This document provides tips for planning and writing a research paper. It recommends browsing topics leisurely before choosing one that interests you and has sufficient available sources. Look for recurring themes across sources to help form a thesis statement. Collect a variety of sources to have a "pile of stuff" when writing, including books, articles, and web pages. Mark up and take notes on sources to help quote, paraphrase and summarize information in the paper. Current events often inspire strong opinions with many available sources. Proper planning makes the writing process more fulfilling and less stressful.

1. TIPS FOR PLANNING AND WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER: “WHAT THE TEXTBOOKS WON’T TELL YOU!”<br />In General:<br />REALIZE THAT WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER IS A SOMEWHAT LENGTHY AND ONGOING PROCESS! Many students make the mistake of thinking that a topic and, if necessary, thesis and argument can come right out of their brains instantly and that a paper can be written straight through in one sitting. Other students deliberately wait until the last minute and then attempt to “make up” the papers as they go along. These students often haphazardly copy and paste items off the internet to randomly “stick” into their papers and often times end up plagiarizing. In reality, writing a successful paper requires planning and involves multiple steps; however it should be a fulfilling, enlightening and even entertaining process!To Determine a General Topic:<br />DO SOME LEISURELY BROWSING FIRST before you even begin to attempt to write a paper. The leisurely aspect is very important here! The first step in writing a research paper is determining a topic. This should be a relaxing and enjoyable experience that makes you feel confident and enthusiastic. Examine websites online, but don’t let those be the only sources you consult. Give yourself plenty of time to calmly wander through the library and let your curiosity guide you as you peruse the books and other materials. Take time to log on to an online periodical database and skim through articles about your topic. As you are browsing, look for topics that catch your interest, pique your curiosity, or perhaps even inspire joy or anger in you. These could be topics that you may wish to study further.

2. MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS ALREADY ENOUGH WRITTEN ABOUT YOUR TOPIC! Make sure that enough sources about your topic exist. You want to choose a topic that is lively and different, yet you don’t want to pick a topic that is so obscure that it will be difficult to find materials about that topic to be used as sources in your paper.To Determine a Thesis Statement/Point of Argument (for Thesis-Driven Papers):<br />LOOK FOR RECURRING THEMES and/or RECURRING ARGUMENTS in others’ writing as you are browsing through materials about your topic. If recurring themes appear across multiple sources about your topic, this trend may give way to the makings of good thesis statement or argument for your own paper. Remember, when you are writing a research paper you need to quote, paraphrase or summarize other sources that support your own argument. Therefore, you must make sure that other sources that support your own argument do in fact exist. You will have a difficult time supporting your position if there are not a lot of other sources out there that support your position.

3. CURRENT NEWSWORTHY EVENTS AND CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS are often good subjects for research papers. Such events and topics often inspire a wealth of writing. Strong opinions about those events or topics show up in books, articles, and websites, therefore you are more likely to have a large variety of sources available for your research. The “Pile of Stuff” Method of Research and Writing<br />When doing research for a project, be sure to collect quality and pertinent information about your subject. You should seek to use a variety of different sources and different formats when collecting your information. For example you will use some books, some periodical articles, some web page sources, etc. <br /> If you have done your research properly, by the time you sit down at your computer to begin composing your paper you should have a big “pile of stuff” sitting next to you! If you do not have this “pile of stuff,” then you are not ready to write your research paper!<br />The “pile of stuff” should include: <br />library books that you have collected about your topic and have checked out of the library<br />photocopies of sections from reference books (library books that do not circulate)<br />printed copies of articles from online databases<br />photocopies of articles that you found in hard copy format or PDFs of articles that you have found in electronic form from online databases<br />printed copies of information that you have found from web pages<br />written or recorded notes from any other sources that you have collected, such as personal interviews, multimedia materials, etc.<br />If you are using library books:<br />Consider using small Post It™ note stickers to mark off pages including pertinent information and/or sections that you may wish to quote, paraphrase or summarize. You may also use the Post It™ notes to write notes or reminders to yourself about the information you are marking off. This is especially useful with borrowed library books where you cannot write on the pages! Also, with nonfiction books remember to scan the table of contents and the index to so that you may zero in on the sections of the book that are most pertinent to your topic. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to actually read an entire book to cite the book in your paper! In most cases, it is okay to just read the sections of the book that pertain most to your topic and then quote, paraphrase and summarize from those sections. Just be sure to read enough material so that you do not take the information out of context.<br />If you are using photocopies of sections from reference books:<br />Consider also photocopying the cover of the book or the publication information that is found within the first few pages of the book. You will need this information when you format your in text citations and your References page citations<br />If you are using printed copies of articles from online databases: <br />Read the printed copy of your article with a highlighter and a pen in hand. As you read the article, highlight any sections that seem especially interesting or pertinent to your topic. These could possibly become sections that you may wish to quote or paraphrase in your writing. As you read your printed article, also write your own notes or comments in the margins. You may wish to make notes about how the material in the article could support your thesis and/or points you will make in your paper. You might also find yourself summarizing, in a few shorter words or sentences, what the author or authors are taking many paragraphs or pages to say. These comments could possibly become summaries in your writing. Remember, with summaries you would still cite the author information and date information for in text citations, but you would not indicate a specific page. Several databases, such as EBSCO, will also give you the option of having an APA format citation appear at the top of the printed version of the article if it is printed in HTML format. Just be sure however to make the necessary corrections and adjustments in the format, as these citations are automatically generated and may sometimes have inaccuracies in APA style.<br />If you are using photocopies of articles that you found in hard copy format or PDFs of articles that you have found in electronic form from online databases:<br />Take the same approach that you would with the above described printed articles from online databases and highlight and make notes accordingly. If you are photocopying a periodical article, check to see if the publication information is listed on the bottom of the page. Sometimes periodicals will have the publication title, volume and issue number information and page information at the bottom of the page. If this information is not at the bottom of the page, consider also photocopying the cover of the periodical itself or taking notes to remember the title, volume and issue information, etc. For PDF documents on databases also check to see if the publication information is listed on the bottom of the page. If not, you may with to separately print the citation from the database if one is available. You will need this information to format your in text and Reference page citations.<br />If you are using printed copies of information that you have found from web pages:<br />Again, read through the printed information carefully, highlighting pertinent or interesting sections and writing notes or summaries in the margins. To collect the information that will be needed for your in text citations and your References page, scan the source to find the author, date and title information (understand that with web pages all of this information might not be available.) Also make note of the date when you accessed the web page and the entire URL of the web page. Sometimes the date when you accessed the page and the URL will appear at the bottom of your printout, but if the computer you are using does not print this information be sure to record it on your own.<br />If you are using written or recorded notes from any other sources that you have collected, such as personal interviews, multimedia materials, etc.:<br />If you have written notes from a personal interview take a similar approach as you would with the other printed sources and highlight, make notes and summarize accordingly. To have the proper information that you will need for your in text citations (because personal interviews do not appear on the References page) be sure to have the interviewee’s name and the date you interviewed him or her. If you are using multimedia materials, examine the materials for author, date, title and publishing information.<br />