Academic Research Paper
Academic Research Paper
Working on your academic research paper for the first time? An effective guide to writing academic research papers will help you organize your work properly and accomplish the task successfully. So, follow the guidelines presented below and take into consideration the recommendations given.
You may also find it useful to read an article on research papers on abortion and explore the secrets of outline for a research paper writing.
Narrow or broaden your research paper topic
When working on academic research papers, it is extremely important for a topic to be neither too broad nor too narrow. A too broad or too narrow topic usually requires too much information. As a result, you will not keep within the word limit. That is why when refining the topic of your academic research paper, ask yourself the following questions:
- What do or do you not know about the topic?
- What aspect of the topic is interesting to you most of all: sociological, psychological, historical, etc.?
- How much time (approximately) can the topic take you to cover it?
- What type of information do you need?
- Be flexible with your topic idea if you hope to accomplish your academic research paper successfully.
Gather and evaluate sources
For academic research paper writing, students are allowed to use any reliable, relevant, and up-to-date source. However, the vast majority of students prefer using the Internet. No wonder, as it is the quickest way to find information and does not need to go anywhere for a search. Still, you should be extremely careful with the web sources. Once you have found a couple of relevant web articles, evaluate them according to the following criteria:
- Credibility (is the author pointed out? Are those who sponsored the page reputable?);
- Bias (is the information presented in an objective manner? Are all sides of the subject presented?)
- Audience (for whom is the article intended?);
- Accuracy (is the documentation provided?);
- Currency (is the information up-to-date?);
- Relevance (can the information help you cover the topic?)
Avoid plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious offense that may also be a cause of a low grade or even expulsion from university. To avoid plagiarism in your academic research paper, use the following strategies:
- Insert quotations into your academic research paper taken directly from the sources when making notes;
- When paraphrasing, make sure you are not just replacing the words;
- Check your paraphrase.
One more important thing about academic research papers is proofreading and editing. Do not neglect them if you do not want to get a low grade on your academic research paper.