Purpose of writing a research paper

1 the purpose of research fy reasons to research writing e the steps of the research writing was the great wall of china built? To put it simply, you perform r you are a scientist, an artist, a paralegal, or a parent, you probably perform research in your everyday life. Locating, analyzing, and sharing information are key steps in the research process, and in this chapter, you will learn more about each step. By developing your research writing skills, you will prepare yourself to answer any question no matter how you perform research, you are essentially trying to solve a mystery—you want to know how something works or why something happened. This is one of the most basic reasons for performing the research process does not end when you have solved your mystery. Presenting what you have learned from research can be just as important as performing the research. Research results can be presented in a variety of ways, but one of the most popular—and effective—presentation forms is the research paper. A research paper presents an original thesis, or purpose statement, about a topic and develops that thesis with information gathered from a variety of you are curious about the possibility of life on mars, for example, you might choose to research the topic. And you may want to show the results of your research to your friends, your teachers, or even the editors of magazines and journals. Writing a research paper is an ideal way to organize thoughts, craft narratives or make arguments based on research, and share your newfound knowledge with the a paragraph about a time when you used research in your everyday life. In your paragraph, explain what you wanted to research, how you performed the research, and what you learned as a ch writing and the academic matter what field of study you are interested in, you will most likely be asked to write a research paper during your academic career. For example, a student in an art history course might write a research paper about an artist’s work. Similarly, a student in a psychology course might write a research paper about current findings in childhood to write a research paper may feel intimidating at first. After all, researching and writing a long paper requires a lot of time, effort, and organization. However, writing a research paper can also be a great opportunity to explore a topic that is particularly interesting to you. The research process allows you to gain expertise on a topic of your choice, and the writing process helps you remember what you have learned and understand it on a deeper ch writing at g how to write a good research paper is a valuable skill that will serve you well throughout your career. Whether you are developing a new product, studying the best way to perform a procedure, or learning about challenges and opportunities in your field of employment, you will use research techniques to guide your exploration.

Importance of writing a research paper

How might each of these professionals use researching and research writing skills on the job? Medical laboratory technician or information technology professional might do research to learn about the latest technological developments in either of these fields. A small business owner might conduct research to learn about the latest trends in his or her industry. A freelance magazine writer may need to research a given topic to write an informed, up-to-date about the job of your dreams. Create a list of ways in which strong researching, organizing, writing, and critical thinking skills could help you succeed at your dream job. Of the research writing does a research paper grow from a folder of brainstormed notes to a polished final draft? No two projects are identical, but most projects follow a series of six basic are the steps in the research writing process:Plan and schedule time to research and ze research and and edit your of these steps will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter. For now, though, we will take a brief look at what each step 1: choosing a you may recall from chapter 8 “the writing process: how do i begin? To narrow the focus of your topic, you may try freewriting exercises, such as brainstorming. You may also need to ask a specific research question—a broad, open-ended question that will guide your research—as well as propose a possible answer, or a working thesis. You may use your research question and your working thesis to create a research proposal. In a research proposal, you present your main research question, any related subquestions you plan to explore, and your working 2: planning and you start researching your topic, take time to plan your researching and writing schedule. Steps in developing a research proposal” for an example of a research 3: conducting going about your research, you will likely use a variety of sources—anything from books and periodicals to video presentations and in-person sources will include both primary sources and secondary sources. You will also evaluate the reliability of each source you 4: organizing research and the writer’s your research is complete, you will organize your findings and decide which sources to cite in your paper. You will also have an opportunity to evaluate the evidence you have collected and determine whether it supports your thesis, or the focus of your paper. You may decide to adjust your thesis or conduct additional research to ensure that your thesis is well er, your working thesis is not set in stone. You can and should change your working thesis throughout the research writing process if the evidence you find does not support your original thesis.

