WRITING A RESEARCH
PAPER
Ten Steps to a Successful Research Paper
Step One: Choosing a Topic

A workable topic should meet the following
requirements:
 You
can find enough material on the topic. Usually, that
means you can find at least five diverse topics.
 The topic interests you, and you think you can make it
interest your audience. Ask yourself if you would like to
become the class “expert” on this topic.
 Take an interest inventory. Take stock of things you are
interested in. List as many as possible.
 Look for topic ideas. Explore many sources such as
newspapers, magazines, and the internet for paper
topics.
Refining your Topic
The topic is objective, not
subjective.
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Objective = Factual
Example:
 Objective:
Evidence for
and against side
airbags in cars
 Subjective: My uncle’s
car accident
The topic is limited enough to be
covered adequately in the space
available.
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Example:
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Too General: Ants
Still Too General: Fire Ants
Still Too General: The
evolution of fire ants
Just Right: The invasion of
fire ants in the U.S.
Too Limited: What to do if
you are stung by a fire ant
Too Limited: What a fire
ant looks like
When browsing online remember…
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If you enter a general topic, like karate, a search
engine will provide hundreds or thousands of listings.
From those you might be able to narrow your search by
selecting a more specific topic such as these:
History of karate
 Training and equipment
 Rules and etiquette
 How it differs from other martial arts
 USA Karate Foundation
 Karate competitions

Word your limited topic as a research
question to investigate.
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Before you explore, jot down what you already know
about your topic. Be as specific as possible.
Afterward, think about questions you would like to have
answered about your topic.
Your topic selection should end with one focused
research question to guide your work.
Examples:
How did Langston Hughes come to invent the blues poem?
 How has Relay for Life improved cancer research and
helped to find a cure?
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Practice
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Exercise 4
Exercise 7
Choosing your Topic
Exercise 9
Step Two: Locate Sources
Primary Sources: original text, document,
interview, speech, or letter.

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This is NOT someone’s
comments on or an
analysis of a text; it is
the text itself.
Example: U.S. Census
data
Secondary Sources: not an original
text or document.


This is someone’s
comments on or
analysis of a primary
source.
Example: A study of
economic trends based
on census data
Evaluate Sources

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Check the date: You want accurate, up-to-date
information.
Check the author. Is the writer an expert on the
topic? Can you find some information about the
writer?
Where should you start?
 Library:
encyclopedias, biographical information,
almanacs, quotations, specialized books on the subject,
newspaper and magazine articles, etc.
 Internet:
Evaluate Internet Sources Carefully
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Don’t believe everything you read on the internet!
Who wrote the web page? Usually, you can find
the name. How qualified are they?
How accurate is the information? Can you verify
the same information in other sources?
How up-to-date is it? Check to see when it was
last updated.
Is the information biased? Bias can be hard to
detect. Exaggeration, name-calling, and
stereotyping are clues that the site is biased.
Practice
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Online Tutorial: Parts
1-3
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Hint: Not every source you
explore will have useful
information. Don’t waste time
reading a source slowly or taking
notes once you have decided the
source isn’t useful.
Bibliography Cards:
Keeping Track of Sources
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Keep track of each source you use.
Record the author, title, and publishing information.
For each card you will want to add your own notes
or comments about the information.
We will be using MLA (Modern Language
Association) style of documentation.
OWL Purdue Online
OWL MLA Guide
Citation Machine
OneNote Option

Mrs. Thompson’s English IV Notebook
What is wrong with each entry?
Ralph Hickok. A Who’s Who of Sports Champions.
Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1995.
Editor, Jeff Silverman. Text by Lardner, Ring. Lardner
on Baseball. 2002, Lyons Press in Guilford, CT.
Allende, Isabel. Paula. Translated by Margaret Sayers
Peden. 1994, Harper Collins: New York.
Continue Practicing
Isaac Victor Kerlow. The Art of 3D: computer Animation
and Effects, Third edition. Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley &
Sons. 2004. 3rd edition.
Glanz, James, “Uut and Uup Add Their Atomic Mass to
Periodic Table” in New York Times, a newspaper,
February 1, 2004, page 1 southern edition, section YT.
Kennedy, Joseph. “The Wild Man of Samoa.” Natural
History, a magazine. Feb. 2004. Pages 22-25, 66.
Create an MLA Citation for Each Source
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National Audubon
Society Field Guide to
the Night Sky
Alfred A. Knoph,
publisher, New York
Author Mark R.
Chartrand
Copyright 1991
Library of Congress
Cataloging Number 9152708

http://www.astro.wisc.e
du/~dolan/constellation
s/extra/constellations.ht
ml
Correct Citations:
Chartrand, Mark R. National Audubon Society Field Guide to the

Night Sky. New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 1991. Print.

Dolan, Chris. "What are Constellations?." The Stars and Constellations. University of
Wisconsin, n.d. Web. 18 Feb 2011. <http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/
constellations/ extra/constellations.html>.
Step 3: Take Notes
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If you do a good job taking notes, all the rest of the
steps in writing your paper will be much easier.
However, if you do not take care to record and
credit your sources fully and accurately, you will
make more work for yourself later.
Make a Working Outline
This is your
road map to
see where you
are headed.
Use these
questions to
guide your
work.
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What are my research questions? What
do I want answers to?
What are the most important ideas?
What background information will readers
need?
What are the main parts, sections, of my
paper, and how do they relate to one
another?
How might I best organize the information?
What conclusions do I expect to draw?
Sample Outline
What an Impact
Focus Question: How has the Susan B. Komen Foundation impacted breast cancer research?
Thesis Statement: The work of the Komen Foundation has impacted awareness and funding for a cure.
I. Introduction
II. Increased Awareness
A. How has it increased awareness?
i. media
ii. personalities
B. What has increased awareness meant to the general population?
i. increased public support
ii. earlier detection in women
III. More Funding
A. What types of funding activities are utilized?
B. Where is the money going?
C. What outcomes are evident from the additional money?
IV. Conclusion
Avoiding Plagiarism
There are
basically two
kinds of
plagiarism:
intentional
and
accidental.
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You must not copy the words or ideas of
another writer without giving them
credit. You cannot even come close to
copying.
Plagiarism is a serious academic
offense and carries serious
consequences.
Plagiarism
Online Tutorial: Parts 1-3
Video
Three Kinds of Notes
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Direct Quotation: Copy the quote exactly, word for
word, just as the writer wrote it, and enclose the
quoted material in quotation marks.
Paraphrasing: Restate the writer’s own ideas in your
own words. Generally you paraphrase a shorter
text and cover every idea in the same order as the
writer.
Summarizing: Restate the main ideas of a text in
your own words. A summary does not give all the
details, only the most important.
How should you paraphrase this text?
Example:
Original Text
& Citation
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Students frequently overuse direct
quotation in taking notes, and as a result
they overuse quotations in the final
research paper. Probably only about
10% of your final manuscript should
appear as directly quoted matter.
Therefore, you should strive to limit the
amount of exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.
Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers.
2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.
Sample Answers
Legitimate Paraphrase

In research papers
students often quote
excessively, failing to keep
quoted material down to
a desirable level. Since
the problem usually
originates during note
taking, it is essential to
minimize the material
recorded verbatim (Lester
46-47).
Acceptable Summary

Students should take
just a few notes in
direct quotation from
sources to help
minimize the amount of
quoted material in a
research paper (Lester
46-47).
Work Cited

Goldenberg, Phyllis. Writing a Research Paper: A
Step-by-Step Approach. William H. Sadlier, Inc.,
2005.