As you begin to take courses of a higher level, you may be distressed to find out that most of your scores are based on one major project in the entire course, which is your research paper. Moreover, you may have not written anything longer than a few pages. Here are a few tips to help you write a winning research paper.
Know what your guide wants
Before you can venture out into writing your research paper, you should consider knowing what your guide wants from you. Go through your assignment several times. Mark or underline the action words such as analyze, describe, compare, etc. that have been given to you. Find out whether your teacher wants you to present an argument and if so, you should provide support for your argument with regards to the research question. If you are not sure, talk to him or her right away.
Begin planning the paper
Begin by defining a good topic. If you do it well at the beginning, then it will save you a lot of time and some heartache later on. You would, however, need to remember to do some preliminary research before selecting a topic. Think of how long you want the essay to be and what your research guide expects from you. It is always a smart choice to talk to your research guide about your problems. In case your guide is not available, tell your classmate or your tutor the problems you are facing. Once you have decided the topic, you might be urged to jump in even though you would have to resist the urge to do so. Write down everything you know about the topic and then, prepare a list of questions that you would like answered in your research paper. Do not delay the writing process by dragging it on for weeks on end, but try to finish it off within a certain time.