How To Write A Research Paper
Part 1: Research
http://www.qvcc.commnet.edu/library
Revised: September 2013
Quinebaug
Valley
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Community
College
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Library
Step One: Come up with a topic
1. Think. Do you have to come up with a topic related to the class you're taking? If so, what do you find
particularly interesting about this class? What's interesting about the subject of this class? Look through the
table of contents in your textbook for ideas.
2. Has your instructor told you that you can pick any topic about any subject? If so, what kinds of things interest you?
Do you have kids? There are a million topics relating to kids. Do you like sports? Music? Movies? Politics?
Television? Do you watch the news? What has caught your interest? Think!
3. Ask your instructor for ideas.
4. Ask your friendly neighborhood reference librarian for ideas.
5. Look in e-reference books for ideas (the friendly librarian can help with this).
6. Get your instructor's ok for your proposed topic before you invest a lot of time in it.
Step Two: Narrow the topic to a manageable size
1. How big is your paper going to be? 2-3 pages? 5-7? 8-10? The smaller your paper the narrower your topic
needs to be. It's really hard to write a 2-3 page paper about euthanasia. It's easier to write a 2-3 page paper
about euthanasia and some very narrow aspect of medical ethics (how do nurses feel about euthanasia?). Or
euthanasia and the law (what laws have different states passed about euthanasia?). Or euthanasia and . . . (you
get the idea). Think!
2. How many sources does your instructor want you to use? The fewer sources required, the narrower the topic.
3. While you're at it, find out what kinds of sources your instructor wants you to use. Books? How recent?
Reference books? What kind of reference books? Articles? Should they be magazine articles or journal articles
or newspaper articles or all three? Has your instructor specified or recommended which databases to use? What
about the Internet? What kind of sources from the Internet are you supposed to use? What can’t you use? Can
you use popular sites or personal home pages? How does your instructor want you to evaluate Web sites?
4. Start narrowing your topic by using reference books, which are a great place to get broad information about an
unfamiliar topic and come up with a narrow take on a big topic. In the QV Library that means e-reference books,
from either Credo Reference or Gale Virtual Reference Library. Where are they and how do you use them? Ask.
Step Three: Find background information on your topic and start a list of search words
1. For background information, start with e-reference books, available from the Find Books link on the library home
page. Don't know how to search the ebook collections? Ask! Or refer to the handout "How to Find for eBooks,"
available in the library or from Guides on the library home page.
2. Go to a library article database and browse through some articles. Get a sense of your topic. Don't know how to
use library databases? Don't know which to use? Ask! Or, to get started, refer to the handout "How to Search
MasterFile Premier and Academic Search Premier," available in the library or from Guides on the library home
page. Are these the best databases to use? It depends – maybe there’s a better one. Ask!
3. Whether searching ebooks, the online catalog, or library databases, you’ll be doing keyword searching. That
means putting double quotes around phrases: “medical ethics”. And separating words or words and
phrases with and: “medical ethics” and euthanasia. Another example: morality and euthanasia. Try
different searches, using different search words that have similar meanings. Keep an eye on subject
headings in book or article records; they can help you identify better search words.
4. Write down possible search words and phrases as they occur in your reading (and in your thinking). Make a list.
Put words describing similar ideas together. These lists of possible search words will come in handy as you do
research.
Step Four: Construct a tentative thesis statement or thesis question
1. This is a single sentence or question that clearly defines what you want to cover about your topic. Knowing what
your thesis is can keep you on track as you do your research.
2. Stay flexible. This is a tentative thesis. As you conduct your research you may decide to re-think and modify it.
3. If new search words that occur to you as you experiment with possible thesis statements, add them to your list.
Step five: Construct an outline
1. This is a research outline. Don’t worry about whether it’s constructed any particular way. It can be as simple as a
list of ideas or as elaborate as formal, detailed, indented outline. Your research outline is for your eyes only, to
help you map out your research plan. Write your thesis on the top of a piece of paper, then outline where you
hope to go with it. This will help give your research direction.
2. Stay flexible. This is a tentative outline. As you conduct your research you will probably re-think and modify it.
Step Five: Do Library Research (At Last!)
1. You've already been doing library research. Thanks to all the looking around for background info and thinking
about your thesis and thinking about your outline, you should have a good idea of exactly what you want to find
and a good starting list of search words.
2. From the library home page, click Find Books, then Online Catalog and search for print books to check out.
Scroll down the Find Books page and investigate all the e-book collections. Don’t know how to use e-books? Ask.
3. From the library home page, click Find Articles, then databases in either the All Subjects area or databases in a
specific subject area. This is where you look for magazine, journal, and newspaper articles. How many do you
need? What kinds? What databases should you use? Think! Ask for advice.
4. Take notes as you do your research. Keep track of where you've searched and what search words you've
used.
5. Print stuff as you find it, including book records from the online catalog (it will make writing citations a snap).
6. Read and evaluate stuff immediately. Don't just stack it up and plan on reading it later. Read it now so you can
decide if you need to find more. Highlight important ideas in full text printouts. Bookmark important passages in
books.
7. Evaluate what you find for: relevance to your thesis; accuracy (are facts correct? Dates? Statistics?);
credibility (who wrote it? Who published it?); currency (what's the publication date? Is it out of date?).
8. Use the Internet last. Build your research on a solid foundation of books and periodical articles first. Why?
Because faculty know that good, solid information comes from books and articles that have been carefully written,
edited, and library-selected. They're often more leery of information from the Web, which may or may not be
credible. Use the Web to supplement your guaranteed-to-please basic research. Be vigilant about evaluating all
your sources, including books and articles from periodicals. Be especially vigilant about evaluating Internet
material.
Step Six: Read your research material, evaluate it, organize it, re-work your outline, think some more about your
thesis, take a deep breath and START WRITING.
Not sure how to start? Terrified to start? Don’t panic.
1. Read the separate library handout “How to Write a Research Paper, Part 2: Writing.”
2. Still stuck? Ask for help – go to the Learning Center and talk to a writing tutor. Or go to the library and talk to
library staff.
3. Now stop putting it off and start writing.
4. No, seriously. Start writing.