If you have ever taken a class at a high school level or higher in the United States, chances are good that at one point you will have to create a "research paper."  This nebulous term is never fully described, not even by university-level professors.  You're given--if you're lucky--a sentence or two on some vague topic and told to write 10 pages, double-spaced, in some format you've never heard of and that nobody explains.

Why do I know this?  I'm a reference librarian at a University.  The number of students who come into the library asking for help, their eyes glazed over or panicky, is high.  Why don't their professors help them?  Many times they don't think they need to.  Professors assume that their students learned this stuff in high school, or that they'll pick it up in another class.  "They're in University," the logic goes, "so they must already know!"

It's my hope that this series of articles will clear up a bit of confusion or help somebody somewhere down the line.  In this series, of hubs I'm going to:

1) Give a brief run-down on what a research paper is and how to create one

2) Explain where to do research and how to do it well

3) Briefly discuss some of the formatting styles used in academia

4) Explain how to tie it all together into one coherent whole.

That's an excellent question.  In short, it's a paper where you are going to do some research (hence the name, right?) and then present your own conclusions about it.  The research can be from a variety of sources, such as journal articles, newspaper articles, interviews, surveys, even the internet if you're careful about it.

In preparing to write one of these things, what you're going to do is the following:

1) Come up with a topic to research.

2) Do some preliminary research if you don't already know about your topic.

3) Refine your research paper's topic.

4) Research your new topic until you have enough information.

5) Read your sources and figure out an argument.

6) Outline and write the paper itself.

This is actually harder than it sounds.

If you're lucky, your teacher will give you a general idea, but don't think that means you're home free.  The number of students I have seen who tell me they spent 5 hours last night and couldn't find any articles on "police and economics" or on "children and advertising" is a large one.

Of course, the problem with such a vague topic like those two examples is that they are too vague.  You will find hundreds of thousands of articles, but none of them will have a thing to do with each other.  This is what step 3 is for, so we won't worry too much about that for now.

Try to find a topic that isn't too vague, but that isn't too specific.  If you want your research paper to be about "The effects of the Chicano movement on twelfth grade education in Long Beach California after the 1990s," don't expect to just go to Google, type that in, and then get enough information to do your paper.  With a topic that specific, chances are you will get nothing at all.

You don't want to be too vague at this point, either, unless you have no idea about your assigned or chosen topic.  If that's the case, move on to step 2 below.  If you already know enough about your topic, you can skip to step three, "Refining Your Topic."

If you have no idea what your assigned topic is about, Wikipedia isn't a bad place to start.  Please note that you should never use Wikipedia *as a source* in your finished paper, because professors will rant and rave about How Wikipedia Is Destroying The Establishment if given half a chance.  More importantly, they'll probably give you a low grade on your paper.

It is a good place to start though.  You can find out the basic information about your topic, which will help you when you to narrow it down a bit and get started with the real research.  If you have a really broad topic that gets you 1,800,000 results when you do a google search (e.g. "Business Administration Theories") don't worry at this stage.  Look around, jot down important keywords that people talk about a lot, and get a feel for your subject.  Soon you'll narrow it down, but use this step in the process to get your feet wet.

Once you have a pretty good idea of what other people talk about for this topic, and feel that you understand the topic enough to write about it, move on to step 3 below.

What you're going to do here is pretty much the same as step 1.  Now that you know a little bit more about what you're supposed to be writing on, you should be able to do it much more effectively, though.  I know that I haven't yet gone over where to search, but don't fret too much about it.  You can do most of this step without even setting foot on the computer.

Try to find a topic that's not too narrow (meaning you get zero results) and that's not too vague (meaning you get too many results).  It's pretty easy to narrow it down even without doing searches by asking yourself pointed questions about it and seeing if you can answer them succinctly.

For instance:

"How can I make money?" - Bad example, because there are so many ways to do this you could go on and on just listing them for hours.

"How can I make money by selling people things?" - A little better, because it has more focus.  It's still pretty vague though.

"How can I make money by selling people things over the phone?" - This is probably about the amount of detail you want.  It's specific enough so that articles or resources you find will have a similar vein to them, but at the same time it's broad enough that you can find enough information.

"How can I make money by selling people small household appliances that make toast and poached eggs at the same time by calling them up while they are at work if I live in California?" - A bad example.  Want to guess how many results you'll find for this search anywhere?  (Hint: zero)

I'll go over this in much more detail in the next article in the series, so for now I'll just cover the basics.

At this point, you will more than likely need to leave your computer and go to the library. I know, it is terrifying! But it's necessary (or at least very helpful).

Libraries have a ton of books and journals that contain all sorts of information, and chances are good you can find something there that will help you write your research paper.

Write your topic and search keywords down on a piece of paper and take it with you. This way you can go to the reference librarian on duty and have them help you if you get stuck. Don't be embarrassed! This is what we reference librarians are there for! We enjoy helping people. More than that, it's what we get paid to do. So please, use us!

Your library should also subscribe to things called "article databases." These are collections of articles from scholarly journals that have been scanned in and made available online--for a price. Fortunately for you, your library foots the bill, leaving you free to reap the benefits without paying directly.

If your teacher gave you a set number of resources (e.g. 2 books, 2 articles) then make sure you find at least that many useful articles and books before you leave the library. I recommend doubling the number, though. That way you won't have to make a return trip if one of your sources turns out to be useless. Also, having more than the bare minimum is a good way to get a better grade on your paper!

This step seems obvious, but it never hurts to make sure. I do sometimes have students ask me "So I can just use these summaries to write my paper, right? I don't need to read the whole book/article/report!"

Well, sort of. I mean yes, you could probably get enough from the summaries to fake it. It really depends on whether or not you want a D or C grade, or an A or B grade. If you want a good grade, read it carefully and take notes. End of story.

Once you've read and digested your research materials, refine your topic one last time into a concise and sensible argument. Try to get it down to a sentence or two. This is what professors sometimes vaguely mention as a "Thesis Statement."

Basically, this is the argument you're posing in your paper. If it doesn't make sense, there's a good chance the rest of your paper won't either. Make it a good one!

e.g.

"The lack of nutrients in the diet of third-world countries' citizens leads to their short life spans."

"By doing proper research, you can write a sensible thesis sentence in no time!"

Another obvious step.  Make sure you leave yourself plenty of time (at least a week before the paper is due) for this.  Writing your papers at the last minute is possible, but it's not always a good idea.  Things can happen that stop you from doing it in that 4 hour gap you set aside.  I know I saw my fellow students in my undergraduate years say things like "My computer died last night while I was writing the paper...  Can I get an extension?"

By planning ahead, you can improve your grade and avoid embarrassing situations.

Outlining your paper is another crucial step to improving the grade of your paper.  It's annoying to do, but the result is worth it.  By creating an outline, you're giving yourself time to create a good flow to the paper so that it makes sense and is easy to read.  Creating an outline is not technically necessary, but it is a good idea.

Finally, don't forget to proofread!  The number of papers I myself have turned in throughout my university career that have had uncomplete sentences is embarrassing to think of.  Give yourself at least a day without looking at the paper, and then go back to it and review.  Make sure things are spelled right (either via spellchecker or manually) and make sure the grammar makes sense.  If you're not good at grammar, find someone who is and force them to check it for you.  Offer bribes if you have to.

Proofreading your paper will vastly improve it!