A research paper is based on sources, usually books or articles that you have read on a particular topic. But a research paper is not merely a reporting of what you have learned. It is a paper with a point of view. It is a paper that responds to specific questions that you, the writer, have generated. It is a paper in which you, yourself, draw conclusions and make inferences.
1. A research paper is not a report. A report is a summary of information. A research paper enhances a reader's understanding of a particular topic by offering analysis, argument, and interpretation of sources. A research paper says not only "I found it!" but "Here's what it means."
2. At the beginning of your research paper, it is helpful to present some evidence of your engagement with the topic. Unless you were given a particular assignment, you are writing about something because you chose the topic yourself. Why? What interests you about this topic? What is the context for your report?
3. A research paper begins with questions. Those questions
may be modified or changed as you do your research. But unless you begin
with questions, you cannot focus a topic, take notes, or formulate a point
of view. There are two kinds of questions that you can ask about any topic:
a question that requires you to find information, and a question that invites
you to draw inferences from source material. A research paper needs to
evolve from questions that invite you to draw inferences.
Asking questions about your topic may take much of your
initial research time, and coming up with good questions often takes practice.
But those questions are essential for a successful paper.
4. A research paper needs to combine synthesis (pulling together information from various sources) with analysis (enhancing these sources by your own interpretation). When you plan your paper, consider what parts are synthesis and what parts are analysis. Students, in their effort to research thoroughly, often weigh their papers heavily in the area of synthesis and neglect analysis.
5. A research paper is written by you, not by secondary sources writing about your topic. When you quote from primary or secondary sources, be sure that you are quoting for a reason, not because you want someone else to write your paper for you. If all the quotations were removed from your paper, your assertions still should be evident and the sense of your paper should remain the same. Quotations may support your own conclusions, but they should not state these conclusions. You should do that.