Research Paper Writing Isn’t Rocket Science
I answer hundreds of calls a day from students confused about research paper writing. I know how they feel; I was there once many years ago, when professors had the knack of making writing a research paper sound like rocket science. Research papers on not rocket science and I can prove it with any term paper topic with any specifications. I can outline how to write a research paper in simple, easy to understand terms.
Let’s say we are writing a research paper on rocket science. The beauty of research papers is that they are simply an extended outline of well thought-out ideas in a flowing text. If you’re left brained by nature, make the outline your focus. If you’re right brained, make the flow of ideas your focus. Concentrate on your strengths and make them shine in the paper. While professors look for content and ideas expressed in class throughout the paper, presentation and flow can sway when a lack of solid left-brained research is absent. Likewise, if you’re left-brained and have the ideas but not the flow, a solid outline structure of the main ideas will go a long way towards influencing a professor that you know what you are talking about. Not everyone is gifted enough to write well and explain the concepts of a research paper; however, everyone can focus on their strengths and make the research paper shine in the area that they are best suited for.
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The thing about writing a research paper that may seem most daunting is conducting the research itself. There is literally a world of information out there and it can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to begin or how to proceed. The key is to clearly define a thesis and outline before beginning the hunt for information. A broad topic, like rocket science, will make the search too vast to be manageable. You must narrow the focus and direction to something more specific, like identifying key milestones in propulsion technology at NASA in the 1960s and their impact on the space race. Having a clear direction will not only help you avoid spending time sifting through irrelevant information, but it may also help you identify potential resources, like NASA and contemporaneous press reports in this case. My advice: define the research question and don’t panic.
Writing research papers also varies depending on context or class. Sometimes, there’s a strict format that needs to be followed and other times, it can be a looser structure. Especially when it seems overwhelming, the first thing to recognize is ‘who is my audience’. From this point, half the battle might already be over because you might be able to write out your ideas as they come to you and then be able to reorganize as needed. For more strict types of papers, you’ll need to really be discipline yourself by creating a coherent outline and then work from that point. In either case, the same basic denomenator is present-being able to transfer your thoughts onto paper so others can benefit from your own unique understanding of the material.