Writing Tips How to Complete a Research Essay Effectively
Research Essays are often required in the colleges, high schools, and graduate schools, but they are not common in the middle schools. If you are a typical student, you’ll definitely sooner or later face with an assignment of researching the topic and fulfilling an impressive paper about it. Find out how to quickly and effectively do the simple research, organize the information, and clearly introduce it in the essay form saving many hours and a lot of frustration.
Researching a Topic
Pick a topic
Choose the topic that really likes you. You don’t want definitely to waste hours writing about the subject you are not interested in. Agree, the entire process is more satisfying, if you actually concerned about what you’re doing. Be sure to follow all instructions you are provided by the teacher or professor. Deal with themes that are not overly complex, especially if the topic is not something you want to continue examining. Don’t make your life more difficult than it is!
Look for good resources
Before you start writing, get acquainted with the subject that you’re going to work out. The best way is to gather all possible sources and revise them before planning your paper. You are able to find information on your theme of selection through a large number of various types of resources. Some examples are offered below:
- Specialty books; you may find them at the local or school library. A book published on your research subject is the most reliable and appropriate resource and will probably be one of the trusty options for providing the high-quality information.
- Academic journals; they are usually devoted to scholarly research on the certain area of study. There you’ll find the sophisticated and detailed information on your topic that is written by experts in this field.
- Online encyclopedias; the most relevant information on the internet may be included in online encyclopedias e.g. Britannica.com. Be very attentive, they may contain completely unverified information, that cannot be presented as your main resources.
Take some notes
When you are examining the topic, write down the necessary information that you’ve found. Taking the notes will help you to easily start writing. Please, make your notes understandable but not so long and descriptive, they should be helpful for you. Keep the notes orderly and so you might easily find the references when you’re writing.
Organizing the Essay
Divide the essay into sub-topics
You will likely need to refer to some precise aspects of your research topic in the paper. Choosing such tactic, you are definitely able to complete a perfect-organized research essay because it eschews “Stream of consciousness” writing, what usually lacks order.
Create the outline
The outline is the best decision to do when writing the research paper. Draw the shortened version of your sections and main points of the essay. Provide it before you start writing so you’re able to visualize how parts will fit together. It also helps you to construct the essay properly and make it flow logically. Our recommendations, if you have time, create the outline a day before you begin performing and come back to it several times.
Pick the format
As we know, the common writing format of all research paper are MLA and APA, but certain fields may have their own style guides. Ask the teacher if you don’t know what specific style to use.
Style guides will tell you definitely how to correctly quote passages, construct works cited sections, cite references, etc. If the format is specified, you have to follow all requirements for text formatting and citation.
Make a plan
You must skillfully divide the entire workflow! It is a nice idea to create the schedule and every day to work on a certain part of the essay. In this way, you will not write for two days without rest and free time to meet the deadline. You’ll also have the spare time to proofread things from the list as you complete them.
- It could be good to start by simply appointing yourself a little number of pages per day. You may leave at least one day between finishing the essay and the end date. It’ll let you revise your final product and check it out for errors.
Writing the Essay
Introduction part
At this point, you have to introduce your topic and set the purpose for the paper. If you’re going to study a debated theme involve it in your intro. You should engage the readers to keep reading the essay. Keep your intro fairly brief (one or two paragraphs will be more than enough).
- Save your own ideas and any conclusions you’ve come up for the rest of the paper.
Body Paragraphs
Remember, this a meat of your essay, on which you must focus the most. Key arguments, methods, research and any results should be included here. This is the section, where the appropriate structure and organization play the most important role.
Note: Eschew the repetition in this part. Keep your writing in concise form but with enough detail to address your purposes or research questions.
Conclusion
This part is dedicated solely to summarizing all points and stating the conclusions you’ve drawn from your investigation. Stay away from the discussion some details of the research or presentation results here. Provide your conclusion in short form (one or two paragraphs). Be sure that your final section logically connects to the rest of your paper and give some explanations if necessary.
Some Samples of Research Essay Topics
- How does tobacco use affect the human body?
- Health websites give too much information
- How does a search engine work?
- Governmental insurance requirements
- Discrimination in education
