How to Write a Research Paper and Choose a Topic

Choosing a topic:

Often the hardest part about writing research papers is coming up with a topic or beginning your research.

Whether you have been given a topic or are to choose from a list, you should begin by looking for one that you are interested in, or simply one that you remember being mentioned in class. (By the way, attending class lectures is where 80% of your work for a paper is done. If you miss classes between now and the end of the term, you can guarantee that your grades will lower accordingly. There is much to be said for simply being present and behaving like a sponge for 50 minutes. It directly influences your grades!)

Use your chosen topic to find your keywords.

I recommend looking in the index of your main textbook for the course. Do you see your topic listed? If so, mark the pages where it is mentioned and then browse those pages. While you are reading you may find that there is a sentence, paragraph, or even chapter that deals with your topic. If this is the case, then begin by noting any nouns or ideas that come up again and again (persons, places, events, circumstances) in those sentences, paragraphs, or chapters. These are the first keywords for your topic.

With these keywords in mind now look to the bibliography of your textbook. (Often in the far back, sometimes separated into chapters.) Browsing your bibliography for titles that contain your keywords is one of the best tools to use when beginning research. After all, these are the resources the author(s) used to write their text, and chances are there will be plenty of information in them for your paper as well. Once you have identified about 3-5 sources for every 5 pages you will be writing it is time to go to your university library homepage. If you haven't a list as long as you'd like, don't worry there are other ways to build your list of resources.

How to Write an A+ Research Paper
Your five-step solution to research and writing.