Yet, a week into researching your topic, you find an article in the new york times detailing new findings of bacteria under the martian surface. 5: drafting your you are ready to combine your research findings with your critical analysis of the results in a rough draft. You will incorporate source materials into your paper and discuss each source thoughtfully in relation to your thesis or purpose you cite your reference sources, it is important to pay close attention to standard conventions for citing sources in order to avoid plagiarism, or the practice of using someone else’s words without acknowledging the source. Later in this chapter, you will learn how to incorporate sources in your paper and avoid some of the most common pitfalls of attributing 6: revising and editing your the final step of the research writing process, you will revise and polish your paper. You might reorganize your paper’s structure or revise for unity and cohesion, ensuring that each element in your paper flows into the next logically and naturally. You will also make sure that your paper uses an appropriate and consistent you feel confident in the strength of your writing, you will edit your paper for proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and formatting. When you complete this final step, you will have transformed a simple idea or question into a thoroughly researched and well-written paper you can be proud of! Then answer the questions on your own sheet of which steps of the research writing process are you allowed to change your thesis? Undertake research projects throughout their academic and professional careers in order to answer specific questions, share their findings with others, increase their understanding of challenging topics, and strengthen their researching, writing, and analytical research writing process generally comprises six steps: choosing a topic, scheduling and planning time for research and writing, conducting research, organizing research and ideas, drafting a paper, and revising and editing the is a derivative of writing for success by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution, originally released and is used under cc by-nc-sa. To the purdue printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice at butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding g a research paperthe research will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this genre of writing. Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons this topic is so ng an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. Remember, even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. And, perhaps most important of all, patience, a student will find that she can achieve great things through her research and handout will include the following sections related to the process of writing a research paper:Genre- this section will provide an overview for understanding the difference between an analytical and argumentative research ng a topic- this section will guide the student through the process of choosing topics, whether the topic be one that is assigned or one that the student chooses fying an audience- this section will help the student understand the often times confusing topic of audience by offering some basic guidelines for the do i begin- this section concludes the handout by offering several links to resources at purdue, and also provides an overview of the final stages of writing a research butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding and the research paperresearch: what it is. Research paper is the culmination and final product of an involved process of research, critical thinking, source evaluation, organization, and composition.

It is, perhaps, helpful to think of the research paper as a living thing, which grows and changes as the student explores, interprets, and evaluates sources related to a specific topic. Primary and secondary sources are the heart of a research paper, and provide its nourishment; without the support of and interaction with these sources, the research paper would morph into a different genre of writing (e. The research paper serves not only to further the field in which it is written, but also to provide the student with an exceptional opportunity to increase her knowledge in that field. It is also possible to identify a research paper by what it is ch: what it is not. Research paper is not simply an informed summary of a topic by means of primary and secondary sources. The goal of a research paper is not to inform the reader what others have to say about a topic, but to draw on what others have to say about a topic and engage the sources in order to thoughtfully offer a unique perspective on the issue at hand. This is accomplished through two major types of research major types of research ntative research paper:The argumentative research paper consists of an introduction in which the writer clearly introduces the topic and informs his audience exactly which stance he intends to take; this stance is often identified as the thesis statement. An important goal of the argumentative research paper is persuasion, which means the topic chosen should be debatable or controversial. The student would support this thesis throughout her paper by means of both primary and secondary sources, with the intent to persuade her audience that her particular interpretation of the situation is ical research paper:The analytical research paper often begins with the student asking a question (a. Research may lead him to the following f is a poem whose purpose it was to serve as an exemplum of heterodoxy for tenth- and eleventh-century monastic his topic may be debatable and controversial, it is not the student's intent to persuade the audience that his ideas are right while those of others are wrong. Instead, his goal is to offer a critical interpretation of primary and secondary sources throughout the paper--sources that should, ultimately, buttress his particular analysis of the topic. The following is an example of what his thesis statement may look like once he has completed his beowulf is often read as a poem that recounts the heroism and supernatural exploits of the protagonist beowulf, it may also be read as a poem that served as an exemplum of heterodoxy for tenth- and eleventh-century monastic communities found in the statement does not negate the traditional readings of beowulf; instead, it offers a fresh and detailed reading of the poem that will be supported by the student's is typically not until the student has begun the writing process that his thesis statement begins to take solid form. In fact, the thesis statement in an analytical paper is often more fluid than the thesis in an argumentative paper. Such is one of the benefits of approaching the topic without a predetermined butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding ng a topicthe first step of any research paper is for the student to understand the assignment. Student will often encounter one of two situations when it comes to choosing a topic for a research paper. Many first-time researchers appreciate such an arrangement by the instructor because it eliminates the stress of having to decide upon a topic on their r, the student may also find the topics that have been provided to be limiting; moreover, it is not uncommon for the student to have a topic in mind that does not fit with any of those provided. Be respectful, and ask the instructor if the topic you have in mind would be a possible research option for the assignment.

