|
How To Write A Research Paper
By Joshua Jenkins
How to write a research paper
Throughout your time at school, and if you choose to go, at university, you will be constantly asked to write research papers. Learning how to write a research paper is fairly straightforward. The most important thing is to keep on topic. If you have a research paper about the physics of roller coasters don't start talking about the mating ritual of kangaroos. You will be given no marks for your knowledge about anything apart from what is requested. So all in all the main thing is to know and understand the question and then answer it to the best of your abilities. This means you do it right from the title to the bibliography.
Your introduction is an extremely important aspect of your research paper. Learning to write a good introduction should be first of your list of things to do to write a good research paper. The marker will read your introduction and will want to know the basics of the paper. This means you clearly outline what the question is, how you are going to answer it and which points you are going to make. Keep everything relevant, this is vital. If you stray from the question when you write your research paper the marker will become confused, frustrated and more than likely bored witless. If they are uninterested in your paper then you have made a poor start already.
The main body of the research paper is the large chunk of information with all of your main points found within it. Whilst answering the question you must continually back up claims with evidence or persuasive reasoning. The aim of a research paper is to make you find out the information, become familiar with it, evaluate it and translate it back into your own words. Every time you make a claim or express an opinion you have to justify it. The technical process may include the allocation of footnotes, however this is not vital and should be used with discretion. If you know your marker is looking for footnotes, use them. A footnote allows you to place a number where a reference or quotation is used, allowing the reader to go to the end and find out where the information came from.
The research paper should be about how well you understand the topic. Learning how to write a good research paper is an easy thing to do. Actually writing the paper can prove much more difficult. As long as you know the topic you will be fine. Learning how to write is one challenge that you should not be dealing with when given the task of writing a research paper. The ability to string together words, sentences and paragraphs is a learned technique, no amount of research will make you better at writing.
When you first get the brief for your research paper there is a protocol which would be useful for you to follow. Read the question over and over again. Unless you aren't sleeping because of it there is no chance of reading the question too much. The next thing to do is write down some notes. Decide which angle you are going to approach the paper with. The next part of the task is research (you knew it was called a research paper for something) this is the part where you go and find out as much information as possible, the more the better. You can filter out the useless stuff later, for now you are grabbing all the info you can. Then you must put the information on to paper, writing it and collating it as you go, choosing the most relevant bits and discarding the rest. Once this is completed you should write a bibliography, detailing any sources you used for info. Write a conclusion and you are done. Hope this helps with your next research paper. Good luck!
Copyright © 2005-2006 HowToSite.Net and Accelerated Software Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Any proprietary content contained in this document may not be copied in part or full without express written permission from the publisher.
Contact Us | Terms of Use
|
