Write a Great Research Paper for Success in School!

Brainstorming through free association is an important first stage in coming up with creative topics and ideas. Make sure you put everything down on paper as described in this lecture before deciding on what you are going to do. What comes up through a creative session of brainstorming may even surprise you!

To help you see how the ideas and techniques introduced in this course is put to practice, I will be actually writing a research paper myself and show you each step that I take to do it. Here in this lecture I take the first step by brainstorming about my intended research and drawing up a mind map on the basis of that brainstorming session. Copy and emulate this process for your own ideas and research paper.

A thesis statement is the heart of your research paper: it explains in a single sentence what you are trying to do and achieve. Make sure you get the thesis statement right. If you don't, your paper will be like a building with a crooked foundation, or worse, no foundation at all. Such papers leave the readers beweildered and create a bad reading experience.

When thinking about your thesis statement, make it a habit to think in terms of variables. This lecture explains how to make a specific claim by first examining the examples of non-specific claims.

When you are thinking about your thesis, the main thing you will be trying to prove in your paper, do not commit the error of spurious thinking. This is a common error that mistakes a mere correlation for causality. This lecture explains the fallacy of spurious thinking with examples.

Here are 4 sources to start researching your topic and the points you should pay attention to in order to make the most of it.

Primary data sources provide the most direct data on a topic.

Secondary data sources use the primary sources and either bring an interpretation to the data or use it to support a specific thesis.

Tertiary data sources, on the other hand, offer a review of the secondary sources, like "The Review of Top 10 Books on Roman Empire" etc.

Even though the data provided by the tertiary sources are far from 100% reliable, they nevertheless provide a birds-eye summary of the whole field; thus they are valuable when you are just learning about a topic and would like to develop a general framework before diving any deeper back into the secondary and then primary sources (if they are available).

>>> Make sure to have a look at the EXERCISE QUESTIONS sheet attached to this lecture and compare your answers to those provided in the ANSWERS sheet, again attached to this lecture.

Follow these research rules as you are combing through your sources to collect data and ideas for that great research paper.

If you have access to a university library that's great! Most college libraries offer a wealth of resources for all kinds of research. Here we are presenting some of the best-known university libraries with millions of books, videos, and other materials in their archives. But even if you don't have direct access to them, a lot of college libraries allow borrowing of materials through inter-library loan system. Perhaps that far-away college library with six million books on its racks can send the book you are interested in to your local public library? Who knows? Don't forget to go ask and check out the possibilities.

Here is the quick and short summary of research paper writing process in a nutshell. This is a bird's-eye view for your convenience. Specific stages and steps of this process will be explained in other videos in this series.

An in-depth look at all the individual steps involved in writing a great research paper. Other stages and steps involved in writing a research paper are explained in the other videos in this series.

Watch this video to understand how to create a chronological outline -- one which follows a linear timeline.

Watch this video to understand how to create a comparative outline -- one which compares related and contrasting concepts rather than following a strict and linear timeline.

Brainstorming suggests a Mind Map which in turn gives rise to all kinds of ideas, connections, and relationships. After meditating on such possibilities, sit down and write your outline; chronological or comparative. Here I show you in real time how I come up with a comparative outline for the research paper that I'm writing here to demonstrate the ideas and techniques taught in this class. Check out the PDF file attached to this lesson for a written copy of my outline.

Long complex sentences are not fun to read. It's hard to remember their content as well. You'd be well advised to split such sentences into multiple shorter sentences. "How can I do that?" you ask. Our answer: by applying the simple method demonstrated in this lecture.

Eliminate abstract nouns like "specificity" or "facilitation" at every opportunity since their meaning usually depends on the context. Even though we use these words in daily conversation, they have no place in a document as precise as a research paper. Try to replace them with words or phrases that are understood more easily, without any guess work. Try your hand with the exercises attached to this lecture as a downloadable file. The suggested solutions are attached as well.

Tables are great to simplify complex information. This lesson illustrates with an example how to do that. Even though all information cannot be boiled down to a neat table every time, whenever the possibility arises, you should give it a thought and see if you can express the same idea with an easy-to-follow table.

Plagiarism is no laughing matter. Not only it's an immoral practice but it's also a crime. Learn what constitutes plagiarism and how you can protect yourself against a plagiarism accusation by taking the appropriate measures in your research paper.

Writing that first draft fast is so crucial. There'll be so many temptations, distractions, and bouts of self-doubt to hold you back. Have courage and press on. This lecture shares some of the principles that helped me to write quick and well over all these years that I've worked as a professional writer.

Here is the first draft of the research paper I'm writing to illustrate the writing principles and techniques shared in this class. Notice that the Introduction is not yet written at this stage, by design. Many things may change between this draft and the last one. That's why it's always a good idea to leave the Introduction and the Abstract to the very end.

Some research papers come with a title page and some don't. It just depends on the class, instructor, and the assignment. Here we present title pages according to the three most popular style guidelines: APA, MLA, and CMS.

Reviewing and proofreading your paper is a necessary step to control and assure the quality of your work. Watch this video for time-tested tips and methods that you can use.

Here is the instructor's final draft for your review and study.

Here is the instructor's final draft for your review and study, offered as a downloadable PDF document.

Here are some selected Internet resources for interesting research paper topics.

My response to a master's student who got stuck in the research phase of his work. My candid thoughts, culled from years' of struggle with the dreaded "Writer's Block"...

There are 3 types of readers or audience whether you are writing a technical document, drafting a research paper, or delivering a public speech: 1) The enthusiasts, the fans; 2) Those looking for practical solutions for their real problems; and 3) The experts who are seeking conceptual answers to their still unanswered research questions. If you deliver the right content to the right audience you'll be a much more effective writer.

Citations are very important whether you're writing a research paper, and article, or a book. Watch this video to learn how you can insert citations to a Word document.

Learn about:

-- How to insert a citation

-- How to insert multiple citations for the same text

-- How to edit, move, and delete a citation

-- How to edit the source of a citation

-- How to insert and format a placeholder

-- How to replace a placeholder with a real citation

-- How to generate a bibliography

-- How to update one or multiple citations in the bibliography

-- The important difference between a Master List and a Current List of citations -- How to select a Stylesheet for your citations

Enjoy!

Technical or business documents traditionally have lower-case Roman numeral page numbers (i, ii, iii, etc.) for those pages like Front Matter Page, TOC, List of Figures, List of Tables, etc. that preceded the main body pages (like the first page of the first chapter).

So how do you switch from Roman to Arabic numerals on the first body page?

The secret is in inserting Section Breaks where you want the switch take place. Watch this video to learn how to do that.