How To Write My Research Paper: A 5-Step Guide

Writing a research paper can be a bit daunting especially if you have not written one before, so this 5-step guide should help you.

1. 1. Planning. This is the most important step.
• Take time to look at the instructions that you tutor/professor has given you. If you have any concerns or queries, make a note and ask or email you tutor/professor.
• Make a careful note of submission dates, word counts and referencing styles. If you are unfamiliar or need a bit of revision with the referencing style you school or College will probably have a document or video on the website.
• Get note book that you can use to jot down any ideas that you have about the project rather than using pieces of paper that are easily lost. This will prove to be invaluable in the long term as it will save you a lot of time and frustration.
2. 2. Examples. If you are writing any sort of paper or essay it is a really good idea to read some examples.
3. Preferably you need to find papers that are average, poor and outstanding.
• Ask your tutor/professor if they can direct you to some suitable examples.
• Ask in your school/college library if they can direct you to any suitable examples
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• Have a look online. There are several academic support sites that can provide you with suitable examples.
4. 3.Getting started. This is probably the most difficult bit.
• Make sure that you have enough information to complete your research paper. Brain storm some ideas.
• Submit a proposal or outline for the paper to your tutor/professor. Get some feedback from them as to the suitability.
• Start thinking about how your ideas will have a logical flow when you start to write.
5. 4. Need extra help? We all need a bit of help especially if we have not tackled a task like this before.
• Arrange to meet a Learning Support Tutor, they can help you organise your work, and set a timeline for the production of your paper.
• Have a look online for a video that talks you through the process of writing a paper.
• Look again for an example that is annotated.
6. 5. Completion. Nearly there!

When you have completed your first draft, get a trusted friend or editor/proof-reader. Make any changes that you feel are appropriate.

Leave your paper for a day or two then go back to it and read it through again. You may find that you may need to make some further alterations.

Submit your paper!