Writing a Research Paper

Overview

Definition: A research paper is an essay in which you explain what you have learned about your topic. In a research paper, you include information from sources such as books, articles, interviews, and Internet sites. You also use your own ideas, knowledge, and opinions. Most of your paper (at least 80%) must be in your own words.

Main Ideas: Your paper should focus on a central issue that interests you. Limit your topic so that you can cover it in a paper of the assigned length. Organize the paper around the ideas that are most important in your opinion. State your main ideas in your own words, and use information from your sources to support them.

Paraphrasing and Summarizing: Incorporate ideas and facts from your sources by paraphrasing and summarizing. Write the ideas in your own way, using different word choices and sentence structure and leaving out unnecessary details.

Quotations: Use quotations when the author's or speaker's words are especially well chosen or memorable. When you quote even a short phrase, copy the exact words, enclose them in quotation marks, and give the name of the author or speaker.

Documentation: When you give facts, paraphrase and summarize ideas, or quote someone else's words, you must document your sources. The purpose of documentation is to give credit to the author and to allow your readers to look up your sources. Your paper is stronger because you can prove that the information came from reliable sources.

Steps in the Process

Choose a Topic: Select a topic covered in the course or assigned by the instructor. Discuss with your instructor any questions about choosing a workable topic.

Do Library Research: The college library is the best place to do your research. Look for a variety of sources, such as books, periodicals, and Internet sites. Books give a broad perspective, while recent articles provide up-to-date information. You can search for articles from many newspapers and magazines in the library's computer databases, such as EbscoHost. You can access the Sierra College Library's on-line resources at <http://lrc.sierracollege.edu>.

Narrow Your Topic: As you do research, you may find a lot of information on one particular issue or you may form a question that you try to answer. For example, if you started with the topic deforestation, you might narrow it down to the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, or you might try to answer the question: Can logging be done in a sustainable way?

Read Actively and Make Notes: As you read your sources, highlight and make notes in the margin (of photocopies or computer printouts). Try to write the main points in your own words on separate paper or in computer files. Make a note of the source of each summary. If you copy groups of words, put them in quotation marks so that you will remember that you copied them.

Plan: Decide how to organize your paper and make an outline, whether rough or formal, that will help you stay on topic and present your ideas in a logical order.

Write and Revise: Do not expect to write a finished paper all at once. First, get your ideas down on paper in a rough draft. Read it over and revise, trying to improve the content and organization. Ask someone else to read it and give you feedback. Edit your paper for sentence structure and word choice.

Document Your Sources: In addition to citing your sources in the paper, the last page of the paper will be a list of sources. Use the documentation style that your instructor assigns. Drop by the Sierra College Writing Center (LRC 424) for a free Term Paper Handbook on three documentation styles: MLA, APA, and Chicago.

Proofread: Read over the whole paper carefully, checking for errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. Make sure your paper follows the assigned format. Use the spelling checker on the computer, but do not depend on it. The spelling checker does not catch confusion of similar-sounding words, and it frequently suggests the wrong word as a correction. The grammar checker is even less reliable. Remember: You make the decisions, not the computer.

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