A research paper is an investigative report, of sorts. It is a question that is answered through exploration of a problem or an original idea that sheds new light on a known topic. When a student writes a research paper, he or she collects information about a specific issue or topic, analyzes the information, and presents all the collected information in a report.
Why Do Students Dread Research Papers?
Research papers take time. A research paper is not merely a writing assignment; it is an action assignment. There are many steps to writing a research paper, and the actions involved are:
What Is a Thesis?
The thesis is a central message that is summed up in a sentence. This thesis tells the purpose of the paper - whether it is answering a question or making a new point. The thesis statement usually goes at the end of the introductory paragraph.
What Does a Thesis Statement Look Like?
A thesis in a history paper might look like this:
In Colonial Georgia, it was not poverty that caused citizens to abandon young settlements and flee to Charleston, but the insecurity that citizens felt from living so close to Spanish Florida.
This is a bold statement that requires some proof. The student would need to provide quotes from early Georgia and other evidence to argue this thesis.
What Does a Research Paper Look Like?
The research paper might look like one long essay or it could look different - it could be divided into sections; this all depends on the type of study being conducted. A research paper in science will look different from a research paper in literature.
Papers that are written for a science class will often involve reporting on an experiment a student has conducted or a problem the student has solved. For this reason, the paper might contain sections that are divided by headings and subheadings, like Abstract, Method, Materials, and more.
In contrast, a literature paper is more likely to address a theory about a certain author's point of view, or describe a comparison of two pieces of literature. This type of paper would more likely take the form of one long essay and contain a list of references on the last page.
Your instructor will let you know which style of writing you should use.
What Is a Style of Writing?
There are very specific rules for writing and formatting papers, according to the style. One common style is the Modern Language Association (MLA) Style, which is used for literature and some social sciences.
Another is American Psychological Association (APA) Style, and that style is used in the social and behavioral sciences.
Turabian Style is used for writing history papers, although high school teachers my require MLA for history assignments.
Students may not encounter Turabian or APA style requirements until college.
The Scientific Journal Style is often used for assignments in the natural sciences.
You will find details about writing and formatting your paper in a "style guide." The guide will give details like:
- How to format your title page (if you need a title page)
- Where to place the page numbers
- How to cite your sources
- How and when to use appendices
- How and when to use images
- How to format the list of sources
What Does It Mean to "Cite Sources?"
When you conduct research, you
find evidence in books, articles, web sites, and other sources, that you will use to support your thesis. Any time you use a bit of information that you've collected, you must make a visible indication of this in your paper. You will do this with an
in-text citation or a footnote. The way that you cite your source will depend on the style of writing you're using, but the citation will contain some combination of the author's name, the title of the source, and a page number.
Do I Always Need a Bibliography?
On the last page of your paper you will provide a list of all the sources you used in putting together your paper. This list can go by many names: it may be called a bibliography, a reference list, a works consulted list, or a works cited list. Your instructor will tell you which style of writing you are to use for your research paper. You will find all the details you need in your style guide for putting all the right pieces in place.
