Entering university is a big step for many of us, and it definitely divides life into before and after. No doubt, the college period is full of opportunities and exciting events, but it also comes with great responsibility and hard work!
Many students rely on luck when they don’t try hard enough. Or they hope to discover some superpowers and manage to finish the papers at the last moment. But alas, this often leads to low grades, poor academic performance, and burnout.
Therefore, we advise you to treat your studies with utmost seriousness. If you learn to allocate enough time for a task, the process won’t be stressful but rather fun. And for everything to go smoothly, follow our step-by-step guide!
However, there’s one more thing before we begin. Sometimes the conditions are simply not in our favor. Thus, if you’ve got other serious business to do and you can’t manage it all, try outsourcing! Indeed, reaching out to legit paper writing services is now easier than ever. With an experienced author having your back, all papers will be handed in before the deadline and evaluated to the highest grade.
- Figure Out What A Research Paper Really Means
Teachers adore assigning tasks like essays and research papers since they are cool at showing the student’s theoretical basis and skills too! To write something outstanding, you need critical and creative thinking, diligence as well as attention to the smallest details. In the first semesters, you will write an essay of 5-6 pages, but the further you go, the more difficult the assignments will become.
So, what is a research paper all about? It is a piece of writing that demonstrates the results of your analysis, be it a phenomenon or a specific topic. You are to evaluate and interpret a question, showing the empirical evidence.
- Pick Up The Right Theme
Most likely, you will have freedom in choosing a topic: it will be something from the term or semester passed. So, your task is to narrow the subject so that it is specific enough. On the other hand, if you choose something too broad, you are unlikely to reveal it on a limited number of pages. Thus, go for something relevant and not too popular (otherwise, what is the novelty of your research?) and be straight to the point when presenting your result.
Second, you should be passionate about the topic. Then, the process will be easy and fun. And third, make sure you have enough available sources of information.
- Study The Subject
Once your topic is accepted, make sure you know what to write about. Perhaps you misunderstood some parts of it, or you are confused about what to include in the study. In this case, reach out to the teacher to clarify all weird points. By the way, they will definitely appreciate your desire to write a brilliant paper, which is a big plus for your reputation!
- Find Reliable Sources
This is perhaps one of the most important steps, as how do you build a work structure without trust-worthy sources? Your best options are:
- articles and books from the college library;
- pieces from your course readings;
- printed scholarly works.
The fresher the publication date, the better.
Also, be careful with information from the Internet. There are too many unreviewed articles that contain serious mistakes. And they, in turn, may lead you to the wrong conclusions.
- Create An Outline
An outline will become the „skeleton” of your work. This point shouldn’t get too complicated since you’ve written definition essays before and have certainly come across this. Basically, all papers have a similar structure consisting of an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
Of course, each of the points will be divided into more sub-points. And this will help you structure the information and divide the work into stages.
- Avoid Plagiarism
Every university has rules regarding copying information without mentioning its source. Whether you worked on a STEM article or thesis, you don’t want to be caught in a lie, right? After all, plagiarism threatens various consequences, from a rejection of your paper to expulsion. Therefore, never insert pieces without stating their source, and list them all in the bibliography.
- Edit And Proofread Your Paper
So, you’ve been writing for many hours, and now, you’re finally done. No doubt, there is a great temptation to hand in the paper right away. But that would be a big mistake! There are surely typos and errors in the work that you didn’t notice. However, the teacher will immediately pay attention to them. Let’s simply admit it: even an excellent paper can be ruined by repetitive words and missing commas.
Here’s a tried-and-true tip: once finished, sleep on a paper and don’t start editing it at once. After all, you need a fresh eye! Also, don’t forget to use great platforms! For example, Hemingway will show you the readability level so that you can avoid overly complex sentences. And Grammarly will find the errors and allow you to fix them.
In general, here’s what you should check first:
- logic and coherence;
- citing and references;
- accordance with the paper’s requirements;
- punctuation, spelling, and grammar.
To Wrap It Up
At first glance, it may seem that there are too many steps to follow. But moving from one to another won’t be stressful if you have enough time in store. The main thing is not to be intimidated by the amount of work: you will do a little every day, so the load won’t be too big!
And last but not least, try to get into a productive mood. Go to a coffee shop or library where you will be surrounded by fellow students, turn on the Lo-Fi beats and arm yourself with delicious coffee. With inspiration on your side, you will come up with a perfect research paper much faster.
