How to write a research paper

For the past few years, I've written bits of advice for the graduating class of Mountain Home High School on graduation day. Two years ago, I listed these 14 reasons to consider college. Last year, I explained how to register for college classes.

This year, I'll explain the secret to writing a research paper that ensures at least a "B" grade and competes for an "A" with a little more work.

English 102 will focus on how to write a research paper, but it's something many students still continue to struggle with. Unlike many intro courses, where you can forget what you learn if it's not your major, you will use what you learn in English 102 for the rest of your college career because you will be required to write a paper for nearly every class.

Effective writing is the single most important skill to master to be successful in college. I recently watched one of my best friends go from getting decent grades to 4.0 simply because he improved the quality of his writing and course papers.

The paper itself can be broken down into three sections: the intro, the body and the conclusion. In other words, you tell your reader (assume it's your teacher in most cases) what you are about to tell them, then say what you have to say, and then you remind them what you just told them.

Research papers are typically written in third person. An easy way to think of third person is do not use "I," "me," or "you."

The most important part of your research paper is found in the intro: the thesis. Your thesis statement is the point of the paper, what you are trying to prove. In most cases it is only one sentence and sums up the conclusion of your research. If you're not sure what your thesis is, it's what you'd say if someone asked you to tell them what your paper is about using only one sentence.

The thesis statement should be the last sentence in your introduction.

After the introduction comes the body of the paper. The body is the meat and potatoes of the paper. It's where the research and main points of the paper are found.

The body will be much easier to write if you first have an outline of your paper. An effective outline only needs to be a few lines long. Start with your thesis, list the main ideas you want to talk about in each paragraph and maybe a few key points in each paragraph you want to be sure to include. You will also decide what order you want to arrange your paragraph on your outline.

Once your outline is done, and assuming you've actually done your research, the paper should flow together pretty easily. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence. Much like the thesis sentence is the main point of your paper, the topic sentence is the main point of that paragraph. A good topic sentence relates back to your thesis statement. It ties the paragraph back to the main point of the paper.

Each paragraph should focus on one central idea. Each new idea should have its own paragraph. Each paragraph should be around 5-7 sentences.

The last sentence of a paragraph should transition into the next paragraph. It ties what you just talked about to what you are about to talk about. Sometimes it's easier to just start a new paragraph to keep the flow of your writing going and then come back at the end and focus on transitional sentences.

Once you've made all the points you want to in the body, you are ready to write the conclusion. The conclusion sums up the main points you've already made in the paper and restates the thesis statement in different words than you used in the intro, but you basically say the same thing. It's important not to introduce any new material in the conclusion. If you think of something else you'd like to say, simply go back to the body and add a new paragraph.

Once you've completed your paper, go back and make sure you have a thesis, clear topic sentences that relate to the thesis, transitional statements from one paragraph to the next and a solid conclusion. If you don't, be sure to add them, because doing so will ensure you a good grade.

After you've written the paper, be sure to format it to the correct format. You'll teacher will tell you what specific format and citation style to use, be sure to follow them to avoid losing easy points. You'll also need to create a works cited/reference page, again follow your teacher's guidance on which format to use. There are many websites out there that make formatting your paper and citing your sources easier. Some sites ask you to input all the required information then spit out the cite info in the correct format.

Citing your sources is an important part of the paper. It is what separates your paper from plagiarism and cheating. You can write whatever you want, as long as you give credit to whoever wrote it first. If you write something down you didn't already know, you need to cite where you got it from.

The above information is just the basics for writing a paper. There are things you'd do differently if you were writing a 40-page graduate paper from the above information, but it will get you through your basic 5-10 page research paper assigned in most intro undergrad classes.