There are many kinds of research and papers, but the basic paper we would write for class requires a few standard elements—not to give us busy work but to help us craft a legitimate piece that is informative and useful for others like topics on saving money tips.  Therefore, this is a brief guide on how to write research paper parts, in what order to do them, and, in some instances, why.

HOW to WRITE RESEARCH PAPER BIBLIOGRAPHIES

You notice that this task is first, here.  For good reason.  You collect the books, periodicals, and articles (online and offline at your local or school library).  You find tons of pages of material that you put into notes then draft into your paper.  Maybe you return the library books.  Or maybe a website database of articles goes down.  You can’t of course, remember all of the page numbers or other bibliographical information to cite properly….  So…the thing to do is find the ideal resources, and immediately do the bibliography.  Some people still use the old-fashioned way, putting each source on a separate index card.  Some type directly onto their computer.  But whichever method you prefer, be sure to get the bibliographical info (author(s); title(s); place and date of publication) and, if you can, jot down page numbers.

HOW to WRITE RESEARCH PAPER OUTLINES

Granted, teachers might ask for an outline early on, before you have your topic narrowed or your resources gathered.  But consider this a freeing exercise: you have a world of choices to touch, turn, examine, re-examine, and project on.  Think of a concept or event or person, and think of all the possible categories you could include.  You can go by time, and do a historical survey; you can consider cause and effect or problem and solution; you can set up an argument and come up with reasons and reasoning.  Block off each part with headers and subheaders…. (Look at a site map for a larger website if you don’t want to use the old Roman numeral system.)  Think in terms of general to specific or largest to smallest (the smaller fitting inside the larger).

CONSULT EDUCATIONAL SITES for HOW to WRITE RESEARCH PAPER CITATIONS, ETC.

Be sure to cite—give credit to—everything you use directly from the text.  It is okay to lift the choicest quotes; just be sure to put “ ” around anyone else’s words.  Even if you paraphrase, you should use the parenthetical citation method (which is used in MLA, APA, and other documentation styles, anyway.  Check Purdue University’s OWL (Online Writing Lab), Dartmouth’s Writing Center, or another reputable source for your source-citing, outlining, writing and other how-to-write-research-paper advice…cause I am running out of time.  Oh, yeah, START EARLY!  Nothing hurts more than doing hours and hours worth of work and missing your deadline!