Remember, as a first-time researcher, your knowledge of the process is quite limited; the instructor is experienced, and may have very precise reasons for choosing the topics she has offered to the class. If not, do not take it personally and choose the topic from the list that seems most interesting to second situation occurs when the instructor simply hands out an assignment sheet that covers the logistics of the research paper, but leaves the choice of topic up to the student. Typically, assignments in which students are given the opportunity to choose the topic require the topic to be relevant to some aspect of the course; so, keep this in mind as you begin a course in which you know there will be a research paper near the end. Instead, realize that it takes practice to become an experienced researcher in any a discussion of evaluating sources, see evaluating sources of s for choosing a ng early leads to starting early. Brainstorming is often a successful way for students to get some of these ideas down on paper. It consists of a timed writing session during which the student jots down—often in list or bulleted form—any ideas that come to his mind. If it appears that something seems to be standing out in his mind more than others, it may be wise to pursue this as a topic is important for the student to keep in mind that an initial topic that you come up with may not be the exact topic about which you end up writing. Research topics are often fluid, and dictated more by the student's ongoing research than by the original chosen topic. Such fluidity is common in research, and should be embraced as one of its many purdue owl also offers a number of other resources on choosing and developing a topic:Understanding writing ng the writing ion slide butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding fying an audienceidentifying an concept of audience can be very confusing for novice researchers. Should the student's audience be her instructor only, or should her paper attempt to reach a larger academic crowd? Therefore, it is important for the student to articulate an audience that falls somewhere in is perhaps helpful to approach the audience of a research paper in the same way one would when preparing for an oral presentation. So it is with writing a research paper (in fact, you may need to transform your written work into an oral work if you find yourself presenting at a conference someday). Instructor should be considered only one member of the paper's audience; he is part of the academic audience that desires students to investigate, research, and evaluate a topic. Try to imagine an audience that would be interested in and benefit from your example: if the student is writing a twelve page research paper about ethanol and its importance as an energy source of the future, would she write with an audience of elementary students in mind? Instead, she would tailor her writing to be accessible to an audience of fellow engineers and perhaps to the scientific community in general. What is more, she would assume the audience to be at a certain educational level; therefore, she would not spend time in such a short research paper defining terms and concepts already familiar to those in the field. The audience i am writing for is not particularly interested in my topic, what should i do to pique its interest?

One of the purposes of a research paper is to add something new to the academic community, and the first-time researcher should understand her role as an initiate into a particular community of scholars. Once again, practice lies at the heart of the butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding do i begin? Is neither template nor shortcut for writing a research paper; again, the process is, amongst other things, one of practice, experience, and organization, and begins with the student properly understanding the assignment at many college students know, the writer may find himself composing three quite different research papers for three quite different courses all at the same time in a single semester. Each of these papers may have varying page lengths, guidelines, and ore, in order for a student to become an experienced researcher and writer, she must not only pay particular attention to the genre, topic, and audience, but must also become skilled in researching, outlining, drafting, and a discussion of where to begin one's research, see research: ing is an integral part of the process of writing. No drafting should take place without a research question or thesis statement; otherwise, the student will find himself writing without a purpose or direction. The research the student has completed is a vast sea of information through which he must navigate; without a compass, the student will be tossed aimlessly about by the waves of sources. In the end, he might discover the americas (though the journey will be much longer than needed), or—and what is more likely—he will some helpful ideas concerning the initial stages of writing, see starting the writing process . Editing, ng is the process consisting of:Major, sweeping, changes to the various drafts of a evaluation of word choice throughout the removal paragraphs and sometimes, quite painfully, complete pages of king the whole project and reworking it as g is a process interested in the general appearance of a text, and includes the following:Analysis of the consistency of tone and voice throughout the tion of minor errors in mechanics and tion of the logical flow of thought between paragraphs and major process is best completed toward the final stages of the project, since much of what is written early on is bound to change eading is the final stage in the writing process, and consists of a detailed final reread in order to find any mistakes that may have been overlooked in the previous a discussion of proofreading, see proofreading your writing . Jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding g a research paper: generating questions & topics workshopthis workshop discusses strategies for getting started on a research paper, including generating questions and ideas for topics. Place focuses on providing international students with additional linguistic and cultural support as the acclimate to the north american higher educational ght ©1995-2017 by the writing lab & the owl at purdue and purdue rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair for a research t topics on ng research paper ng a thesis for a history research for research tation proposal ng an original g unique paper to privacy essay health care reform: a ’s five forces trafficking essay g 5-paragraph t athletes ys bank format writing style paper paper formatting nces g for term paper ch paper search of a sample studies paper to buy a strong research ous studies term for reading: paper ting tips: book g a good research g a research structure: crafting a to find free paper need of a professional. Do my thesis' students' g a term paper m solution essay g term papers for papers on the g on racial ic research papers ing a paper step by tation writing tips. Project on the market your speech writing rism free term ss writing g with paper g your findings in law ering mba essay g for good term paper sional thesis sing a custom research g with project custom term referencing ch paper citation on time ion major ting your a term paper al justice term paper on research article ture major research ch paper g the best writing g a research paper is an essential aspect of won't make it very far in a post-secondary institution like college or university if you don't know how to write a cohesive research paper. Knowing how to compose these kinds of papers, properly while citing your resources will help you get through your program with a high gpa. If you cannot write an engaging research piece, then you better start practicing now, the further your get into your academic career the higher the expectations for your written coursework become. Eventually you will be asked to write your final dissertation, which is essentially a large-scale writing research paper that can be published. This is why so much emphasis is placed on teaching students how to create properly formatted research assignments in high school and in the early years of preliminary education or ch papers are more than just another way to annoy students and bombard them with homework.

Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academic learning because it teaches you how to find information and state where and how you drew your conclusions. Unlike creative writing, research papers are meant to facilitate the learning process by having you look for sources that confirm a concept that you are trying to learn. The end result of writing, research papers is that a student learns about an idea from other sources then the instructor at the front of the room. Essentially you are be cohered into learning by doing your own research and deciding what you think about a given theory or idea without being told by your time you feel apprehensive about writing a research paper, remember what you are actually getting out of the experience. If you wish to become an expert in your field you are going to have to learn how to do research properly and gather information to back up your own ideas. Remember, that the research and writing process is just a vessel of the learning experience; it is also the only easy way for an instructor to evaluate your understanding of the given topic that you were free to use these college and graduate writing guides, manuals and tips to enhance your written ch paper g a good writing tips for weighty coursework my research paper for me? Science research papers ch paper e writing following educational sources were handpicked by our editorial team to help english-speaking students around the world get better grades for their homework papers and writing projects. Feel free using our essay writing choose our essay writing e british company (in ownership not just registration); american and australian management; handpicked, qualified writers; legally binding guarantees; plagiarism-free work (proof provided with every order); copyright belongs to you, the client; we never resell, republish or in any way use your work; confidentiality guaranteed and legally binding; free oom brief research and al justice raduate law g, online y research for the discerning law a custom essay from expert us & uk a custom essay from expert us & uk for a research t topics on ng research paper ng a thesis for a history research for research tation proposal ng an original g unique paper to privacy essay health care reform: a ’s five forces trafficking essay g 5-paragraph t athletes ys bank format writing style paper paper formatting nces g for term paper ch paper search of a sample studies paper to buy a strong research ous studies term for reading: paper ting tips: book g a good research g a research structure: crafting a to find free paper need of a professional. Feel free using our essay writing choose our essay writing e british company (in ownership not just registration); american and australian management; handpicked, qualified writers; legally binding guarantees; plagiarism-free work (proof provided with every order); copyright belongs to you, the client; we never resell, republish or in any way use your work; confidentiality guaranteed and legally binding; free oom brief research and al justice raduate law g, online y research for the discerning law a custom essay from expert us & uk a custom essay from expert us & uk sity of southern zing your social sciences research zing your social sciences research paper: purpose of purpose of this guide is to provide advice on how to develop and organize a research paper in the social of research flaws to ndent and dependent ry of research terms. Choosing a research ing a topic ning a topic ing the timeliness of a topic idea. An oral g with g someone else's to manage group of structured group project survival g a book le book review ing collected g a field informed g a policy g a research guide is intended to help students organize and write a quality research paper for classes taught in the social and behavioral sciences. Note that, if you have specific questions about a writing assignment, you should seek advice from your professor before you begin. Requirements set forth by your professor will always supersede instructions provided in these general you need help writing your paper, take advantage of the assistance offered by consultants at the usc writing center located on the second floor of taper hall, room 216. Consultations are free and they can help you with any aspect of the writing process. If you meet with a consultant be sure to bring a copy of your writing assignment, any relevant handouts or texts, and any outlines or drafts you've written. Also, the center conducts helpful, fifty minute small-group writing skills workshops for students that cover a wide range of topics. These workshops offer the opportunity to improve your skills related to a particular area of writing that you may be struggling t:dr.