What is your first association when you hear the words “research essay”? It must be a mountain of books you have to dig across to discover a treasure deeply buried at the very bottom. Or maybe it is a ton of articles you have to flounder through to gather some ideas and thoughts. No matter what image comes to your mind, you won’t be able to avoid collecting pieces of information about your topic to create a research essay. However, this type of assignment is something more than just a literature review. It also involves analyzing and critical thinking.
Being a good researcher in any academic field takes a great amount of time and effort. Some students are natural born writers and researchers, but what about the rest? Don’t worry, you can achieve great writing results with practice, diligence, willingness to learn, and this small guidance.
Preparations
- Choose your topic. You are lucky if you are able to choose a topic of your interest. Obviously, the writing process becomes more enjoyable if you care about the topic you are researching. However, be sure to stick with your professor’s instructions! It means that if you are allowed to pick a topic yourself and your general theme is Animal Protection do not write about declining species of plants.
- Gather sources. Begin with finding enough information on your topic through different sources. Remember to use only reliable academic sources such as specialty books, academic journals, encyclopedias, expert interviews, etc.
- Take notes. Don’t forget to write down all interesting and useful ideas and facts during your research. Your notes will help you recall all that you have read when you will start writing. Also, mark where you have found these pieces of information to cite them as you write. Keep your notes organized and orderly to find references when you need them!
- Create an outline. Writing an outline is crucial if you don’t want to miss something important. Do it to have a clear idea of your entire essay and see how different parts of your paper fit together. Rearrange the points of your outline until you have a perfect and logical structure.
Writing your essay
- Create an introduction. State the purpose of your paper and briefly introduce your topic. Your introduction should show the direction of your argument. However, don’t write any of your opinions or conclusions in the first paragraph — save them for the rest of your essay. If your paper includes any terminology which is not common, you should explain it in this section.
- Write the body of your essay. The most important part of your essay is the body. This section should include: your key arguments supported with quotations, research methods, results, and main findings.This is the part of your paper where structure and organization are the most important. Connect the sections logically to let your readers understand your ideas and points. Remember to address all research questions and sum up your findings at the end of the body section.
- Cite your references properly. The worst thing you can do when writing a research essay is to fail citing your sources properly. Make sure that you use quotation marks every time you quote an outside source and place an in-text citation at the end of every quote.
- Write conclusions. In this section you have to state conclusions of your research. The most effective way to do that is to restate your objective and explain how your findings match this objective. Keep your conclusion clear, comprehensive and avoid including any new facts. If your topic is complicated and involves a number of points, consider making a small summary of every point in your conclusion.
- “Works cited”. Any research paper should include a list of used sources. This is the section where you give credit to the books and articles from which you took information for your paper. This is the final step of your writing; however, you construct your works cited page in the process of writing, adding credits as you make references in your essay.
So do some research and let your creative juices flow! If you have your own writing and researching formula — you are welcome to share it in the comments!
