called ‘editing’ and will come at the final stages Tip: Get as many other people as possible to give a fresh perspective Finish your draft and leave your work for at least a full day and go back and read it

The writer can often be their own worst enemy! Writing requires the development of your own thoughts and ideas With something like a research paper, a great deal of time and effort is spent developing your personal argument. Too often writers will fight the revision process because of their own attachment to their ideas Sometimes you need to be open to suggestion, and be able to just let go

Your thesis may (and most likely will) change------so be prepared! This is sometimes avoided at dangerous costs by writers, but your original idea will morph and change throughout the research and writing processes Try not to fight this change if it means a positive development of the essay itself

Step Seven: Write Your Second Draft If you have taken advice on how to improve and you are pleased with the changes made for your second draft, you can now edit Editing is the fixing of spelling, grammar or mechanical errors Every essay will go through many stages that often see drastic changes. Because of this, the editing stage is best left for the final few steps

Remember: No one stage of this process is difficult A good research essay has a lot to do with good time management and organization Research and sifting through your data is very time consuming. When left to the last minute, research essays can be a killer

Research essays can often write themselves if the research is of a good quality. Remember to put the work during the early stages, and it will pay off during the writing stages

Plagiarism is an extremely serious concern when writing any paper--- especially research essays The beauty of research papers is that you are allowed to use as many secondary sources as your argument needs… …just be sure to give proper credit to those sources!