How to Write a Research Essay
Creating research essays is a typical practice for any high school, college and graduate school students. This is a typical academic piece of writing dedicated to one specific issue, which students have to research.
Doing such assignments are found very useful for students, as they learn to gather and analyze information, draw conclusions based on it, organize their thoughts and ideas and present them in a written form. The earlier you understand the main principles of good research writing, the faster you will succeed and the better results you will get.
Step by Step Instructions for Writing Your Essay
- Work with the topic. First of all, decide what things you are interested in, because there is no sense in writing about a subject you are indifferent to. If some particular question is close to you, you will be able to enjoy the whole process, but don’t forget about your teacher’s instructions and the general theme. It is also advisable not to choose too complicated topic, if it is not your major.
- Prepare a good basis for the essay. We mean you should do a great job with sources. Find only good and relevant sources for the paper. In particular, you can pay attention to special books on your subject, online encyclopedias, academic journals, public lections and interviews of famous experts. Review them before writing anything and it will help to plan the essay. Looking for the information it is necessary to make notes, otherwise you may get lost in a big amount of data. Brief and simple notes are aimed to help you find needed piece of information quickly and easily.
- Define the purpose. It is a good way to clarify what position you share and select information you really need. The objective greatly determines the way you present your ideas and arguments and what conclusions you draw.
- Consult your teacher or professor. If you feel the necessity of some support, ask it. No doubts, the teacher will give advice and focus your attention on the most important things. Besides, it is a chance to hear another point of view on the topic.
- Distinguish the main aspects and make a plan. This point helps to organize the paper and write it in a logical way. You can see the structure of the future essay, and if there is a need, add and remove some components, change their order.
- Choose a format and follow its requirements. Unlike other essays, the research one requires appropriate academic format. Usually students are told which style format they must follow. The most popular formats are MLA and APA, but there are also many others. If we are talking about academic styles, special attention must be paid to the requirements of quotation, references and citations.
- Write the main parts of the research paper. Creating an introduction you are expected to introduce the topic and formulate the purpose. This part of the text should be short and informative at the same time; we mean that after its reading people need to have a general idea what the paper is about and how it is built. The body is a heart of any essay, as in it you explain your thoughts, give arguments and show the methods you used. In some situations students may also offer background information. The most important fact is that you must work hard with the structure of essay’s body, open the topic to readers step by step and don’t say the same things twice. Drawing conclusions you have to state the results of your research, and not to discuss them as many students mistakenly aim to do. Make sure your conclusions correspond to other parts of the paper.
- Revision. First thing you need to do is make sure your essay accomplishes the goals you set in the beginning. The three parts of the research, we have talked previously, should be consequential. Check your grammar, syntax and spelling. Verify the list of the sources and citations.