Most students hate writing research papers and the reasons are varied:
- The teacher didn’t explain the assignment well enough, the student is unsure what the writing style should be or what the research topic truly is.
- Sometimes it seems like half of the teachers get together and say ok how can we overload the students with assignments and then give large assignments.
- The students lack the skills to write or English is not their first language making grammar tough.
Below are some tips to help you write a better research paper.
10 Tips for Students on How to Write an Excellent Research Paper
Here are 10 tips to help students write an excellent research paper on their own.
- Identify the task, checkpoints, deadlines and get started. Pencil out a schedule and make sure you are organized; the most important tasks first with a date to have them accomplished by.
- Make sure to have your materials for note taking. Index cards work well and in colors if possible that way if the topic has more than one main topic or idea you can code them in colors according to their importance.
- Give yourself a solid thesis statement; the question you propose to answer. Keep it simple, however; you do not need to a huge or massive idea so make is specific.
- Make an outline. An outline can save you quite a bit of time and effort. It will help you make sure you have done enough research or what to remove from the outline as it no longer fits in the topic anymore.
- Research; start with Wikipedia to get a grasp of the topic follow the links and take notes. Follow the links in Wikipedia to better more reliable sources of information and do not cite Wikipedia. Wiki is a good place to start with all the hyperlinks to other sources you will not only have a grasp of the topic but plenty of sources to find information from.
- Organize your notes, along with your outline.
- Write your first draft. Avoid the obvious and sweeping generalizations. Pull from your outline for the draft; note any areas that need to be cited. If an area becomes too hard to focus on at the present, move on to another area of the topic and later come back to the area that was giving you a problem.
- Proofread and revisions; once your first draft is finished print it out while you give your eyes a break and clear your mind. Grab a colored pen and read through your draft. Make notes of things that need to be changed such as grammar, spelling, and if you’re staying on topic. Sometimes it helps to have a friend read it over.
- Citations and bibliography; make sure to correctly cite the sources where you draw from others ideas so that you won’t commit plagiarism. Do not cite things that are common knowledge facts or well-known literary or artworks.
- Proofread and submit; you want to reread your paper look for spelling or grammar errors or copy-paste issues. Once you are satisfied that your paper is done submit it.
What to do if you hate writing research papers.
That will depend on the student and how much they hate writing research papers. For some, it will require a better explanation from the teacher. Others will need to know how to correctly do research.
Those who decide to hire a writing service some may only hire to have the research done and write their own paper. Others will only need to hire proofreading and editing. Some will only need to follow the tips above. It all depends on the student, their writing skills, and just how much work they have due at the same time.
