A research paper is longer and more detailed assignments and is designed to assess your writing skills as well as skills in scholarly research. Before starting, you have to understand that writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic and make an original contribution to the debate. To make you understand
Understanding the assignment
Here’s a simple step by step guide may help understand how to start your assignment to proofreading your final draft.
Before you start, you have to make sure that you thoroughly understand the assignment task sheet by reading it carefully or if you need to clarify anything with your professor.You should carefully consider your timeframe and should plan enough time to research, write and edit. You also need to identify the assignment goal, deadline, length specifications, formatting, and submission method.
In academic publishing, a paper is an academic work that is usually published in an academic journal. It contains original research results or reviews existing results. Such a paper, also called an article, will only be considered valid if it undergoes a process of peer review by one or more referees (who are academics in the same field) who check that the content of the paper is suitable for publication in the journal. A paper may undergo a series of reviews, revisions, and re-submissions before finally being accepted or rejected for publication. This process typically takes several months. Next, there is often a delay of many months (or in some fields, over a year) before an accepted manuscript appears. This is particularly true for the most popular journals where the number of accepted articles often outnumbers the space for printing. Due to this, many academics self-archive a ‘pre-print’ copy of their paper for free download from their personal or institutional website.
Some journals, particularly newer ones, are now published in electronic form only. Paper journals are now generally made available in electronic form as well, both to individual subscribers, and to libraries. Almost always these electronic versions are available to subscribers immediately upon publication of the paper version, or even before; sometimes they are also made available to non-subscribers, either immediately (by open access journals) or after an embargo of anywhere from two to twenty-four months or more, in order to protect against loss of subscriptions. Journals having this delayed availability are sometimes called delayed open access journals. Ellison in 2011 reported that in economics the dramatic increase in opportunities to publish results online has led to a decline in the use of peer-reviewed articles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_publishing
Picking a research paper topic
With so many possibilities, there are many ways to generate an idea for a research paper, you only need to brainstorm a lot through with a fellow student or professor. One can surely try freewriting to identify anything relevant that could be interesting as well. You can also check the discussion or recommendations sections of research papers as it often includes ideas for other specific topics that require further examination.
A preliminary research
For this, you need to use a variety of sources, including journals, books and websites that will help you ensure you do not miss anything important. Not just that, but, you also need to look for sources that may contradict your point of view.
Develop a thesis statement
You should also know that a thesis statement establishes the purpose and position of your paper. For example, if you started with a research question, the thesis statement should answer it. It should probably be concise, contentious, and coherent and should summarize the argument you made in a sentence or two.
Outline of research paper
Before moving ahead, we really need to understand that a research paper outline is essentially a list of the key topics and evidence you want to include. You need to divide it into sections with headings so that you know roughly what the paper will look like. And most importantly, a structured outline can help make the writing process much more efficient.
Structuring the paragraph
The basic building blocks of research papers are paragraphs and therefore it should focus on a single claim that will help you to establish the overall purpose of the paper.
First draft
You should know that most probably your first draft won’t be perfect, but making one is important. You can polish it later on. You definitely do not need to start by writing the introduction. In fact, begin where it feels most natural for you. While writing your first draft, if you dislike something you have written or doesn’t quite fit, move it to a different document, just do not delete it completely as it might be useful later.
Research paper introduction
The introduction should address three important questions — what, why, and how? As the reader should know what the paper is about and why it is worth reading.
Research paper conclusion
For the conclusion, you have to trace the course of the paper and emphasize how it all comes together to prove your thesis statement. Then, you need to give the paper a sense of finality by making sure the reader understands what you have written.
Revision
This is one of the most important steps as revision and proofreading process will ensure the paper is as well-articulated as possible.
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