A student pursuing his postgraduate or doctoral degree is asked to write a research paper. A research paper recognizes technical, scientific and social science issues and probes deep into them. Writing one for the first time may be scary but with good focusing and organizational skills, it is possible to simplify the process. Selecting the right topic is the first step. A student should consider whether the topic is unique and fresh. It should also be the one which allows enough research.
Its relevance to the occupation must be considered. Picking up a topic that he loves and is passionate about, helps him pen a decent research paper. The next step is research. Research can be carried out from the internet, books, academic articles, blogs and interviews. At least, five sources must be used to back his claims and just one or two are never reliable. Looking for researches done by specialists and reviewed by other professionals does a lot in terms of practical researching.
Adding footnotes to the sources comes next. This includes analysing the research, making notes of what is significant and underlining the imperative data. He should then read his notes and mark the author, page number, heading and printing data for each resource. This is useful while making the bibliography. He must recognize which category ( analytic or argumentative ) his research paper falls in and work on the basis of that. Deciding the kind of readers his research paper will be read by, helps him use suitable information.
The hypothesis must be developed into a query so that it is answered properly. The body of the paper includes important ideas in proper order and is written as per the formatting guidelines. Various styles of formatting include APA Format, MLA format and Chicago formatting. This is followed by proofreading the rough draft and making the final draft.
